Obtain College Scholarships By Using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube And Other Social Media WebSites

What has our world come to? Now we can obtain college scholarships by using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and other social media websites. Well to that, I say, keep coming, because it's great. As long as one can obtain free college funding through legitimate means, I say go for it. There is one thing you should keep in mind, treat any social networking site that you have content on as an online resume - an addition to your hard copy resume, or what I call "resume extensions". Scholarship organizations and colleges and universities are making admission decisions using social networking sites. They want to make sure that the students they are admitting or granting a college scholarship to are good calibre. I highly encourage all using social media sites to be nice, be kind, play fair, look your best, and if you post a photo of anyone else make sure that person looks their best.

Perform the following searches:

• "Social media college scholarships"
• "Social media scholarships"
• Get specific by plugging in "Facebook college scholarships" or "Twitter college scholarships"
• Visit the social media pages of for profit and non-profit companies
• Visit social media pages of Family Foundations
• Visit social media pages of Philanthropic Organizations
• Visit social media pages of highly regarded museums and art galleries
• Visit social media pages of foreign companies, if you're looking to study abroad

Here are some tips for you to use your social media sites to your advantage:

• Show your personality and character. Just don't post conversations with friends, have what I call, mini journal posts. Those who Journal know what I'm talking about. Post about what you enjoy doing and have done, especially the things that have impacted others and/or your community positively.
• Monkey See, Monkey Do. Get involved with events and/or organizations that your potential college or university support and post about your involvement. This may sway a college to offer you a scholarship because of your like interests.
• Keep it clean. Make sure your social media site content is pristine as possible. Send out e-mails asking friends not to post anything involving you without your permission. Ask them not to tag you in what may be considered, inappropriate photos. Remove the chit-chat. Check your content daily, if possible. I take my laptop with me so I'm able to review my social media content even when I'm on vacation.
• And The Award Goes To? If your creative works have won any awards, shout it loud and clear on your social media pages. Ask your friends to post your work on their social media pages, send out e-mails for you, and tweet about your creative work.
• Background Checks Anyone? Make sure that your Twitter page has a professional wallpaper background. Check out http://www.twitterbackgrounds.org to help you create a great background for your Twitter page.Colleges and universities will see your Twitter wallpaper before they see you.
• Link Me. Make sure that your resume has your social media page links on it. This looks real good.
• Your Website. If you have a website don't forget to place its link on your resume as well, especially if your website is part of your portfolio submission for a college scholarship. Also, place a downloadable copy of your resume on your website and on your other social media pages, if possible.
• Vote For Me! If you're in the running for a college scholarship or two and you need votes to win, post your voting link on your social media pages. E-mail out your voting link to friends and family and have them do the same. Tweet your voting link too, put it on Linkedin, make a video about the scholarship contest and put it on YouTube, you get my drift.

Let's jump right in and take a look at some of these avenues to obtaining college scholarships using social media websites - like I haven't given you enough already (SMILE).

1. Twitter - students who are looking to win college scholarships are asked to use Twitter to tweet something they are passionate about or to tweet on a specific subject. Since you and I both know that you can't tweet all day why not use a Twitter client? There are Twitter clients such as TweetDeck and HootSuite that can schedule your tweets. You want people all over the world to see your tweets so you need to schedule them for different time zones. While you're sleeping, someone across the Globe can see your tweet in their time zone. You just might land a permanent overseas job, internship, fellowship or scholarship just for tweeting something really cool. Look for colleges and universities who are on Twitter and become a follower and reply to relevant tweets of interest.

2. Blogging - is your Blog "scholarship worthy?" Well, submit your Blog to find out. It needs to be very interesting, something you are passionate about, expound on other interests you may have, and what makes you a great student. To win a college scholarship you may be asked to blog a review about something you've experienced as well. Also, if you start a Blog you will be found easier online, in other words, you'll be more searchable.

3. Web Design - are people dreamy over your website designs? Then put your website designing to the test and apply for a scholarship. Tweet about your web designs, post your web designs on Facebook, create a PowerPoint presentation with your web designs and post, post, post.

4. YouTube or Flickr - is this great or what, just upload a video on YouTube about what you like about something or why you should be chosen as a student to a particular college and why you should receive a scholarship. Upload a video about a product or service you offer that has impacted others. If you're an aspiring film student this is a great way to showcase your expertise.

Also post your creative works on Flickr, especially if you've won a grand prize - let colleges and universities know that your work is award-winning. If your award-winning work comes with the priviledge of using an award logo, post the award logo alongside your works. Colleges and universities won't frown on granting a college scholarship to students whose works are award-winning; they look for students who stand out.

5. Facebook - Facebook is used for more than just connecting with friends, it can help get you a college scholarship. You might be asked to write a review or a "why choose me" essay. Who knows? Make sure your Facebook page is scholarship material - it needs to meet the three E's of marketing, because that's what you're doing, marketing yourself - the three E's are Entertain, Educate, and Enlighten.

• Entertaining information draws in readers and keeps their attention. Entertaining information makes your pages "sticky," i.e., makes readers want to stay on your site longer. Entertaining information can come in the form of videos, graphics, contests, funny stories, polls, games or quizzes, just to name a few.
• Educational information tells your readers about you and your work as well as explain how a college scholarship will affect your educational goals. Tell your readers about the scholarships you are pursuing, especially college scholarships that match your degree program.
• Enlightening information tells your readers that your pursuit of a particular degree is not a selfish endeavor, and how that degree will position you to give back to the community, or how it will help the environment, or how it will help children, etc. Do a FAQ section on your Facebook page on the how and why you've chosen a particular degree field, and this is why you are petitioning assistance through a college scholarship. Create your FAQ's using audio or create a PowerPoint presentation possibly turning it into a video.

• College Scholarships for Children with a Deceased Parent.