Welcome back to Web Marketing Wednesdays (WMW), Southwark Consulting’s weekly roundup of news and notes from the digital marketing world! This week we look at Facebook’s 10th birthday, the usefulness of Google+, the role of the blog in today’s digital marketing domain and the ongoing (and always lively) debate about the end of the higher ed golden age. As our regular readers know, the aim of this column is to provide a regular rundown of key news items and tech tips for business school admissions and marketing staff. Read on for all the latest…
We’ll start this week’s column with a nod to Facebook, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. While anyone running a social media presence for a business school can tell you the impact that Facebook has had on their day-to-day role, the folks over at Mashable highlight 8 Ways That Facebook Changed the World. Many of the items on the list are obvious – ranging from ‘privacy’ to ‘politics’ – but it’s helpful to step back and see what one of the first major social networks has accomplished in such a short period of time. Of course, before you get all teary-eyed about how ‘little Facebook is all grown up’, let’s turn to one of the network’s chief competitors: Google+. Now we presume that some of you have already decided that your institution need not bother with Google+ in the near term….but we strongly recommend reading this article about 10 Things People Don’t Understand About Google+. It may just change your mind.
Shifting gears from Facebook and Google+, our next item of interest focuses on broader issues around content marketing and social media – and where the world of blogging fits into today’s equation. While many feel that blogging is passé, the truth is that a great blog is often at the center of an effective content marketing campaign. An article we spotted this week titled ‘5 Reasons to Build Your Social Media Marketing Around a Blog‘ makes a number of great points. Item #4 (about ‘involving the whole team’) seems relevant for admissions officers who might want to have students, alums, faculty and administration all taking part in a school blog. Still not convinced? Check out another post we found about Blogging Being Passé.
And finally, while we recognize that the higher ed world is likely fed up with stories about how the ‘old university’ model is outdated we found this one from Clay Shirky to be worth reading. The piece is called ‘The End of Higher Education’s Golden Age’ with the subtitle: There isn’t enough money to keep educating adults the way we’re doing it. While the points made do not apply to every institution, we’d still file this under the must-read category (if only for the sparks that have begun flying in the comments section).
That’s the news for this week’s WMW! See you all next week….
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