Robert Pearl Starks

Mary, It's great you'll be getting started. Just remember that you are embarking on a very long-term effort and it can be a while before you see enhanced results so be cautious of "evaluating" effectiveness prematurely. Always remember that while you are initially trying to build audience and engagement, once you have the attention of your targeted audience (employers and alumni), how will you drive the desired actions you want? How will you get employers involved and how will you get alumni involved with your department? How will that involvement align with your stated objective(s)? You will have to design… >>>

Robert, I encourage you to continue your questions, discussions in the Career College Lounge (www.careercollegelounge.com) as this is the place course participants can continue interacting, learning together, and sharing beyond this course. I am in the Career Services Performance Group and post blogs there - I'm also available at all times to answer questions and have this type of great dialogue....so, the learning from one another that can be achieved is completely dependent upon any individual's willingness and/or desire to continue sharing and interacting in this dedicated forum. I look forward to continued interaction and thank you for your contributions… >>>

Robert, I am no longer the Director of Career Services at this particular institution. The long-term strategy is now in others' hands. To answer your question, this particular video didn't have a goal of views, subscribers, etc. - it had the goal of being used to market the event in the future to employers so they could see the event would be worth their time. We decided that Youtube wasn't the best channel to reach our target audience for this event we wanted to make annual so we actually embedded it on the server of a promotional website created solely… >>>

Robert, Some schools have accounts that are controlled by others and they are typically for Lead Generation purposes which is a completely different objective than what career services has in mind. How can your career services department use social media to accomplish your objectives? First, identify your objectives and then ask yourself how social media simply plays a role...not THE role. Try to use social media not merely to disseminate information, but to drive the action you need. Think in marketing terms - what are the "conversions" you want to occur? Is this using a blog to build traffic (Audience),… >>>

Robert, Exclusive job listings result from close partnerships and these take time to develop. While there is no road map on how to develop these types of partnerships, let me share with you my experience. I found that going above and beyond with employers to understand their needs was the first initial step in developing a close partnership. This meant, I would visit their location, speak with the hiring managers, and ask for an opportunity to be seen as a free resource to do their sourcing and staffing. I would train my advisors to pre-screen candidates, to go through mock… >>>

Robert, Of all the lines you could have selected from the content, I find it so insightful that you have chosen to discuss this because it is dead on! That single concept alone which can be so seemingly simple isn't and it is the perspective required to truly understand the value of a social media strategy. The other reason it is so insightful is because it will guide realistic expectations when pursuing a strategy because just as relationships are long-term, so to is a social media strategy for the department and results are somewhat like a snowball - they are… >>>