Sinclair360

Social networking is the new tool for organizations, including higher-education institutions, looking to connect with their employees, students, donors, volunteers and others. In fact, a 2010 study released by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) found that the vast majority of college fundraising- and communications-related divisions are now using social media; only four percent are doing nothing in the field.  

Sinclair Community College gets social

Social media have been part of Sinclair Community College’s marketing mix for the past four years. After researching other institutions, Ed Vander Bush, manager of marketing services, started Sinclair’s social-media program in late 2007, with a Facebook page. 

In its first year, the Sinclair Facebook page garnered a couple hundred fans, primarily the college’s students and alumni. Vander Bush soon realized that truly managing Sinclair’s online presence would require at least a part-time position. Michelle Morgan, now the digital community specialist, was hired in 2008, to do just that. 

In the past 12 months, Sinclair’s Facebook fans have grown more than 60 percent. Its current total of nearly 6,500 puts it in the top 10 community-college pages on the site. 

The college has branched out with accounts on Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, with varied results. “By far, Facebook has been the most beneficial and active social-media account,” said Vander Bush. “We are engaging students, faculty and staff, and alumni in two-way conversations that were difficult to have prior to social media.”

Results like this are driving higher-education institutions to Facebook. By far, the top social-networking tool used by those in the CASE survey was Facebook, with 94 percent of respondents reporting that their units have pages there. Sixty-seven percent of the colleges surveyed are using multiple forms of social media, such as Twitter.

Vander Bush and Morgan developed and follow a social-media plan that includes three main goals:

• Keep students, faculty and staff, and alumni engaged.
• Recruit new students and employees.
• Keep Sinclair top of mind with alumni and the community.

We’ve got spirit

Recently Sinclair put its social-media strategies to the test. In the fall of 2010, the college hosted the Sinclair Spirit contest, a competition among surrounding high schools to show their school spirit. The spirit videos were all student-shot and -edited, then sent to Sinclair. Over the course of a month, more than 8,000 people from 29 states and three countries voted. The winner, chosen from among the three finalists – Fairborn High School, Piqua High School and West Carrollton High School – was Fairborn High School. 

It was a great case study of how a social-media campaign should work. The finalists’ videos were posted on Facebook, and all of the promotion was executed through social media. The number of votes received and word-of-mouth marketing accomplished were a tribute to the success of the program. 

A social future

So what’s next for Sinclair’s social-media program? Vander Bush and Morgan hope to further develop the college’s YouTube presence, giving students and employees more opportunities to produce their own content. “It is important that we continue the conversation with all of our audiences,” said Morgan. “By allowing students and employees to post their own videos, photos and opinions, we are strengthening our connection to them.” The college hopes that that connection will, in turn, create brand loyalty and ultimately keep them engaged.

By Kim Balio

Kim Balio is a senior public relations manager with minors in marketing and psychology at the University of Dayton. She can be reached at kimberly.balio@sinclair.edu.