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Access to Educational Opportunity: A Social Media Initiative
- 1. A Social Media Initiative Building a Brand & Opening up Student Engagement Saoirse de Paor, Teaching & Learning Librarian, Maynooth University CONUL Annual Seminar, 07 November 2019
- 2. LIST • 2016 - “A Maynooth Education” • Evolution of LIST to meet student’s skill needs • Online presence • Face-to-face tutorials on a range of skills- based topics • 30 minutes long sessions • Drop in system Library Information Skills Tutorials
- 3. Connecting and communicating with students, specifically non-traditional students on a digital platform that can be viewed and accessed by many MU's Social Media Following Promote our skills-based tutorials as well as all the supports and online resources available to students from the library Create Awareness We wanted a "student voice" to help connect, engage and encourage students to attend our classes and to utilise our supports and resources Engage with Student Ambassadors Aims of the Initiative
- 4. LIST had become an established brand in previous years with its own logo, posters, online presence and section in our welcome booklet. LIST Creative content was created using Canva containing information on our classes, class locations, times and key messages. Content Platforms like Instagram and Facebook provided tools that shared and circulated information widely and effectively Social Media Tools In previous years LIST ran on a "drop in" basis, however this year we tried using both a "drop in" and "bookable' option accessed through the library calendar Bookings Building the Brand
- 5. Content was posted on our Instagram and Facebooks pages as well as on "Stories" Stories promoted and circulated updates and new information instantaneously Posts Live and prerecorded videos allowed us to share information in an engaging, interactive and meaningful way! This is where our ambassadors got involved! Live Videos Instagram tools allowed us to collect feedback from students through a number of various social media features. These tools included questions, polls and direct messaging Tools Tagging other pages and using hashtags worked as another way of circulating and sharing information. We tagged other MU University pages and Student Reps to further help promote LIST Tagging Posting Types
- 7. The Student Ambassadors "A Student Voice"
- 8. Recruitment and Logistics We circulated a survey to Student Ambassadors who had previous experience working on university campaigns RECRUITMENT We created an excel spreadsheet which listed each pair’s posting per week, posting times, post types, class information and our primary key messages POSTING TIMETABLE We recruited 7 student ambassadors and allocated each pair to one of the four weeks of LIST WORKING IN PAIRS Key messages were established for the first and second half of LIST that allowed the ambassadors to be consistent, coherent and concise when sharing information on our sessions KEY MESSAGES
- 9. The Role of Student Ambassadors • Establishing a "student voice" that resonates with MU students • Increasing our student following (1K!) • Informing students about the benefits of attending LIST sessions in an engaging and interactive way • Providing live updates on classes and answering queries and questions instantaneously • Collecting feedback through Q&A's and circulating live polls
- 10. What have we learnt? (so far!) It's Working! Achieved many aims with one initiative Planning is pivotal! Planning such initiatives means being clear and consistent. Everything from content, key messages and timing should be predetermined and scheduled We have seen an increase in the numbers attending LIST and our following on Instagram has hit over 1000 followers! 1. Opened up services through innovative communication and promotion 2. Engaged with student ambassadors to learn more about student needs 3. Continuing to grow our social media presence
- 11. Thank you! EMAIL ADDRESS saoirse.depaor@mu.ie SAOIRSE DE PAOR Teaching & Learning Librarian Maynooth University From MU Library Cat
Editor's Notes
- Today I’m going to be talking to you about our new social media initiative that we implemented in October. It is focused entirely on LIST which is our Library Information Skills Tutorials which some of you may already be aware of.
- Due to a curriculum change and the implementation of our Critical Skills Programme LIST evolved to help meet the skills-needs of MU Students LIST is a combination of online resources as well as face-to-face tutorials which previously ran for 2 – 3 weeks during each semester. The tutorials include a range of topics that help and support student with their assignments and projects as well as their wellbeing and IT-related queries. Sessions are located in the library and last 30 minutes. They were originally ran on a drop-in basis which allowed students to attend when it suited them.
- 1. Our first aim was to further promote of our LIST tutorials while increasing an awareness around our online resources and face-to-face support available from the library. 2. Our second aim was to establish a student presence or “student voice” to help connect, engage and encourage students to attend our LIST tutorials and for them to fully understand the benefits of attending these sessions in helping to improve their academic skills. 3. Lastly, we wanted to increase our following on social media platforms, specifically Instagram and Facebook to ensure that we are reaching as many students as possible. Social media platforms are just another mode of circulating information instantaneously so having a large following ensures that we are connected with our student community in a different way.
- LIST: Read box Social Media Tools: Examples of tools included using hashtags #LIST2019 #MULIST… Tagging other University Pages etc.. Content: Content was curated on Canva specifically for the initiative. This meant that we decided on the design, layout and the information included in the content that could be used throughout the four weeks of LIST. This content was given to the ambassadors who then circulated and shared it on our platforms. We also had hard copies of content as well as online versions – advertised in the toilets etc! Bookings: While the drop-in option that we used in previous years was effective we wanted to support the needs of those coming to college through the Access programme and other non-traditional students that benefited from a clear schedule.
- Recruitment: We identified a group of student who had previous experience working on campaigns and other University initiatives. After this I used Office 365 Forms to create and circulate a survey which included questions on their availability, student type, experience running social media accounts etc… Working in Pairs: Our ambassadors worked in pairs which allowed them to divide the workload, collaborate and also allowed them to be more flexible when it came to their lecture schedules Posting timetable: I created an excel spreadsheet which I shared with our student ambassadors. This included positing times, post types (general post, stories, video recording, polls etc). It also included the key messages that we wanted highlighted in each post, as well as any additional information on classes that they might need, Key messages: The first and second half of LIST had two different approaches – different and non-repeditive. Key messages were established for each of the two approach to ensure that the student ambassadors were consistent, coherent and concise when sharing information on our sessions