Business School named top social communicator
The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business has been ranked in the top 25 of the Top 100 Most Social Media Friendly MBA Schools for 2013, a list compiled by onlinembapage.com.
More than 400 schools from the United States were evaluated to create the list of the top 100.
The rankings were determined using a point system that included measuring the efficient usage of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as other platforms.
The schools were ranked based on activity on each of the platforms individually as well. The Huntsman School ranked No. 7 on Twitter and No. 21 on YouTube.
Eric Schulz, senior lecturer and co-director of strategic marketing and brand management in the management department of the Huntsman School, said the school has been focusing on the use of social media for the last 18 months and is honored to be ranked on the list.
“We have really made it an emphasis to become social media savvy,” Schulz said. “The ranking is a validation of what we have done.”
Schulz said business students are encouraged to stay connected with the Huntsman School on social media sites through events such as LinkedIn Week, which was held in October.
“Now just about every Huntsman student has a LinkedIn account, and that was one of the metrics for the ranking,” he said.
All of the social media networking the Huntsman School does has had the best interest of students in mind, Schulz said.
“It’s not about spam,” Schulz said. “It’s about content and having things that are timely, relevant and actionable for students.”
The school posts one to two videos per month on YouTube. Each video provides information on an aspect or program within the school such as the MBA program or the Huntsman Scholar Program, Schulz said.
Students who are involved in the various programs often appear in the videos to tell about their experiences personally.
“We have home videos that they did on their phones and stuff built into the videos as well as some narratives done in the first person,” Schulz said. “It’s a lot more powerful that way.”
Many students agree social media is an important part of the Huntsman School of Business.
Robin Haueter, a junior studying business administration, said she looks everything up online, so the fact that the college is very present electronically helps her keep up with events and other information.
Jacob Haueter, a junior studying accounting, said he is very appreciative of the emails sent by the school.
“It’s how I find out about everything,” Hauter said.
Now that the Huntsman School has been nationally recognized, plans are being made to move up the in the rankings.
“Now that we know what they are measuring, I can guarantee we will be top ten next year because we will focus on those things,” Schulz said.
Jacob and Robin Haueter said they believe the school’s students will continue to improve in social media aspects.
“Now that we know it is a priority, we will just move up higher in the rankings,” Robin Hauter said.
Jacob Hauter said the students will get even more involved to show support for their school.
“We are headed for number one,” Hauter said.
– ashlyn.tucker@aggiemail.usu.edu