I agree with the necessity of having social media, especially with trying to reach prospective students. Sometimes it is the best or only way to reach them.
I think that the proper utilization of social sites has helped the enrolling of students. It has at least become a new form of communication for reps and students
The use of social networking sites has not affected our communication with our prospective students. We stay in contact with our prospective students to answer any questions or relieve any concerns that the prospective student might have. Social networking does give us the opportunity to post different events that are going on around the campus or community, show our appreciation to our students and our community and many other things.
We do have a marketing plan that utilizes social networking to communication with prospective students and current students. It is a great way to interact with students and post important information about the school. The majority of our students are on a lot of the social media sites, so it makes it easy to engage them on the sites. We currently utilize Facebook and LinkedIn. We also encourage our students to create a LinkedIn account to start networking in the industry.
What does your school do about any negative comments that might be made on FB? Does your campus let student's just say whats on their mind?
I have only been on camus for a week so I am not sure. I think it would be wise to use tools like Facebook and Linked in to communicate with our students. It may help career services most in building a relationship with them.
Our school does have a marketing plan that does include the use of social networking sites. They are definitely an effective way to communicate how our school is doing. It can also be a place where information can be detrimental to an institution if there is a negative experience.
Ours does and it is great. I think schools that utilize Social Networking really make a greater effort to get students involved, especially if they are in an all-online program. It is easy to feel a disconnect from the school's culture in an all-online program, so the social networking aspect is crucial to that program's success.
KnowU is a great service for our students as well and I believe the students love it.
At this institution there is a service in place called Know U. This a service that is similar to some of the popular social media sites that allows our online students to connect and recieve support while taking classes.
Yes. Our school takes advantage of those resources, I believe it makes students feel more connected to the school as a whole. They can ask questions and connect with other students they may not meet otherwise. It also gives them the chance to connect with alumni and network for possible job opportunities.
Opinions do weigh on a prospective student heavily. Social media can provide false facts and bad oipinions, but can also shed light on a great option for students. Some things may be negative, but hopefully the prospective student sees from social media that enrolling will be their best option.
It seems social networking sites are mostly used by students already enrolled in an institution. For instance, students may sign up for updates from their school via Facebook.
I do not believe our institution advertises through this medium. However, attending other institutions, I've used social media to keep updated with certain classes.
I am eager to present the idea of using social media more in our marketing plan. Right now it is very traditional. We are still small, less than 200 students,and a lot of our leads are generated by word-of-mouth. Utilizing Facebook or Twitter can spread the word further.
I previously worked for an on-line institution that had one person who monitored the school's Facebook page. When a student went on a tirade about something, justified or no, that one person was the only one to address the issue. If he needed to alert other departments he would reach out. It eliminated the "he said, she said" issue and established a sense of consistency.
the social networking sites can have a positive and negative on a students, decision. yes i believe our school does have a marketing plan.
We have taken full advantage of the social media craze by developing a student portal that caters to the social media community, all while fulfilling our students' academic needs.
I agree with Kelly's comment inasmuch as it seems the students with a complaint seem to blow it all out of proportion and put it all over the social media network. Students who are completely satisfied with their experience don't seem so apt to spread their satisfaction around as much. The social media issue can work both ways.
We currently don't use social networks in our marketing plans. I believe today's students are more tuned into using social network sites and are more likely to respond to such media.
On the flip side of the coin I believe using network media sites has created a population that is not learning to interact with people on a one on one, face to face basis. I believe there needs to be a balance and recognize the lack of people skills in a generation that is used to communicating through these media sites.
People sometimes feel the need to communicate to anyone over social networking. This is potentially a HUGE compliance issue. My school does have a social networking market strategy.
