Social media and how students and graduates are using it

Summary
Introduction
There are more voyeurs than participants
It’s a very muddy pool
Space Invaders
Getting it right
Further information
Graduate Prospects on Facebook

Summary

Jayne Rowley, Publishing Director at Graduate Prospects, looks at the use of new media to market to a new generation of students and graduates, and gives advice on what recruiters and institutions can do to ‘get it right’.

Introduction

Web 2.0, MySpace, Youtube, Facebook, Blogs, podcasts - the so-called ‘social media revolution’ dominates the press and the internet daily. ‘Ignore it at your peril’, we are warned. At Graduate Prospects, we have been asking ourselves what this means for graduate recruitment and careers guidance. We surveyed current students and recent graduates about their online media habits in September 2006 and again in May this year. Three thousand individuals responded, representing 77 UK universities.

There are more voyeurs than participants

Our survey results reveal that:

80% of the respondents are using Youtube [1], but only 14% upload videos to it. 88% use wikipedia [2], increasingly preferring it over Google for factual search, although only 18% would contribute content to it.
66% download podcasts [3], up from 30% last September.
90% read blogs [4], but only 36% would write or comment on them.

User-generated content (UGC) is still a minority sport, expressed as the 1/9/90 model: 1% of users generate original content, 9% comment on or add to that content and 90% read/listen/watch (‘our voyeurs’). So don’t panic!

However, the number of voyeurs is huge and growing and the key is that they share the content with their friends and networks. Youtube has 200 million users, Facebook has 60 million and growing at 150,000 per day. The results suggest that for our market the content generators and commenters may also be higher than average.

It’s a very muddy pool

This particularly applies to the social networks [5]. Facebook has grown extraordinarily in the last six months (60% of our respondents use it) and MySpace (previously the most popular) is beginning to decline (used by 44% of our respondents). The key message is that they want to use this medium to connect to each other. It does not matter which network is the current favourite, we need to recognise that this sort of space is where our target market congregates and spends time. Eighty-six per cent of them (up from 40% last September) are members of at least one and visit their network four times a day. Facebook currently fits the target demographic best and this is likely to be the case for a couple of years. Over 100 UK universities already have a Facebook community and this is growing quickly.

Space Invaders

These media have been developed for social interactions and there is some resistance to recruiters using them. About half the respondents said they did not mind being communicated with in this way, with certain caveats. If the information is fit for purpose, adds some value and says something real, this would be acceptable. It is about communication and conversation, not advertising. Join the communities, make yourself available there and allow the students to find you, but do not push it.

Getting it right

All of these things are relatively easy and cheap to do. The hard part is doing it well. Blogging only works if you use good writers with something to say. We all have our favourite newspaper columnists and it is the quality of their work which makes us regular readers. The failed blog graveyard is crowded. Creating great and compelling online content takes real work and commitment.
Getting the right balance between promoting your organisation and providing valuable information and content to the audience is tricky. Respect the boundaries and remember that it is their space, not yours.
Promotion is the key. If you have created audio or video content, put it on Youtube, i-tunes and other podcast directories and link back to your recruitment or careers service websites. It is simple, quick and free and a fantastic viral marketing tool. Some recruiters are already doing this successfully. Twenty per cent of our respondents said their university was using new media to deliver the main curriculum. If students are used to having their academic content in this way, they will be receptive to getting information on further study or employment through the same media. This is the on-demand generation. They want 24/7 access.
Join the dots. Make it part of your recruitment strategy, not separate. If your current graduate intake or interns have interesting projects and can write, create a blog on your website to follow them. If you are attending campus fairs and running events, promote them through Facebook. Make podcasts and vidcasts of them and upload them to your recruitment website and also to Youtube. Work with universities’ careers services. Some of them are already embracing these technologies. Make your resources available to them for their websites.

This is a wonderfully rich time to be working in recruitment and no one is getting it absolutely right yet. It is constantly changing with new players and tools coming online. You do need to be aware of what is happening and there are some great things you can take from the emerging technologies and environment both in terms of efficiencies and effectiveness. But do not lose sight of what is important - that whatever you do needs to reflect your recruitment objectives. Do as much or as little as you have time for, but do not ignore it, as it is here to stay.

Further information

1. YouTube - video-sharing site owned by Google.

2. Wikipedia - online collaborative encyclopedia.

3. Podcasts - downloadable audio files. Accessed through computers and MP3 players.

4. Blog - online diaries (can be personal, social, corporate or expert).

5. Social networks - websites which people use to connect to each other and to share photos, music and videos. Facebook and MySpace are the two most popular.

Graduate Prospects on Facebook

Students and graduates can now receive information on jobs and courses directly to their Facebook profile from Graduate Prospects. Visit Prospects.ac.uk's Facebook application.

Members' login