Social media Analytics in Higher Education
Educational institutions are generally slower to adapt technologies than the general public and businesses. One reason is that it's hard to measure the return on investment (ROI, to use business talk).
That is especially true of using social media - Facebook, Twitter et al.
68% of the respondents to the second CASE survey on social media practices in higher education think measuring the ROI of their social media initiatives is tough, but not impossible.
Enter social media analytics.
Stephane Hamel teaches the art and science of online analytics at the University of British Columbia and the University of Laval. As one of the rare university instructors in this specific area in North America, he has a very different perspective on social media ROI than most in higher education.
He will be teaching a master class on social media analytics in higher education on June 21st, 2011 for Higher Ed Experts.
In an interview, Hamel was asked about schools using Klout scores to measure their social media activities. He answered that "Klout and other tools are a starting point but they measure the microcosm of social media. They certainly don’t measure the real business outcomes such as enrolling new students and making sure they are satisfied—just like any other business in fact!"
He was also asked what is one thing institutions can do to better measure the results of their social media activities. He responded" "Very simple: define your social media objectives. Do they align with your core strategies and values? It’s amazing the number of organizations that are jumping on the social media band wagon because they’ve been told they need to be there, but have absolutely no clue as to why, exactly, they are doing it. It is fine to experiment and make the jump, but it’s much better to define clear objectives. And no, having thousands of followers or doing it only for “brand awareness” aren’t good objectives in themselves. Social media marketing needs to lead to something else!"
That is especially true of using social media - Facebook, Twitter et al.
68% of the respondents to the second CASE survey on social media practices in higher education think measuring the ROI of their social media initiatives is tough, but not impossible.Enter social media analytics.
Stephane Hamel teaches the art and science of online analytics at the University of British Columbia and the University of Laval. As one of the rare university instructors in this specific area in North America, he has a very different perspective on social media ROI than most in higher education.
He will be teaching a master class on social media analytics in higher education on June 21st, 2011 for Higher Ed Experts.
In an interview, Hamel was asked about schools using Klout scores to measure their social media activities. He answered that "Klout and other tools are a starting point but they measure the microcosm of social media. They certainly don’t measure the real business outcomes such as enrolling new students and making sure they are satisfied—just like any other business in fact!"
He was also asked what is one thing institutions can do to better measure the results of their social media activities. He responded" "Very simple: define your social media objectives. Do they align with your core strategies and values? It’s amazing the number of organizations that are jumping on the social media band wagon because they’ve been told they need to be there, but have absolutely no clue as to why, exactly, they are doing it. It is fine to experiment and make the jump, but it’s much better to define clear objectives. And no, having thousands of followers or doing it only for “brand awareness” aren’t good objectives in themselves. Social media marketing needs to lead to something else!"
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