veronicabaker:

I’m a student at Emerson College, an institution that takes pride in “bringing innovation to communication and the arts.” Social media has been a profound innovation to way the world communicates. However, Emerson’s use of social media has been less than impressive.

Emerson’s social media presence fails to…

reflect the Emerson community

Emerson has an account on Twitter and Facebook, but has yet to use either for anything noteworthy.

On the other hand, Emerson students are all over social media. While the average age of a Twitter user is over 35, our student body is banging out tweets like it’s going out of style.

The school itself should be a reflection of the student body. When it comes to my school’s social media presence, I feel like I’m staring at a wall, not a mirror. Emerson College should show the same social media savvy as its community.

participate in the conversation

A major benefit of social media is the opportunity for two-way communication with you and your public. (via Kyle Lacy).

This picture is worth a thousand words, but the Emerson College Twitter page is worth zero. Literally, there are zero tweets on the account.

Their Facebook page is equally as unimpressive. The wall is simply an RSS feed of the Emerson site’s News section. No comments, no questions, no status update, no conversation.

How can you bring innovation to communication, without becoming a part of the conversation within these innovations? Social media is an arena for conversation. Start it, become a part of it, or don’t bother coming in

target a clearly defined audience

In the context of social media marketing, the goals you’ve chosen will help to determine your target audience (via Dosh Dosh).

What are Emerson’s social media goals? Increase enrollment, showcase student work, attract donors?  Who are they trying to reach? Prospective students, faculty, the homeless guy across the street?

I don’t have the slightest clue, and I don’t think Emerson does either.

Before jumping into the social media game, you have to make your own rules. Step 1: define goals. Step 2: chose target audience. Step 3: produce and share content accordingly. You can’t communicate effectively through social media if you don’t know who you’re communicating with.

Sorry Emerson, I’ll give you some credit. You haven’t failed entirely.

Emerson’s social media presence has successfully…

connected with alumni

Lo and behold, Emerson has a fantastic and far reaching social media presence for their alumni association: an active Facebook page (1,534 fans), Twitter account (697 followers), LinkedIn group (2,634 members), and Flickr photo pool (308 photos).

created segments by academic department

It is recommended to segment customers based on offline behaviors or past interactions with your organization (via ClickZ).

I’m a fan of the Emerson College Department of Marketing Communication Facebook page because I’m a marketing major at Emerson College. Offline interaction, meet online segment. Journalism majors can become a fan of the Emerson College Journalism Department, and grad students can connect at the Emerson College Graduate Studies page.

provided insight for perspective students

Social media has become a valuable tool for high school students throughout their quest to find their college of choice. The Emerson Enrollment YouTube Channel gives a peak into the dorm life, dining hall and orientation week at the college.

Regardless, Emerson could stand to take a few pointers from other schools using social media. Stanford University’s Facebook page features an album of photos taken by students. University of Texas created a blog called Longhorn Confidential, in which two students from each grade level blogged about their experiences at school. University of Minnesota uses Twitter for news distribution, and the BU Athletics Twitter is for students to “Follow their favorite Terrier team!” UC Berkeley has over 300 hours of academic programming on their YouTube Channel.

Come on, Emerson. Get with the program!

Research Sources:

• 10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media, via Mashable
• 10 University Collections On YouTube, via Open Culture
  

This is a fabulously written post that describes some of my frustrations with this school’s effort in “being on the bleeding edge of technology, communication and the arts.” They’re really not. This post says it all.

Also the Emerson homepage looks like it’s from 1999. I’ve heard it’s being redesigned, so one can hope.