Tap into the social networking craze.

Did you know that hundreds of millions of young people log on to social networking sites like myspace.com, Facebook.com and hi5.com every single day to connect with old friends, make new ones, discuss interests, share news, photos, videos and get advice?

This is where a great majority of your prospective and current students are. But how do you reach them?

Section for Colleges and Universities

Did you know that myspace.com has a special section dedicated specifically to colleges and universities to help students find the right school? And it’s FREE! Here’s the link. Go ahead and explore it: www.myspace.com/collegesanduniversities

Growing Rapidly

The three social networking sites mentioned above are all ranked in the top 10 of the most-visited sites, according to www.alexa.com, an authority on the subject. At the end of 2007, myspace.com was getting the most traffic of all social networking sites. However, things move fast in the Internet world. Its closest competitor, Facebook.com, is not far behind and growing at an incredible pace. From September 2006 to September 2007, Facebook’s traffic ranking increased from 60th to seventh, according to Alexa.com.

MySpace.com — currently ranked sixth on Alexa.com — had 106 million users in September 2006, but by September 2007, there were 200 million MySpace users. And now the site is growing at a rate of 230,000 new users each day! An average MySpace page is visited 30 times a day. And this is just myspace.com. There are others. Many others. And they are all growing, and becoming more and more important to the digital generation, every single day!

A Site for Every Niche

Suddenly, niche social networking sites are popping up. Do you like dogs? There’s now social networking for dogs: www.dogster.com allows you to create a profile for your dog complete with photos, videos and more. You can even search for dogs that have similar interests to yours. You can probably guess that if there is a dogster, then there must be a catster too. And you’re right! www.catster.com makes social networking for cats (and cat lovers) a reality. Pets not your thing? Perhaps you’re into, ummm, I don’t know, sneakers? Try www.sneakerplay.com for those obsessed with sneakers. Whatever you’re into, there’s probably a social networking site out there for others just like you. And if there isn’t, why not create one yourself?

Where Is Your School?

It all comes down to this … social networking is growing at an incredibly fast pace among young people. The technology is free and available to anyone with an Internet connection. These social networking sites are where your prospective and current students are spending their time. This is where your school should be. This is where your admissions reps should be. This is where your financial aid reps should be. This is where YOU should be.

It takes more than just a cool college Web site to connect with today's digital generation. You've also got to tap into their social network. Listen to their thoughts. Join in the conversation. Be a part of their world.

What Can I Do on a Social Networking Site?

Most social networking sites enable users to communicate and collaborate in a number of ways. You can search for friends with similar interests and get or give friend requests. You should always be building your friend list and staying in touch with friends.

Community Bulletin Boards

One way to communicate is through a community bulletin board organized by category and similar interest. Here you can read other people’s posts and messages, then reply with your own. You are a critical part of the site. Your contribution to the site is what makes the experience truly interactive, while also keeping the content fresh and interesting. The site would have no content without other people’s contributions.

Private Groups

With private groups, your school can organize a group of friends who want to privately share a common Web page and message board. This becomes their private collaboration space online. Private groups are ideal for people working on a project together. Or for discussions with a group of students, or professors with their class.

Instant Messaging

You can send an instant message to anyone on your friend list and communicate immediately. View and share photos, video clips, audio clips and, of course, comment on these items so your friends can see what you have to say — and then you can reply to them.

Organizing and Promoting Events

You can create events, public or private, to invite people in your own friend lists, as well as people in your friend's friend lists, to attend your school's upcoming events such as open houses, college fairs and more.

Blogs

Blogs are very popular with today's young people. Create blogs to promote your school, share your thoughts and listen to others. Prospective students are heavily influenced by their peers. Allowing them to listen and chat with your existing students can go a long way to enrolling them in your school.

Classified Ads

Search classifieds or post free classified ads in categories such as, For Sale, Jobs, Housing and more. Also take advantage of up-to-the-minute news stories and articles.

The number of available features and the things you can do on social networking sites are rapidly increasing, but for you, the key is ease of communication and collaboration with your prospects and current students. Meeting them on a common site is half the battle.

So … get into the social networking game and be a part of their world.

What do you think? Feel free to comment on this post.

10 Ways For Schools To Connect With Generation TXT

You have an attractive view book.
And a cool website.
But are you really connecting
with the digital generation?

Students live in a different world. One of text messages, blogs, chat rooms, myspace, youtube, yahoo, podcasts and mobile devices. It takes more than just a cool college website to connect with your target audience. You’ve got to tap into their social network. Listen to their thoughts. Join in the conversation. Be a part of their world.

To fuel growth and sustain a competitive advantage, schools need to tap into the popular technologies and social networks that are now an everyday part of students’ lives. In this article we’ll explore 10 ways to make such important technologies as personalized interactive websites, blogs, myspace, facebook, youtube, google, yahoo and text messaging work for your school.

Here are 10 ways for schools to connect with Generation TXT

1.) Search Engines
2.) Blogging
3.) Social Networking
4.) Podcasting
5.) YouTube
6.) Permission-based Email Marketing
7.) Mobile Phones
8.) Forums and Chat Rooms
9.) Websites
10.) Personalized Digital Catalogs

1.) Increase qualified leads from search engines

Students use search engines like google, yahoo, msn and ask to find information. By optimizing your website to be more search engine friendly you can increase the amount of natural or unpaid listings you receive. These are free referrals from search engines right at the point when the potential student is actively searching for the information. In most cases these opportunities are lost because the college website is not optimized for search engines.

An addition to the free listings, there is also paid search advertising. With an effective pay-per-click (PPC) search advertising program you can precisely target prospects while controlling your ad spending with daily budgets. Your website can be a powerful source of highly qualified and very inexpensive or even free leads, if you create the right search engine strategy and implement it. Learn more about search engine marketing...

2.) Use blogs to share your thoughts and listen to theirs

Blogs are one of the most effective ways to develop meaningful connections with your target audience and get real, honest feedback. They can also help improve search engine optimization (SEO). What’s more, it is usually very inexpensive (or free if you do it yourself) to get started. The most challenging part is knowing how to make your blog effective, and how to keep it in front of the right audience. Learn more about blogging...

3.) Tap into the social networking craze to build your brand online

As of October 2007, tens of millions of young people logon to websites like MySpace.com, Facebook.com and hi5.com everyday to connect with old friends, make new ones, discuss interests, share news and get advice. Did you know that the 3 social networking sites I mentioned above are all ranked in the top 10 of the most highly trafficked sites according to alexa.com, the authority on the subject. Get into the social networking game and get people talking about your college. Learn more about social networking...

4.) Get the word out with powerful, relevant podcasting programs

If managed properly, podcasts can be an extremely engaging and cost-effective way to get your message out to your target audience using short audio segments. Develop an ongoing, effective podcasting program that conveys useful, interesting information for prospective and existing students. It’s another great opportunity for you to connect with your prospects in a way that they can easily relate to. Learn more about podcasting...

5.) Harness the power of YouTube to reach your target audience

The tremendous success of YouTube has opened up a completely new, and virtually untapped, way for colleges to improve recruitment efforts. Create and upload viral videos to reach out to your target audience with relevant content. After watching the video and sharing it with their friends, these viewers can be directed to your MySpace profile for more information. Learn more about YouTube...

6.) Send out permission-based emails that get read and responded to

Develop relevant, targeted, permission-based email marketing programs that will grab student’s attention and help increase your conversion ratios. Because it can cost less than a penny per email, communicating with students by email is an affordable way to stretch a tight marketing budget. If executed properly, your small investment in email marketing can increase student satisfaction and retention. Learn more about permission-based email marketing...

7.) Take advantage of a smarter approach to mobile phone marketing

Enhance traditional media with a student-friendly response device. Permission-based text messaging with short codes. Alert subscribers to news and events that interest your target market on their mobile phone. This is a great way to promote your own college events and open houses as well as info to prospective applicants and improve their overall perception of your brand. Since it is a permission-based program, you know that the students who subscribe will be interested in reading your messages. Learn more about mobile phone marketing with text messages...

8.) Spread the word through online forums

Online forums are a great way to educate applicants about your college, answer questions, create a “buzz”, and even improve search engine rankings. They are also very inexpensive to set up. Chances are, your prospective students are already finding out about your college on forums. Join in the conversation and communicate the real benefits of your institution. Learn more about online forums...

9.) Turn your college website into a powerful marketing tool

Take your site to the next level by making it more relevant, more appealing and more search engine friendly. Include the tools mentioned above for a well rounded integrated website. Learn more about intelligent websites...

10.) Create personalized digital catalogs

Give each prospect a personalized version of your catalog that’s targeted to his or her specific interests and goals. Relevant information provides a faster more enjoyable experience for the prospective student, while allowing your school to build an intelligent database of responses. Admissions departments get extensive, relevant data on every prospect who requests this personalized catalog. Learn more about personalized digital catalogs...

What do you think? Feel free to comment on this post.