On April 12, 2013, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) released results of their latest survey detailing social media use by colleges and universities. More than 1,000 institutions participated in the survey that solicited responses on several topics including, how professionals incorporate social media in their communication strategies, goals for social media, and current best practices.

The survey provides several interesting responses for consideration. I encourage you to read the results if you have the time. I found the following intriguing.

• 84 percent of respondents indicated that there are 0-1 full-time individuals at their institution 100 percent dedicated to social media efforts as it relates to their position responsibilities.
• Only 31 percent of respondents indicated that there were training resources provided for staff to focus on engagement strategies through social media and only 34 percent indicated there were training resources on content development.
• The largest identified barrier to the successful use of social media was staffing for day-to-day content management.

Certainly, there are several ways to interrupt data. Yet,  it appears there is still reluctance on the part of many to  invest in social media as tools to achieve institutional goals. This is despite 2010 results that found over 97 percent of college students were on Facebook and a 93 percent growth in students using Twitter from the last year.

Also, somewhat surprisingly, 76 percent of respondents affirmed that “Social media have great potential for achieving important goals in my unit.”

Certainly, the impact of Facebook and Twitter on college students is apparent. Furthermore, we are able to identify that social media has great potential in achieving institutional goals. Yet, there still appears to be reluctance on the part of administrators to commit staff to social media efforts, implement social media strategies, and provide essential training to staff members.

Why?

Is there a stigma associated with social media use at the institutional level? Are there a lack of best practices to utilize when developing strategies? Are the necessary resources allocated to other priorities? Do we believe that social media is a fad that will leave as quickly as it arrived?

Perhaps all. Perhaps none.

We have been too slow adopting social media as strategies for success. I find this concerning, not because we are neglecting social media, but it illustrates our lack of ability to be robust. Often, we discuss concern with the growing privatization of higher education. Often, I hear we must prove our worth, defend our expertise, and convince stakeholders that our specialization is value-added. Social media came quickly and we failed to keep pace. I’m not concerned about social media – we’ll catch up. But, with the rising pressures on higher education, I am  concerned about our ability to react when the next things comes. As departments and institutions, we have to find ways to be more adaptable to the trends that impact our field and our students. Businesses are far better at doing so and there is too much money in higher education for them not to recognize the potential.

I’m curious what you found interesting in the report. Utilize those comments below!

NASPA Tech sounded awesome. I wasn’t able to go but I followed the back channel whenever I could. One recurring theme was digital identity development (which truly needs expanded conversation). I firmly believe we are in an age where our future Presidents will have at least one or two massively embarrassing things located on the Internet.

Oddly enough I actually drafted up something similar to Digital Identity Development with a focus on Social Media a few months back.  I had every intention of doing some literature review and seeing if the theory held up but then life happened.  Instead I will submit it here for public scrutiny and see what happens.  I present to you the incredibly creatively titled: “Social Media Identity Theory”

Warning: This is only from observation, no actual scientific or research oriented information lead to the creation of any particular content within the theory.

Vector 1: Experimentation

Most people treat social media like a cold pool; dip your toe in first before going full force.   It’s a time where new users ask themselves questions about what pictures to share, what to write in statuses, and what information to put in their biography. People tend to be moderately rigid and fake at first, as if they are making a new friend and are a little timid before completely trusting them.  You have to shake the dust off a little.  You begin tinkering with profile pictures for Facebook and Twitter, finding the right mixture of looking good and not too goofy.  You write multiple biographies for yourself, rewriting it and trying to get it just right.

Vector 2: Mirroring

Similar to a developing child, if you don’t know how to walk, watch someone else and do what she or he does.    Sooner or later you will make connections online and be able to see others activity.    Instead of creating your own identity you assume the tactics of others and let your peers set the precedent.  You are able to see what your friends and colleagues follow and subscribe to, and you begin doing the same.  Even though you may not be a huge fan you are willing to give it a trial period to feel in “the loop.”

Vector 3: Normalization

Slowly but surely you find ways to differentiate yourself from the same people you mimicked.  Finding your own voice and what boundaries you feel comfortable with takes precedent.  You begin to take into account the balance between personal and professional voices and when to use each.

Vector 4: Growth

You’re starting to find flow, and your level of comfort.  You have reached a point where you can start expanding.  You begin sharing content: videos that make you laugh or quotes that you connect with.  You have created your social media identity and as time goes on you are able to share more of your personality to your network.  Your network also has developed to a point where you frequently find the majority of the information you use through your network.  You have found informational twitters (news, sports, weather, etc…) that provide you knowledge the way you like to receive it and you subscribe to the companies you like on Facebook.

A few Things to Consider

• Creating multiple “identities” online such as a personal and professional profile
• Narcissism and over selling yourself, altering yourself so you are represented better online.  Fake personas or identity

Does this resonate with you? Would you add or subtract any information?

With 250 million active users and over one billion pieces of content being shared weekly on Twitter, the reality is the realty can be rather crammed. When I started my first advising job back in January, I was unofficially given the reins to the office’s Twitter account. No one else wanted the responsibility. Here I was, first job and already steering the office leftovers. I was rather intimidated at first, because up until that point I had only used Twitter to acquire information- never to create it. So I played it safe. I sent out lifeless Tweets. Guilty as charged!

Job Fair Tomorrow!…Oh to those poor students who were currently following my drab, dust collecting, antique-Tweets!

Boring right? Never had I paid any attention to strategy or even looked into what others were doing. Over the summer I was finally fed up with getting steam-rolled by the newsfeed. It was time to create some elbowroom.

I now see the utility in social platforms as a means to student engagement. When I first started I was merely pushing out information with no real direction. As I explored what others were doing and really got into social listening, I started to conceptualize how our account could be used as an engagement mechanism.

Through trail and error and the use of simple analytics, I have found a set of guidelines that I feel work for our academic advising office (and perhaps others). While I am still developing my mode of operations I am confident that my guidelines will create the framework for a much more interactive account and will meet my expectations for creating engagement opportunities for our students.

Find common ground:

According to Forrester Research Group  students fall under the category of creators and conversationalists. This means not only are students highly connected, they operate on a higher level of social activity. While they may not create as much content, they are about sharing content. It took me awhile to figure this out, but I believe the key to engaging students has come from finding common ground or unique ways to identify with my student population. While it has been difficult with the 140-character limit, I try to tie in the relevant info with a colorful anecdote. I have found that the bulk of retweets occur when I used something they can identify either personally or experientially.

Know your network:

 I know that not every one of our students follows our account. That does not mean we cannot reach them. Informal networks of offices on campus can be a huge benefit. This is something that I have learned early on.  So create ecosystems of campus partners to help provide information that you may not have access to at all time, along with a great way to increase your potential impressions. For example, I have a great relationship with our student run production office. I know a lot of our students follow their account, because they are involved in some capacity. Through conversations with their account manager, I now have a larger outlet for information, because we constantly retweet or reference what the other is doing. This nearly doubled my reach. I think the ability to nurture our network with students is just as important as this informal network of organizations and offices.

Influence through action words:

 Like many others, I too have seen the studies that suggest word choice can influence actions HERE HERE HERE . What the data will tell you is the use of verbs and action phrases like ‘via,’ ‘RT,’ ‘PLEASE RT!’ will increase the likelihood of retweets or students clicking on your links. It also has been shown that overusing #hashtags and ‘@’ will decrease the likelihood of link clicks. I initially set out to utilize these principles. If I have a clear outcome for what I am sending out, the last thing I want to do is muddle it with #hashtags. If I use a #hashtag it is to file things that will continually that I hope will be beneficial for students (club happenings, involvement opportunities, seminars).

Lesson learned along the way:

I have gained a lot of insight and base my decisions through the use of Crowdbooster and bit.ly. Both platforms provide free analytics to users. I use Crowdbooster as a visual guide to examine the effects of each tweet. I can see the reach it has and how students interact with it. Two good features that are available are the recommendations tab and the ability to time tweets. The recommendations tab highlights positive interactions others have had with you and how you can best address it. You can also set up timed tweets. I know through my data, that our students respond more in the afternoon hours. I can set up a complete timeline for the dissemination of tweets for an entire week based on this data. Secondly, if I find out something is occurring next week, but I do not want to forget about it, I can go ahead and create the content and set it for a more appropriate day. This makes things much easier when I am in a time crunch.

I use bit.ly to see what is happening off of Twitter per se. You can track how students are getting to and from the links you are sending out and how often they are being clicked. Bit.ly integrates nicely with Twitter and you can tweet directly from their site. The bonus is that while students may not be engaged in your Tweet directly (i.e. retweeting or responding), you can examine traffic to and from the links you provide.

I firmly believe that without the use of these tools, I would be running on pure speculation. These platforms have really shaped not only what I am doing, but creating a better experience for those who follow.

The one thing I must remember is that building a platform that students are engaged with takes time. This is a slow process. For an account that has lain dormant for a semester and has little advertising, I am happy with the growth that has occurred.

I hope this post sparks some ideas in others who are struggling with their account and even creates some conversations on best practices. I would welcome the chance to explore further avenues through additional comments.

Chris Huebner is an academic advisor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina

Pinterest has shown tremendous growth over the past six months, and is one of the few newer (non-google) social media sites to gain traction. But, is it a fad that will show waning interest, like other recent semi-hit Quora, or will it have a longer shelf life?

First, my theory on why Pinterest gained traction. I believe the visual nature of the site appeals to us for the same reason that photo sharing is such a primary activity in the social space. So, in this way, it shares the same traction that, say, Instagram does. Initially, it also tapped into an interest area and a target market (females predominately), and it “solved a problem,” in a way that many social media platforms don’t do. Many social media platforms fail to gain a core audience beyond the typical techie/early adopter set. Pinterest gave itself a leg up by avoiding that trap.

Now that it does have that traction, it’s being leveraged by others beyond that initial audience. Brands from General Electric (fairly thin page) to Whole Foods (much more robust) are experimenting.  In the higher education space, University of Pennsylvania’s Career Services (and the great work of Shannon Kelly) is setting a standard with their page.  Others like Skidmore College’s D-Hall and University of Minnesota’s Student Union, along with many others, are dabbling.  It will be interesting to see where other student affairs pros take it.

So, to my original question:  is it a passing fad or here to stay?  Obviously, we don’t know the full answer yet.  But, my feeling is that it has taken root, and fills a gap and thus will be with us at least for a little while.  It’s a fun site, and while it will probably continue to be a primary place for individuals to share, it will be interesting to watch brands continue to experiment and develop their space on the site.

What do you think about Pinterest for student affairs departments?

Cross posted on Service Design Thinking, Marketing and Innovation in Student Affairs

Gary Alan Miller is the Assistant Director for Social Media and Innovation at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

As Student Affairs (or in my case Student Life) professionals, one of the key metrics by which we measure ourselves is the level of “engagement” with our students – how they engage with our programs, services and campus in general. We’re constantly trying to find ways to involve our students and encourage them to use our services and come to our events – to share knowledge and build community and, well, engage.

We’re constantly asking how we can engage with our students more. In fact, we ask it so routinely that when I hear it, part of me shudders a little.

As I look across the landscape of channels in which we push out to communicate and engage with our students (walk-in appointments, events, individual counseling sessions, workshops, infosessions, posters, TV screens, flyers, postcards, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, Foursquare check-ins, blogs, vlogs, text messages, websites and email – lots and lots of email) I’m often left wondering: in what way are we not engaging with them?

We communicate and engage with them through pretty much every imaginable pathway, yet we still believe we’re not engaging with students and they’re not engaging with us as they should.

This brings up the next question: in what way are we expecting engagement? At what point will we believe students have engaged? Is this possible?

What do you think?

Are we over communicating with our students? Are we asking them to be too engaged? At what point will we feel we have successfully met that engagement threshold or are we truly asking the wrong question?

Nick Simonton manages the marketing and communications for Student Life and the Career Center at the University of Washington.

Social Media and the Senior Student Affairs Officer (SSAO)
Educate, Engage, and Energize Students

With the rapid growth of social media and accompanying surge in online activity, particularly among university and college students, student affairs staff are using the latest technologies to engage students and forge stronger ties to programs, services, and events. Increasingly, senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) are building their own communities and initiating important conversations through a variety of social media sites. This article provides an overview of social media and how it can help student affairs make and keep vital connections.

Facebook, with more than 500 million users, is the most-used social media site. Twitter, the 140-character microblogging site, has become an important communications tool within higher education. Other widely used social media sites and tools include: wikis, LinkedIn, Flickr, Delicious, and YouTube. This article focuses on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, which currently hold the greatest value for SSAOs who are diving into the social media sphere. Successful navigation of social media can take time, patience, and an understanding that in most cases you must “use it” to “get it.” (more…)

This post is part of BSU’s BlogFest during the 2011 BSU Social Media Week festivities.   Today’s writing prompt: “What role does technology play to help or hinder relationships?”

Five years ago, Twitter was born, and I had no idea how much it would change my life, both professionally and personally. If you told me this two years ago when I first joined the Twitter community, I would have said you were crazy.  But as many of you know, Twitter as been a transformative force in my life and helped me build so many meaningful relationships I would have otherwise not been privileged to.

When I read the prompt, my answer depends on how you use “technology.”  It can hinder relationships if there is no balance with it in your life and I have certainly had my share of challenges in this area.  I rarely look at things as an “either / or”, I am more of a “both / and” type of thinker.  For a long time, I saw the use of technology, like Twitter, as either “on it” or “off it”, mainly because I did not fully understand it’s purpose in my life.  This caused a lot of unbalance and unnecessary stress, because like many things I do, I want to be the best at it so I can teach others with confidence (this comes from my parents.)  So I was on Twitter ALL THE TIME, to learn everything I could.  But recently, I have changed a bit, and embraced Twitter with a “both / and” approach.   Like my email and voicemail, I check in on Twitter when I have the chance and mainly to respond to mentions and DM’s, and to RT good content.  I no longer try to keep up with everything (because I simply can’t), knowing that my Twitter community will RT the good stuff anyway.  I have seen myself move further away from Facebook and frankly, would disconnect my account today, if it weren’t for the work I do in Higher Education to try and build learning communities.

As I think about Twitter as a relationship builder, it really matters how you spend your time there.  I love meeting new people, helping out where I can, and connecting them with others I know.  Those are big reason why I am on Twitter.  If you choose to be part of it, you may for a variety of reasons.  If you do, I have a few pieces of advice, especially for our Bridgewater State students:

1.  Have a purpose. Are you looking to network? Meet new people? Grow current relationships?  Whatever it is, understand that Twitter is an INFORMATION NETWORK that can be social at times… it is NOT a social network by definition.  Thus, you must have a clear purpose to joining Twitter or you simply won’t get it.
2.  Fill in all your information, please. I see so many people / brands who don’t fill in their information, including a current/accurate picture, website (use your LinkedIn or Facebook URL if you don’t have your own site), and who they are / what they do.  How can I trust your content when I can’t read ANY info on you.  The first step in getting me to follow you is to have this information complete and accurate.
3. It takes time to build relationships. Be patient as you develop your online identity.  Listen more than you tweet initially, but when you feel comfortable, get to know your community members one tweet a time.

Technology has certainly been a relationship builder and it can be for you if you want it to be.  If your main technology is a mobile phone, laptop, iPad, etc., be mindful of how you use it and know that its OK to unplug once in a while.  I will certainly be doing more that this summer.

Happy fifth birthday Twitter

What technology is your relationship builder or hinderer? What have been your habits and do you need to reevaluate how you use it?

(Before reading this post, if you want to know more about why I went to this conference and who sent me there, check out my previous SXSW post.  If you want to know more about SXSW’s history, read this.)

There is nothing I can write that will ever describe what I experienced at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) in Austin, TX last week. Many of you have tweeted, emailed, etc. and asked what the experience was like so I hope this helps paint a clear picture of my time in south.

Build Up / Arrival to Austin
Leading up to last weekend, I spent some time reading the blogosphere for advice and an overall sense on what to expect.  This was the first time I would be at a conference outside of Higher Education and I was traveling by myself as well.  To help quell some nerves, I attended a “Boston in Austin” meetup to get to know some of the people who were headed down and to get their sense of what SXSW was all about. Everyone there was so gracious and nice, it gave me a glimpse of what was to come.

Arriving in Austin was a breeze. I was a little concerned because when your event has over 20,000 delegates, you might expect some hiccups, but not at SXSW! I got to my hotel, checked-in there, and was able to register at the Austin Convention Center and get my coveted SXSW badge without any problems.  Now, as many of you who have been to Higher Education conferences know, you typically will take your badge off at the end of the day before going out, but not there! At SXSW, it is common to wear your badge EVERYWHERE at night since it gets you into many of the bars, restaurants, and clubs hosting SXSW related events.  I put the badge on and began my SXSW adventure.

Unbelievable Networking Opportunities
I realized quickly why people paid the money to be here every year: power networking.  Deep down, I just couldn’t believe that everyone was going to be as nice to me as the folks in Boston were… but they were. Every single person I met was unbelievably nice, willing to chat, help, and be a connector.  It made perfect sense… you just never knew who you were talking to so you always had to have your best foot forward.  Everyone I talked to had an interest in Higher Education and were willing to listen, lend ideas, and connect me with those that could help and amplify our stories.  Where else could I have had one on one conversations with Meredith Artley, Managing Editor of CNN.com; Baratunde Thurston, Director of Digital at TheOnion.com; Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com; and Sean Ammirati, Chief Operating Officer of Read Write Web?  Oh, and for fun, I got to hang out with Romany Malco, and be in the same spaces with other stars like Rainn Wilson, Dane Cook, and Conan O’Brian just to name a few!

I also connected with some fantastic folks who work in Higher Education at an “EDU” meetup, at educational sessions, and at night while out and about.  Key folks I met were Cynde Fleagle from Penn State University; Sue Beckingham from the UK ; Ellie Lovell from University of Warwick, UK; Lori Packer from the University of Rochester; and John Hill and Leigh Graves Wolf from Michigan State University.  All were extremely insightful and gave me key insights that will help move some of my technology ideas forward in Student Affairs.

Of course, getting the Student Affairs community together at SXSW was amazing.  Meeting folks in person for the first time like Marlena Ballard, Pete Pereira, Lynne Ellison, Laura Lambeth, Laura Pasquini, Julie Larsen, and Brad Popiolek was not only fantastic, but also would have made Tom Krieglstein and Debra Sanborn proud knowing what they created in the Student Affairs Collaborative still growing strong at events outside of higher education!

Finally, spending some serious time with Rey Junco and Liz Gross was a major highlight. We shared perspectives on many things in Higher Education, technology, etc. I was inspired to hear about Liz’s research interests and know she has a great mentor in Rey as she goes through her doctoral journey.  It was a real treat to see Rey impress A LOT of people while he presented his research and findings. His work is instrumental in my work as a Higher Education administrator and practitioner.  As we continue to see shifts in communication with our students at the University level, we all need to be tuned in to Rey’s work.  If you haven’t read his stuff yet, you really should.

Educational Sessions
Here are a list of sessions that I was present at or listened-in on/followed up with the speakers on (with a future post dedicated to what I got out of each of these sessions)

- “No Child Left Behind – Mobile Tech Meets Education” – #MobNCLI
- “The Potential For Augmented Reality for Education” - #EduAR
- “Offline America, Why We Have A Digital Divide” – #digdiv
- “Demystifying Online Privacy and Empowering the Digital Self” – #digitalself
- “Using Twitter to Improve Student Engagement” – #twesearch
- “Tech Power to the People: Digital Community Engagement”
-  “Keynote: Seth Priebatsch” – #gamelayer
- “Measuring Social Media – Let’s Get Serious” – #smAroi
- “The Science of Influence” – (Ogilvy Note)
- “The Art of Enchantment” – #enchantment
-  ”Method Tweeting (for Non-Profits and other Players)” – #methodtweet
-  ”Online Reputation, in and around Contexts” – #repinctx

Finally, one of the coolest things I saw as part of the educational process was the staff from Ogilvy and other conference attendees who createed beautiful “notes”, by way of creative images, of many of the talks given.  Here is just one amazing example from the sesson: “Tweeting on Weekends: Are we becoming socially anti-social?” – #overtweeting:

Imagine having some of our association talks presented to us in this timeless format?  Unbelievably stunning, creative and thought-provoking, even if you weren’t in the session.  To view more of these amazing images, visit http://ogilvynotes.com/ and prepare to be astonished.  The RSA Organization in the UK does this also and has some YouTube clips out there as well.

Services To Know About (again, with a future post going through in more detail what I think about all of these!)
Leximancer - (Mentioned during Rey Junco’s talk, it is a tweet content analyzer!)
Radian 6, ViralHeat, Swix (Paid Social Media Analytics Services)
SlideRocket (Awesome presentation software. Closest thing to Keynote that I’ve seen online!)
TechSmith Corporation (makers of Jing and Camtasia) (Fantastic screen capture software)
Min.us (A sharing aggregator that I really liked and will start using)
Animoto (While I’ve been using them for a while, they are a great/easy way to make short films using current photos and video clips!)

Gadgets
If you are into gadgets like me, the only things that caught my eye were the iPad 2 and the Asus EEE Slate. If you already have the iPad, I don’t think it is worth upgrading, unless you have a need for video chatting regularly.  Yes, its thinner, slightly faster, and extremely light, however, it is not yet worth upgrading.  If you don’t have an iPad yet, and want one for casual productivity, then go for it

As for the Asus EEE Slate, take a look at my quick video review:

Wrap Up
Overall, it was one of the best professional / personal development opportunities I have had in recent memory.  It is a no-brainer why due to my passion and interest in technology and since Higher Education conferences aren’t known for their innovative education in this area, I was able to go to a place where I was not the one teaching, but learning.  In hindsight, the best thing I did was travel by myself to experience as much as I could, but still have familiar faces like Rey and Liz to share in the experience with me.  The pictures, videos, and tweets just don’t do it justice!

If you have the same passion and interest in technology that I have, I invite you to join me next year (assuming that it isn’t the same time as the ACUI 2012 Conference in Boston) at SXSW Interactive 2012!

You have to see it to believe it

What questions do you have about my South by Southwest Interactive experiences? If you went to SXSW this year, was your experience as good as mine?

I’ve been testing out 3 web-based social media apps. Built to leverage the API’s of sites like Twitter and Facebook, these apps are web-based and can be accessed from any net enabled computer. TweetDeck (Chrome only), HootSuite, and Seesmic are all amazing in terms of functionality. I tested them all out using Google’s Chrome browser. This was mostly due to the fact that TweetDeck is only available as a web app via Chrome.

Aesthetically speaking, I really like the look and feel of Seesmic. It’s been my favorite Twitter app on Android and the web-based version doesn’t disappoint. It’s feature-rich and integrates the following social media services: Twitter, Foursquare, Google Buzz, Facebook, and LinkedIn. TweetDeck works almost as well as the desktop version. HootSuite has long been a popular alternative to TweetDeck. However, I find it’s interface to be less intuitive and quite a bit more “clunky” than Seesmic or TweetDeck. The API connection that TweetDeck leverages in Chrome is impressive. Tweets stream into your web browser almost as fast as they are posted. This makes it very easy to participate in Twitter-based chats using “ChromeDeck.”

In terms of social media listening / engaging, I would recommend that you try out all 3 apps to determine which one works best for you. I’ve been using TweetDeck in Chrome for fast-paced Twitter chats and Seesmic works really well in Firefox. HootSuite offers up a paid, Pro service for folks who want access to a larger feature set. It will be interesting to see how these app providers can continue to provide such amazing apps while at the same time covering their operating costs. While these apps are certainly not as powerful as the social media listening stations that Gatorade and Dell launched last year, I’m certain that you can do quite a bit with a browser, a connection to the Internet, and one of these web-based social media apps.

Which of these 3 apps do you use? Do you use something else?

Hootsuite – (Works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome)

Seesmic – (Works in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome)

TweetDeck – (Chrome browser)

As a serial stalker of the “new books” section of my local library, I came across a newly published (2011) gem titled Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business by Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) and C. C. Chapman (@cc_chapman). Although the book is primarily written for entrepeneurs, the 282 page book would definitely benefit student affairs professionals and student leaders alike who are looking to develop and market educational and social program initiatives on campus.

The book is divided into four sections with 29 chapters:

• Part One: The Content Rules – This part educates on how good online content appeals to would-be constituents as well as how to give potential readers something they find value in and keep them returning.
• Part Two: The How-To Section – This section of the book illustrates specifics on how to develop blogs, webinars, Ebooks, videos, Podcasts, and other informational and media vehicles online.
• Part Three: Content That Converts: Success Stories (With Ideas You Can Steal!) – There are 10 case studies of various companies that have been extremely successful at developing remarkable content for their customers, which include Hubspot, Kodak, and Boeing just to name a few.
• Part Four: This Isn’t Goodbye – The final section (and chapter) of the book lists a 12-point checklist for how to develop remarkable content.

As the online, content marketing paradigm seems to be the hottest business model for success, I highly recommend this book to you as there are many lessons that you can utilize for success on your campus. I’ve found it to be an excellence resource that is not overly technical and is actually a fun read.

Scott M. Helfrich (@studentlifeguru) is the director of upper campus housing at California University of Pennsylvania, co-owner of Student Life Consultants, and the creator of http://www.studentlifeguru.com.