Business schools learn social media is about relationships, not marketing

Ian Wylie, had a nice piece in the Financial Times yesterday about business schools learning the art of social media.

Just a few years ago, business schools viewed social media as a distraction. But now that admissions offices are enrolling a generation of students and executives who have grown up with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, schools are grasping the importance of “social CRM” – customer relationship management through social media.

Some schools deploy social media as just another advertising channel, using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for little more than broadcasting their marketing messages.

However, other schools are discovering the potential of social media as a tool for establishing and strengthening relationships with students before, during and after they have completed their studies.

“…[T]he potential of social media as a tool for establishing and strengthening relationships.” Wow, social is not an advertising channel for marketing one’s message.

Social media, being it’s about relationships, is hands on at the highest leadership levels, not something that’s handed off to marketing.

Bob Bruner, dean of the Darden school at the University of Virginia, was one of the first to grasp the significance of Twitter. His tweets are followed, retweeted and replied to by more than 1,600 students and alumni.

Sure looks like many law firms could learn from some of our nation’s business schools. Social media is for relationships, not marketing.