Nathaniel Villegas

 
Adopting 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.

 


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