Presentation to first-year Cornell students in AEM 2700, Management Communication, about the role of social media in communications for organizations and for individuals

1. Working in Social Media
Margie Whiteleather @margiesw #AEM2700 April 16, 2015

2. Facebook: The Cornell Store
Twitter: @CornellStore
Instagram:
@thecornellstore
Also Pinterest, YouTube, Google tour, & tools Bitly, Canva, Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, photo grid app. In the past: Foursquare

3. • Listening (reading feed, and on hashtags)
• Planning
• Interacting
• Over 50% of content, esp on Twitter, is about
Cornell in general, not the store specifically,
or about selling
• Activating our network (collaborations
behind the scenes; boosting others’ posts)
• Encouraging social sharing during special
events (announcing the hashtag in email and
print communications; big signs; photo
props)
Philosophy and strategy: Tasks:
• Search for mentions of us
• Post: spontaneous
• Post: based on editorial calendar
• Add to editorial calendar
• Take photos and edit photos
• Request or create images about
events/promotions
• Check spellings, facts, account handles,
URLs
• Futz with tools; adapt to changes in the
platforms
• Tell colleagues what’s been happening in
social media
Day-to-day work in social media

4. Content! Photos!
Content strategy
• 30% ads, 70% promote others
• Event coverage: pre-event publicity; live
coverage during; post event recap and
re-telling
• Storytelling
• Real people, real voices
• Behind-the-scenes
Power of Images:
• It’s important to plan for visuals as
part of telling your story; be savvy
about them even if you aren’t in
marketing or involved with the
graphic design.
• Sources of photos
• Crowdsourcing vs unattributed use of
photos
• Learn how to take decent photos with
your phone.
What would make it on your
fridge? Aim for the fridge.
- @communicatrix at #casesmc
It’s not you, it’s them. Craft the
content your audience wants.
- @maayanplaut at #casesmc

5. Case study: our most-liked
photo on Instagram.
October 2014

6. Building a strong backbone and back-office support
Mantras:
• Be authentic and transparent
• Be human
• Be of service
• Goals before tools
Staffing:
• Multiple people should have the
passwords and the recovery email address
• Have a back up designated and trained for
vacations
Challenges, and Positive Aspects
Challenges/Negatives:
• Guilt/stress over the aspects we haven’t
tried yet… Should spend more time on
analytics; learning other platforms, tools
• The platforms need daily attention; plus
daily work to add to the editorial calendar.
• Some nights and weekends
Positive Aspects:
• Fun
• Interactive
• Mobile nature of the platforms makes work
the evening & weekend work easier to fit in.
• Rewarding: share important stories; see how
people react

7. Work in social media involves the same themes that are
important in all types of communications:
Know your audience; think of target segments; adapt
your message/content; critical thinking; content strategy;
storytelling; know who the influencers are in your
community; know who is likely to re-share your content;
tell your story and re-share what others say about you.
BOOM!
ACES always win: Awesome Content, Easily ShareableACES always win: Awesome Content, Easily Shareable

8. Your individual social media accounts:
Focus on Twitter, in order to discover thought leaders, and to share your perspective: Handout….
Shift from thinking leisure and entertainment, to viewing it as info & tools for your life
• Different approaches for different platforms
• Personal branding
Etiquette and interaction:
• It is all public discourse, so post appropriately
• Interactive & reciprocal: thank people and organizations; read your incoming feed so
you can amplify good news and important stories
Taking and sharing photos:
• Note what’s in the background
• Evaluate: how well is it telling a story?
• Don’t show the exterior of your residence or any document with your mailing
address or and ID numbers

9. Instagram:
Saturday night,
Sept. 13, 2014
Cornell is an incredible
community in which to
interact using social
media.

10. Questions? Discussion? #AEM2700