For social media ideas, 'Check Your Head'

This isn't specific to higher education, but I just had to write about it: a HootSuite blog titled "5 Things the Beastie Boys Can Teach You About Social Media." What's not to love about that?!

Even more to love: The tips (titled with BB lyrics) are on the mark, for colleges and universities as well as other organizations that want (and need) to be successful at using social media.

They focus on giving your audience what it's looking for; providing regular and consistent updates that your audience can count on, even while you're out of the office; creating a sense of community and connection with your audience; standing up for your organization on social media; and listening — to what is being said about your university, and others.

So, so, so, so thank you Hannah Clark at HootSuite for showing how three old white rappers (old = my age, so maybe not too old!) are relevant to new media.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

(Beastie Boys photo courtesy of HootSuite)

Visit your dream college...via Google

It's a rite of passage for many college-bound teens and their parents: trekking to campuses near and far before deciding to which schools they will apply. Whether it's a large open house or a personalized campus tour, the in-person visit can tip the scales for teens trying to decide where they will spend the next four (or so) years.

But just as families are looking more discerningly at college expenses, so too are they assessing the costs — in time and money — associated with campus visits. Depending on how far afield their future coed wants to wander, campus visits can mean time taken off work and school, hotel stays, travel by plane/train/automobile and more.

So I wasn't surprised when I read this in Time magazine: Google — which I'm hoping will be a benevolent ruler when we're all subjects in its kingdom one day — is promoting the use of Google Hangouts in the college admissions process as a way for students to visit campuses virtually.

It makes sense; as the article's author notes, a Google study showed nine out of 10 students research colleges and universities online. A Google Hangout could be a good way for prospective students to chat with current students, admissions and financial aid staff, even alumni about the programs and the school. It would be a great tool for international students, or even those U.S. students looking at a college on the other side of the country.

I can't imagine it replacing the campus visit, though, at least not for everyone. I think it could be very helpful in making the decision to visit a college or university, especially if it is some distance from a student's hometown. But how a place feels when you get there can make a huge difference.

Duke University participated in Google's College Admission Week last year. All its Hangouts are pulled together in this blog post.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

(Google Hangout logo courtesy of Google)

How colleges can use Vine

Ever since Twitter introduced Vine in January, I've been intrigued by it — but I've also wondered how well it would catch on. Vine is Twitter for video: You get six seconds to tell your story. As with YouTube videos, I've seen some Vine videos that are well done, but plenty of others that are not.

This blog on highedwebtech.com lays out a number of ways that colleges and universities are using and could use Vine. I like them all, but as someone who formerly worked in university advancement communications, I love the idea of using short videos as thank yous from students to donors. Those who donate to universities relish seeing how their funds are used, and putting faces to names on a scholarship or awards list is always a winner.

You also can check out Vine videos from a number of schools on this post on EdTech. I especially like the ones from Rutgers, Miami and Webster.

Since Vine's launch, Instagram has introduced its own video capability, which can offer 15-second videos — a direct competitor to Vine.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)
(Vine logo courtesy of Twitter)

Happy Halloween from your university

Social media at colleges and universities never take a holiday...

or, maybe they take it and run with it.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

Instagram ideas on campus

Instagram, the photo- and video-sharing social networking site, marked its third anniversary earlier this month. I looked up some stats on its blog this week: 150 million active members, 55 million photos posted every day, 16 billion photos shared since 2010. It's not the biggest social media site in terms of members, but it's grown enough that it cannot be ignored by colleges and universities trying to reach their varied audiences.

Plenty of schools are online with Instagram, using it to recruit new students, reminisce with alumni and more. And plenty are not; with limited resources, they may feel that even if they know their audience is on Instagram, they don't have enough time/staff to add another social media site to their mix.

One way to help with that is to take advantage of what's already out there, or rather who's already out there: current students. Recent posts on the Social Media for Colleges and Higher Education Marketing blogs highlight just a few examples of schools tapping their current students as Instagram ambassadors. I like the "takeover" idea; I've seen schools do that with Twitter as well, having a student post on the official university account for an hour/morning/day. Even when students are selected with a particular reason in mind, I think it can convey an authenticity that anyone can appreciate.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)
(Instagram logo courtesy of Instagram)

Psst...YouTube is HUGE

A few months ago, I read a statistic that surprised me a little. YouTube reported that more than 1 billion unique users visit the video-sharing website every month. ONE BILLION.

 The sheer size of that number is staggering; that was part of why I was surprised. The other reason is that, with the ability to post short videos added in recent months to such popular social media as Instagram and Twitter, I thought YouTube's popularity might be waning a bit. Apparently that's not the case!

A couple of other facts from YouTube reinforce why colleges and universities — and anyone else trying to reach an audience with its message — should have the video behemoth in their toolkit:

• One hundred hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Every minute!
• YouTube reaches more adults ages 18-34 in the United States than any single cable television network. That's pretty powerful evidence that video is shifting from traditional media (TV) to online.

And one more fact to throw in the mix: You need a budget of $0 to set up a YouTube channel for your organization.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)
(YouTube logo courtesy of YouTube)

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month - See more at: http://www.activecommunities.com/blog/top-10-social-media-stats-to-watch-2013/#sthash.nnO9Z2ja.dpuf

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each mont - See more at: http://www.activecommunities.com/blog/top-10-social-media-stats-to-watch-2013/#sthash.nnO9Z2ja.dpuf

More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each mont - See more at: http://www.activecommunities.com/blog/top-10-social-media-stats-to-watch-2013/#sthash.nnO9Z2ja.dpuf

Social media as school cafeteria

When it comes to higher education, and specifically to college students, I like to think of social media as a campus dining hall — the conversation part, not the food part.

Twenty years ago, when the World Wide Web was a toddler and the term "social media" hadn't been invented yet, students met in the dining hall or the student union to eat and talk — about who they were dating, who they wanted to date, the parties they attended last weekend, how drunk they got at the parties last weekend, their classes and, of course, their professors.

They still do that, but now those conversations also can (and do) happen on Facebook and Twitter, where anyone can "hear" them, not just the guys at the next table at dinner. One person listening is Matt Thomas, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Iowa, who last month started searching out and retweeting students' tweets about their professors (check out all such posts on Twitter with the hashtag #myprofessor). As he notes in a blog on the Inside Higher Ed website, the tweets are an unfiltered look at how students view their professors, for better or for worse.

Will professors listen to their students' praise/complaints on Twitter? Should they?

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

Social media as student retention tool

A lot has been and continues to be written about colleges and universities increasing their use of social media to attract and recruit students to their programs. I haven't seen as much about retention — keeping students on your campus once they enroll. I thought this article from University Business was very good and touched on a lot of ways that schools can seize opportunities for reaching students that didn't exist in the past. Not only can they react to a situation, but they also can be proactive, through social media.

From assisting struggling or homesick students and answering basic questions from incoming freshmen to offering career services for graduating seniors and encouraging successful students to share their dean's list news, social media can be a vital link between colleges and universities and their most important assets. Some may think social media is too impersonal for such a role, but once you make a connection, the impersonal quickly can become personal, as anecdotes in the article attest.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

Is there a right time to post on Facebook?

This post isn't specific to higher education, but colleges and universities, like businesses or other non-profits, need to use their resources wisely. When it comes to social media, that means posting when and where their audiences — current students, potential students, alumni, donors — are online so their messages are effective.

And when it comes to social media, there is no shortage of advice on what to do and when to do it. Quite a bit of that advice focuses on Facebook, the big kahuna of social media.

In fact, Facebook itself provides a window onto your followers with its Insights feature, which not only gives you demographic information about your audience, but with its "When your fans are online" tab, you can see...well, when your fans are online. There also is a "Posts" tab that can guide you on what types of posts get the best response from your followers.

When you consider that Facebook posts receive half their views within 30 minutes of being published, using every tool at your disposal to be sure you're grabbing as many views and interactions as possible is vital to your social media success.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images) 
(Facebook logo courtesy of Facebook)

YouTube videos help freshmen adjust to campus life

Starting college means huge adjustments for freshmen, from meeting new people to learning what professors expect in the classroom. There also are lots of logistical issues: moving into a dorm, finding your way around campus, scheduling classes. Colleges and universities increasingly are turning to social media as a way to reach out to freshmen and help ease their transition.

Two of the most recent examples I've seen are from Howard University and Michigan State University — very different universities, both using YouTube videos, though in contrasting but equally effective ways that could and should inspire other schools in their own outreach efforts.

Howard is a private, historically black university of about 10,500 students in Washington, D.C. Its student association put together a three-minute video featuring students answering such questions as "When is move-in day?" and "Where do I buy my books?" The students in the video are really engaging; the video has a very informal tone but is well done (and uses the catchy 1970 hit "Express Yourself" as background music).

Michigan State is a public, land-grant university of about 49,300 students in East Lansing, Mich. (Disclaimer: I worked in advancement communications at MSU for five years. But I would like the videos anyway.) Its "Fresh-Min" series features several one-minute videos on such topics as maximizing your meal plan and taking advantage of the services at the engagement centers on campus. The videos were produced by the university's media communications office and share a consistent theme. I'm partial to the one featuring MSU President Lou Anna Simon:

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

Writing well is key in any medium

You may be reading this post on a computer screen or smartphone rather than on a piece of paper, but you are reading words that I wrote — not watching a video, not listening to an audio clip, not looking at a slideshow. The written word remains the backbone of communication regardless of how it is delivered, which means that writing well remains just as important in our time of blogs and Facebook as when newsprint was the only medium of mass communication.

Telling a good story, knowing your readers and writing cleanly and concisely are hallmarks of journalistic writing, but should be the goal of all writers. Your readers want it and deserve it. My years as a newspaper writer were the best possible foundation for my later move into public relations.

Gareth Henderson's recent blog for mStoner, "Old-School Journalism Tips for Online Writers," highlights some keys to good writing, whether it will be viewed in print or online.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

A few stats on social media use

I knew when I decided to write on social media and higher education in my blog that I would have no shortage of source material — a big plus — but I found immediately that searching for, reading and analyzing information easily could take hours a day. So some posts will be longer and more in depth than others, which will be shorter bits of information...like today's.

Quirky/interesting/astounding statistics on social media use abound. Here are a few:

• Facebook says that between 88 million and 100 million of its U.S. users log in every day during the prime TV viewing hours of 8-11 p.m. — and they are engaged. During last week's NFL season kickoff, more than 8 million users posted 20 million-plus likes, comments and shares on Facebook.
• Forty million photos are uploaded to Instagram every day.
• Experian Marketing Services reported earlier this year that in the United States, 16 minutes out of every hour online is spent on social networking and forums — a quarter of the average user's time. So if you're online looking for your current students/future students/alumni/donors, that's where they are, and where you need to be as well.

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)

Social media open the front door, invite potential students in

Social media can play an important role in how colleges and universities reach out to and attract potential students. Elizabethtown College, a private, liberal arts school of nearly 2,400 students in south-central Pennsylvania, has integrated print, web and social media into a cohesive (and emulation-worthy) campaign directed at accepted students.

Through its "Share the Moment" campaign, now starting its third year, Elizabethtown invites accepted students not only to enroll at the college, but to let their friends, families and future classmates (plus anyone who follows the college on one of several social media channels) know that they're going to E-town. As part of the acceptance package sent to students — attractively done and tied in well with its newly redesigned viewbook — the college encourages them to tweet comments and/or photos using a special hashtag. Check out this year's class on Twitter with the hashtag #etown2017.

Also in the acceptance package are instructions on how new students can navigate the college's web page and access important information that they will need as they prepare for the upcoming academic year.

The college had more than 175 students "share their moment" of acceptance on either Twitter or Instagram, out of an incoming class of nearly 550. In addition, the college found many students following up with additional posts throughout the summer and as they arrived on campus.

So why reach out to students who may or may not attend your institution? According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 82 percent of students say they want to interact with the colleges or universities where they've been accepted. Making them feel like part of your campus community before they arrive can go a long way toward getting them to sign on the proverbial dotted line.

Logistically or financially, Elizabethtown's "Share the Moment" campaign may not work exactly the same way for other schools, but the ideas certainly can be adapted to fit any size institution.

(Photos from Microsoft Office Images)

Welcome to my blog for Digital Journalism!

Welcome to my blog on social media and higher education for COM 478, Digital Journalism. A few times a week for the next four months, I will cull and assess information on how social media is being used in higher education — by colleges and universities, by faculty, by students, by alumni groups and more. This is an area of great interest to me, and hopefully we all will learn some things together!

(Photo from Microsoft Office Images)