B-School Connect with Social Media
Social Media and business are two sets of words and one of the challenges we have is getting the two together. Social media is what we all use; business is something we are all involved in. Social media is gradually becoming a very crucial aspect of our business in today’s world. It is clear that social media has firmly cemented its position in today’s society and organisation’s of all types need to embrace it and B-schools are no exception. Institutions have started realizing the potential of Social media and mobile technologies to market programs,
drive student recruitment, discuss research outcomes and increase engagements with the stakeholders.
Social media platforms these days are highly valuable to business education but B-schools often wonder how they can get the most out of it.
Lots of rule of communication that apply to traditional media also applies to social media. It’s about getting your message clearly and concisely and in a way that resonates of your target audience. Whether use the social media as a corporate voice of the school or as an individual working there, the content you post must be relevant and
helpful to your followers. The key is to add value by telling them something interesting and unique. It is also important for business schools and academics to be on a right social media channels and when it seems that there
is new platforms appearing every week, it can be hard to keep up. But it is far more effective to be on few key strategic channels rather than trying to be in all of them.
Content is perhaps the single most important driver for the success of Social Media. The content that business schools are displaying will primarily dictate the types of channel used. LinkedIn for instance is very effective
for reach in potential MBA applicants and also useful in displaying the star alumni network. While for undergraduate programs, Facebook may be more appropriate. Twitter is effective in promoting research stories and
also source newer stories along with visual contents like Infographics, to make them live. With the importance of the visual content, it is essential to have presence in channels like Youtube.
Business schools and academics also have to think about what they actually want to showcase and as hotbeds of research, learning and innovation, they should be in a position to showcase their content to the world everything from student and alumni success stories to management research and in particular student projects and achievements.
Role is to define and oversee social media strategy for our institution. The strategy should enable us to listen, engage, interact and inform prospective students and other stakeholders such as faculty, staff, current students, alumni and society at large. As an institution we use various media channels to share news about our school, about our programs and about the diverse research and innovations coming from students and faculty. Social media is also a great platform to engage with our students as they go through the life cycle from perspective students to current students to members of our alumni community.
Finally, B-schools and academics need to consider about striking a balance between engagement and broadcast in social media. Too many social media usage both in corporate and educational world, are currently using platforms to broadcast contents to have followers rather than engaging in a two way conversation. Whether you are posting as an individual or as an institution, it is important to start and contribute to the conversations in social media by posing questions and commenting in the area of expertise and also to link with other key influencers and stakeholders in the business education world. At the same time, issues relating to privacy, authenticity,
validity and online etiquette needs to be addressed while engaging in social media eco-system.
