The social media gurus over at Mashable.com are one of the best resources out there for those looking to keep their finger on the pulse of new media. If you aren't a regular visitor to their site, I encourage you to do so. At the very least, subscribe to their RSS feed.
Greg Ferenstein wrote a fantastic blog today that I feel is so compelling that it is worth repeating in this forum. His post entitled The Science of Building Trust with Social Media cites the need to understand the "psychology of trust," the importance of responsiveness in the digital age, and understanding the hierarchical value people attribute to various forms of communication--text v. email v. typed "emotion-free" messages v. audio clips v. personal video--as well as the judgments people make when viewing material online without necessarily knowing all the relevant information. The examples Mr. Ferenstein explains center on some of the more effective uses of social media to build or rebuild trust centered on video responses to calls to action or, in the case of Domino's, apologies.
Implications of Building Trust through Social Media for Higher Education
My message today for my colleagues in higher education, particularly those involved in international student recruitment, is to be cognizant of how social media can be used to help not only get your message out, but also how you can use it to reestablish trust if things go south in a hurry. At a previous institution of mine, the decision was made four years ago to not simply use social media (student blogs on our website) but to take the risk of embracing the uncensored, unfiltered reality that these students let loose into the wide world about their experiences on our campus. The authenticity of those students' posts, vod/podcasts, and conversations online was consistently rated by incoming students, and, surprisingly, parents as one of the most attractive features about the school. These students spoke honestly and openly about their experiences, and our prospective student audiences valued that significantly. Applications and the quality of enrolled students increased as a direct result of these efforts.
Examples of Institutional Efforts
Today, student blogs, iTunes podcast (iTunesU), YouTube.edu, as well as Facebook fan pages & groups are increasingly seen as must haves in any admissions office's arsenal of reaching their prospective student audiences. I'll share a couple of stories from our friends at MIT. Last spring, some of the newly admitted students to this prestigious institution decided to create a Facebook group on their own, and within a few weeks over 80% of the incoming class of 2013 had signed up as members of this group. MIT's admissions office has also turned its main site into student blogger central. These are paid student employees who tell their daily stories about life at MIT to all visitors to the institutional admissions site. Other institutions rely more on video content, photo slideshows, or audio podcasts (or combinations of these) to help get their messages out from their websites. It is essential to have visually appealing information available on these sites, and to use these tools to provide an online community for your audiences.
Importance of Trust for International Students
Internationally, this last point rings truer than ever. For the lion's share of international students considering colleges and universities in the United States, they have to trust, sight unseen, the institutions they choose to enroll in. Think for a moment about the implications of that decision. The financial ramifications alone of choosing a school that will have a final price tag of anywhere from $32,000 to $250,000 or more over a four-year period without physically visiting campus are staggering. How many of us would buy cars or homes without ever taking them out for a test drive or having them inspected? International students trust their advisers and counselors in their countries that they are getting the most accurate information about the schools they are considering, but are also taking a huge leap of faith that what the college they select is telling them is what they will experience. That trust is an extremely valuable, yet fragile commodity.
Rebuilding Trust, a Hopeful Wish
Each year, particularly in wintertime, after reading season is done at U.S. institutions, there are inevitably one or two stories that pop up where a university admissions offices mistakenly send acceptance letters to a pool of candidates who have been denied. With this year's news of two well-known institutions (one in Tennessee, one in DC) encountering this regrettable faux pas, wouldn't it be interesting and refreshing to see, not just a quote in a newspaper saying that the individuals affected were being contacted to clear up any misunderstanding, to actually see a YouTube clip of an institution's dean of admissions accepting responsibility and apologizing for this embarrassing incident? Maybe next year.
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