Intermedia

Are you set up to handle engagement?

As we in higher ed gear up for another fall, it seems that engagement is the word on everybody's whiteboard, desktop and, yep, blog. An important question to ask as we think about how "doing" engagement is going to impact our programs and our institutions is whether you're really ready for it or if, perhaps, the technology is getting ahead of the practice.

Think of it in terms of scenarios. You set up blogs to allow commenting on stories that you post, right? That's perhaps a form or an expression of engagement that you've decided to pursue this year. What happens, though, in your admission information sessions or your orientation meetings or your reunion presentations? Are they set up to function as conversations or dialogue? If not, those prospective students, new students and alumni might rightfully find one or the other to be disingenuous. Either your online conversations are canned or your presentations are. The experience needs to be seamless as does the commitment to conversation and open dialogue.

Engagement can't happen over in one corner of a campus and it can't be thought of as just a "technology thing" enabled by Facebook and blogs. The conversations always existed, now they're just widely viewable and accessible to more people in more places thanks to the open, asynchronous nature of the new technologies. Communications, admission, alumni and other outward-facing offices may be well positioned to lead the conversation on campus about enhancing engagement, but it's a practice that the whole campus needs to embrace.

Social media: Not a business strategy. Not an option

I get about 12 mailings and emails today that talk about social media as a "business strategy" or offering to provide training for those thinking of implementing social media programs. This kind of thing totally misses the point.

Social media isn't a business strategy and it isn't an option.

Seth Godin had a great post earlier this week in which he wrote

"[The Net] wasn't invented by business people, and it doesn't exist to help your company make money."

Social media has a life of its own and will exist and proliferate based on user interest, not institutional priority. Just building a social networking community or having a presence in Facebook doesn't mean that you're engaging people -- in fact, it can actually diminish your efforts if people take the time to sign on or register and realize that no value has been added.

We need to remember that we don't control social media. That's why it's called social. At most, you can create the platform, seed it with good tools, topics and the right kind of people, and then support it as the conversation happens.