The document describes the evolution of a university's student social media team over 4 years. It started with 5 students blogging and taking photos. It expanded to 9 students with a focus on increased event coverage and photos. Issues with managing many students and a narrow focus on writing vs. photos arose. The team adjusted to have all students do both writing and photos. Currently, there are 3-5 students who work in an office 10 hours/week and contribute to the university's social media accounts, website and magazine. The goal is to provide an authentic student perspective and voice through their work.

1. Care and Feeding of a Social Media Team @lisacatto
WOU Newsflash Team
Needs
• More
content
for
website
and
social
media
pla3orms
• Content
with
an
authen7c
student
voice
• Help
address
campus
demands
and
severe
understanding
with
student
workers
The
beginning
• Idea
for
student
social
media
team
came
from
#heweb11
• Team
created
within
Public
Rela7ons
Office
What
they
do
• Write
content
for
team
student
blog
• Create
content
for
flagship
university
social
media
accounts
• Helps
manage
and
create
content
for
flagship
university
social
media
accounts
Year 1
Setup
• 5
students
(5-­‐7
hours/week)
• Individual
mee7ngs
with
team
members
to
assign
du7es
• Focus
on
wri7ng
for
a
new
student
blog
• Secondary
duty
of
event
photography
• Assigned
dates
to
post
blog
entries
based
on
availability
and
interest
Pros
• Campus
embraced
team
immediately
• Began
geQng
requests
to
cover
stories
and
events
• Great
tool
for
undergraduate
admissions
Cons
• Learning
how
to
be
a
manager
• Challenges
with
wri7ng
quality
• No
campus
awareness
of
team
Year 2
Changes
from
previous
year
• 9
students
(<5
hours/week)
• Regular
team
mee7ngs
to
assign
du7es
• Some
hired
to
focus
on
wri7ng,
some
hired
to
focus
on
photography
• A
few
students
had
skills
in
both
areas
• Writers
had
assigned
weekly
blog
days
Pros
• Massive
increase
in
campus
event
coverage
• Facebook
photo
albums
led
to
major
increase
in
following
and
engagement
• Photos
were
available
to
campus
departments
for
their
websites
Cons
• Challenge
to
manage
9
students
• Too
narrow
of
a
focus
(wri7ng
vs.
photography)
–
needed
everyone
to
do
both.
• Students
consistently
worked
below
expected
number
of
hours
Year 3
Changes
from
previous
year
• 7
students
(4-­‐5
hours/week)
• Everyone
expected
to
write
and
take
pictures
• Involved
them
more
in
managing
flagship
university
social
media
accounts
• Branded
ourselves
as
WOU
Newsflash
Team
Pros
• x
Cons
• Applicants
had
stronger
wri7ng
background
than
photography
• Tried
new
ac7vi7es
but
we
were
inconsistent
with
implementa7on
• Tech
issues
with
blog
led
to
decrease
in
morale
Year 4 (current)
Changes
from
previous
year
• 3-­‐5
students
(10
hours/week)
• Switched
from
working
remotely
to
working
in
office
• Increased
training
on
social
media,
wri7ng,
photography
and
prepared
guidebook
for
job
• Website
redesign
placed
Newsflash
blog
feed
on
university
homepage
• Added
a
Newsflash
blog
post
to
every
university
magazine
Goals
for
this
year
• Write
for
non-­‐Newsflash
venues
Lessons learned
Pay
vs.
volunteer
• Wanted
to
connect
with
current
and
prospec7ve
students
by
sharing
the
voices
of
how
current
students
experience
campus
Work
remotely
vs.
in
office
• Wanted
to
connect
with
current
and
prospec7ve
students
by
sharing
the
voices
of
how
current
students
experience
campus
Specialized
vs.
generalized
• Wanted
to
connect
with
current
and
prospec7ve
students
by
sharing
the
voices
of
how
current
students
experience
campus
Benefits of student SM team
• Authen7c
voice
about
the
student
experience
• Feedback
Work
remotely
vs.
in
office
• Wanted
to
connect
with
current
and
prospec7ve
students
by
sharing
the
voices
of
how
current
students
experience
campus
Specialized
vs.
generalized
• Wanted
to
connect
with
current
and
prospec7ve
students
by
sharing
the
voices
of
how
current
students
experience
campus
WOU
staff
member
Newsflash
student
&
blog
post
author
Comment
from
faculty
member
Campus
organizaGon
engaging
and
correcGng
informaGon
Newsflash
student
response