I think I know what’s been bothering me lately. I’ve been feeling really anxious to achieve, and implement these enormous plans I keep coming up with. I touched on this anxiety in an earlier post, but now I believe I’ve figured it out.
Last week I attended a strategic planning meeting for Cambrian College’s Alumni Association, and it encompassed the plan for the next three years of the Association. I’ve been on placement with the Association for five weeks so far. In that time, I’ve pitched numerous ideas, and most of them have been short-term. They were accepted with great enthusiasm by my manager Celina. I’ve also pitched many long-term goals, which have been met with great enthusiasm, but have not been put into action.
That is not Celina’s fault by any means. The office staff here is too small. There are four of us, and two of us are placement students. I pitched some of these ideas to upper level management, and got relatively the same response. It all came down to budget and manpower restraints.
One cannot blame the staff here, or some of the management, because they don’t control the budget or manpower. They understand the ideas, and feel they are important, but don’t have the resources. It’s a shame. The main point I tried to raise was about the importance of using social media for a business’ success (yes, post secondary institutions are businesses).
The Alumni Association, but more so the College in general, needs to become a social media force. That’s where their customers (read: students and prospective students) are, and one ALWAYS needs to bring their advertising into contact with their customers. It is critical in today’s advertising world (as Mashable, Conversation Agent, Convince & Convert, and any respectable marketing, PR, or social media website will inform you) that a business reaches out to its customers through a strong social media presence. This is especially true when your target is mostly in the 15-19 year-old range, which if I recall correctly, is one of the most active user groups on social media.
I even tried using strong language (not to be confused with cursing and swearing) to convince Cambrian to get on board. “Laurentian is killing us in social media!” I’ve declared at several different meetings. It’s worth noting that Laurentian University is also in Sudbury, so they are technically one of Cambrian’s strongest rival schools.
All of the idea generating is great, and I love behaving like I’m part of a think-tank. To quote an industry professional I respect, people like me are “ideologues;” we just love generating ideas. When one never gets to watch their ideas soar, it begins to take a toll on one’s morale. I’m really hoping that the next institution I work for (teaser: expect a major announcement next week sometime probably), let’s me spread my wings and test how high I can fly. I’ve got an insane amount of ideas, and I can’t wait to see them come to fruition.
It’s worth recounting a personal story, which I’ve often recited to friends and colleagues. I’ve even recited it in meetings here at the College, concerning how badly Cambrian needs to get into social media. Today at Cambrian’s Journalism Advisory Committee meeting even, one of the individuals in attendance approached me after the meeting, and informed me she wanted to tell this story to others as a great example of how a post-secondary institution could use social media effectively. Here’s the story:
A few months ago, I applied to Algoma University and Laurentian University for Public Administration. I posted about applying in my Facebook status, and within 15 minutes, Laurentian University President Dominic Giroux Facebooked me. He personally invited me back to the University (as I am an alumni), and said they’d love to have me. This personal touch, from the President of the University himself, is an incredible way of encouraging prospective students to attend your school. Customer service isn’t about how well a member of the communications team can spin words anymore. Now customer service is about the whole organization buying in, and when your President buys into this manner of teamwork, your institution ‘gets’ social media.
I present two thumbs up to Dominic, and Laurentian, who honestly seem to understand the sometimes wavy seas of social media, having just launched their social media efforts in full force. Happy sailing Laurentian!