Widmeyer Communications » United States

Social Media in the Admissions Process

Parrot Teresa Valerio — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:47:46 +0000

Late last month I was honored to present an Academic Impressions webinar with Widmeyer’s Dr. Doug Usher, and Ann McDermott, director of admissions for College of the Holy Cross. We discussed considerations for using social media in the admissions process (you can find a copy of our presentation here).

We had strong interest from colleges and universities across the country, and at the end of the presetation fielded more questions than we had time to answer. I provided written responses to the two outstanding questions and thought the information might be of interest.

Feel free to post a comment or email me at teresa.parrot@widmeyer.com if you have further thoughts.

Can anyone provide benchmarks on resources to start this up and maintain it? e.g., staff, hours for initial setup and then maintenance?

The start-up times vary based on the scope of the social media presence you want to maintain. You need to consider what sites you want to be a part of, the conversations you wish to conduct, and the preferred level of participation you want to conduct. Specifically for College of the Holy Cross there is a team of three who maintain the website and social media presence, but there is a campus committee tasked with supplying content to the team that span the campus, including offices of the College’s leadership. Often, creating the sites and pages is the easy part. Maintaining the conversations and finding content that keeps people engaged takes time and creativity.

Can you recommend some colleges that are successfully using social media? Could you send some URLs in the follow up email?

So that we aren’t seen as showing preference for certain institutions or their social media vendors, we are going to defer to third parties for our examples. This article outlines the “Top Four Colleges on Social Media.” The comments section at the end of the entry also lists additional sites to consider. In addition, this is a widely circulated list of the “Top 100 Colleges on Twitter.”

During the question and answer session during the presentation we also said we would forward additional policy resources. Before drafting a social media policy, consider this article on Mashable.com that discusses the 10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy. Once you’ve thought through the author’s considerations, then peruse the following sample policies. The list includes a mix of public and private institutions of varying sizes. We aren’t advocating for using any of these policies. Instead we are recommending you take the elements from each that best fit your institution and social media needs.

Sample higher ed social media policies:

And you never know when you will find inspiration from the corporate world. Take a look at these corporate policies and this comprehensive list to see if they have any insight you can apply at your institution.

2010 Census and Communications Savvy

Burke Mary Elizabeth — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:43:44 +0000

How is it that 90% of Americans say the U.S. Census – the systematic count of our population that occurs every 10 years – is important for the country, but only 58% of Americans say they will definitely participate? Recent findings from a poll by Pew Research Center illustrate the challenge facing Census administrators. Some new approaches in this year’s count will be of interest to communicators:

Investments in marketing, with a known return – The 2010 Census plans to spend around $340 million in marketing efforts to encourage participation. A healthy budget for any effort, but in this case a smart investment with a specific return. Census Director Robert Groves said in a January speech that “for every one percentage point that we raise the mail response rate through this advertising campaign, we will reduce the total cost to the Census by about $85 million” in follow-up efforts.

Experimenting with social media, not overhauling to digital – The Census Bureau is experimenting with using social media to promote participation – they have a Twitter account (@uscensusbureau), Facebook fan page, and YouTube channel, and Director Groves is keeping a blog. It’s all part of the effort to reach out to more audiences and encourage participation, particularly among younger audiences, who are significantly less likely to plan to participate. However, the 2010 Census will not use the Internet to collect data. The Census Bureau is conducting tests around electronic data collection, and it is something we will probably see by 2020.

More transparency and information sharing – Americans will have access to more information about this Census than any on record. During data collection, the 2010 Census Web site will feature an interactive map that will allow visitors to explore real-time monitoring of Census participation, including comparisons between regions to appeal to the competitive streak in all of us.

Multicultural and multiple language materials – Promotional materials encouraging Census participation will be published in 28 languages – up from 17 in 2000. Additions include Farsi, Portuguese, and Yiddish. Basic materials explaining the questionnaire will be available on the Census Web site in an astounding 59 languages.

Keeping the program/product/issue user-friendly – You may remember in the past that about 15% of households received a “long form” with more detailed demographic, economic, social, and housing questions. The findings were then extrapolated to the population at large. This year will be the first Census not to include a long form – this more detailed information is now collected as part of the ongoing American Communities Survey, also conducted by the Census Bureau.

Most Americans will receive their Census forms in March, with a due date of April 1, 2010. It is expected to take about ten minutes to complete. In addition to the important role the count plays in distributing $400 billion+ in federal funds annually and determining the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, this year’s campaign is about engagement and participation. So watch for your Census forms – it’s time to be counted!

And what “place” would that be?

Dunning Margaret — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:37:49 +0000

My first job out of college was at the Republican National Committee. A woman, Mary Louise Smith, was its leader. I later worked in the Reagan Administration, where four women held Cabinet positions, a record at the time. I’ve had no shortage of female role models in the Republican Party, including two Senators from Maine who have significant roles in today’s health care debate. So why would the NRCC state the Speaker of the House should be put “in her place.” Just where is this “place”? And why would such language, a throwback to a different time that we’ve fortunately moved away from, be appropriate for anyone, never mind individuals in leadership, to use?

Were William Safire still alive, I would hope he’d have taken the NRCC to task in his Sunday column “On Language” with his wry edge and knowing style. Maybe he would have instead defined “Neanderthal” since that appears to be an appropriate moniker for some in the Party.

The Well-Being Conundrum

Engleka Henry — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:23 +0000

Aristotle is known to have said: “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” If only the essence of happiness was easy to bottle! Unfortunately, the idea of happiness and how it relates to well-being is not easily defined, instead riddled with multiple components and connections, to work, to friends, to health, and a multitude of others. This blog is the first in a series that explores the conundrum of well-being: that is, if perfecting well-being is so important, why is it so hard to accomplish?

There is no one answer obviously. Scholars, researchers, philosophers, and policy-makers have all approached this from different angles, providing a myriad of definitions and insights into well-being. However, the precise definition seems to be as elusive as harnessing the sustained feeling of happiness itself. The notion of well-being is undeniably a multidimensional construct. Yet, its importance to many facets of life is indisputable. In the world of business, well-being has garnered special attention, as employers and other key stakeholders strive to improve productivity, cut costs, and drive employee participation and results. Despite recent economic turmoil in fact, one element of business that has not suffered is wellness programs (Faircloth, Inc 2009). Consider the following facts:

89 percent of employees expect their workplace culture to promote healthy lifestyle concepts (Faircloth, Inc 2009)
91 percent of employers believe they can reduce their health care costs by promoting healthier living among employees (Mello, NEJM 2008)
Health plans and employers now provide access and incentives for employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle and promote well-being. This amazingly has now extended to penalties for not adhering to these same requirements (Mello, NEJM 2008)
From 2004 to 2006, there was almost a three-fold increase in employers with more than 500 or more employees offering workers incentivesto complete a health-risk appraisal, demonstrate good healthbehavior, or participate in a risk-reduction program (Mello, NEJM 2008)
The use of premiumdifferentials as incentives increased among large employers(Mello, NEJM 2008)
Total annual health care costs reached $2.4 trillion in 2008 and are projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012 (Rosen)
In 2008, 77 percent of employers offered health and wellness programs, and more than half of those currently without programs plan to add them, many within the next six to 12 months (Rosen)
Research shows that 50 percent of a person’s health status is a result of behavior, and 75 percent of health care costs can be prevented, delayed, or curtailed through lifestyle modifications (Rosen)
Nearly two out of three individuals are interested in participating in wellness programs, and 20 percent even are willing to pay extra for a wellness program (Rosen)
46 percent of those who have participated in a wellness program felt that it positively impacted their behavior choices (Rosen)

Aligning existing and new programs that contribute to the well-being of a company’s employees or beneficiaries can create a greater impact on its business objectives– well-being therefore is imperative. Well-being efforts and how they relate to improving a company’s image, reputation, and return on investment are becoming paramount in this discussion.

Obstacles to implementing effective wellness programs and addressing well-being of employees or beneficiaries are multifold. Most importantly, there is no standard definition of well-being and the system surrounding this issue remains clouded and fragmented. In the United States, notions of well-being center on the absence of disease, prevention, and access to treatment. On the other hand, in Europe, well-being includes happiness, work-life balance, and value in life. How to balance these characteristics, and more, is the trick. Additionally, companies are implementing programs as short-term remedies rather than focusing on long-term goals and objectives. By fomenting an interchange of information and cohesion of program infrastructure and corporate culture with health, work, and life improvement, companies may improve their approach and their desired results.

Different organizations have been attempting to relate well-being to everyday society, such as Gallup Research and the Princeton Center for Health and Well-Being. However, both of these, and others, seem to focus on health as the primary constituent/outcome of well-being, perhaps missing the overarching implications and importance of other factors. It is our goal at Widmeyer Communications to shed light on both sides, to delve into the conundrum of why happiness is so difficult to quantify, and to help formulate solutions to solve the disconnect between employers and employees, providers and beneficiaries and between the European and U.S. approaches.

We hope you will join us in this journey and respond with questions, comments and insights. In future posts, we will focus on the role of technology, current wellness program reach, future plans and endeavors employers could adopt, social media presence and other communications tools, and finally best strategies for managing this burgeoning area.

Contact:

212-260-3401

henry.engleka@widmeyer.com

Davidson Institute for Talent Development Scholarship Recipients Spotlighted

Maffei Gina — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:42:56 +0000

Widmeyer is pleased to again work with the Davidson Institute for Talent Development to publicize this year’s Davidson Fellow Awards honorees. Scholarships have been awarded to 19 extraordinarily gifted young people under the age of 18 in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $10,000. 2009 award categories include: Mathematics, Science, Literature, Music, Technology, Philosophy and Outside the Box. To learn more visit www.DavidsonFellows.org. Here is a sampling of the media coverage generated so far: