Presented at the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers Conference in Austin, TX on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. #SOACE15

1. Changing Your Outlook on Utilizing
Social Media in Career Services
Presented by:
Araceli “Sally” Pérez-Ramos,
Manager of Communication & Online Programs
St. Edward’s University

2. About St. Edward’s University
• Private liberal arts university
• Undergraduate and graduate degrees
• Student population = 5,500
• Traditional-aged & Non-traditional student
body
• Centralized Career Services Office
• Recent title change from Internship
Coordinator to Manager of Communications &
Online Programming
• Currently managing the following on social
media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
WordPress, Newsletter, LinkedIn, Pinterest,
and Google+

3. How can Social Media Help Career Services
 Learn about your audience
 Target audience more effectively
 Find new students and employers to expand your audience
 Receive instant feedback from your students’ perspective
 Increase website traffic and search ranking
 Sharing content is faster and easier
 Create meaning relationships with students and employers through social
media dialogue
 Increase brand awareness and reach for little to no budget

4. How Students Are Using Social Media
– USA Today, July 14, 2015
• 68.6% of students used social media to find an internship
• Women had a higher likelihood of researching employers whereas men
were more likely to network and discuss internship opportunities on
social media

5. Best Times to Post

6. • Posting on your department
Facebook page may not
circulate into students’ feeds
• Join university Facebook groups
and post
• Develop events on your page to
engage students
• Remember – keep your
characters short and include
pictures & links
• Pictures & Links will increase
your audience reached
• You can pay to Boost post too!
Facebook

7. Twitter
Twitter users can:
• Find and add friends. Adding friends is NOT a
mutual relationship—they do not have to accept
you as a friend for you to be able to follow them.
• Find and follow companies, recruiters, students,
and fellow departments.
• Create a short bio—about one sentence in length.
• Share links to anything on the Web.
• Posts with pictures will always get more attention!
• Track “trending topics”—the most popular topics
of conversation on Twitter & how can they relate
to you? (i.e. #MotivationalMonday)
• When posting about internship and job
opportunities, utilize company handles to engage
employers
• Utilize hashtags to catch students’ attention (i.e.
#lifeafterseu, #stedwardsu, #seualumni)
Remember: Hashtags are the key to
information in the Twitter-verse!

8. Twitter Vocabulary
Tweet: A short, 140-character message
Twitter users broadcast to their contacts.
Retweet: A way to share another user’s
tweet with your own followers.
@ Message: A way to mention or publicly
message another Twitter individual.
DM/Direct Message: A way to privately
message another Twitter individual.

9. Hashtags (#s): Denoted by a # in front of a
word, hashtags are a way to link your tweet
to an index of tweets on related topics.
Unfollow: This is when someone decides to
remove a Twitter contact.
Favorite: If you like a tweet, then you can
“favorite” it, and it will show up on your
“Favorites” lists on your profile. The person
whose tweets you like will also be notified.
Twitter Vocabulary
Lists/Listed: This is a way to organize the
accounts you’re following into categories. If
you make your lists public, other people can
follow them.

10. Shortening Your Links
Since you only have 140 characters, be sure to shorten links to articles,
blogs, etc. Favorites used are:
For additional URL Shorteners, please click here!

11. Tweet Chats – Engaging Your Audience
Beyond the Posts

12. Tweet Chats – Professional Development for
Career Services Professionals
• Hosted by Career Services
Professionals
• Great networking
• Opportunity to exchange ideas
or concerns
• Topics change EVERY WEEK
• Find out about job postings
throughout the U.S.
• Learn about upcoming
webinars
• Make new friends every
Thursday night at 8 pm

13. Engaging in Twitter Events
Conversations Following Events

14. MONDAY
#InternPro 8 pm
#JobHuntChat 9 pm
TUESDAY
#CareerChat 12 pm
#InternChat 7 pm
#LinkedInChat 7 pm
WEDNESDAY
#TChat 6 pm
THURSDAY
#CareerServChat 8 pm
#EMChat 8 pm
FRIDAY
#HFChat: 11 am
Yes, There’s More
Chats!
And EVEN MORE
CHATS!

15. LinkedIn
• Host Department Group page
• Post about events, job
opportunities, internships, and
advice
• LinkedIn Blog
• Host specialized
workshops/webinars
• Utilize LinkedIn in online
programming
• Engage in more than just your own
LinkedIn Group!
• Highlight students posting articles

16. Using Instagram as Your Secret Weapon
• Best to post around 2 pm & 6 pm
for best traction
• Don’t over post – stick to no more
than 2x a day
• Use university hashtags to engage
students (ex. #stedwardsu,
#seu19, etc.)
• Utilize the app: Layout to create
collages
• Utilize the app: Instasize to make
photo fit
Additional Apps to partner with
Instagram: PicCollage, Aviary, Pixsta, &
Overgram
Pablo by Buffer.com

17. The World of SnapChat
• Photo- and video-messaging app
• 77% of college students are using Snapchat daily
• 73% of students said they would open a snap from a brand they
recognized and over half said they would open one from an unfamiliar
brand.
• Snapchat is unique in that all photos and videos only last a brief amount
of time before they disappear
• Can take pictures or quick videos to create a 24 hour story line
• It does take time and it is something you must manage every day
• Provides a more immediate way to connect
• Provide real-time updates – if a room changes that you were hosting a
presentation in, let them know!
• You don’t always have to promote – it’s a great way to get on a more
personal level with the students

18. Create Your Own Blog
• Utilize WordPress, Blogger,
Wix, or SquareSpace but…
• SEU hosts Wordpress for free!
• Create a calendar!
Benefits of a blog:
• Provides daily analytics
broken down
• Great tool to showcase
expertise
• Ask for guest bloggers, people
love to highlight samples of
their writing
Writers:
• Partner with Alumni office
• Students (soon to graduate,
interns, etc)
http://sites.stedwards.edu/seucareer

19. Engage your Audience Through
Memes and Gifs
http://memegenerator.net http://giphy.com

20. Social Media Newsletter
Pricing Plans: Educator Year Fee - $59
www.smore.com
• Engaged entire
university in naming the
newsletter
• Comes out every Monday
• Smore allows you to do
social media blasts via
Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Pinterest,
Google+, and mass email
• Subscribers can add
themselves to email list
• Able to embed on
university CAPD site

21. Skype Rooms & Photography
• Offer students a room within your department to
interview via Skype
• Tools we’ve acquired:
– Screen (Elite Screens Tripod Series 85" Diagonal 1:1 Aspect Tripod Projector Screen)
– Bluetooth microphone (Studio Blue Yeti USB Microphone Professional Mic)
– Camera lights (Bought Lights, Soft box and light stand separately)
• Have also doubled up tools to provide professional
LinkedIn Pictures for students
– Camera (Canon EOS Rebel T5i DSLR Camera w/18-55 mm lens)
– Flash (Canon Speedlight 320x)
– Tripod (Oben AC-1441 4-Section Aluminum Tripod with BA-111 Ball Head)

22. Track Your Hashtags
TagBoard is free
• Track hashtags for
Twitter & Instagram
• Will only show as a
collection
• Will not catch anything
other than hashtags
Storify is free
• Track hashtags on all
social media networks
• Create slide show, tiled
collection or scroll
• Will catch usernames
and hashtags

23. LiveStreaming: The Next Big Thing
Meerkat (launched 2/27/15) & Periscope (launched 3/26/15)
• Setting Up a LiveStream
– Simply enter a title for your broadcast, tap the "Schedule" option, set the time
and add a photo.
– Your followers will get a notification you're planning a future broadcast. When
the time comes, the apps will alert you to begin.
• Both are only available for iPhone and Androids

24. Online Chat
• Program: ZoHo Chat
(free)
• Mirrored from Berkley
University
• Debuting Fall 2015
• Hours: 8 pm – 10 pm/
Monday – Thursday
• Student Career
Advisors will be
managing evening
shifts

25. Get Social with Your Office
• Slack (both Android/iPhone app as well as MAC OS/Windows app)
• FREE
• Great to have counseling staff communicate in the office as well as have peer advisors collaborate
on projects

26. Using Canva & PiktoChart
• Able to create various
social media sizes
• Free but better options
require $$$
• Great for Twitter &
Instagram
• Social media sizes, fliers,
cards, presentation slides
• Makes fliers fast with
trendy and appealing
looks
• Educator discount
available for premium
service
• Fliers, Infographs,
Presentation sides (does
not do poster size)
Canva.com Piktochart.com

27. Canva & PiktoChart Examples

28. • Free to host up to 5 accounts
• Ability to schedule posts on different accounts
• Track analytics for various social media
accounts
• Can also monitor, post, and schedule from
smartphone
Hootsuite TweetDeck
• Can manage multiple Twitter
accounts only
• Free
• Schedule posts
CreateaSocial
MediaPlan

29. Ideas to Get Them Engaged
• Provide incentives to have
them follow you
• Present social media at
freshman orientation
• Secure online ambassadors –
students, staff,
administrators
• Engage with other
departments to share
information
• Post interesting articles
outside of your department’s
activities
• Join campus Facebook
Groups – works miracles!

30. Risks to Consider
• What are the risks?
– Privacy implications
– Inability to succeed
• How to manage these risks
– Be professional at all times with these accounts
– Designate 1-2 people in office to manage accounts
– Be consistent
– Create a privacy policy
– User generated content
• Addressing student comments
• Remove comments that use bad language
• Don’t get mad with criticism
• Answer questions immediately
• Address complaints immediately

31. Whoa! That’s A LOT!
Remember: This is an
investment in your
department
– Standing students are your
best promoters
– Your online presence will
be seen by countless
others
– Students will follow you
because they want to be in
the know
– Social Media helps to
create a sense of
community
– Hire an intern to help you!
Most Important:
HAVE FUN WITH SOCIAL MEDIA!

32. Before You Take This On…
Ponder these thoughts:
1. Where should your focus be … beyond LinkedIn, Twitter,
and Facebook? What are YOUR students using?
2. Create a social media plan
3. What specific activities should be considered?
4. What are the realities of managing multiple accounts?
5. Can you get a student to help you?

33. Questions?
Araceli “Sally” Pérez-Ramos, Manager of Communications & Online Programming
St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX
aracelip@stedwards.edu
www.linkedin.com/in/araceliperezramos
facebook.com/seucareer @sallyperezramos
@seucareer
http://bit.ly/HilltopScoop
@seucareer
pinterest.com/seucareer
smore.com/u/seucareer