Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:37:44 -0800WeeblyWed, 11 Aug 2010 11:08:02 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/08/five-impressive-first-year-experience-websites.htmlMy last blog post was about FYE Department websites and some criteria I thought these sites should meet. From a list of 50 of the best FYE programs in the nation, I decided to visit each page and came up with a Top 5 of my favorite ones that seem to have a great balance of look and feel, social media usage, and resourcefulness. This post provides a brief look into each of the Top 5 websites.

Indiana University, Bloomington
IU has the total package. On their home page are three clear resources for newly admitted students, first year students, and for parents. Complete with videos, common questions, and an account to track their involvement, IU has truly made an effort to cover every area that a first year steps on. Their social media buttons located clearly, but not in the way of some of the important content. They even encourage students to upload their own photos onto the department’s Flickr account! I also like the student blog that gives admitted students a preview of IU’s student life. Moreover, there are tons info to read up about from events specialized for first years different interest to more broad events like orientation and Welcome Week.

Ohio State University
OSU’s FYE website is simple yet chalk full of resources that first years and faculty/staff members might need. It is a very clean and easy-to-read site that is anything but cluttered. I really like that the navigation bar does not have too many options to choose from. Instead, after clicking a button, it provides links of resources each with a short sentence description and a “Read More” link. What is more cool is their amount of Event Programs that first years can get involved with.

Texas A&M University
In contrast to the other four schools, TAMU’s FYE website is the most simple. Although it is merely text-based, it is not at all boring or plain. For what visuals it lacks, it makes up for with the amount of information and questions answered. The site looks to have every aspect of college covered from transition seminars, to academic assistance, to on-campus housing. What it does lack, though, is a way for students to participate in discussion with the school or with each other. The same goes with Ohio State University’s website. There aren’t any advertised Social Media buttons or forums for students to express questions they might have.

University of Texas, Austin
UT Austin’s website is my top favorite FYE resource. The entire site has its own search engine so you can find almost anything you need. What I love is that the site also solicits student involvement in a dozen ways. UT Austin’s site doesn’t just push information that they expect their students to read. Instead, students are encouraged to ask real question, to follow the school on Twitter, and even to talk to a counselor. The website is very well put together and very impressive–just navigating through the features makes me want to learn more about what they have to offer. Successfully grabbing students’ attention and giving them a chance to dig deeper into the site should be a goal for every FYE site.

University of Wisconsin, Madison
UW Madison has almost every basic feature that the rest of the four other websites have. But what stands out the most is their presence and use of social media tools conveniently located at the bottom of the side navigation bar and not in the way of the important content. Another thing I liked was that they have separate social media accounts for the school and for the department. This website just goes to show that including these buttons doesn’t have to be a design nuisance or a distraction. Instead, it shows how versatile the school is in its new technology presence and that the school is willing to reach beyond their own website to keep in contact with their students.

If you are part of your school’s FYE Department, please feel free to take a look at these websites and see some of the features that I might not have gotten into to detail. Also, share what you like about these websites by leaving a comment.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:04:41 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/08/taking-an-objective-look-at-social-media-in-the-first-year-experience.htmlThe first year of college is when students determine how they fit within their school and ultimately whether or not they will continue to attend that school. Higher ed is also figuring out how to fit social media not only into their institution, but additionally to specific departments like First Year Experience. Despite FYE’s importance, resources and guidance using social media in this area is still scarce and remains untapped.

There are some colleges though who are doing their best to provide resources for faculty, staff and students to enhance student first year experience. Out of the 50 Schools with Top FYE Programs, 48 have a Twitter account, 45 have a Facebook Page, and only 15 have Admissions of Student Life related blogs.

Top 5 FYE Websites
Out of the 50 Colleges, there are six that stood out to me as a student (in no particular order):

• Indiana University, Bloomington
• Ohio State University
• Texas A&M University
• University of Texas, Austin
• University of Wisconsin, Madison

These schools succeed in providing great FYE websites for their students based on the following criteria:

Look and Feel
Attractive, simple and straight forward. Like with any web user, obvious and easy will keep a college student’s attention. Some things I liked about these Top 5 schools were that they included visuals (appropriate pictures and attractive graphics), topics were easy to find (clear navigation bars and lists), and pages were easy to navigate through. I think visuals are an essential part to creating a first impression with your school. Some of the 50 websites I visited gave varying impressions that made me characterize a school to be school-spirit and community driven or overly playful and technologically backward. Another thing to consider is the amount of text on school websites. Some of the 50 websites could have easily qualified for being a part of my Top 5 list if it weren’t for the fact that the wordiness turned me off from continue navigating through the site any longer. Being too wordy can be intimidating–something that a first year student should never experience.

Use of Social Media
Twitter accounts should be easy to find and should be obviously managed by the school. Almost half of the schools had a Twitter account for multiple departments. Others, unfortunately, only had either their News/Media Relations department and Athletics department as the only school accounts searchable on Twitter or Google. I understand how this can be great for fans and alumni across the country, but for prospect or newly admitted students, this may not cut it in enhancing school experience.

Facebook Pages are a great way to push information and updates to fans and, if schools are willing to take the challenge, can allow the school to interact with students through wall posts and discussion topics. Some of the 50 Schools have used their Facebook Page as a landing page to direct visitors back to the actual school website.

Blogs include Admissions Blogs and Student Life Blogs featuring students and staff sharing their experiences and advice for new students. I find that this is a great way to offer accounts of actual peer-experience, not what Admissions Officers think students experience.

Integration of Twitter, Facebook, and blogs into these FYE websites is important for gaining subscribers and followers because it makes these social media tools known to site visitors who may not make the effort to look for your presence in these social media.

Resourcefulness
Probably the main reason first years visit their school’s FYE site is to have questions answered. A perfect FYE Department would have gone through all the research to find the most common topics that first years usually have questions about. For my Top 5 schools, it seems like they have done just that. Unlike the other schools’ sites I’ve seen, my Top 5 schools don’t flood their website with every FAQ that has been asked. For more less common questions, a good FYE website would direct a visitor to another departmental page or even have a counselor ready to answer questions on a forum or through instant message chat.

Keeping first year students engaged with your school and with each other before and during their first year is critical to retention. One main way schools do this is through their school’s websites. It is important for the content on these websites to be helpful and relevant. What’s just as important is reaching out to student where they are already present, such as Twitter and Facebook. These Top 5 schools are a good example of trying to meet both important elements.

To see more detail about why I chose these 5 schools, read Five Impressive First-Year Experience Websites.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.]]>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:47:39 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/07/7-ways-colleges-can-use-foursquare.htmlAfter reading Michael and Seth’s thoughts on Location-Based Services and Higher Ed and as a response to Foursquare’s new Campus Rep program outreach, a couple of ideas came to mind for colleges campuses using Foursquare to engage their students with the school. Here are my ideas from a student point-of-view.

Taking inspiration from Tony’s conference Plancast/Foursquare integration, schools should extend Foursquare check-ins beyond campus buildings and restaurants to major campus events.

• For example, UCLA throws an annual Welcome Week where dozens of commercial vendors (Scion, Bank of America, etc.) and hundreds of campus orgs (sports clubs, interest groups, etc.) are scattered throughout campus. It would be great to see students engaged and checking-in at booths, at particular fields where booths are located, or at a performance event. This not only allows students to see where their friends are, but also allows students to see what booth or area is popular.

Promote school-run events by utilizing the gaming/competition aspect of Foursquare.

• Very often UCLA features concerts on campus. One of the common ways to raise awareness is through encouraging students to win free tickets. As a Public Relations Director for an org I was a part of last year, I successfully used Twitter to broadcast clues for a scavenger hunt to find hidden concert tickets on campus. I think it’d be great to see the school hold a Foursquare competition seeing who can check-in at every specified location, who has the most check-ins at an advertised location, etc. Not only does this hype up the event for the students, but it’s also a great awareness tool for campus/student organizations programming the event.

Promote attendance at locations or buildings by offering freebies.

•  Fact: Starving students like free things. Fact: Users of Foursquare like to be “mayors” of places and like to be rewarded for it. Ackerman Union at UCLA is home to the student store and a dozen restaurants. Promoting mayorship at certain stores in Ackerman Union could include discount coupons to attract and reward people.

Determine how popular or relevant a location is based on measuring the amount of student check-ins.

• With a lot of  program centers or departments on the verge of shutting down or downsizing, schools might be overlooking the importance of the threatened center to their students. One way of measuring its importance would be to see how many students actually go to and use that center. This can also be extended to other social media technologies like Twitter or Facebook. With these, colleges can scan and search for the buzz going around for a particular center or department. In short, it’s what Mike mentioned about Location-Based Services as a way to gather student data in his recent post.

Schools could control tips around campus by adding their own tips.

• Harvard’s Foursquare account does a good job in encouraging people to explore their campus with their tips. Tips could be about secret study locations that will benefit students. Tips could be about the history of a building that the school feels visitors should know about. I think it would be great for schools to help their students discover new aspects of the campus. This is also a great opportunity for students at orientation or even on campus tours to learn interested tidbits about your school.

Expand your school’s involvement outside of campus and promote local businesses.

•  Almost every school has a college-town surrounding the campus, and for every business, there are local businesses that the school supports. For UCLA, it’s Westwood and the restaurants and retail stores in it. I think schools should continue this relationship with social media. This can encourage prospective students to choose your school for reasons beyond academics.

Schools should collaborate with Foursquare to create specific badges for specific campus buildings or centers.

• At school we have only one student healthcare center. An ASHE Center Health Badge with a medical cross with the center name would be very cool. Why? My answer is “why not?” Students already check-in at buildings every day. Why not make students and visitors feel special and relevant while on campus? Plus, it would be really impressive for students to see that their school is cool and social media-savvy ;).

These are only a few of my ideas. I’ll be sure to keep you all updated as time goes on. Until then, please feel free to leave a comment with your ideas and opinions.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:43:27 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/07/18-ways-alumni-networks-can-use-social-media.htmlI haven’t even graduated yet, and I’m already received dozens of e-mail suggesting that I join my school’s alumni network–all of which I regard as spam and send to the trash. As a current student, even I know that alumni donors are extremely important being that they are a huge source of financial support. If some colleges and universities are already out of the loop when it comes to social technology and student relations, it is highly likely that they are struggling with the same thing in alumni relations.

Alumni Futures’ Andy Shaindlin has built an updated matrix of every possible use case for social technology in alumni and donor outreach. Some of the ways he suggests using the matrix are as a management checklist, for brainstorming, and to create a strategy roadmap.

Jeremiah Owyang, who originally put together the matrix, did so to help colleges and universities understand and realize their problem with social networks. When recent grads can connect with each other for free through Facebook or LinkedIn, they do not need to be a part of their school’s fee-based alumni network. With this said, I don’t think Higher Ed should lose hope. I suggest using such social technologies to get in touch with alumni, and lead them back to becoming members of your school’s alumni network.

Here are a few Use Cases from Shaindlin’s matrix that stood out for me:

• Talk to alumni by using tools to connect you like Twitter Lists and LinkedIn Groups where you can respond when necessary and have alumni respond to you.
• Listen to alumni by going through blogs, Twitters, Facebook Pages, etc. to gain info about what they now think of your institution and what describes their resource needs that your school may be able to provide.
• Aggregate alumni and campus voices through something like a blog as an inexpensive way to create ongoing content and uplift existing members. Here ishow Stanford has executed it.
• Connect alumni with students through social media groups such as Facebook Groups or a Micromobs Group. Schools should create alumni awareness in current students even before they graduate.

I beleive that these strategies are especially relevant for my upcoming generation of social technology-savvy alumni. With only one year left of my college career, it think it’s a great and natural idea for colleges to reach out to me once I graduate through the technologies I’m already using rather than through less engaging e-mails, phone calls, and letter mail (all of which I do not look forward to).

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:40:28 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/07/interning-at-a-startup.htmlLast week, a Reuters article reported on nationwide phenomena that in the past years have become more and more common: startups. The article’s premise is that behind this wave of entrepreneurship are recent college graduates and even current college students who, in a time of economy and high unemployment rates, are taking advantage of the “globalization of information and the advent of social media” to turn an idea into a business.

Based on my first month interning at Inigral this Summer, I’ve met enough people, attended enough events, and have experienced so much in a startup to show me just why entrepreneurship is on the rise.

My experience with InigralTo be honest, these past two weeks of my internship have been intense. I’ve walked into more than a dozen Social Media meet ups and have walked out knowing so much more about Silicon Valley and the industry than before. From writing blog posts to aggregating contact lists to providing my input in marketing strategies, I’ve genuinely learned more from these than from any other internship outside of Social Media. What I am more excited for about this summer, though, is the opportunity to learn more about marketing, learn more about startups, and learn more about what it takes to succeed in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. I’m excited to meet and become inspired by entrepreneurs who are having great progress with their products and learn their means to do so.

This summer-long event series puts on 10 events every Wednesday night here in San Francisco or in Palo Alto where guest speakers (investors, founders, etc.) talk about topics (product design, product marketing, etc) that interest and benefit us (interns). It is a fellowship program that also gives interns the opportunity to meet each other, network and learn about each other’s companies. The first event featured Jeff Clavier, Jonathan Ebinger, and Andy Fillat who discussed venture capital and raising money as an entrepreneur through the eyes of a VC. At this event, not only did interns attend, but founders of startups all across the Bay Area were there eager to have the opportunity to have questions answered by this All Star VC panel in such an intimate space.

The second event featured David Weekly, Dan Martell, Chris McCann and Myles Weissleder who spoke about how to connect with and take advantage of our time with the Silicon Valley startup community. From basic introduction techniques to following up with people you’ve met, this energetic panel unveiled the personality of the Valley with explaining what works and doesn’t work when connecting with people in the industry. The third event featured presentations by Hiten Shah and Jason Putori who spoke about their experiences and advice on product ideation, development and design. As gurus in their trade, I felt that it was an honor to hear from people who are changing the way companies’ websites and products are being designed and presented. From the events in June alone I’ve already learned more than I could imagine about having a successful startup and product…and this has only been from three out of the ten events! I’m honestly excited to hear more from founders, executives, and elites in the community.

The GenJuice Tour is a 13-city wide tour in which the event organizers Arielle Patrice Scott, Danielle Leslie, and Virgilia Singh are encouraging, mobilizing, and connecting more than a thousand young entrepreneurs across the nation to start and follow through with their projects and companies by connecting them together, providing the resources they need, and inspiring them with the talks of successful entrepreneurs. GenJuice creates a support network and environment amongst entrepreneurs and I believe this is exactly what some entrepreneurs need in order to achieve their dream. I attended their first stop in San Francisco with Tony at Justin.tv’s headquarters.

Keynote speakers included Lyle Fong and Daniel Brusilovsky as well as several small discussion leaders. What I took from Lyle’s speech was preserverence and trust in where your company is going even though you don’t exactly know where it’s going. Daniel’s talk was especially inspiring, not only because he’s a 17 year-old entreprenuer, but because of how he set up his company execs and employees to be located all over the world. This just goes to show the impact of the Web bringing people and businesses together. The small group discussions were primarily focused on topics brought up and led by attendees. Some of the topics included and which I attended were about maintaining community and keeping a 9-5 job separate from your startup.

I really liked this event because it was very personal: only two other interns, Ryan and Jesse, and George from Inigral were there along with three of our new friends from Udemy. Our lunch seminar was with Cheryl Cheng who really opened my eyes on internships in general. She spoke about how to take advantage of your time with your company by making the right connections with the right people and learning as much as you can about the company. She also spoke about how interns should be assertive and become a source for new ideas, information, and recommendations.

From all this, I’ve learned that entrepreneurship definitely should be something college graduates should look into. Whether it be for profit or non-profit, someone or some group can always break into an industry as long as it’s new and hasn’t been done before.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:38:36 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/07/higher-ed-increases-adoption-of-social-media.htmlAdopting social media and communicating with today’s youth has been a long-time challenge for everyone. But where does Higher Ed stand?

A longitudinal study conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research has been trying to answer this question. The study, which analyzes the most recent trending of social media adoption by the admission offices of all the four-year accredited institutions in the United States, has extended its findings from 2007 by adding 2009 data. Study authors Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., and Eric Mattson, CEO of Financial Insite Inc., found that 95% of college admissions offices use at least one form of social media in 2009; a 10% increase over 2008 and 34% growth over 2007. From just this, it looks like Higher Ed is doing just fine.

Among several key findings, the study also found exactly what the study article’s title states: “Social Media and College Admissions: Higher-Ed Beats Business in Adoption of New Tools for Third Year.” Evidence to prove this is that while 22% of Fortune 500 and 42% of Inc. 500 companies have a corporate blog, Colleges and universities have outpaced both with 51% of schools having an admissions blog in addition to using other forms of social media.

Here is a list of other key stats:

• In 2009, 87% of admissions departments use social networking (ex. Facebook)
• 59% of schools have a Twitter account
• 51% of schools have a blog in addition to using other social media
• 46% use videoblogs, 38% use message boards, 22% use podcasts and 13% use wikis
• 91% of admissions departments feel that social media is important for recruitment strategies
• 73% of schools monitored the Internet for buzz, posts, conversations and news about their institution
• No significant differences were found between the use of blogs by public or private schools, or by size of undergraduate population
• Admissions office, marketing and public relations departments mostly manage school blogs

From this we find that Higher Ed is really stepping their game up in terms of engaging with their current students in the online world. I can personally attest to these statistics as being true. As a college student, I am definitely more attracted to media that meets me where I am–online on Facebook, Twitter, etc. But more importantly, Higher Ed’s enthusiasm and eagerness to embrace these new communication tools are helping maximize recruitment power by engaging prospective students. While more and more high school and college students are communicating with their peers online, it should only be natural for colleges and universities to involve themselves in where these conversations are happening. If your college or university isn’t already taking advantage of these new tools, hopefully this report convinces you to do so.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>Tue, 25 May 2010 20:50:02 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/05/bridging-the-gap-between-higher-ed-and-facebook-events.htmlPersonally, on a given night when I want to find something to do, I call, text or Instant Message my friends. Generally speaking for all students, when it comes to finding something to do at school, I am going to check my Facebook Events page because it lists almost all the events I would be interested in. While some of the on-campus events I come across on Facebook are run by students and their organizations, the majority are events programmed by the actual school.

Although the events are organized by an institution, it is almost always the case that the Facebook Events are created by students. This is problematic in several ways. One is that unreliable information about events might be delivered if the institution does not assure that details are correct. Also important is the trustworthiness of the Facebook Events; when students create dozens of random events for different entities, how am I supposed to know that my school’s upcoming concert is legitimate? This is also connected to the problem of discrepancies in which several students make multipleEvent Invitations for the same event.

As a student leader myself, I know how important it is to get the word out when you have an event planned. But if you’re an institution spending loads of money to produce an event, what’s more important is whether or not the word being spread is accurate. So why are they leaving the creation of Facebook Events up to complete strangers, who may not always have their best interests in mind? Does that institution really want this unreliable, not up to date exchange of information? If not, how can Higher Ed solve this problem?

The truth of the matter is that it’s a challenge that may not be easily met with one practical solution.  Higher Ed must know that Facebook promotion (e.g. Facebook Events) should be integrated with your current marketing strategies (e.g. school websites) for campus-wide events and that schools must keep in mind how to connect and regulate information between the two. At first thought, manually creating Facebook events might seem like a good option, but doing this would keep both ends separate and would require a lot of work. Facebook Connect would be a better alternative in achieving integration but doesn’t exactly solve the problem with events. UCLA’s Happenings Events Calendar, which consolidates every UCLA-relevant event into one accessible calendar, is a great example of somewhat bridging this gap. With its recent addition of Facebook’s Like and Recommendations plugins, the website’s visitors are able to see who in their Facebook friends have “Liked” the event and who have recommended the event to the rest of their Facebook network–both of which publishes the activity on the visitors’ News Feed. Still, though, this does not achieve the goal in unifying events on both ends.

So what’s the answer? Unfortunately it’s still out there and undiscovered.  Whether it’s manually entering Facebook events, bridging the gap with Facebook Connect or perhaps something else entirely, the fact remains that until this is answered, students will continue to rely on unreliable information from unreliable people simply because it’s easier to check Facebook than to navigate a school’s site. Not knowing if your word is being spread effectively is a very scary thought.

See the original post on Inigral's blog.]]>Tue, 25 May 2010 20:33:46 -0800http://www.natevillegas.com/1/post/2010/05/the-hidden-truth-about-facebook-fan-pages.htmlWhen it comes to my hundreds of friends and dozens of groups, I am constantly bombarded with News Feed stories by the second. While some of these stories interest me, those that do not are mostly Fan Page stories. To understand why that is, I decided to take a look at the Fan Pages I “fan” and how they communicate.

After my few years as a Facebook user, I’ve seen Fan Pages that fall into two extremes—ones that do too much and ones that don’t do enough. A Page that does too much enters Facebook with the right intentions in terms of updating its fans; but like someone shouting through a megaphone hoping to be heard, too many news updates can annoy fans and become ignored. In contrast, there’s the Page that does nothing to create a relationship with its fans, leaving its page stagnant and forgotten. But in the middle of these two there are a few pages that do things right. For these Pages, the main idea is to get their marketing message out there. They succeed in maintaining steady traffic, showing high numbers of fans, and engage the fans with the Page. It’s a tightrope walk, balancing efforts to deliver a message while not over saturating your fan’s feeds. However for Higher Ed, it’s even more challenging because, in addition to the mentioned obstacles, these Pages have trouble targeting the intended audience while updating fans with quality posts at the same time.

For pages such as Coca-Cola and the San Francisco Giants, it is relatively easy to publish relevant, general information because the fan base is sort of singular—they are straight up fans/supporters of that brand or team, not prospect fans or former fans. With institutions, this isn’t the case because their pages usually encompass prospective students, current students, staff, faculty, parents and alumni. It is nearly impossible to control who receives what messages because of Page’s “push-to-all” method of diffusing information.

So in the end, what does all this mean for Higher Ed? How do you provide useful and valuable information out to the right audience, whether it be prospective students, current students, or alumni?

That answer is to do your best to provide relevant information that strikes conversation among multiple facets of your fan base. Stop fractioning, bring these groups together and get them talking about your school. To succeed in doing this, institutions need to adjust not only their approach to the Facebook platform, but how they measure success as well. They must stop thinking about their fan numbers like a scoreboard and start trusting Facebook’s new Insights Page as a window into their ability to truly resonate and interact with their key audiences.

Achieving broad marketing efforts on Facebook is a challenge for any company or business, but for Higher Ed institutions it’s even harder. As blunt as that may sound, Higher Ed institutions must do their best in juggling the content of their news updates because although I may exist to you as a fan, information that doesn’t interest me can easily be hidden. When your status updates don’t exist in my News Feed, my existence as a fan is meaningless, and ultimately that is a decision that I get to make by simply clicking “Hide.”

See the original post on Inigral's blog.

]]>