What image does your school project to the public? What is the institution's reputation? Is it positive? What are people thinking and saying? In this increasingly competitive environment, colleges and universities can never have enough information about how prospective students and the general public perceive the institution's reputation and image. Both are important components of designing your marketing communication strategy and if you seek to attract and enroll more adult learners, there may be a way to more easily find out what people are saying by using the Internet.
The formal term used to describe this practice is netnography, or the process of seeking out and finding websites where people are talking about topics that are of concern to you and your institution. With the increasing popularity and activity of blogs, social networks, and forums, the data you seek may be out there just waiting to be collected. Using the Internet, you can find out all sorts of things about your own school, your students, your instructors, that help to monitor and analyze opinions and sentiments that will help your school compete.
Conducting a netnographic study is as easy as beginning with an Internet search. Start by looking for anything written about your school by typing in the school name in a search engine (Google is a good place to start). Then write down the key words you would think people associate with your institution. Is it a nationally recognized business school? An upper division nursing school? What is the institution known for, where is it located, are courses offered online? Decide on a few key words and type them into a search website...see what comes up...or doesn't. Perhaps people are writing about your competition...that might be helpful as you gather this information. You may find a blog or website that mentions your school...favorably or unfavorably. Netnographic research can put you in touch with rich information often from the people who know you best. It is worth the look...
Netnography can provide rich information to inform your campus community of the current external image, reputation, and so on.
Good luck!
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