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Why #highered is NOT there yet with social media marketing

Last week Kyle James reminded us that the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachussets Dartmouth had just published the results of its latest study on social media use in higher ed.

With 456 interviews performed from November 2010 to May 2011 among a representative sample of 4-year institutions in the US, the findings of this study are valid within a +/- 4% range.

While they confirm some widely-shared assumptions on the state of social media in higher education, these results also reveal some surprising trends.

Is success in the eyes of the admissions officer?

When asked how successful institutions are with the different types of social media channels they use, more than three-quarters of the respondents reported all channels (at the exception of the dying MySpace platform) as successful.

So, all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds when it comes to social media in higher education?

Not so fast.

A closer look at the results of two other recent studies, namely the 2011 E-expectations Study from Noel-Levitz and the State of Web and Social Media Analytics in Higher Education I conducted for Higher Ed Experts, raises several questions about the very rosy picture painted by the study of social media use in admissions offices.

Obviously, I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I believe there’s a real need to go beyond the “social media checklist” tactic and adopt a more strategic and measurable approach in higher education. Now that everybody is on board, it’s time to find out what works for the institution and stop what doesn’t.

Don’t YOU think so?