(The State Journal, June 10, 2011 - by Scott D. Miller)
It’s common knowledge that the astonishing growth of communication technologies, especially highly personalized social-networking media like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, is redefining how we do business. These realities have also found their way to the corridors of higher education.
As with most developments that influence our clients, how we respond will determine whether we will be truly responsive to customer expectations.
For a college president, multiple constituencies (customers) compete for attention and satisfaction: students, their parents, faculty, staff, alumni, foundations, corporations, public officials and a vast pool of current and would-be funders we call “friends.” All generally buy into our educational mission and programs. But as Charlene Li writes in the April 2011 issue of Currents, published by the Council on Advancement and Support of Education, “Leadership is about relationships, and because social technologies are changing the way relationships are formed and cultivated, leadership must change.” She advocates for an “open leadership” style that factors in the “new skills and behaviors” required by social networking.
I’m online multiple times during the day, promoting Bethany College students’, faculty and alumni achievements, events, honors, programs, athletic results and more. I have communication tools available to me that were unknown when I began my career as a college president two decades ago. But it’s more than a matter of , “I tweet; therefore, I am.” Bethany’s primary customer base—new and current students, faculty, donors—still depends on target marketing. We seek a certain student profile, a special kind of faculty member, an especially committed contributor, not only to keep the College viable, but also to ensure that Bethany retains its core identity and values. To keep these constituents interested in what the College has to offer, I take advantage of communication tools that influence their thinking and inspire their engagement; the more client-sensitive the message, the better.
Social technology enables me to make my message more immediate, more conversational and more quickly and easily accessed than do some traditional ways of mass communication, like direct mail. Most of all, social networking is interactive; I can have an ongoing, extended dialogue with Bethany’s audience. Still, as Li points out in her article, my fellow leaders in education and I must always build trust. That’s our real operator’s license.
Part of the process of building trust is honoring our institutional traditions. Colleges and universities thrive on the latest learning resources, but they are sustained by their heritage—the look and feel of their historic campuses, longtime professors adored by alumni across the generations, the pomp and circumstance of convocations and commencements. Like some product-based corporations that have resurrected their iconic mascots, slogans and jingles, higher education touts brand loyalty. Bethany’s “Boomer the Bison” bobblehead, in the likeness of our mascot, was a sales hit when we unveiled it at Homecoming last year.
We all know, however, that memory is short and loyalty fleeting. Social technology compels us to keep up with our audiences—our clients—wherever they go, and whatever they expect of us. Our constituents now lead us as much as, or more than, we strive to lead them.
As colleges and universities found themselves building more elaborate student centers, food courts, residence halls and fitness centers in the 1990’s in response to enrollment demand, and went wireless more recently, they have now discovered the competitive value of high-speed, interactive social networking—especially for students and younger (graduated within the last decade) alumni whose preferred screen is in their palms, not their living rooms.
The technology expands the conversation that institutions can have with their constituents—and that raises questions, of course. Just as the governance system of colleges and universities has few counterparts in conventional business management, similarly we in higher education will have to define how best to respond to the electronic tennis match of opinions, praise, criticism and creativity inspired by social networking. Being everywhere, interactively, via technology inspires its own problems and protocol.
For example, when educators respond electronically to an idea from a graduate, a question from an employee or a request from a student, we have to be mindful of the digital trail we are creating, one that can be easily shared with anyone with the click of a mouse. And, like those of any business, our institutional brands are subject to judgment by the consumer and now, through technology, pervasive comment. A college’s “product” is less tangible, however, less immediately gratifying than some other goods and services; the benefits of a customer purchasing a four-year, undergraduate, liberal arts experience, such as that offered by Bethany, will be realized over a lifetime. Yet social networking typically demands immediate information responses that cohere with overall customer satisfaction.
Despite the challenges and some pitfalls of using social networking, I find these tools to be invaluable to our marketing strategy. The fanciest admission viewbooks and the warmest letters of invitation from me are no match for today’s high-speed connectors—our technology-savvy, current and prospective students. They, our customers, are increasingly determining how we market, and how effectively we market, our storied institutions and our institutional stories. Our visibility and viability depend on mastery of these technological realities.
College presidents may or may not see themselves as Gary Cooper-like figures from “High Noon,” confronting challenges from every corner of one’s domain. Yet technology demands that we be quick on the draw and accurate in our aim, nevertheless. Business leaders have always had to be, but social technology has raised the stakes for leaders in the industry of higher education, as well.
If you want to be a friend of colleges or universities, you now have new ways of finding us.
