Cheezhead Recruiting News and Opinion

Employers aren’t the only ones investing resources and time on Twitter. Twitter, which has become quite a phenomenon, is home to all sorts of brands, from Dunkin Donuts to Joel Cheesman to MC Hammer and even the Detriot Pistons NBA team.

As Twitter becomes more mainstream, there will be even more applications for its use and a variety of new brands that enter the picture trying to market products and services on this social network. We used to be impressed with brands that had a thousand followers, but now we see celebrities that have hundreds of thousands of followers.

One of the most unique and interesting applications of Twitter that has recently exploded is college recruitment. There are over fifty active colleges and universities that are engaging with potential students, active students and alumni on Twitter.

For the full list, there is a wiki document that lists the schools in alphabetical order.

How colleges are using Twitter for recruitment

• Promote events: Colleges have events all the time but have challenges with marketing them. Typically, they will use their own website and a few flyers that they will pass around at school and maybe even an event reminder through email. With Twitter, they can push out updates to students and people around the community for free and with ease.
  • Ex: University of Oregon to host HIV/AIDS in Africa conference: Speakers and students will share information, ideas .. http://tinyurl.com/aatejx
• Press mentions: Colleges pride is extremely important to schools that are serious about cultivating a great culture and attracting talented students. Many schools are tweeting their recent press mentions, either ones involving a particular event they are putting on or some mentions of their professors.
  • Ex: BryantNews: R.I. unemployment rate is at 10.3 percent and rising: Bryant economist Edinaldo Tebaldi f.. http://tinyurl.com/bt5mt2
• Greeting new students: Colleges are using Twitter to congratulate newly accepted students and wish other students good luck in the admissions process. This is a great and cost effective way to encourage new students to apply and to make new students feel good about getting in.
  • Ex: @pascale3206 Congrats and welcome to IC! Meet our other new students at myIthaca/ICPeers – http://is.gd/hoC3
    
• Link to student blogs: When it comes to employer branding, having students blog on behalf of your school is genius. Prospective students are always interested in the lives of current students. By using technology to connect both of them, it helps introduce people to your school in a human fashion.
  • Ex: Student blog: Last Spring Break: Hey Everyone! Well I have a little more than 1 and a half month.. http://tinyurl.com/dnkrfg

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