Marketing and Social Media in Education

Marketing and Social Media in Our Schools

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a post about getting the right message to the right person at the right time. Although several marketing and communication methods have changed in the past few years, the principle of targeting marketing to make things relevant remains applicable for teachers, administrators, K-12 schools, colleges and universities.

My children are getting ready for college, so we’ve been checking out Twitter chats like #collegebound (Mon 4P ET), #collegechat (1st and 3rd Tues 9P ET), #campuschat (Weds 9P ET) and #collegecash (Thurs 10P ET). We are also receiving email like crazy from colleges that we were never even aware of, since they didn’t elect to opt-out when they took the SAT. Some progressive schools are even using QR codes! So I started wondering if my perception that education was a highly-restricted world where websites were blocked more often than not, was severely outdated.

It seems to me that teachers are using online tools more and more, especially if it’s free, since budget cuts are leaving schools in poor financial straits. Here’s one list of 10 sites and services for teachers to use in the classroom. It looks very similar to technologies you might use at work. Facebook may be blocked on many school campuses, but a recent study shows that Facebook isn’t to blame for bad grades. Careful monitoring and setting up strong security measures are several things schools are attempting to allow teachers to use social media to enhance education. Companies use monitoring and security measures to make sure social media usage on the job is for work-related purposes, too. College admissions officers use of Facebook to view prospective applicants’ profiles seems just like a corporate HR professional checking out potential job candidates. Am I missing something or is marketing and social media in education sounding very similar to the corporate world?

I’m hoping that marketers, educators, and other parents of college-bound students will join me on Wednesday, 10/19/11 at 1PM ET to set this topic straight! I also wanted to get the framing post up before Tuesday’s #edchat Twitter conversation at 12N and 7P ET so that educators who join that chat can share their perspective as well. Here are my questions about education marketing and social media usage in schools today:

Q1: How do you define social media marketing for education?

Q2: Does education have more restrictions on marketing and social media than other industries? Why or why not?

Q3: What’s the best example of a school using marketing/social media?

Q4: Are Twitter chats the best way for schools to engage? How else can they communicate with students?

Q5: Should CAN SPAM apply to colleges? What email marketing best practices should they follow?

What questions do you have about education marketing and social media use? Please leave them in the comments below and/or join us on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 1PM ET for the #SMchat Twitter chat – hope to see you there!

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Tagged: #campuschat, #collegebound, #collegecash, #collegechat, #edchat, Education, Facebook, Marketing, schools, Social Media, teachers, twitter

Posted in: Marketing