Presentation given to the Graduate Studies Information Exchange group which included both faculty (graduate coordinators) and staff (graduate assistants).

1. Social Media &
Graduate Studies
Feb 16th, 2012

2. Presentation Outline
• What is social media?
• Why should we care?
• What Queen’s is doing?
• Grad Studies & social media
• Tips for success & final thoughts

3. What is
Social
Media?

5. Technology
It is important to remember that it is
not about the technology
... the tools may change but the
underlying concepts of social media
will remain the same
Worry
about
the
tools
last,
not
first

6. Social Media is not a megaphone
... It is a conversational medium
• You can’t shout your promotional
message
• It is not about talking at people but
engaging with them
• It is a place you should offer value
rather than simple promotion
It
is
about
listening
&
interacting
vs.
shouting

7. Listening
• Take the time to listen to what is being said
– what are they interested in?
– what is your audience talking about, it will not all be positive

8. Social Media is ...
Authenticity
• Speaking with a human voice
- remember you are speaking for the university
or your department
• Not just your voice
- you need to share other people’s content
Letting go
• You will have to deal with the good and the bad
• You aren’t IN control but you HAVE some control

9. Social Media is ...
Community
• Great for building a sense of
community
• People who are no longer on
campus can still join in on the
conversation

10. Why should we care?

11. Students & their parents are on Facebook
they expect us to be there!
Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, July 2011

12. Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, July 2011

13. How often do you look at Facebook Pages for
schools on your list?
Source: Noel-Levitz E-Expectations, July 2011

14. Source: Noel-LevitzE-Expectations, July2011

15. Source: comScore, Dec 2011

16. Why should we care?
Social media is here to stay!
• Cost effective
– Does cost time and people, but
the tools are free
• Measurable
– Can measure links, followers
• Shareable
– Easy for your message to be
spread, easy to pass it on to friends

17. What is Queen’s doing?

18. Chosen Platforms
facebook.com/queensuniversity
7,926 Likes/Followers
@queensu
10,947 Followers
youtube.com/QueensUCanada
75 videos with over 160,000 views

19. How are we using
these platforms...

23. !
!
!

24. !
!
!

26. How is the main Queen’s Facebook Page run?
• Currently we have 28 admins
• Monitored throughout the day and questions are
responded to as fast as possible (sometimes
within minutes)
• Other Pages also participate in answering
questions that are relevant to them (i.e. Athletics,
Campus Computer Store, QUIC)

27. YES this will take time!
• It is about being present and responsive
• It takes time to build good relationships
• You need to consistently monitor the space
• If you don’t know the answer you need to
find someone who does
Process
of
building
a
network
is
often
overlooked

28. Grad Studies & Social Media

29. Planning for Social Media
Why are you doing this?
• connect with alumni, communicate with
students ...
What are your goals?
• awareness, engagement, recruitment...
Who is your audience?
• what do you want to tell them?
• what do you want them to do?
• what do they need/want?

30. Social Media Ambassadors
Benefits of Student involvement
• Prospective students trust them and look up
to them
• Ability to have a diversity of experiences
which are authentic
Use
social
media
to
find
your
“Social
Media
Ambassadors”

31. Social Media Ambassadors
What to look for ...
• Keen interest in social media
• Involved with campus life (strong
school spirit!)
• Good story teller
• Someone who can balance school
work & keep up their social media
presence over the long run
• BONUS:
Experience with photo & video editing

32. Be organized
• Be realistic about what you can accomplish
• Need to have weekly meetings
• Project progress
• New posts/projects
• Meeting minutes
• Everyone has to know what they are
responsible for and when it is due

33. Content, content, content...
• Give students a sense of day to day life
on campus
• Have a content calendar or Facebook
Group where you keep active to do lists
• Better to pre-approve your student team
than having to pre-approve everything
they do

34. Final
thoughts
and tips!

35. Top 5 Tips
1 Be present!
Social media is 24/7, it is a daily conversation
Ensure that you have the resources to monitor and react
Understand the platform:
What is the behaviour/norm in one platform
may not be acceptable in another
Try before you buy

36. 2 Be friendly
Have conversations rather
than just pushing out
your message
Have a sense of humour

37. 3 Be prepared!
Have a content strategy
• What do you post?
• How often do you post?
• Who posts it?
Duties: producing, posting, sharing, responding
How will you address negative comments

38. 4 Choose wisely
Who's doing the talking can be as important
as the message you put out there, so choose
your social media representatives wisely
Designate a back-up representative

39. 5 Promote
How will you build your network?
Webpages, email signatures
Printed materials, business cards

40. Final Thoughts
The
challenge
of
social
media
does
not
lie
in
the
technology
aspect,
but
rather
in
finding
the
right
people
to
administer
and,
more
importantly,
someone
to
manage
the
strategy

41. Questions?