Alissa Arford, Director of Online Strategy, Office of Marketing Communications, Robert H. Smith School of Business Michelle Watson, Coordinator of Public Relations & Marketing, University Career Center & The President's Promise Alyssa Wolice, Assistant Director of Communications, Fischell Department of Bioengineering & Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices Communicating effectively through social media faces unique challenges in a decentralized organization. Learn how your unit can increase collaboration across teams, departments and social media accounts. This session will also explore strategies for managing and training student teams.

1. All Together Now : Managing Decentralized Social Media
Alissa Arford, Michelle Watson & Alyssa Wolice

2. Agenda
● What is Decentralized Social Media Management?
● Opportunities & Challenges
● Audit of Handles/Handlers/Resources
● Training & Calibration of Handlers & Content
● Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams
● Content Mining & Encouraging Audience
Contributors

3. Decentralized Social Media
Many levels at UMD
● Wide range of roles manage social
media platforms across campus:
○ Communications professionals
○ Program coordinators
○ Faculty/Administrative Staff
○ Student Organizations
○ Student Employees/Interns
@UofMaryland
@ClarkSchool
@UMDBIOE
Centers/Institutes
Faculty
Student orgs

4. Opportunities with Decentralization
Not completely decentralized, but a hybrid model - Be a
resource for your social media ambassadors - offer
guidelines, training, management systems (Hootsuite).
More contributors also means more variety and
increased frequency of posts and more creativity.

5. Challenges of Decentralization
Potential for bad or
inappropriate posts, mis-posts
to wrong accounts, too many
posts, duplicate posts.
Difficult to maintain consistent
branding/messaging and
communication across
platforms.

6. Conduct Audits
• Which parties have accounts?
• Who manages said accounts?
• What social networks are they using?
• What resources do they have?
• What are their goals?
• Who makes up their audience?

7. Training & Calibration:
Toolkit Generation
Provide resources, get buy-ins: Infographics, Quotables
University campaigns as guidance
Primary features for smaller units and faculty:
● Twitter & Facebook
● Links to pre-existing
content & related news
● Twitter cheat-sheet
● Instagram-ready posts
and headings

8. Training & Calibration:
Content Collectors & Curators
Content Collector:
One who gathers and/or captures content.
Content Curator:
One who organizes and strategizes the presentation of
content.

9. Training & Calibration:
Student Employees
Student employees can be
especially helpful for social media
managers. You’re probably at your
desk most of the day and they are
out experiencing student life first
hand. Consider whether you will
allow access for live posting, or if
you will review or approve posts.
If they will be posting directly,
include a disclaimer: Takeover or
Maintained by Students

10. Training & Calibration:
Student Employees
● Tap into the native understanding they have
● Tap into their creativity
● Train them in context
● Establish boundaries
○ that make sense for your organization
● Determine the schedule
● Incorporate students into strategy building

11. Training & Calibration:
Training Methods
Any new employee working on social media should have an
initial in-person hands-on training session that includes a
review of the UMD Social Media Guidelines.
● Regular Meetings
● Shared Calendar
● Google Groups
● Mailing Lists
● Intranet Resources
● Brown Bag Workshops
www.brand.umd.edu

12. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Hootsuite Demo
Hootsuite is a social media management system that
gives users an integrated interface to manage all social
media outreach. Many units at University of Maryland
currently use Hootsuite.
Benefits of using Hootsuite:
● Admin can oversee all social media activity
● Users can access all channels from one location
(Desktop/App)
● Unlimited social accounts, reporting, scheduling
http://www.hootsuite.com

13. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Content Drop Folders

14. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Quality Control & Best Practice Guides
● Monitor posts using Hootsuite or a different app by
setting up searches for related handles, hashtags or
keywords.
● Don’t be afraid to contact someone at UMD who has
made a questionable post.
● Always capture any potentially controversial posts for
your records - your posts and posts about you.
● You can edit your Facebook and Instagram posts, but
for Twitter and LinkedIn, posts may need to be deleted.

15. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Quality Control & Best Practice Guides

16. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Working Groups, Meetings, Calendars

17. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Central & Collaborative Campaigns
Don’t Underestimate the Value of UMD Campaigns:
#UMDInnovates, #Terps, #UMDClarkHall, #GivingDayUMD
Brainstorm across Units & with Faculty/Students:
You can find common ground with any organization/unit
Examples:
● Election Day
● Ice Cream
(Maryland Day)

18. Strategies to Increase Collaboration Across Teams:
Snowball & Avalanche
“Top” to “Bottom” “Small” to “Big”

19. Content Mining & Audience Contribution:
Takeovers
Students
Takeover
Instagram!
Posts are great, but
stories are even better
during a takeover.
Be sure to save your
stories each day!

20. Content Mining & Audience Contribution:
Contests
Show Off Your Summer Contest
Ask: Photo, brief description
Prize: $30
Gain: Exposure, association with
success/achievement/internships;
inspiration for peers
Ad Boost: $30
(2017) Total Cost: $60
(2016) Impressions: Over 10,000
● What’s your goal?
● How will it add to your story?
● Simple is better.

21. Content Mining & Audience Contribution:
Testimonials

22. Content Mining & Audience Contribution:
Testimonials

23. Content Mining & Audience Contribution:
Has#tags

24. Conversation!
Alissa Arford
Director of Online Strategy
Robert H. Smith School of Business
aarford@rhsmith.umd.edu
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/AlissaArford
Twitter:
@AArford
Michelle Watson
PR & Marketing
Coordinator
University Career Center
& The President’s Promise
mlopezmu@umd.edu
LinkedIn:
go.umd.edu/mwatson
Instagram:
@hydroliciousmlo
Alyssa Wolice
Assistant Director of
Communications
Fischell Dept. of
Bioengineering and the
Robert E. Fischell Institute
for Biomedical Devices
awolice@umd.edu
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/awolice
Twitter & Instagram:
@awolice