Rebranded: the Honors College social media & how improvement may help recruitment

Abstract

The following thesis explores how social media can positively and negatively impact universities and the colleges associated with them. Over the past few months, I have spent hours researching Midwest American Conference Schools (MAC) and their Honors Programs on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to see how competitive they are against each other from a social media standpoint. I wanted to see if and why Ball State’s Honors College social media profiles are weaker than the other MAC schools, and how can this help recruitment and retention of students. In addition to generous analysis about social media and branding improvements, I also explored to best ways to develop a strong marketing and advertising promotional social media campaign for Ball State’s Honors college. This plan, if implemented properly, can increase retention and recruitment of incoming Honors College students.