Recruiting Students in India or Japan? Start Using Twitter!

If you aren’t using Twitter yet and your school wants to improve your recruiting in India or Japan, sign up NOW!

Twitter is a service that falls under the category of micro-blogging.  Micro-blogging like blogging is used to inform others about what is happening through writing and dynamic interaction such as comments.  The difference with micro-blogging however is that a micro-blog is restricted to certain amount of characters per posting.  In Twitter’s case 140 characters (not words characters).

To learn exactly how Twitter works and what it is watch this video:

The great thing about Twitter is that it has a very grass roots feel.  You can communicate with many individuals one-on-one all over the world. 

There also seems to be no barrier to communicating with anyone through this service.  Meaning your college or university has the potential to be easily accessible to any individual prospective student around the world!

Twitter for India

Earlier this year Twitter launched an sms short code for its users in India.  This means that all users in India can receive an sms (text message) version of a Tweet to their mobile phone from any user they are following (a Tweet is when someone creates a new post on Twitter).  It also means that Twitter users in India can reply to Tweets from their mobile phone.  This is such a great opportunity because it removes the barrier that users can only use Twitter if they are on the internet.

I see this as a great opportunity for colleges and universities to have direct interactions with students in India who don’t have constant access to internet e-mail or other forms of itnernet communication, FOR FREE. 

Twitter for Japan

 

Twitter created a Japanese version of their service because there was such a demand in Japan for the service.  There are a couple of cool opportunities for the Japanese service.

First, if you have a Japanese student working in your international admissions office, this is a great way for you to connect with prospectve Japanese students in their native language!  All of the sudden you go from being like every other US college and university to a cool school that is interested because you use the Japanese version of Twitter and on top of that are Tweeting in Japanese.

Second, Twitter is fun and easy project for them to work on.  Get them actively using the Japanese version talking about their experiences at your school and communicating with prospective Japanese students.

Get Started!

If your school already has a Twitter account (such as @marquetteu) is it run by your international admissions office or even your general admissions office?  If the answer is no then create an account and designate someone from admissions to use it.  A great example is Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Adam Epstien from the admissions office there.  You can check out his Twitter account @epsteada.  He offers a personal twist the WPI culture and admissions office.  

Here are a couple of ideas for you to begin using Twitter:

– Choose one person in your international admissions office to set up and use the Twitter account

– When sending out e-mails to prospective students or when talking to prospective students at college fairs be sure to give them your Twitter info or ask them for theirs.  For example, I always include my Twitter info in the signature of my e-mails.  ‘See what is going on @goswoop‘

– Start interacting and following people you want to learn from as well as communicate with.  This can be prospective international students, current international students at your school (yes they are on Twitter too!), social media gurus and much more.

– Don’t give up! Twitter can be difficult at first to get used to.  I have been using it for 2 months now and am only starting to get the hang of it and understanding its true potential.

If you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me on Twitter!  Hope to see you there soon!

WPI, Emmanuel College and 90 new members of the goSwoop family

Today was yet another exciting day for goSwoop!

This afternoon it was confirmed that two new institutions Worcester Polytechnic Institute (video) and Emmanuel College had signed on as goSwoop’s newest partners. The count of partner institutions is officially eleven and there are many more coming soon!

Equally exciting is having 90 new team members added to the goSwoop family! Let me explain. goSwoop is one of several companies selected to take part in a rigorous semester-long project course called GB301 at Bentley College. The 90 new members of the goSwoop team are mostly comprised of third year undergraduate students at Bentley. This evening Cort, Fayaz and I presented to three class sections to provide them with a general background about goSwoop.

Their primary responsibilities throughout the semester will be to conduct research about the international education market and work in groups to develop business plans that offer suggestions on how they believe goSwoop can be improved. The course is broken down into three different sections – finance, marketing and operations, each of which is lead by a different professor. All of the professors involved with the course bring invaluable experiences to the classroom for students to use as a resource. We will be updating you frequently on the progress of the GB301 class and we are looking forward to collaborating with the students.

The overall goal we established for the three classes is to help develop solutions for goSwoop to increase its international student and university user base. At the end of the semester each group will be responsible for presenting the ideas they have developed and will be responsible for submitting a final business plan. The group with the best business plan will receive a $500 reward for their efforts.