Social media strategy for colleges is clearly the latest
craze in internet marketing. New and shiny related products are coming out
every day and the big-name online marketers are all participating. It’s always
good to keep up with the trend. So I have studied up on this a bit as I am a
master of the obvious at times and thought that I could make sense of this phenomenon
for you. I am by no means an expert at digital
marketing strategy for colleges, but this may help.
What are the fundamental components of a sound social media strategy?
·
Forums and online communities
·
Blogs
·
Social Networks (Facebook, MySpace, Instagram...)
·
Multimedia sharing (YouTube, Viddler, Flickr...)
·
Social Bookmarking (Delicious, Pinterest, Mix,
,...)
·
Microblogging (Twitter)
·
Social media management tools
What are the advantages of having a social media strategy?
First and foremost it's potentially viral advertising. If
your content is good and interesting, even fascinating, then your following or
your "tribe" can grow fast.
Then there is influence. You have a built-in ability to
influence your audience by participating in discussions. Responding
intelligently to negative criticism and expressing appreciation for the
positive stuff. This has a powerful relationship-building potential.
Having a social media strategy for colleges allows you to comment and share information
with whomever you choose immediately- students, customers, partners,
competitors, or vendors, to name a few. Social media creates a smarter and more
informed consumer which forces the quality curve up and increases the
requirement for absolute accountability. It weeds out the idiots.
All of this exposure can be both good and bad.
If you don't participate you can't control your brand and
you leave your reputation up to the whims of the social networks. On the other
hand, if you do participate and participate regularly, you can take relationship
building to a whole other level and potentially reach customers previously out
of reach to you.
With a solid digital marketing strategy for colleges, you
can continue to keep repositioning your brand, based on real-time substantive
information and generate more quality customer traffic than ever before.
The most important term in "digital marketing strategy
for colleges" is the term ‘strategy’. Without a true strategy with
processes and systems in place, you can do far more damage than good. I say
jump into the world of social media, just make sure you have a plan.


