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Using MySpace and Facebook To Recruit Effectively

Be Inventive In The Right Way

You wouldn’t use a salt shaker to put mayo on your sandwich. Nor would you use a straw to cut your steak. A good idea would be to use the shaker for salting your food (or the radical sugar in your coffee) and then straw to drink in a more controlled environment (or to shoot toothpicks).

MySpace and Facebook are social networking sites. By definition, they link people to people by common interests, social connections in real life (RL), or carefully angled poorly lit pictures that give them a chance at attractiveness. Companies may effectively advertise on the pages of these sites, but they rarely draw a fan base from creating a single account and spamming the network with friend requests. I’ve linked to an article in my post on the dangers of Myspace. Brian Niles lists his criticism on this approach, and I agree with him. But most, including Brian, hastily assume that this is the only approach to using Myspace and Facebook in college recruiting.

Side Note: I realized this was even a trend when the institution I work for asked me to set up a single account for recruiting purposes to go along with our current approach. I’ll address why in a bit, and by bit I mean not this post.

The Right Way

I took some Kung Fu lessons two summers ago. A lifelong dream was to learn martial arts and be the new awesome. I would look like Bruce Lee with a Chuck Norris Beard and defend cats from dogs, chubby kids from post pubescent ones, and Mazda Miatas from Hummers. Back to Kung Fu. Wing Chung is a type of close combat Kung Fu that never forces but always redirects incoming force and somehow your opponent ends upside down in a tree. Using this Wing Chung knowledge, we can use redirection to effectively utilize social networking sites (SNS) for recruiting.

SNSs are effective tools for relationship building. The necessary relationship in recruiting students is between the Counselor and the student. Each Recruiter should have a specific SNS account (besides their personal account) to interact with students on a DAILY basis. Through implementation and use of this method, messaging within Myspace and Facebook has replaced my email communication with students who have SNS accounts. It’s not only faster, but this messaging allows for human interaction in a normally sterile email environment. Students see their counselor’s pictures of campus life, life in the office and on the road while asking them if their transcripts have been received. Counselors can ask a student how their football game was and tips on school spirit face painting while they remind a student to deposit. Admittedly, I have come across sites with inappropriate content. Just like with everything relating to technology and recruiting, I have a solution to this dilemma as well. But first, I’m going to get a latté.

© 2007 Tim Cox.