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10 Social Media Best Practices in Higher Education
This document outlines best practices for effective social media use in higher education, emphasizing the importance of a strategic approach, authentic communication, and community engagement. Key recommendations include producing quality content, collaborating across university platforms, and using data analytics to assess social media strategies. It advocates for empowering staff and students in managing social media while respecting the brand and ethical guidelines.
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10 Social Media Best Practices in Higher Education
- 2. By Josie Ahlquist www.josieahlquist.com @josieahlquist
- 3. Social Media GuidanceFor: Universities, Colleges, Departments, Courses, Programs & Staff/Faculty Professional Usage
- 4. Ten #SoMe BestPractices in #HigherEd • Implement a Social Media Strategy • Produce Quality & Accurate Content • Use an Authentic & Transparent Voice • Manage Platforms with Social Media Managers & Students • Represent the University Brand & Campus Resources • Collaborate & Support University Social Media Pages • Empower Influencers and Engage Audience • Respect Your Community • Get Internal Buy-In • Dive into Data
- 5. As you read o Keep in mind your institution, campus position & career goals. o What practices are in place? o Strengths & weaknesses? o How does social media align with your institution mission, learning outcomes and/or strategic plan? o Who holds the power to implement practices? o How does social media relate to your position responsibilities? o Who else at your campus can you rally around these best practices?
- 6. Caution: Content Ahead Due to teaching this content only through slides, visuals are more text heavy than my typical presentations.
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- 8. #1 Implement aSocial Media Strategy Social media activity without a strategy is just busy work
- 9. Begin by Asking: • What are your goals for using social media tools? • Know your audience; who are you trying to reach? • How much time can you commit to manage platforms? • Can you produce quality over quantity? • Who on your campus can you collaborate with that already has an established social media presence? • Do we really need to be on (fill in the blank) social media platform?
- 10. Produce Quality &Accurate Content 1. Be frequent, but not too frequent. 2. Bring value. Ask yourself, what can users receive from your site they can’t get anywhere else? 3. Do your research. Be knowledgeable about what you put out. 4. Be responsible. Have awareness of the consequences of actions online. 5. Be accurate. Mistakes happen, so if you make an error, correct it quickly and visibly. This will earn you respect in the online community. 6. Think twice about everything you post. Use your colleagues, students and supervisors as your source for feedback when in question. #Two
- 11. Whatever social media method(s) you choose, Do it well & do it often. Even if this is having only ONE platform. www.josieahlquist.com
- 12. Use an Authentic& Transparent Voice #3
- 13. Find your voice Consider your voice online and how it reflects your already established campus identity. Are you clever, compassionate, inspirational, silly, straightforward? Engage & Interact Engagement and interaction is more important than the number of subscribers, followers or fans. Communication cues such as likes, comments, RT, shares and mentions are stronger than total community members. Be REAL Social Media needs to be authentic. Especially if your target is students, this audience can tell when posts are automated or not personal. No robots allowed.
- 14. Be clear & own your content Don’t promote something that you personally or the university wouldn’t endorse. Build an interactive online community For example, Facebook pages should be kept open so dialogue with your community can be two-way. Responding to negative comments Having thoughtful discussions on important topics is a great to way to build your community and is a very important aspect of having a successful social media site.
- 15. Seeking Help: SocialMedia Control Issues Accept the following: 1. People will post negatively about your campus. 1. Do not delete negative comments. 1. You do not have complete control of the message/brand online. 1. Get ahead of the ‘news’ by paying attention and ‘listening’ online. 1. Be so active on social media that your community will correct negative/misinformation.
- 16. Social Media BestPractices in Higher Education Invest in & empower social media staff, both professionals and students.
- 17. Invest in &empower social media staff, both professionals and students. • At minimum, assign at least one administrator who can regularly monitor postings and update content. • Regular, consistent postings and updates, at least once a week and, depending on the platform, more frequently. • When practical and appropriate, hire, train and supervise student leaders to co-manage social media pages. • Continually seek input and insight into your social media efforts, especially if current students are your target audience.
- 18. #5 Love &Respect the Brand you are with
- 19. Consistent use oflogos and branding. This includes colors, images, mascots, fronts and another other university/department graphics. Copyright and trademark materials. Don't steal another persons work. Always ask for permission and/or give credit. Maintain confidentiality. Do not post confidential information about the campus, students, alumni or fellow employees. Use ethical judgment and follow university policies and federal requirements. Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. Never speak negatively/poorly about your university/employer. Respect University time and property. University computers and your work time are to be used for University-related educational and business purposes.
- 20. Social Media BestPractices in Higher Education Collaborate & Support University Social Media Pages
- 21. Collaboration is apriority and value of higher education, seen in countless programs, events and committees. Do the same online.
- 22. Show Some Campus Social Media <3 Follow other university related accounts Twitter: ‘RT’ & ‘Like’ Create a Twitter list for all university accounts Actively contribute to positive campus hashtags Facebook: ‘Share’ ‘Like’ ‘Comment’ ‘Recommend’ Instagram: 'heart’ 'comment’ or 3rd party ‘regram’ Like and share campus YouTube Videos
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- 24. LOOK for yourcampus Influencers • Look around your campus and consider what it is known for. • What are prominent campus celebrations, traditions, events, departments, people &/or buildings? • Are there ‘popular’ faculty, senior leaders, administrators or student leader positions that could be showcased?
- 25. Empower and giveaction to your audience Collaborative strategies that use influencers’ user-generated content have the ability to reach further into the influencers’ community. People trust people, not brands.
- 26. Respect Your Audience Social media content lives forever… Make it positive #8
- 27. R E SP E C T • Abide by an online code of ethics to guide behavior and goal setting for your entire strategy. • Only post when you are calm & level-headed. • Pace posts. Don’t flood followers news feeds or event invites. • Remember: There’s no such thing as a “private” social media site. Anything you post lives on…somewhere.
- 28. Always BE POSITIVEon Social Media
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- 30. Buy-In through ValueAdded Approach Informally share videos, articles & social media research. Educate current & future social media campus influencers. Implement professional development on & off campus: workshops, speakers, conferences and webinars. Ask advanced social media users on your own campus to be trainers and strategy builders. Meet staff where they are, from those without accounts or exploring newbies up to expert content creators.
- 31. Preach & educate“the gospel” of social media communication tools. Even one person at a time.
- 32. Higher Ed SocialMedia Best Practice #10 DiveintoData
- 33. Backing up campussocial media efforts with measurement tools. Use analytics. There are a number of indicators available through analytics and analysis measures through social media. Assess your social media strategy. Social media strategy should include setting goals and learning outcomes. Use these for data collection/analysis. More platforms = more data = more time. The more platforms you are attempting to manage, the more work it will take to track. “Listen” year-round: Follow campus hashtags and digital convos to assess the pulse of campus.
- 34. Will your socialmedia strategy produce data that helps tell your story?
- 35. Helpful Higher Ed Hashtags #casesmc #hesm #satech #SoMe #edtech #edtechchat #digcit #heweb #hemktg #strategycar
- 36. #HigherEd #SoMe Bloggers Adam Gismondi Courtney O’Connell Ed Cabellon Eric Stoller Kristin Abell Laura Pasquini Liz Gross Jason Meriwether Joe Sabado Ma'ayan Plaut Paul Brown Paul Eaton Rey Junco Sheri Lehman Tony Doody Theresa Walker
- 37. The keys to success in social media are being real, being thoughtful, and respecting the purpose of each digital community. www.josieahlquist.com
- 38. Josie Ahlquist www.josieahlquist.com @josieahlquist Higher Ed Doc Student | Digital Leadership Researcher & Social Media Explorer | Blogger- Speaker-Author | Proud @theEpicLloyd Wifey | Booking Contact Bass/Schuler Entertainment
Editor's Notes
- #39 Who I am: What makes up my identity Doc Student Student Affairs 10 years Dog Momma Wife to a YouTuber Blogger about social media and how it intersects with leadership