Don’t Resist, Universities Should Embrace New Media

I have had many conversations over the past year with institutions about ‘time’.  True, time is a very valuable commodity for us all and for that reason it is extremely important for us to realize where our time is best spent.

Many universities are nervous to embrace new social media because they are worried about the time that it takes to learn how to use social networks like facebook, how develop content for a youtube channel, how to create podcasts and the list goes on.  I do understand that the learning curve for social media can be intense for some people but like the international admissions ‘rule of 3′, if you invest (your time) in new social media over the next 3 years you will see incredible results.

Many institutions are still hanging on to the most traditional recruiting techniques out there and not investing enough time and energy into these new social mediums.  It’s not enough to just put up a facebook page, it’s not enough to write 1 blog every week (or 1 month for some schools), it’s not enough to create 10 podcasts and wait till next year to start it up again.

The longer a school’s international admissions office waits to invest in these new mediums the harder they are going to feel the effects a few years from now.  Think of Kodak (Being from Rochester, NY this is the most relative example for me).  Kodak, the one time camera giant, resisted the digital age for as long as it could.  Kodak had incredible market share selling camera film and was unwilling to give up that cash cow.  Well in 2008 we can see how great that mentality worked out for them.  Kodak is now competing and marketing themselves in the ink jet printer space, not even cameras!!!

So international admissions offices, get on the internet and learn about what other schools are doing with social media, learn what international high schools are doing with social media and emulate it.  Here is one site to start and learn how international college counselors are leveraging social media to help their students (Yes, the students that you want to recruit are using social media, shouldn’t you?).

Utechtips – “A view of education from international educators”

On Deck Podcasts – “What’s new in educational technology”

Share Your Campus through Story

I recently attended a great event at Clark University called International Journey. International students from Clark set up booths sharing information about their respective countries. Most students dressed in their native attire, some students had ethnic music playing, some cooked or brought in ethnic food, some created video presentations playing on projectors, overall it was a very fun event put on by Clark’s international student community.

Now I’m not an international student in the US but as someone constantly analyzing how institutions can help themselves look more appealing to the competitive international student market, I feel that Clark missed a great opportunity to capitalize on the story of their international student community. Talking to admissions recruiters I find that they are really good at reciting facts and utilizing traditional mediums for exposure but many miss the power of telling a story through new social media.

For example: on a Linden Tour at their college fair booth, admissions counselors might talk about the diversity of their campus. ‘10% of our campus is international students coming from over 50 countries’ they might say. They might also distribute a few news articles about international student events on campus and how great they were.  Now even though that information is great don’t you think these prospective students might like to experience the international student population and feel a part of that community even before they make the decision to apply to the institution?

Let’s think about the Gen Y student that is gearing up for their college search.  These students live day in and day out in constant contact with the world through their mobile phones, computers, televisions, etc. looking at profiles on Facebook and Orkut, watching videos on YouTube, instant messaging on MSN messenger and so much more. These kids are yearning for more than the facts because facts are boring!

So what does this all mean? How can we tell the story of our institution to prospective international students and complement our impressive fact sheet? We have to catch the attention of these students in a creative way.  Facts are straightforward but videos, photos, blogs are all stories.  The events that are going on around your campuses are all stories waiting to be captured and shared with prospective students.

So, get your video camera out, digital camera, digital voice recorder or pen and paper, go to these events and record them! Write about them in your blog, post up the video on YouTube, create a podcast with the students you have talked to, post up photos of the event.

Remember students are NOT going to judge your institution based on the quality of the video, photo or voice recording (just look at the most popular YouTube videos, very guerrila stlye quality). They will however judge the quality of the story. So make sure you are recording the atmosphere and the vitality of your international student population.  Don’t worry so much about how well it is edited and if the quality is ‘professional’.  If you share the story of how much fun your international student population is you are garunteed to turn some heads!

Going to The Virtual College Fair?

College Week Live is a virtual college fair.  The fair will run for the next two days (Nov. 12-13) and is anticipating over 20,000 prospective students, it is sure to be a lot of fun!

goSwoop will be hosting the International Student Booth, where we will be helping prospective international students with questions about the US admissions process as well as connecting them with students, counselors and admissions people that will be their best guides in the process of finding the right college or university.

Our podcast series will be playing for booth visitors to listen to as they pass by.  Throughout the day we will have multiple people available to chat live so please do not hesitate to say hello.