Johns Hopkins University: They use social media to enable their current students to market the school to potential students. They aren’t using it for admissions. Instead, they are using it to introduce people to the University by showing them what it’s like to go to school there.

Tools used: They have a website called Hopkins Interactive, which is their social media portal managed by faculty but run by students. In their portal, they have a news bulletin, a list of Twitter accounts, including @JHU_Admissions, as well as accounts for their six student tweeters who are posting every day. They also have student run blogs with twenty students actively participating by posting once every two weeks. They get to write about whatever they want. Johns Hopkins synchronizes content so that it gets the most visibility on several platforms at once. They have students asking and answering questions on their message board. They have students film YouTube videos where they explain what it’s like to go to school there. Other tools they use include Google+, Facebook and Flickr.

Results: They’ve had 5,000 students post on their message board. They are averaging 8,000 visitors per month on their interactive site, with 15,000 page views. Their applications have doubled in nine years, from 10,000 to 20,000, in part by their social media usage.