More Than Just Fans:Five Steps to Creating Vibrant Social Communities That Cater to Graduate Students

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Jeff BergSenior Social StrategistPeterson’s Interactive

With more than six years of experience, Jeff uses his social media expertise to help schools streamline engagement methodologies and create meaningful, personal dialogues with current and future students.

Jeff graduated from University of Southern California with a degree in Print Journalism.

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Agenda• The World of Social Media

• Social Media and Graduate Recruitment

• Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities– Don’t Hide– Have Human Conversations– Show, Don’t Tell– Spotlight Student and Staff

Success– Measure Everything

• Q&A

What Exactly Are We Talking About?

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What is Social Media?• Social media has changed how

human beings communicate, organize, and spend time online:– 75% of all adult internet

users.– More than 20% of all time

spent online.

• Comparisons of most well-known social media:– If Twitter were a book it

would be equivalent to 1,500 complete works of Shakespeare each day.

– If YouTube were a movie it would take over 400 years to watch.

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The World of Social Media

-200,000,000 400,000,000 600,000,000 800,000,000

1,000,000,000 1,200,000,000 1,400,000,000 1,600,000,000 1,800,000,000 2,000,000,000

Total Internet Users

Facebook Users

OceaniaLatin AmericaNorth AmericaMiddle EastEuropeAsiaAfrica

1,966,514,816

620,223,963

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• Wikipedia• Consumer opinions and

reviews• Internet mash-ups• Blogs• Message boards• Online gaming• Photo sharing websites• Interactive fiction• Instant messaging

• Social bookmarking• Online niche communities• Social biographies• Social news• Livecasting• Audio sharing• Virtual worlds• Information aggregators• Collaboration tools• Event organization tools

Social Media and Graduate Recruitment

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Student Usage• Prospective students today…

• Grew up with Internet technology• Nearly three-quarters use social

media• 18 percent use Twitter• 67 percent own an MP3 player• 81 percent access the Internet

wirelessly• 70 percent believe colleges should

have a presence on social networks

• 51 percent want to be contacted directly through a social network

“Scrolling Toward Enrollment,” Noel-Levitz, 2009Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2010

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Graduate School Selection Process• Decision-Making Process

– Model follows a highly involved, complex buying behavior (Nicholls et al., 1995)

– Multiple information sources consulted

– Emphasis on personal sources

• The Decision– Typically, 3 to 5 “mega-

criteria” used for selection (Heslop and Nadeau 2010)

– No one factor is most important for everyone

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Decision-Making Factors in Graduate School Selection• Top-level categories exist in the decision-

making process– Academic

• Functional areas of study• Leadership and decision-making

skills• Professor reputation• Student/faculty interaction

– Professional• School relationships with the

business community• Networking and contacts

– Financial & Community• Tuition, ROI, financial assistance,

grants• Geographic benefits

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Social Media for Recruitment

• At the most basic level, provides a feel for school life through an online community

• 3 to 5 times more successful than standard marketing targeting

• Peers are more influential in college choice than advertising

Step 1: Don’t Hide

Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities

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Practice Ambient Findability

The adventure is getting into graduate school and finishing it.

(not finding your social media presence)

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UC Berkeley Haas School of Business

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Stanford Graduate School of Business

Step 2: Have Human Conversations

Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities

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Have Human Conversations

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Have Human Conversations

Step 3: Show, Don’t Tell

Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities

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Show, Don’t Tell

Social media isn’t just a megaphone

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For Academic Factors

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For Community Involvement

Step 4: Spotlight Student and Staff Success

Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities

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Spotlight Your SuccessThe best advocates for any school are your existing students and faculty.

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iTunes U• Podcast and video

content

– Dean’s speaker series

– Conferences

– Commencements

– Interviews

– Guest lectures

– Advice to prospective students

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University of Chicago—TweetChicago

• Launched October 2008• On Dec. 10, 2009, totally replaced “A Day in the Life” blog• Now 15 authors featuring both students and faculty• Content ranges from the mundane to relevant to the legal

community

• Launched October 2008• On Dec. 10, 2009, totally replaced “A Day in the Life” blog

• Now 15 authors featuring both students and faculty• Content ranges from the mundane to relevant to the legal community

• Results– Rankings (U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings)

• 2008: Rank 6• 2009: Rank 6• 2010: Rank 5

Step 5: Measure It All

Five Steps to Better Graduate Communities

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Keep Things In Perspective

How do we measure human conversations in a gift economy?

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Look at the Evolution

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Social Media Tracking and Metrics

• Independent tracking– Text analytics– Sentiment analysis– Link tracking and

behavioral information– Activity, engagement, and

reach

Go beyond basic measurements like fans, followers, and comments

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Summary

Step One: Don’t Hide

Step Two: Have Human Conversations

Step Three: Show, Don’t Tell

Step Four: Spotlight Students and Staff

Step Five: Measure It All

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Questions?

Jeff BergSenior Social StrategistPeterson’s Interactive

E-mail: jeff.berg@petersons.comPhone: 201.477.7687

Contact: