On campuses all across America, meetings are being held right now where questions are being asked: “What’s the ROI on Twitter?” “Should we moderate comments on Facebook?” and even “What’s wrong with us just sending out a viewbook?”.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Twitter, YouTube, etc, etc, etc, have changed the way colleges manage their recruitment marketing and enrollment management strategies. But, even those colleges who have social media superstars (please don’t call them gurus) can learn a thing or two by looking outside academia to learn lessons from the corporate world.

Why? Because research shows that consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook (Mashable source here) . And I know you don’t think students “buy” a degree from you and I know you think your college is more than “a brand” but remember! We’re thinking outside of academia today…so don’t get hung up on the wording.

Get hung up on this: social media is a powerful tool to connect you with your audiences. But how does it all work? Check out the diagram above.

Your blogs and website enter the social media stratosphere and your school or department starts to gain awareness as you are exposed to users of social media – these are people who are either directly connect to you or (more importantly) find out about you through connections of their own. Once connected to you, this ecosystem promotes sharing of information and feedback of responses. The cyclical connectivity of information never stops – and neither should you.

Whether your school is a heavy user of social media or just a newbie, keep this diagram in mind. In fact, bring it to your next marketing meeting. There are many moving parts to consider and this visual can help explain how everything interacts within the social media world.

(via SocialMediaToday)