Robert Pearl Starks

Stacey, What a wonderful response! You nailed it when you said these tools can help individuals and businesses alike. I think you would appreciate this blog entry I put in the Lounge for those who plan on using the social learning network platform to continue learning, sharing, and connecting - take a look and leave a comment: http://lwire.us/?l=XJ5V. Stacey - I have enjoyed our interactions and your enthusiasm in this course. Your comments are helping all of us learn and engage. Make sure you add me to your PLN once you complete the course so we can continue learning from… >>>

Stacey, Measuring can be a challenge because it can create another layer of work but as you know, measurement allows you to identify the effectiveness of your strategies. May I recommend that you start with measuring things that are more feasible for you such as event participation. How might you use social media as part of a strategy to increase participation in an event? Track the attendance and start to identify if you see a trend in increased participation. Use social media to bring students into your office and track pre and post walk-in appointments. I recommend starting with simple… >>>

Ronda, If you come up with a list, I encourage you to share your ideas in the forum so others can learn from your brainstorming session. As you create your list, always consider what your objective is - is the contest to increase one-on-one visits? Is it to review more resumes? Is it to encourage participation in a mock interview program? As you brainstorm, I encourage you to first identify the objective and then identify the tactic. This will allow you to design contests with clear intent and the activities will align with your career center objectives. It's a great… >>>

Ronda, Thank you for introducing yourself. If your objectives are to establish stronger relationships with students and to create an alumni community, social media provides the right tools for these objectives. Ronda, you describe the community you'd like to see as one in which students can share success and even frustrations. It would be interesting to hear more about the overall objective you have with this strategy. How might such a community help you achieve your career center objectives? Are you prepared if sharing frustrations transforms into venting? How might you handle these types of interactions if they occur? What… >>>

Hello Ronda, Thank you for contributing to the forum. Would you describe your activity of "liking" pages of relevant organizations as a strategy to make students aware of such organizations? I am curious to learn more about the strategy you have employed here and what prompted this tactic. If you would be willing to elaborate, it would be very helpful for all of us learning from one another's tactics. As you approach the end of this course, I would be interested to know the ways you might modify your strategies to see if you develop new ideas on your approach… >>>

Stacey, Great idea to get students started early. I noticed you stated you use Facebook for tracking down students and you indicate LinkedIn being helpful to discovering where people work if you have trouble contacting them. These are definitely two benefits of these platforms but I am very curious how you might start using social media to accomplish other career center objectives. What are some ideas you might have to improve student participation, employer relations, career services programs, or events? Any ideas on just one other aspect beyond employment? I'd love to hear your ideas at this point in the… >>>

Stacey, It sounds like your school has a person running your social media but not your department. I have found that many schools who do have a social media strategy are mainly using it for marketing/admissions. Often, there are policies in place that require departments who want their own page to request permission and provide justification for why the page is wanted. This can sometimes present a challenge because organizations can fear giving up "control" since social media can be very challenging to manage. What's the situation you face? Do you know much about the social strategy currently being used?… >>>