Social Network Marketing Part 1: What Education Non-Profits Can Do About MySpace

Printer-friendly version

When Burger King set up the 'Burger King' MySpace space, they were tapping into a new marketing channel that reaches a large chunk of one of their key demographics (age 12-29). And because they were one of the first to this medium, it also had a lot of "buzz-appeal." But as you might imagine, there is still that sense of "selling" on their space, as well as the many other commercial spaces that other companies have set up. As an education non-profit institution or organization, you have an advantage in that your space has the potential to be viewed much more as an information source than a new type of commercial. But before going into what to do about this, lets review the demographics.

Demographics:

MySpace is getting older. Well, not MySpace specifically, but the median age of the visitors to MySpace is rising significantly. A comScore study shows that not only has the MySpace site experienced dramatic visitor growth in the past year, but that it has become more popular among older Internet users. The most significant shift has occurred among teens 12-17, who accounted for 24.7% of the MySpace audience in August 2005, but today represent a much lower 11.9% of the site's total audience. If you think this stuff is for kids, you will probably be surprised to know that Internet users between the ages of 25-54 accounted for 57.3% of the MySpace visitor base in August, 2006. All ages are represented enough to still be worth trying to reach through this medium, but of particularly large size is the adult learner in the age group of 25-34, of which there were over 9 million unique visitors over 1 month (16.7%). If you aim to reach adult learners in the 35-54 age group, then you are looking at over 22.6M unique visitors in one month, and doubling year-over-year.

You should certainly consider how this medium fits into your entire marketing plan and approach, but in general, here are some suggestions for how to best take advantage of this medium:

1. Set up your spaces as information sources - You want it to be transparent that your space represents an institution and that it is there as an informational source. This helps to clarify to the student what the intent of the site is and can reduce any potential confusion. As with most marketing mediums, your "product", which is education, is approached differently by consumers than most other products. Because education is viewed as a step that most must take in life, a way to improve one's situation, information is sought and accepted in a different way relative to the typical advertisement. This is especially true when offered from a non-profit institution or organization, which is viewed as a primary information source for finding out more about education. So by providing a MySpace for your institution, you are actually extending an information service into a new medium. This is an important aspect of your approach, because it means that there is no need to come across as a "commercial" anymore than in any other medium. Make it a legitimate information source for your potential students, putting helpful information on the space that will differentiate your program, and they will show their appreciation by using your space to sign up for your programs.




2. Set up a space for each program - If possible (from a support stand point), I would recommend to set up spaces for each program. This would give you the ability to provide focused, targeted messages to the individuals that these programs are developed for. This will also allow you to minimize the amount of information you need to provide on the space.




3. Easy on the text - While I say to make it an information source, I don't mean to overload it with text. Just provide the key information that will help them differentiate between your programs and other programs, and then provide links back to your web site pointing to additional information.




4. Use PR to get the word out - There is still a great deal of PR value left in the fact that you will be utilizing a new medium to reach your market. Let the local press know that your school or organization has a MySpace to provide information to potential students. There is a good chance they will pick up on this story.




5. List hours of availability - You can use this space for communications with potential students. Many commercial spaces have real people on the other end that will answer emails and instant messages 24 hours a day. Yes, the Burger King will reply if you send him a note! You probably do not have the staff to answer emails 24 hours a day, but if you have someone answer phones and emails, be sure to list the times they can respond to instant messages on your space and arrange for them to be able to do this. It gives your space that human element that may lead to additional enrollments. The communication aspects of this medium is probably the most valuable aspect, so be sure to take advantage of it in a way that will serve your visitors in the best way.

Note: I originally intended to include information about Facebook and YouTube in this post as well, but after writing it, it became too unwieldy for one post. Each really has its own distinct features that require different approaches and I just couldn't do them justice to fit them all into one post. So stay tuned, as I will include more information about those and other similar channels in future posts.