WOM in Higher Education and the HigherEdBlogCon

I recently presented at an innovative institution of higher education. I spoke to the division of enrollment mangagement and college relations as part of their day-long retreat. This division includes such departments as admissions, alumni relations, financial aid, athletics, the career center, etc.

The first part of the presentation was an introduction to WOM marketing. In this opening presentation I discussed reasons for the resurgence of WOM, motivations for spreading WOM, WOMM ethics, and then layed out a number of different case studies, both from the corporate world, as well as higher education, to illustrate some basic WOM principles. Then the next session was an activity where participants applied those principles of WOM in the first session to developing their own WOM marketing programs.

I also prepared a resource packet for the participants and one of the resources was a web-based conference called HigherEdBlogCon. Of immediate relevance to this audience was the section of the conference devoted to Admissions, Alumni Relations, and Communications & Marketing: Below is a sampling of the topics discussed:

• How Can I Learn More About New Media
• The Teeming Web (This includes a very helpful primer on social networking sites relevant to a higher education audience (PDF).
• Blogging & Podcasting for Student Recruitment
• Freshman Reveal Their Secrets: The Mansfield University Podcast
• Alumni E-Networks: Using Technology to Engage Alumni and Constituents
• Online Networks: A New Tool for Alumni Relations
• Social Networking: What Is It and Where Does It Fit In the Alumni World?
• Using Wikis to Facilitate Communication, Collaboration, and Knowledge Sharing Among Admissions and Administrative Personnel

I also suggested a few blogs that are relevant to higher education:

Karine Joly
An excellent source for what to do as a university looking into new media


Dan Karleen’s blog
Director of New Media, Thomson Peterson’s, Organizer of Higher Ed Blog Con


The Future of PR
All about blogging and wikis in higher education.

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Tags: WOM word of mouth Word-of-Mouth Marketing marketing communication