Should Colleges and Universities Jump on Social Media Bandwagons?

Sometimes it feels like keeping up with the youths is a full-time, amiright? And nowhere is that more evident than in higher education marketing, where the whims and wishes of our target audience evolve faster than you can say fickle. Lucky for you, here at Forge we’ve got a soft spot for work that’s simultaneously exhausting and exhilarating.

Forge’s higher education consultant, Rachel Reuben, recently tackled the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it landscape of social media and offered tips for institutional adoption of new platforms in an article for Inside Higher Ed.

The article was sparked by last month’s meteoric rise of Peach, an idiosyncratic new social network that broadcasts like Twitter, connects like Facebook, and curates like Tumblr. Confused? Don’t worry – here’s a crash course on what it is and how to use it.

Rachel poses the question “So, should you jump into using Peach and will it be the next Twitter, Instagram or Facebook? Or, will it go the way of Meerkat, Google Wave and Buzz which were hot out of the gate and fizzled fast to non-existence?”

Understanding that resources and bandwidth are precious commodities in higher education, she offers a few strategies to consider when evaluating whether a college or university should jump on the latest social bandwagon:

To read more about each of the tips, check out Rachel’s Inside Higher Ed article and let us know—How are you using newer social media in strategic ways? Do you struggle with deciding which media your university should use?

Forge’s Education Marketing Group is exclusively focused on driving institutional reputation, an optimized enrollment funnel, and alumni engagement for colleges and universities. To learn more about Forge or our Education Marketing Group, email Jesse Strawbridge.