How Social Networks are
Changing College Marketing,
PR, and Alumni Relations
Dan Forbush
NAICU Public Relations Academy
February 1, 2009
Evolution of Computers in
Marketing Communications
1970s
Early 1980s
Mid 1980s
Late1980s
Mid 1990s
Late 1990s
Mid 2000s
Late 2000s
Mid 2020s
IBM Memory Typewriter
Desktop Publishing
CompuServe
Email / Listservs
Static Web
Dynamic Web
Social Web
We’re Here
Mobile Web
Neural Web
2009: Our Expanding Digital World
 Facebook
 MySpace
 Twitter
 ITunes
 YouTube
 Flickr
 LinkedIn
 iGoogle
 Basecamp
 Blogs
 Box.net
 Podcasts
 Slideshare
 Wikis
The 2008 Presidential Race
Main Obama Facebook Page
Obama’s YouTube Channel
Obama’s LinkedIn Group
Obama in Twitter
‘Obama Everywhere’
OrganizingforAmerica.com
Obama’s Achievement
‘Barack Obama won the presidency in a
landslide victory by converting everyday
people into engaged volunteers, donors and
advocates through social networks, email
advocacy, text messaging and online video.’
Michael Krempasky
EVP, Digital Public Affairs
Edelman
Why Our Use of Social
Networks is Exploding*
 They enable us to manage large extended
networks more effectively
 They provide information about others that
serves as a ‘social lubricant,’ making it easy
to interact
 They give us new ways to connect with one
another over shared interests, problems, or
experiences, and to mobilize coordinated
actions
* Nicole Ellison, Michigan State University
ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008
In Higher Education
“Social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and MySpace
now constitute an integral part of the daily communications
practices for many students. For those of us in higher education,
it is particularly important to understand SNS practices, outcomes
and motivations for use because these sites are fundamentally
changing the social fabric of the university … “
Nicole Ellison
Michigan State University
ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008
Social Networks Are Transforming
PR, Marketing and Alumni Relations
Because:
 They’re interactive, engaging and ‘viral’
 They powerfully support ‘word of mouth’
 They’re merging with conventional Web sites
 They’re the future
Inauguration Day
What’s Your
Social Networking
Strategy?
At Skidmore
We see the introduction of a
Skidmore-managed social network as
our best hope for strengthening our
connections with young alumni
Why Do We Need to?
 Caller ID Screening: Annual fund callers now
must make 16 calls for every live connection
 Revenues from Calls are Declining: From
$260,000 in 2005 to $110,000 in 2008
 Renewed Focus on Volunteers: Personal
contacts by peers are key
New Capabilities the New
‘Skidmore Network’ Must Offer
 Enable alumni to easily network by professional
groups
 Enable alumni to easily network by affinity groups
 Enable alumni to post electronic class notes
 And…
Alumni must be able to access the
new Skidmore Network using their
Facebook user name and password
Why Facebook?
By Surveying Our Alumni,
We Learned:
• Twice as many Skidmore alumni use Facebook
as MySpace
• 79 percent of alumni who use Facebook say
they use it daily
• The more experienced with Facebook a Skidmore
alumnus/a is, the less likely he or she is to join
a Skidmore-managed network
Here’s What They’re Telling Us
 ‘Why reinvent the wheel? Facebook and
Linkedin are sophisticated sites with lots of
resources. Skidmore won't be able to
duplicate their service.’
 ‘Who needs to remember another
password?’
 ‘You need to go where people are, not
expect them to come to you.’
What Makes Facebook So ‘Sticky’ ?
‘Friending’
Content-Sharing
Content-Sharing
Content-Sharing
Content-Sharing
News Feed (mine)
News Feed (all friends)
Interactions Galore
(50,000 Applications)
Facebook
Pages
Ideal for creating
niche communities
- Institutional voice
- No ads
- Visible to all – no login needed
- Link Event pages to it
- Listserv function
- Blog function
- Discussion topics
- Share photos and videos
- Pull in videos from YouTube
- ‘Fans’ can connect with each
other
And more …
Measurement
Facebook’s ‘Insight’ tool enables you to
analyze traffic to your Page by any of the
following:
Page Views
Unique Views
Fans
New Fans
Wall Posts
Discussion Topics
Photo Views
Audio Plays
Video Plays
Page Views
Fans
Creating a Niche
Community in Facebook
Creating a Niche Community
A Q&A
•An Alumnus Q&A
•YouTube video
Creating a Niche Community
is
‘Notes’‘Notes’
is
like a blog
like a blog
Creating a Niche Community
Alumni profiles
Creating a Niche Community
Alumnus
MySpace
Page
Key Goals in Skidmore Network
 Create an application that enables alums in
any profession to create and maintain
profiles of themselves in a Facebook
community directly relevant to their
interests
 Link these profiles to their profiles in
Skidmore’s alumni database so they can
easily update key information
Would You Like to
Partner with Us ?
Let’s develop the architecture for an ideal
alumni community in Facebook and share
the development costs!
Write or call me:
dforbush@skidmore.edu
518-580-5746
Facebook Connect
will be in key in this
Facebook Connect
‘We believe the next evolution of data
portability is about much more than data.
It's about giving users the ability to take
their identity and friends with them around
the Web, while being able to trust that their
information is always up to date and always
protected by their privacy settings.’
Facebook
May 9, 2008
How It Works
 Developers may add Facebook’s ‘rich social
context’ to their own websites
 Users may connect their Facebook account
to any partner website for ‘single sign-on’
 Users may take their profile information
with them wherever they go on the Web
 Users may take their friends with them
wherever they go on the Web
New Forms of
Facebook-enabled
Public Dialog:
Two Examples
Facebook Connect
With CNN.com
Facebook Connect
With CNN Forum
An Example from Higher Ed
Ithaca College:
Facebook Connect
With iModules
Facebook Connect with
iModules’ ‘Encompass’*
 Connects member identity and content in
their Ithaca College alumni community
directly to Facebook.
 Event registrations, class notes, and online
donations can be published on a member’s
Facebook News Feed.
*Thanks to Ithaca’s Julie Doherty for the screenshots that follow
Single Sign-on

Visitors to the alumni community with a
Facebook account can associate their
identity with a member record in the
alumni site.

Once successful, the accounts are
“connected” and the member can choose
to login with either their community or
Facebook username and password in the
future.
Single Sign-on
Login page includes the “Connect with Facebook” button
Single Sign-on
Clicking on the Facebook button invokes this login dialog box
Single Sign-on
Page allowing member to “link” the two accounts
Single Sign-on
Successfully logged in, pulling picture and name from Facebook
News Feed Propagation

When visitors, logged in via Facebook
Connect, interact with an enabled form,
they are presented with a dialog box.

Visitors may elect to propagate their
activity into their Facebook News Feed or
not.
News Feed Propagation
Confirmation step of an event with a “Share on Facebook” button
News Feed Propagation
Dialog box confirming publication to Facebook News Feed
News Feed Propagation
Facebook News Feed including alumni web site member activity
There’s a Lot You Can Do
To Strengthen Your
Institution’s Visibility in
Facebook Itself – for Free!
We’ve Launched a Series of
Facebook Pages and Groups
Skidmore Alumni
Class of 2013
Alumni in Digital Media
Skidmore Musicians Online
Skidmore Global
We’ve told alumni we’ll help
them create their own
We’ve Created ‘Skidmore
Interactive’ To Bring It All Together
This is our ‘home
page for Skidmore’s
online communities’
It’s the core of
our social network
We Embarked on a Graphic Identity
Program in Facebook.
Here’s our Main Alumni Group.
Our Career Services Page
Our Class of 2013 Page
Our ‘Online Musicians’ Group
We Produced a Special Issue of
Our Magazine: ‘Digital Skidmore’
We Inserted a Four-Page Promotion:
‘Making Friends with the Web’
Our objective was to build
alumni audiences in
Facebook, LinkedIn, and
YouTube and to begin a
serious discussion about
a Skidmore-managed
social network
Plus:
 We’ve created a team of student Facebook
contributors
 We’ve brought our entire Alumni Board into
an ‘Alumni Board’ group in Facebook
 We’ve created an alumni social networking
advisory group
‘Laddering’ Support through
Tiers of Engagement*
Advocate
Recruit others to donate, host
an event, create a group
Social
Post pictures or videos, write a blog post,
join a discussion or group, post a class note
Personal
Create a profile, post a comment, make a donation,
sign up for email, ‘friend’ a classmate
*Edelman
Challenges
 Resistance to Facebook among faculty and colleagues
 Mastering new technologies and genres
 Finding comfortable blend of one’s personal and
professional persona
 Figuring out how to play the role of ‘community
manager’
Role of Community Manager
 Establish goals, develop strategy and monitor
progress
 Master the new tools and teach others
 Keep content fresh
 Generate and promote the ‘conversation’
 Serve as the institution’s visible, interactive
representative in social spaces
 Develop and extend ‘online persona’
Aspects of Your ‘Online Persona’
 Your profile content: photo, bio, photo
collections, videos
 Your friends
 The nature of content you post
 The ‘voice’ with which you post
 Your privacy settings
My Facebook Profile
Other Networks, Sites,
and Smart Approaches
Twitter.com
Tinyurl.com
Twitter feed
Yammer
Basecamp
BigThink
Google Maps ‘Mashup’ at Colgate
Box.net
Slideshare
The Vatican on YouTube
To see these slides again:
http://www.slideshare.com/dforbush