Southwest University has a presence on Facebook that is tied directly to the brand platform "Our commitment to EDUCATION is GLOBAL." The platform is the hub of Southwest University's student-focused social media activity. Southwest University's Facebook Page shares current events, student services, announcements, student-life, employment opportunities for students and alumni, contests, informative sessions, and it gives our community direct access to faculty and staff. The Page makes an emotional connection with students and the community, evoking either a feeling of longing or a flood of positive memories of past indelible moments. Facebook provides a platform for brand evangelism where students, the community and the university's partners can share their messages with the brand and each other.
Our commitment to EDUCATION is GLOBAL is an initiative where we use our social media to understand the needs of less fortunate people and support the causes that directly impact education in the city of El Paso and around the world.
The strategy is simple, we LISTEN. We understand that all our users and fans like to be heard, we have a team of social media managers focused on tracking hashtags, mails, comments, emails and mentions on different platforms and thru a daily summary we react to the different concerns. We have found that by listening our users we strengthen our relationship with them.
By listening we discovered that our community wanted more, more of our help. Southwest University is one of the fastest universities in the state of Texas and El Paso's community wanted to see that we cared, they asked for sponsorships, sporting events, events, for help for the ones in need. We quickly recognized that our commitment to education is GLOBAL.
Southwest University has always been a leader when it comes to implementing new technology and new processes and that is the reason we were the first university in the nation to use iPads instead of text books. The initiative started with the opening of a ballpark in downtown El Paso, Southwest University Park. We felt that opening a ballpark would help families stay entertained, happy and united, which in return would increase their level of education.
Since then we have been involved in sponsoring talent to travel and audition in The Voice, we have given jackets to the poorest elementary schools in the city, have collected cans to help abused women, opened an education center for The Boys and Girls Clubs of El Paso and we have collected funds to help the poorest village in Tanzania.
We heard of a village near Serengeti in Tanzania that had no water, one of the worst economies in the world, but yet they has opened a Kindergarten for the children to learn basic english. Our faculty and staff decided it was time to help. Thru the use of social media we collected funds with the sole objective of helping a kid to count.
The results have been INCREDIBLE! Southwest University continues to rapidly grow, we reach more and people than any other social media site in the city, we communicate both internally and externally thru the use of social media. We have the objective to educate leaders that will be ready for what happens in 10 years and the use of digital platforms have helped us not only to grow as a business, but to engage and connect with the city and our community in an unimaginable way.
We have won best use of social media three consecutive years and we are the number one liked university in the city. We have travelled as far as Africa to take our message, and to promote education. We want to build GREAT futures. It's the RIGHT thing to do.
