1. Colleges and Social Media A challenging opportunity

2. Colleges and Social Media Introduction – The Social Media Revolution Opportunities Challenges Social media and Colleges Social media at VCC Dialogue

3. Social media is a term used to collectively describe a set of tools that foster interaction, discussion and community, allowing people to build relationships and share information (In other words...social media is a fancy way to describe the millions of conversations and interactions happening online - all day, every day.) What is Social Media?

4. Because two thirds of the global internet population visit social networks. Why Does It Matter?

5. The Social Media Revolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4EwCG8Z498&feature=youtu.be

6. Opportunities Join the conversation about your brand! –Broaden reach to a wide, global audience –Expand recruitment –Share content –Respond to questions –Reduce traditional advertising costs –Actively engage with users –Facilitate conversations

7. Challenges It’s not as simples as it looks... –Reputation management –Resources (people, time) –Competition/online ‘noise’ –Relevant content –Security –Lack of understanding/ internal ‘buy-in’

8. Social Media and Colleges A study by the UMass Dartmouth showed that, of the colleges surveyed, 100% of students use social media. Colleges need to embrace social media as a way to engage students.

9. Social Media at VCC Our goal: –Inform –Excite –Educate –Engage

10. Social Media at VCC Our channels –Facebook –Twitter –YouTube –Flickr –Linkedin –Four Square

11. Social Media at VCC How we manage: –Social media guidelines –Social media strategy –1 voice representing the brand (dedicated staff) –Monitoring –Quick response –Comment policy –New content

12. Questions & Discussion