How Ho to Use Social Networking g Sites to Communicate to Families Chris Christensen – Johnson County CC Robb Cummings – Sallie Mae  C Communication i ti llandscape d ttoday d  Common social media sites  Things to consider  Group discussion and questions Agenda     The freshman s a class ass of o 2015 0 5 was as born bo in 1993. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway. PCs and Apples of the early 90’s had hard d i drives smaller ll than th today’s t d ’ flash fl h drives. d i For many students, email is passé and because of cell phones phones, wrist watches are no longer necessary. Source: Beloit College’s 2011 Mindset List www.beloit.edu/mindset  Co Communication u a o is s no o longer o g a one-way o ay street.  People now spend more time on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter than on p personal/work / email.  Generational ◦ Millennials are the heaviest users ◦ Baby Boomers are the fastest growing users Shifts in Communication  Social networking g continues to evolve into ever more powerful uses for:  Admissions  Financial Aid  Bursar  Career C C Counseling li  Alumni  Fundraising  Other Offices Overall Campus Communication Strategy  Cross-campus p collaboration  Know your audience & objectives  Focus on ongoing activity within the campus community rather than on specific campaigns  Measure your success…and adjust when necessary Overall Campus Communication Strategy  Co Connect with s students/families ud s/ a s where they are  Larger reach with fewer staff resources  Competitive advantages  Rapid dissemination of message What’s in it for the FAO?  What  Who do we want to achieve? do we want to reach?  What social media channels are the right ones for our institution? What will work best for our office? Plan Your Strategy Where to Start?! Even MORE Options… Common Social Media Channels  750 50 million+ o active a users us s  900 million+ objects (pages, groups, events etc.) events, etc )  20 million + applications pp installed daily y  Millions of websites have integrated with Facebook Facebook  Provide real-time status updates  Promote events & important deadlines  Monitor and answer questions  Link to school website (or other sites) What Can You Do On Facebook? Facebook Page for JCCC http://www.facebook.com/pages/php  The S SMS S (Short (S o Message ssag Service) S ) of o the Internet  200 million+ users  80% of users access via mobile devices  “Tweets” – 140 character messages  Over 200 million tweets per day and 1.6 16 billion search queries per day Twitter FHSU Twitter Site  Vid Video sharing h i service i  Demographic is 18-54 years old  13 million hours of video uploaded in 2010 and 35 hours of video uploaded every minute!  700 billion playbacks in 2010 YouTube/Podcasts Kansas State YouTube Video  Online p photo/video management g and sharing application  Over 5 billion images hosted as of September 2010 Flickr Blogger  www.hootsuite.com oo su o  Social media dashboard that allows the user to monitor and/or post to several sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, F Foursquare, MySpace, M S W dP WordPress, etc.) t )  Sched le postings in advance Schedule ad ance Hootsuite Hootsuite  M k it interactive Make i t ti  Use relevant keywords y in “About Us” section  Offer FAQs  Promote sites via email Tips To Remember  Link to other social media sites  K Keep it current! t!  Remember b it is s pub public information o a o  Monitor your sites for feedback/comments Tips To Remember  Wh updates Who d t your site? it ? How H often? ft ?  Policy for addressing complaints and/or negative comments posted online?  What is your institution institution’s s existing policy on the use of social media sites?  Social media sites are evolving constantly. constantly Know when it is time to make changes. Things to Consider…  Tools for social media management ◦ Google Alerts  http://www.google.com/alerts g g ◦ Social Mention  http://www.socialmention.com Manage Your Media Google Alerts Social Mention  Which social media sites are your institutions using?  What issues/challenges have you experienced?  Any unanticipated benefits?  Advice from your experience? Open Discussion