Comments on: What I Told My VP About Stamats 08

By: Email Marketing Systems » Blog Archive » What I Told My VP About Stamats 08

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:57:14 +0000

[...] jesskry added an interesting post today on What I Told My VP About Stamats 08Here’s a small readingNo one knows exactly how to use social media for higher education marketing – but they are trying. Many universities are trying it, but no one has a strategy that is perfected. Everyone is testing different things for their individual … [...]

By: Ken Steele

Ken Steele — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:21:36 +0000

Interesting takeaways. Sadly I had to miss this year’s Stamats because there were just too many conferences on at the same time!

As a guy in his 40s, I have to defend the “guy in his 50s” — some of them are very smart, and if they spend 3 hours a day on social media, they get it too. Just because somebody’s young does not make them an effective strategic thinker. Caution!

And as for Stamats’ party line that “nobody gets it” I think they’re deliberately ignoring SkoolPool — in the interests of full disclosure, yes, my company’s product — which has added cross-platform functionality. Now users can connect across Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and all the other OpenSocial platforms, and our data warehouse gathers analytics on their use, consideration sets, and decision process.

Sure, things are evolving fast, but as you say, that’s no excuse not to try some things out!

By: TimN

TimN — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:30:05 +0000

When Rachel and I did a presentation on Facebook at SUNY CUAD, I emphasized the point that no one is really an expert in this area. Moreover, if a guy in his 50s wearing a suit and tie tells you he’s a social-media expert, you should laugh derisively in his face. (That last sentence was more implied than anything.)

Yet it’s interesting that so many of us trying to figure out social media are turning to the best place for answers … fellow users of social media. I’d like to say this is almost a synecdoche, because I really want an opportunity to use that phrase correctly in a sentence, but alas it’s not quite right … much like most observations about social media are.

FWIW, I did send this synopsis to some important people at my college, as we’re very much trying to grasp this 800-pound iguana … so you may yet be considered an expert at an Upstate college. That won’t get you a raise, but still.