Creating a Sense of Community: Can Online Universities Compete with Brick-and-Mortar Institutes?

We’ve heard it said about real estate – location, location, location.

The same may hold true for universities – location, location, location.

At Ideen, we’ve been working to support the online arm of a major state university.  The online campus has celebrated its five-year anniversary and is growing at an excellent rate.  When we discuss the future of the university, one question comes up over and over – "how do we create a sense of community among students, faculty, and alumni?"

In her blog post, Diana Walker Griffith discusses the power of memories created in Happy Valley -- home to the Pennsylvania State University -- and how the places and people become your “second family.” Brick-and-mortar universities can create a sense of community within an iconic setting that has strong ties to tradition and history. 

Brick-and-mortar universities have statues where graduates have their picture taken in cap-and-gown.  

 Brick-and-mortar universities may have columns that come to represent the highest values of the university.

A physical location helps build a sense of community among university stakeholders and provides a place for these stakeholders to gather long after the tuition is paid or the last exam is completed.

Online programs  -- whether independent from or as a part of a larger university system – are carving out their virtual "place."  First there is the classroom, where students engage with each other multiple times a week, if not daily.  Online universities also use Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as inbound channels where students and alumni share ideas, advice, and career connections. 

But is it enough?  Can online universities hope to create that same sense of community among its stakeholders? 

We’ll be looking at this topic from number of angles over the next several weeks and will share best practices that some universities currently are using.  Stay tuned!

Social Media: Do Your Customers Care?

At Ideen, we research and write about small businesses and social media.  So, when we see someone else’s good research on these topics, we like to share it and acknowledge the good work.

Last week, the web site hosting company Endurance released its findings regarding very small businesses’ (VSBs) use of social media.  The bottom line: 90% of VSBs are participating, but don’t have a strategy or clear goals.

Facebook gets the lion’s share of VSB participation at 87%, followed by Twitter at at 53%.  About 50% of VSBs use LinkedIn, while YouTube and Google+ both attract 36%.   The laggards?  Pinterest and Instagram, at about 20%.

One of the reasons VSBs may be less social media savvy is because the person in charge of the online presence is the VSB owner (80% of the time).  VSB postings typically are haphazard, because of resource constraints and the lack of a social media calendar.  When there are just a few employees, social media become “another duty as assigned.”  Who has time to engage?

Now…fast forward to Monday, 23 June…according to findings released in Gallup’s State of the American Consumer report, only 5% of Americans report that social media have “a great deal of influence” on their purchase decisions.  At the other end of the scale, 62% report that it had no influence at all.  The results indicate that consumers are more open to dialogue or conversation – as opposed to advertising and a hard sell – and use social media primarily to connect with friends and family.

For VSBs, the message is clear: pick your social media channels carefully, develop a plan, and invest your time wisely.  Focus your efforts on engaging and discussing, sharing and helping.  Choose social media platforms that are the best fit for your brand.  Focus like a laser and make contributions that are relevant and helpful.  Otherwise, your customers just don’t care.