SOCIAL NETWORKINGUSING ONLINE COMMUNICATION

TOOLS in Your Admissions & Records Office

Get Motivated to Use Facebook, Live Chat & Twitter

• It is Extremely Effective

• It is Preferred by Your Students

• It is Free and Manageable

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What is Social Networking?• Our definition – using web & mobile technologies to engage with students; establishing the sense of “community” through frequent social interaction

•Oops – wrong concept of social

•Combination - Facebook, live chat & Twitter

Survey of the Audience

•Who is already using Facebook, live chat, Twitter, or something else?

•Describe your experience … briefly

What is Social Networking?•Similar to the Listserve community: exchange ideas, questions answered, and common bond

•Take the idea of the Listserve community one step further – engaging the students to build a social community

How Do You Get Started?

• Start slow• Choose one social media tool to start• Research your college website – what social media is currently being used? If none, start with public relations / webmaster• Make one posting per week• Co-author messages with Director of Admissions

What Do You Do or Say to the Students Online?• Time-critical info (i.e. registration deadlines)

• Last-minute changes on class offerings (i.e. new offerings – register now)

• Fees & payments (i.e. drop for non-payment – pay now) • Events (i.e. speakers on campus, transfer workshops, ASG

socials)

• Athletic & club awards received• Hours of operation, campus closures & system

down (i.e. extended hours beginning of semester)

• Campus emergency & crisis• LAST but not least – social & engaging info

EXAMPLES–Informational

EXAMPLES–Questions from Students

EXAMPLES–Students Comments

EXAMPLES–Engaging the Students

Why Would You Use Facebook, Live Chat or Twitter?

EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE• 12-week class offerings – 25% filled within 2 days – would have taken at least a week or two• Smooth transition to online Add Code – no more paper add cards – significantly decrease human errors, paper costs & scanning resources• Questions asked through live chat – decrease # of phone calls & in-person

Why Would You Use Facebook, Live Chat or Twitter?

PREFERRED METHOD BY STUDENTS• Age groups of 18, 19, and 20 year-old students make up 70% of SCC Fall 2010 enrollment• 79% of Facebook users b/w ages of 18-34• SCC Facebook monthly active users increased 220% over 5-month period• Refer students to college website – give them links w/in answers on Facebook & live chat

Why Would You Use Facebook, Live Chat or Twitter?

FREE & MANAGEABLE• MEEBO offers live chat – free• Facebook & Twitter are free• Easy to implement–no need for a technical degree• Manageable – do not need dedicated person – Facebook provides automatic email notifications & weekly summary

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How Much Time Do You Spend Doing This?• At first a couple of hours a week• Now 30 minutes every other day – create messages, check links• Not recommended to post every day – look at other campus postings – don’t overdue it!• Part of daily activities / responsibilities

Who Should Do This?• Young-minded, energetic person• A social person• Likes working with technology – not afraid to try new things• Highly organized• Good writing skills

Facebook Email Notification• Instant email notification to FB administrator when someone posts on your FB wall

Facebook Weekly Summary• Weekly summary emailed to FB administrator

Facebook Insights• Analytic tool of your college website statistics• Provide user statistics: gender & age groups, cities, mobile devices used, external referrers• Use statistics to track trends (Dean Hopkins)• Director of A&R use statistics for Board meetings – college administrators love statistics (Linda Miskovic)

Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights

Challenges• Build a sense of community w/o self-promotion (reply using the student’s first name, make it conversational, engage in their social issues)

• An evolving tool (i.e. not afraid to test new features)

• Establish guidelines (i.e. cannot post videos, block words)

• Not a bulletin board (i.e. room for rent) & not a swap meet (i.e. used book for sale)

• Administrator can hide or pull a posting/comment & block students

Looking AheadTHE MOST EFFECTIVE SOCIAL NETWORKING IN AN A&R ENVIRONMENT MAY BE A COMBINATION OF:

• Facebook, live chat, Twitter, YouTube & CamtasiaFacebook & Twitter to engageLive chat for individual questionsYouTube to “show” – talking directions (need closed captions though)

• Future technologiesBlogging, mobile apps for registration

Live Demonstration

•MEEBO – live chat•Facebook•Twitter

Questions

•Anyone?

Resources• Facebook www.facebook.com• MEEBO (live chat) www.meebo.com• Bit.ly (shorten links) http://bit.ly/• Twitter www.twitter.com• YouTube www.youtube.com• Camtasia software• Hubspot (free webinars) www.hubspot.com• Mobile device apps

Contact Information• Linda Miskovic – Director of Admissions & Records – Santiago Canyon College – miskovic_linda@sccollege.edu • Dean Hopkins – Electronic Media Specialist – Santiago Canyon College – hopkins_dean@sccollege.edu• Loann Tran – Admissions & Records Specialist II – Santiago Canyon College – tran_loann@sccollege.edu