What is Social Media?

I met with Kelly Herzog, public info coordinator at Miami Valley CTC, today on her campus (beautiful place, by the way!). Kelly and I will be presenting on Social Media Marketing at the Ohio ACTE Conference in Columbus on August 7th from 1:40-2:40. We met to break down what we wanted to discuss and we obviously talked a lot about the different tools available. I will preview some of the tools here on this blog throughout the summer and provide some how-to's, but first the question must be answered: What is social media? For that, I turn to the utilization of two forms of social media: a blog and YouTube video clips. These are from a blog called the DivaBlog (http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/), which is committed to discussions about social media, etc. These are first-person perspectives of what social media and I have posted them below.
Shane Haggerty
Communications Coordinator
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
www.ohiohipoint.com

Michael Pranikoff What Social Media Means To Me

Duncan Wardle What Social Media Means To Me

BL Ochman What social media means to me.

Pay Attention

Wanted to share this interested, fact-filled video, much in the same vain as the popular "Shift Happens" video, but this one from TeacherTube (www.teachertube.com).
Perhaps you can share this with your supervisors and directors and teachers, or if you're like me, heed the info in it and apply it to your marketing and communications strategies.

Video is necessary

Did you know YouTube has over 100 million views per day? The number is staggering. Videos are posted by nearly everyone now on this channel, and as a marketer it is almost necessary to have some sort of video presence online. Now, the problem for those of us in school PR: YouTube is blocked by nearly every school technology department! And it is probably necessary. There are some questionable videos on YouTube and it can be a controversial and distracting element in a school environment. However, here is the view I have as someone who recognizes this is where one of my biggest target audiences is hanging out for hours and hours: IT IS NECESSARY. So at OHP, I know it is blocked while students are in school, but based on a recent survey we did, nearly 85% of our students have the internet at home, 93% are watching videos online always or sometimes, and 71% of them are using YouTube. What this means? This medium cannot be ignored. It is a great and FREE avenue to spread the word of what we are doing in a medium that prospective students (who aren't blocked from YouTube at home) and current students identify with and have made into the "new way" of broadcasting. YouTube is located at www.youtube.com

So, if YouTube is absolutely out of the question, I recommend having videos hosted on your website or hosting them on SchoolTube, a safe and moderated YouTube-esque site, that will host your videos and let you embed them neatly into your website. If you look over to the right on the sidebar you will see SchoolTube's Career-Technical Channel being fed into this player I was easily able to embed into this blog. SchoolTube is located at www.schooltube.com

I am going to be attempting some innovative marketing methods using both YouTube and SchoolTube (hopefully if time allows!!) and I will keep you informed on this blog of my progress and results.

Question from Peg Allen at Warren County CC and Responses

Peg Allen, public information specialist at Warren County Career Center, asked this question of her colleagues in CTE:

Do any of you do annual reports? If so, how many do you print, how do you distribute them and what is your time of publication? Thanks! Peg

Peg Allen
Public Information Specialist
Warren County Career Center
www.wccareercenter.com
513-932-5677 ext. 5204
Peg.Allen@mywccc.org


Here are some of the responses she has received back:

"We do not currently do an annual report, although it is being considered in some fashion. We are thinking of doing it as a “special edition” of our district newsletter and tying the information that would be in an annual report around testimonials and feature stories and a year-in-review format. So, it would come out this July or early August if we did it. The cost is what concerns me, though, because if we did it as an edition of our newsletter we would have to print over 50,000, and I don’t know of the value of doing something so costly."
-Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center

"Hi Peg,Thank you for the clarification and for the kind words about the annual report. It is always nice to hear that someone likes what we’ve done. =)
We had 1,750 reports printed. We distributed them to:
· county commissioners
· the boards of education of the school districts we serve
· our advisory committee members
· JOBS coordinators
· our staff
· agencies with whom we work
· guidance counselors
· principals
· superintendents
· media contacts
· chambers of commerce
· our tech prep partners
· city and village officials
· state officials
· Ohio career centers
· Former seniors
· Boards of elections
The distribution is done by mail. We provide our printer with a database of addresses, and he takes care of the rest. We typically try to have the report finished no later than October, but we really strive for September.
I hope this helps. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to call me at 740-452-4518, ext. 136 or e-mail me at ktatman@mvesc.k12.oh.us"
-Kim Tatman, Communications Coordinator at Muskingum Valley ESC

If you wish to respond to Peg's inquiry, you can post it here on the blog in the COMMENTS section or email Peg directly at Peg.Allen@mywccc.org

Back to blogging!

So it has been quite some time since I have had the chance to blog. As you all are aware, the time we have as career-tech communicators is limited so the blogging had to be pushed aside for awhile. I truly value this form of communication and look forward to talking more about how it can be used as a communications and marketing tool for career-technical schools, especially at the Ohio ACTE Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio, this August. My session will be all about social media and how to adapt it for use as a marketing tool. I am presenting with Kelly Herzog of Miami Valley Career-Technical Center on Thursday, August 7 from 1:40-2:40 p.m. I will be previewing a lot of the material on this blog as time approaches.
The Ohio ACTE PR Academy is new, and the interest has been fairly un-inspired at the moment. However, I am excited about this opportunity to unite as career-tech marketers, communicators, and recruiters in order to provide assistance to each other and a forum to vent, ideate, and strategize. In my brief time in this position at Ohio Hi-Point, I have become a big fan of what CTE offers students, but I have also become well-aware of the unfair image CTE has with many people still after decades. I believe that by utilizing each other as a resource and speaking with a common message, CTE can overcome negative stereotypes and false interpretations. I hope you will use this blog as a means to communicate with one another, to start discussions, and share ideas. Also, if you want anything posted to start a topic or ask a question, shoot me an email at shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us. I will try to post at least once a week, if not more, so stay tuned...

Posted by:
Shane Haggerty
Communications Coordinator
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
Bellefontaine, OH 43311
shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us
www.ohiohipoint.com

SUMMARY: Book provides marketing ideas

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
(Random House 2007)
SUMMARY
Prepared for the Ohio Department of Education

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
The book’s two main purposes are to help people 1) understand what makes ideas “stick;” and 2) to create more “sticky” ideas. The primary objective is to apply qualities and principles to propel big strategic goals, but the framework is also applicable to everyday projects, such as speeches.

QUICK OVERVIEW
Six qualities of what makes something “stick” followed by the communication framework are:
· Simplicity – Deliver core and compact message
· Unexpectedness – Pay attention
· Concreteness – Understand and remember
· Credibility – Agree/believe
· Emotional – Care
· Stories – Act
Numerous examples – from the classroom to business-industry and beyond – are used to demonstrate how others used these qualities to make their ideas stick and grow.

QUALITY DETAIL
I. Simplicity – What’s my core point?
· You need to unpack information to determine the most critical point.
· Separate “critical” from beneficial and keep the critical from being buried.
· Use short, easy-to-understand words and sentences in layers to allow knowledge to build.
· Tap into audience’s prior knowledge, invoking schemas that already exist.
· Coming up with a short, compact phrase is easy; coming up with a phrase that fits the core point is more difficult.
· AVOID – Avoid starting with something interesting, but irrelevant. Work to make the critical/core message more interesting and relevant. Avoid the “curse of knowledge” – difficulty remembering what it was like not to know something.
II. Unexpected – How can I get and keep attention?
· The most basic way to get attention is to break a pattern.
· Surprise gets attention, generally by making the audience interested in find an answer; interest keeps attention.
· The more knowledge people have, the more likely they are to want to know more.
· Help people care by providing a context that they relate to.
· Unexpected ideas create insight and knowledge gaps.
· Curiosity happens when there is a knowledge gap.
· Unexpected messaging relating to the core message can have surprising longevity.
· AVOID – Avoid surprises that don’t relate to the core message. Common sense or the obvious should be avoided. Avoid telling facts before people realize they need the facts.
III. Concrete – How can I speak in “everyday” language?
· Concreteness is basic to understanding.
· Details help with understanding and memory to make messages stick.
· Try to replace or supplement abstract nouns like “justice” with concrete language.
· The more “hooks” (prior knowledge) connected to the core, the better it will be remembered.
· Try to imagine what it was like before you had the knowledge you have.
· Concreteness makes the core message more transparent.
· Use visuals to assist with concrete messages to help change audience attitude from reactive and critical to active and creative.
· AVOID – Avoid abstract language because it’s harder to understand and remember. Avoid thinking and talking abstractly because you believe it defines you as an expert.
IV. Credible – Why would someone listen to me?
· We believe people because of their credentials, because we want to be like them and/or “star” power.
· Audience beliefs are influenced by how our families and friends believe, by prior experiences and through faith and trust.
· Anti-authorities (former drug addict, etc.) can be more credible with a message than authorities; discern when to use this.
· Make statistics more credible by contextualizing them in terms that are more human.
· Honest data enforces boundaries – a good thing – but there is still “wiggle room” to put data in the context of audience understanding.
· The audience itself can be used as the source of credibility to make an idea stick – involving audience in testing a claim.
· Remember that engaging audience in testing credibility may result in an invalid conclusion.
· AVOID – Avoid searching for data to match. Use statistics/data as input – not output; use them to make up your mind and not to match what your mind has already made up.
V. Emotional – How can I get others to care?
· When it comes to our hearts, one individual is better than focusing on the masses.
· For people to take action, they need to care.
· Use memory and tap into emotions that already exist (what people already care about).
· Use “you” or names in appeals.
· Recognize what motivates people (Maslow’s Pyramid) but that the physical, security, belonging, esteem, learning, aesthetic, self-actualization and transcendence to helping others realize their potential can happen simultaneously.
· People are more motivated by the emotions of esteem and to learning than to being given money or things.
· People are motivated by what they believe they should do and what their special interest group (gender, race, etc.) believes they should do.
· Message needs to address “why” something should be done as well as “what.”
· AVOID – Avoid overuse of statistics, which shift people to an analytical frame of mind. When people think analytically, they are less likely to think emotionally. Avoid overuse of emotional terms or phrases to dilute the impact; the audience sees this as exploitation.
VI. Stories – How can I get others to buy-in and do something?
· Stories inspire and help illustrate problem-solving and relationships.
· Stories provide 1) knowledge how to act; and 2) motivation to act.
· Stories about past events to illustrate the core message usually “stick” better than stories with simulated future outcomes.
· Stories help people solve problems.
· Stories have three main purposes: 1) Challenge – make us want to work harder and take on new challenges; 2) Connection – bridge gaps and show us how we and/or our situations are alike; and 3) Creativity – help us solve problems with new creative approaches.
· Stories can be a springboard to demonstrating how things can change.
· AVOID – Avoid a good story that doesn’t fit.

Pat Huston (pat.huston-holm@ode.state.oh.us)
Manager, Products & Customer Services
Office of Career-Technical and Adult Education
Ohio Department of Education

Observations from the Ohio ACTE Legislative Seminar

On January 23rd and 24th, superintendents, directors, teachers, communicators, and others with a vested interested in career-technical education gathered in Columbus for the annual legislative seminar. Throughout the next week or so, I will be posting some summaries from the sessions:

From Leadership with the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education
(Primarily Tom Applegate)
The primary message of CTAE is that this entity “provides solutions to Ohio’s workforce development needs.”
Everybody needs education after high school but not everybody needs to go to college.
CTE secondary programs lead the way to prepare high school students with academic and technical knowledge and skills to transition to the 2lst century workforce or postsecondary education.
Adult workforce programs are well positioned to transform Ohio’s economy, including assistance with credentialing and postsecondary education.
System capacity is the key to such reform initiatives as the University System of Ohio, Ohio Skills Bank, Programs of Study, Dual Enrollment, Tech Prep, Early and Middle College High Schools, Apprenticeship, High Schools That Work, STEM

Rich Rosen
· Battelle is starting its work now with third graders.
· CTE has been in the STEM conversation for more than 20 years. The “relevance” part is where CTE shines.
· We are not competing internationally, especially with Asian countries.
· Low performance of U.S. students in STEM benchmarks is more severe in minorities.
· Supply and demand is a STEM issue. For example, 50 percent of all U.S. teachers leave the profession in five years; many of these are in the math teacher shortage areas. Six percent of U.S. high school students study engineering. A large number of them go on to college, but change careers there. There are expected to be 12 million STEM job openings by 2015.
· STEM is a foundation with critical thinking and problem-solving ability. STEM goes beyond what the letters stand for – to knowledge of other cultures, English and other languages, for example.
· Three characteristics of a technologically literate citizen are 1) knowledge; 2) ways of thinking and acting; and 3) capability to solve problems.
· The latest surveys indicate that parents believe STEM is important but not for their child and that students think STEM is important but not for them.
· Young people are not technologically literate; they are technologically fluent, using technology but having no clue about how it happens.
· Among STEM issues are 1) need to make it relevant for the creative and innovative world – not just for someone who wants to be a scientist or engineer; 2) understanding that emphasis on STEM does not put art, English and other areas at risk; 3) need to communicate/demonstrate consequences for not implementing STEM; 4) demonstrating that STEM is for all students, regardless of record of prior successes; 5) being able to visualize various STEM careers; and 6) finding common ground and aligning policy.
· Young people relate better and are more influenced by younger people in STEM careers than those who have been in the careers for a while. Educators need help in understanding STEM and telling the STEM story.
· Key STEM principles include 1) engaging in actions that are change catalysts; 2) learning from others; 3) connecting efforts; and 4) sustaining and replicating.
· STEM involves critical thinking, inquiry, collaboration, communication, engagement and active and responsible decision-making.
· Many employers would rather not hire graduates who were in the top 10 of their class because they didn’t use anybody else but themselves to get there. Employers want collaborators.
· Just In Time concepts are important.
· Maybe we need to stop saying “STEM” and do it, making it integral and invisible.