How Social Media Saved My Niece From Sponge Bob

In recent memory, there have been several shows in the children's television milieu that have been very disturbing to me, Barney & the Teletubbies come to mind. Thankfully, our first child didn't come along until after these fads had passed out of popular consciousness. But my nine-year old niece, Rachel, had her sights set on convincing my now 18-month old son, Charlie, about the inherent value of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Somebody had to put a stop to this madness!

While you're thinking how on earth can you tie social media & Mr. SquarePants together, rest assured I'll get there. About two weeks ago, while on my commuter bus ride home, I read a story on one of my news apps on my iPhone about a study that proclaimed Watching Sponge Bob is Bad For Kids. This was the evidence I needed to make my move. That night, I posted the following on Facebook, and see how the conversation unfolded:

Obviously, my last comment was only half serious. But a short two weeks later my sister-in-law confided that after she shared my post with my niece, and the accompanying news story about the effects of SBSP on kids, Rachel decided to give up on SpongeBob. Why? As a nine-year old, she is beginning to come to grips with herself as a student, and is incredibly self-aware. She stepped back to think about some issues she was having in school, thought about what the study was saying about attention issues, and realized that she did not need to watch SpongeBob any more. What a relief! My son is safe, at least for the moment. So what does this all mean? Other than Rachel having to get rid of a lot of SBSP clothing and toys (Christmas is coming, I hear her saying), I must say I'm very proud of her for making such a life-altering decision. 

Moreover, this interaction demonstrates how social media can influence your intended audiences. As admissions reps know, guidance counselors and advisers say how important it is to have the "experts" speak to their students when we visit their schools and centers. In the end, we reinforce the messages that counselors/advisers have been hammering home for months, but, for whatever reason, our message has a greater impact because we're the "experts." 

In social media land, while I firmly believe there are very few true experts, and even fewer (if any, myself included) who are successfully using social media in international education, our goal is to achieve the same things we have done in print, in person, and email recruiting in the past, but with different, yet more immediately impactful tools. 

Other than this blog forum, I encourage you to join in a more regular conversation at Marty B on Social Media & Intl Ed Facebook page or if you prefer LinkedIn, a group of the same name.

                                     

Social Media in Africa a Pipe Dream? Think Again.

Africa Renewal Magazine | A social media boom begins in Africa

In the course of the last 20 years in the United States, we have gone from using land-line phones to computers to mobile/smart phones as our primary means of communicating.  In much of Sub-Saharan Africa as well as many parts of Central Asia (and other regions), just within the last five to ten years, a significant number of Africans have made the jump from no phone at all, to mobile phones, skipping the land-line and desktop computer stages entirely, as their chosen mode of communications. With over 400 million mobile phone subscribers now in Africa, it is the mobile social web that is now becoming increasingly a source of focus.   


For colleagues at U.S. institutions exploring the myriad of ways to reach students, and for those who have long wondered how to connect in Africa, here's an opportunity. From the article below: "In recent months Facebook — the major social media platform worldwide and currently the most visited website in most of Africa — has seen massive growth on the continent. The number of African Facebook users now stands at over 17 million, up from 10 million in 2009. More than 15 per cent of people online in Africa are currently using the platform, compared to 11 per cent in Asia."  


Time to have a second look at Africa...

A social media boom begins in Africa

Using mobile phones, Africans join the global conversation

By André-Michel Essoungou

More and more Africans are using mobile technologies to access social media tools on the Internet.

Photograph: Africa Media Online / Anthony Kaminju

In the mid-1990s, as the use of mobile phones started its rapid spread in much of the developed world, few thought of Africa as a potential market. Now, with more than 400 million subscribers, its market is larger than North America's. Africa took the lead in the global shift from fixed to mobile telephones, notes a report by the UN International Telecommunications Union.* Rarely has anyone adopted mobile phones faster and with greater innovation (see A bank in every African pocket?, Better health at the click of a button).

A similar story now seems again to be unfolding. Africans are coupling their already extensive use of cell phones with a more recent and massive interest in social media — Internet-based tools and platforms that allow people to interact with each other much more than in the past. In the process, Africans are leading what may be the next global trend: a major shift to mobile Internet use, with social media as its main drivers. According to Mary Meeker, an influential Internet analyst, mobile Internet and social media are the fastest-growing areas of the technology industry worldwide, and she predicts that mobile Internet use will soon overtake fixed Internet use.

Studies suggest that when Africans go online (predominantly with their mobile phones) they spend much of their time on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so on). Sending and reading e-mails, reading news and posting research queries have become less important activities for Africans.

In recent months Facebook — the major social media platform worldwide and currently the most visited website in most of Africa — has seen massive growth on the continent. The number of African Facebook users now stands at over 17 million, up from 10 million in 2009. More than 15 per cent of people online in Africa are currently using the platform, compared to 11 per cent in Asia. Two other social networking websites, Twitter and YouTube, rank among the most visited websites in most African countries.

Along with regular citizens, African stars, thinkers, political leaders and companies have rapidly joined the global conversation. The Facebook fan base of Côte d'Ivoire's football star and UN goodwill ambassador Didier Drogba is more than 1 million people. Zambian best-selling author and economist Dambisa Moyo has more than 26,000 followers on Twitter. Media organizations in South Africa and companies such as Kenya Airways are using various social media platforms to interact better with customers and readers. During recent elections in Côte d'Ivoire candidates did not only tour cities and villages; they also moved the contest online, feverishly posting campaign updates on Twitter and Facebook.

High costs and poor connections still limit Africans' use of computers to gain access to the Internet.

Photograph: Alamy Images / Peter Treanor

Constraints and opportunities

Africa's upward trend in the use of social media is even more striking given the low number of Africans connected to the Internet and the many hurdles Africans face in trying to go online.

Africa's Internet users (more than 100 million at the end of 2010) represent just a small percentage of the 2 billion people online around the world. In the US alone, more than 220 million people use the Internet. Within Africa, one person out of every 10 is estimated to be an Internet user (up from one in 5,000 back in 1998), making the continent the region in the world with the lowest penetration rate.

Among the many reasons for this poor showing are the scarcity and prohibitive costs of broadband connections (the fastest means of accessing the Internet), and the limited number of personal computers in use.

But these challenges simultaneously contribute to Africa's impressive growth rate in the use of mobile Internet, which in recent years has been the highest in the world. "Triple-digit growth rates are routine across the continent," notes Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder of Opera, the world's most popular Internet browser for mobile phones. "The widespread availability of mobile phones means that the mobile Web can reach tens of millions more than the wired Web." Mr. Tetzchner believes that like mobile phones, whose use has grown rapidly in Africa in recent years, the "mobile Web is beginning to reshape the economic, political and social development of the continent."

‘Seismic shift’ coming

Erik Hersman, a prominent African social media blogger and entrepreneur who helped drive development of the ground-breaking platform Ushahidi (see Young Africans put technology to new uses), is equally enthusiastic. In an e-mail to Africa Renewal he notes that "with mobile phone penetration already high across the continent, and as we get to critical mass with Internet usage in some of Africa's leading countries (Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt) … a seismic shift will happen with services, products and information."

The sense that the future holds more promise is inducing major companies to show special interest in Africa's expanding pool of Internet users. Facebook, after launching versions in some of the major African languages (including Swahili, Hausa and Zulu) in May, has announced it will offer free access to its platform to mobile phone users in various countries around the world, including many in Africa. In October Google started testing a new service for Swahili speakers in East and Central Africa. Tentatively called Baraza ("meeting place" in Swahili), it will allow people to interact and share knowledge by asking and answering questions, many of them of only very local or regional interest.

Africans are also getting ready to benefit from the fast-growing mobile Internet sector. In South Africa, MXit, a free instant messaging application with an estimated 7 million users, is the most popular local social networking platform. From Abidjan and Accra to Lusaka and Nairobi, African programmers are designing, testing and launching new homegrown platforms and tools to keep the African online conversation going.

* Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index, 2009.

Armchair Recruitment in the Digital Age

Presentation at the 2010 CIS Forum in Monaco

I've wanted to share this presentation with my colleagues in international admissions circles who were unable to see it live in Monaco this November at the Council of International Schools Forum.  In the past two years in this position, as marketing coordinator for the EducationUSA network, I have had countless conversations with friends doing the increasingly difficult work of recruiting students from overseas with decreasing budgets, stronger competition from other institutions and other countries for that matter.

The greater majority of these colleagues know and use the popular outlets like Facebook and YouTube in their personal lives, but precious few have harnessed the truly revolutionary power of social media into their international recruitment, and fewer still have done so in a coherent and strategic way with proper planning, training, management, and evaluation.  

This presentation shares many free tools (at least monetarily) that can be used to reach out to international student audiences, as well as examples of how one institution, Roger Williams University, has made their social media outreach strategy the responsibility of all admissions staff.  I encourage all international admissions colleagues to review this presentation to see what tools and tips they can adapt to their own institutions to reach out to students & EducationUSA Advising Centers overseas.

Comments and questions are welcome!

Integrating International Students Into the Life of the University

courtesy of liblogs.albany.edu

Integrating International Students Into the Life of the University

This post over the weekend by Dori Kelsey at the University of Toledo, reminds us all involved in international education about the importance of the on-campus experience for international students as essential to the long-term success of an institution in their international enrollment management strategy. If you are already in the field, I realize I am preaching to the choir. But for those new to the field, or those who have administrators who don't get, I mean really get, international education, I hope this blog can help.

Far too often these days, international students are seen as cash cows by institutions around the world. Whether it's in Australia, UK, Canada, and, yes, the U.S. too many colleges and universities view these students as little more than dollars or pound signs. In the U.S. this struggle is particularly visible at public institutions that face increasingly tighter budgets and less funding coming from the state government. Pressures on upper administration officials to find new revenue streams can and do turn often to international students. Clearly, there are financial advantages of enrolling students who pay out-of-state tuition rates to attend state institutions, but for that to be the driving motivation for expanding international enrollment, is truly short-sighted.  In the end this drive can have long-term negative ramifications for colleges unprepared to meet the needs of these new students from abroad.

For those who have been in international education for more than a few minutes they will tell you, institutions that think the students from the Brazil, Burkina Faso, Belarus and Bangladesh have the same needs as U.S. students from Boston, Bismark, Beaverton, and Boca Raton are in for a very rude awakening. Whether it was the Libyan and Iranian students of the '70s and '80s, the Saudis of the '00s or the Chinese now, large concentrations of full fee-paying students can pose a myriad of challenges to even well-established colleges and universities. From the admissions process, orientation, academic advising, residence life, ESL, food services, campus ministry, career services, to, of course, the international student office the entire campus is impacted by expanded flows of overseas students. Staffing, space, time, and resources must be committed to ensure that these new students have a positive experience. The alternative for institutions which cannot commit to meeting the needs of their international students (or domestic for that matter) is a ruined reputation, and a long-term hole that will be very difficult to climb out of, and in the end, far more costly that what it would have taken to do it right the first time.

The true benefit for both international students and their U.S. counterparts on college & university campuses, long term, is to promote mutual understanding.

The truly successful institution is one that, as Dori Kelsey explains in her post, recognizes "its responsibility for the well-being of international students.... To this end, colleges and universities have sought to match international students with domestic students and have tailored programs to particular target groups to assist with the adaptation process." There are dozens of successful international student programs offices (and their institutions) around the U.S. that embrace these overseas students as an essential component of their colleges' success in meeting their various missions & goals.

Ms. Kelsey again hits the nail right on the head when she posts, "Assessing and addressing the problems that international students experience will impact many areas. It will aid not only in the internationalization of the campus—as stated in the mission and goals of most universities—but it will expose domestic students to the life styles, values, and culture of people throughout the world and thereby enrich their experience. It will also foster goodwill between nations and will help all students develop beneficial bonds for their personal lives and future careers."

Well said.

YouTube - GVSU LipDub 2010 *OFFICIAL*

How creative is this?

For U.S. colleges and universities looking for new ways to get the message about their campuses across in an innovative way, and very viral way, need look no further than Grand Valley State University's LibDub 2010. As of this morning, over 121,000 video views have been recorded for their video.

We saw a similar, Glee-like version of the campus video tour in last year's "That's Why I Chose Yale" which has surpassed 750,000 views. These kind of video will get a response, and while perhaps a mammoth undertaking logistically, can certainly raise the visibility of lesser-known institutions.

Kudos to the GVSU team for the incredible effort in putting together this viral campus tour video. Well done!

Grand Valley State University's LibDub 2010

International Education Week and the Student Visa Landscape

Each year, in mid-November, the Institute of International Education, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs, releases the Open Doors Report.  There will be some fairly eye-catching numbers released next Monday, November 15 at the National Press Club in Washington DC.  Open Doors represents a look back at the previous academic year, in this case 2009-10, for its survey of international student numbers.  

What will perhaps be a surprise to many U.S. higher education colleagues, and would certainly be to the general public, and, more importantly, to student audiences abroad, are some remarks made by Assistant Secretary Janice Jacobs with the Bureau of Consular Affairs.  A/S Jacobs' Bureau oversees the various U.S. consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide that conduct all visa interviews.  

Here's a snippet of a recent statement Assistant Secretary Jacobs made related to International Education Week:

"Our consular sections overseas also work actively to promote study and exchange programs, to demystify the visa application process, and to encourage students to consider educational possibilities in the United States. Foreign students can now apply for their visas 120 days before their U.S. studies begin. At our embassies and consulates around the world, we assign a high priority to student visa appointments, resulting in reduced wait times, shorter lines, and faster issuance of visas. We issued over 450,000 student visas in the last fiscal year, which accounts for 82 percent of the student visa applicants worldwide. That’s an increase of 13 percent from the previous year and exceeds the number of student visas we were issuing immediately before the September 11 attack."

Three key points I believe are critical to know for U.S. college and university representatives working with prospective international students:

1. Students can now apply for their visas 120 days before their U.S. studies begin. 
2. Worldwide last year, 82% of all student visa applicants were approved! 
3. The number of approvals was 13% higher than FY09,  higher than pre-9/11 levels.

Those who have been working in international admissions for any length of time will have stories of admitted students who were denied visas, and having been on that side of the desk for years, it was a constant struggle to advocate for our students.  Post-9/11, many of us had to work even harder to make the case for students. Those bad old days (and yes, they were bad) are becoming a memory now.  The facts are certainly baring out the changes on the ground.  

The key is understanding the public relations battle to overcome the bad visa experiences of certain students, and the resulting public perceptions in a number of countries is not won easily.  It will take a concerted effort by every embassy & consulate, our EducationUSA advisers, your current international students, and each of you to help spread the word that the visa process while fairly intense, is not a bridge too far for students. 

While we would like to see the approval percentage continue to grow, and while we know we'll continue to have stories of students who experience difficulties in the process, please know that if your prospective students are working with our EducationUSA Advising Centers, they will be much better prepared and informed about that visa process before having that brief interview with a consular officer.  While our advisers can't guarantee every student that walks through their doors, you will likely find the approval rates for EducationUSA-advised students significantly higher than the averages in the most difficult countries.  

Please join us in getting the good news out to your prospective students.  There is hope!

New Scholarships for Students from the Baltic States

Here's a quick head's up to my colleagues in international admissions positions at U.S. colleges and universities looking to recruit students from the Baltics.  This foundation scholarship provides up to $25,000 per year for graduate studies in the U.S.

Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Scholarships

The Baltic-American Freedom Foundation (BAFF) mission is "to enrich the ties between the United States and Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, through programs of education and exchange centering on economic growth and democratic processes. Visibly strengthening U.S.-Baltic ties is a core goal."

BAFF offers various scholarship opportunities in the U.S. to residents of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Current American scholarship opportunities include:

• The Professional Internship Program for university students and recent graduates.
• The Graduate Scholarship Program for post graduate students.
• The Research Scholarship Program for professors and others in academia

More information on our website: www.BalticAmericanFreedomFoundation.org .

Please advise graduate programs applicants from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania about grants for graduate studies in US universities.

Deadline - two times per year.  Closest call for applications OCTOBER 30th 2010. 

One Student's Journey: Bernard Londoni

Here's a great example of how one student's dream became reality through his incredible determination, the commitment and perseverance of an EducationUSA Adviser, and the willingness of a U.S. institution to take a chance on a student with such incredible potential and heart.

Meet Bernard Londoni.

Inaugural EducationUSA Forum 2010 Slideshow

EducationUSA at NAFSA 2010 Conference in Kansas City, MO

Qik - EducationUSA Forum-Rebecca Zeigler-Mano from Zimbabwe talks by Marty Bennett

Qik - Juan Camilo Tamayo from Lynn U. shares his experience w/ Bernard by Marty Bennett

EducationUSA Pavilion at NAFSA 2010 Expo Hall

Next week will be a banner time for EducationUSA.  After years of being confined by a 10 x 10 booth in a sea of exhibitors at the annual NAFSA conference Expo Hall, EducationUSA will now have its own pavilion and room to breath.

With nearly 80 EducationUSA advisers representing 55 countries, there will be significant traffic in and around the booth.  We've put together a schedule of what will be occurring at the pavilion throughout the open hours of the Expo Hall.  We encourage any of our higher education colleagues who will be at the NAFSA conference to stop by to pick up the latest resources on EducationUSA, sign up for secure login access to our new site, meet advisers and REACs from around the world, hear presentations on relevant topics about our services for the higher ed community, the Opportunity program, how our centers can assist in study abroad, and our new EdUSA Connects platform for web meetings.

Of course, there will be about two dozen sessions our advisers will be presenting at during the conference, so do bookmark any of the sessions that may be of interest to you.

And last but not least there is the always popular EducationUSA - Embassy Dialogue Committee Country Fair on Wednesday from 3-5pm where every advisers will be present.  Do stop by to pick up center-country fact sheets that will give you the necessaries on each of the centers present.

See you in K.C.!

Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)

Don't think Social Media is fundamentally changing the way we communicate?  Feel free to comment after reviewing this video--some eye popping numbers and statements on here.

Establishing Trust in the World of Social Media -- Relevance for U.S. Higher Education

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.

Marketing U.S. Higher Education Abroad in the Social Media Milleu

Rare moments of lucidity and inspiration we have in life where the light bulb truly goes on should always be shared.  


A year ago when I was just getting my feet under me as marketing coordinator for EducationUSA, I knew social media would be an integral part of what I needed to do--but how exactly I'd go about that task wasn't quite clear. We are a network of 400+ centers in 170 countries under the EducationUSA umbrella.  We share a common mission to be the official source on U.S. higher education for millions of students and their families each year.  We also knew that our continued success would be largely dependent on providing our advisers, some of the hardest working individuals I've ever met, the tools they needed to better connect with their students and with our friends in the U.S. higher education community that are so vital to our success.  How to use social media was one of those lights for me.


A year ago, the extent to which most (not all) of our advisers were using social media began and ended with Skype and other IM tools. In our entire network, we had only about 4 active Facebook profiles/groups/pages  while Twitter was not even in our vocabulary.  Some intrepid, forward-thinking centers had undertaken video projects they made available out in cyberspace, but there was no central collection point for this content.


Today, we have 80 different EducationUSA Facebook fan pages, profiles and groups, 35 Twitter feeds, and over 70 videos on our YouTube channel.  Over 900 higher education members in the U.S. now subscribe to our HEI eNews (now published bi-weekly). Most significantly, we have a new vehicle for getting the word out about EducationUSA - our new website which brings all of these tools together and makes them shareable in the new world of social media.


Ultimately, these new tools, or new media allow us to reach out in more interactive ways to key audiences.  Moreover, 2009 will certainly be remembered as the year "Social Media" became key buzzwords for institutions looking to counteract shrinking recruitment budgets, as well as global networks to share their message.  The real rub here is how U.S. higher education and EducationUSA can work together to utilize these tools to encourage more and better qualified international students to come to America for their studies.


Over the last twelve months, I've compiled a list of 5 guiding principles for how we are approaching our task in this new and ever-changing world of social media:

1. Get Connected, Be Relevant, Stay Involved.
2. Live Where Your Audiences Live.
3. Keep Them Coming Back for More.
4. Listen, Listen, Listen.
5. Your Name Matters.

Get Connected, Be Relevant, Stay Involved


When just starting out in your use of social media, the best advice is always to start small with one maybe two different tools.  That first step really is the most important -- to commit to using one or more new media.  That being said, all the commitment in the world does you no good if your content, your posts, your comments are not relevant to your intended audience.  Make an effort to use any market intelligence you have to create content that resonates with your audiences.  As much as I love the film, Field of Dreams, social media is not a "if you build it, they will come" environment.  To be successful in this medium you must dedicated time and personnel to monitor, post, and respond to questions and comments received.


Live Where Your Audience Lives


Part of a successful social media strategy is to be present where your audiences -- e.g. your prospective students -- spend their time.  If you're targeting students in Japan or Korea, do you have your information available on mobile sites?  For the first time in 2008, worldwide, the internet was accessed more from mobile phones than from computers.*  Those mobile numbers will only grow larger.  If 2009 was the year of social media, 2010 will mark the rise of mobile social media.  Believe me when I say that "there's an app for that" could not be a more appropriate for the future of mobile social media in many countries.


That being said, if your goal is to enhance your outreach to African students, mobile is as important but more along the lines of SMS text messaging as opposed to the wide world of social media accessible through smartphones and other similar devices.


If you are targeting a particular country through social media, let's say Brazil, recently identified as one of the, if not the #1, most social networked country in the world, Facebook might not be the only place you want to have a presence--Orkut has been top dog there for some time (though Facebook has expanded over 1000% in the last year there).


Keep Them Coming Back for More


Part of the success of social media is the viral nature of sharing content that reminds me of an old shampoo commercial--where someone has a great experience, loves the product, and then he/she tells two friends and so on and so on--as the old word of mouth concept takes exponential growth to a whole new level.  Success is not only in spreading your good news, but also keeping that audience connected to you.  How do you do that?  Send updates to fans, followers, or contacts that directs them back to new content on your website, or on your social media presences or both.  Repeat customers, just as in the real world, are what sustains your success.  Ideally, social media allows you to create and maintain an online community of supporters to keep your message out there and understood.


Listen, Listen, Listen


Many marketing professionals have experienced a rude awakening with the rise of social media.  No longer can a college or university (or any business for that matter) rely on their control of message.  Colleges have perhaps learned this lesson in the past few years better than most with the rise of various student-driven blogs like College Confidential.  There are simply too many places online that students can get information about what they are looking for that are completely out of the hands of those who have a product or an institution to promote.  Just as we all hate spam emails, those business that throw out their tired sales pitches using these new media are committing the same cardinal sin:  not listening to what their customers want.  Customers, or students in our realm, can control the message and the conversation.  In social media terms, success will be earned by those who listen first, second and third, before responding.  This is the customer service taken to the virtual world.  Marketing success in the use of social media is dependent more than ever to how service-oriented and responsive you are to the needs of your audiences.


Your Name Matters


Identity in the marketplace of ideas is everything.  Knowing who you are first is important, no question.  Everyone who is involved in promoting your brand must have buy-in to this identity.  Additionally, to be remembered you must protect your name and be consistent with your name as much as possible.  As marketing guru, Al Ries, indicated recently, "If you don't think names matter, yours may be forgotten."  In the end, you want your name to be associated with a positive idea or concept in the eyes of your audiences.


Bottom line, the brave new world of social media is out there for the taking.  Are you taking advantage of these new media in your work?  Comment here or email me to continue this conversation.


* The source for this statistic is a book called “Mobile Advertising” by Chetan Sharma, Joe Herzog, and Victor Melfi.

U.S. Colleges & Universities: Join EducationUSA on YouTube

 If there has been an important social media lesson learned over the past year, it would be that one size does not fit all.  With EducationUSA we realize that there are many different audiences that we attract to our website, to our different Twitter feeds, our Facebook fan pages, this blog, and our YouTube presence wanting different information in a variety of formats. Information, particularly for our prospective students, needs to be of an interactive nature and visual oriented wherever possible.

To that end, we have been collecting a series of videos produced by our advising centers abroad and others that would be attractive to potential students looking to come to the United States for study.  As we grow our EducationUSA YouTube channel, and hope to work more closely with all accredited U.S. colleges and universities looking to reach out to international students, we are offering a free opportunity to partner with EducationUSA to enhance your international recruitment efforts.

For your institutions to have either existing or future campus videos displayed as "Favorites" on our EducationUSA YouTube Channel, you are welcome to email Marty Bennett, EducationUSA Marketing Coordinator, the url address (from YouTube) for institutional promotional videos, interviews with international students, international office personnel, or other related videos.  If you have videos but have not created a channel on or made use of YouTube, it is a free service.  The only requirements for posting videos to YouTube is that they be less than 10 minutes long, and smaller than 100MB in size.  In submitting these url addresses to us for linking to our YouTube channel, we would ask that you provide in the email, a statement that consent rights of the individuals highlighted in the clip for use on your institution's behalf online have been secured, and could be made available should the need arise.

As more and more U.S. colleges and universities get their heads around how best to use various social media outlets to reach international (as well as domestic) audiences, we hope you can join us in this effort.  Many campuses now have either their own YouTube channel or have taken advantage of YouTube.edu options that allow their institutions to showcase all sorts of related videos on campus life, lectures, events, as well as admissions-related content.  By partnering with us, your institution will be able to reach a larger audience of potential students that may be attracted by what your campus has to offer them.

Deadline for Submissions:  January 29, 2010.  We hope that with enough submissions by that date, we can go live with this Playlist on our YouTube Channel by early February.

Join the EducationUSA Pavilion at the NAFSA Conference in Kansas City

Have you ever been to the Exhibit Hall at National NAFSA conferences and were perhaps a
bit surprised to see that the Germans, Australians, Chinese, British, Brazilians, Spanish, and a host of other countries had massive sections of the hall devoted to their countries and their higher education institutions? 

Have you ever tried to arrange a place to have meetings with current or prospective exchange partner institutions abroad at NAFSA, having to settle at the last minute to meet under letter "C" on the message boards among the throngs of other lost souls looking for the same thing?

Is the country fair just too short of a time to meet our EducationUSA staff, REACs, and advisers?

Is your institution part of a state or regional consortia for international education (like Study Washington, Destination Indiana, or One Big Campus (in the Philadelphia area) that would like to have a space in the exhibit hall?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, EducationUSA has a practical option for you.  At the upcoming NAFSA Annual Conference in Kansas City, for the first time, EducationUSA will have its own pavilion.  We are offering on a first-come, first served basis the opportunity for regionally accredited U.S. colleges and universities as well as established state and regional international education consortia to reserve free of charge,1/2 day slots for table space within our pavilion to have meetings with potential or existing overseas partners, meeting with our advisers, and display your institution's literature.

These two options are available: 

1. reserving a half-day's time in our booth with a table and chairs for your institution/consortia
2. having your literature on display for visitors to the booth to collect.

Please email Marty Bennett, EducationUSA Marketing Coordinator, to the reserve space in our 1st EducationUSA Pavilion.

Keep Coming Back For More...

Since we rolled out our new EducationUSA website less than one month ago, we have seen a dramatic rise in the connections we are making with prospective students and members of the U.S. higher education community. Our Facebook fan page has jumped from under 800 fans to well over 1300 (an increase of over 63%) and the views on our YouTube channel have increased over 90% in that same time period. Additionally, we're averaging over 90,000 hits a day on our new site. We've also recently added our EdUSAtips Twitter feed to our Higher Education home page.


Today, we are announcing a new feature for accredited U.S. colleges and universities, as well professional association representatives. For those of you who have successfully requested a login to the secure section of the Higher Education site, you can now set preferences to inform you of developments (new stories, events, and resources) that involve EducationUSA and that are relevant for the U.S. college and university community. Much like Google Alerts or news digests that you can receive, once you have your login access you may set your "Preferences" to specify how you wish to receive news and updates on EducationUSA-related activities-as they happen, on a daily basis, or as a weekly digest.

In addition to indicating how you wish to receive updates about new content added to the News, Events, and Resources sections, you can also change your password using this Preferences screen. To access resources we make available for the U.S. higher education community, including past copies of the HEI eNews, conference presentations, and more, click on the "Resources" link on the top menu bar.


Please sign up now for your login access to take advantage of this new service!

2010 Campus Host Opportunities Request for Proposals (RFP) Now Available - deadline December 18, 2009

Has your institution ever wanted to host EducationUSA advisers on your campus? Now is your chance. The College Board receives a grant from the U.S. Department of State to conduct various U.S.-based professional development and training programs for our network of EducationUSA advisers. In 2010 there are four different opportunities to host our advisers.

Act now to host EducationUSA advisers in 2010!

The College Board has released the RFP for US institutions to apply to host advisers in the upcoming calendar year. More information and the proposal form itself are now available on our EducationUSA site.

• Option I Spring 2010 USBT Program (April 15-21) – Transportation, housing and meal per diem paid by grant funds; cost-sharing encouraged.


• Option II Fall 2010 USBT Program (October 31 – November 5) – Transportation, housing and meal per diem paid by grant funds; cost-sharing encouraged.


• Option III June 2010 post-NAFSA-conference campus tours (June 5-11, 2010 flexible dates) – Transportation to/from primary tour location covered; housing and meal per diem must be contributed by hosting institution(s) as cost-sharing.


• Option IV 2010 EducationUSA Explore program (August/September 2010) - Transportation covered; grant funds are available to cover some adviser/institution expenses; cost-sharing is encouraged.

Apply now!