The conference is now available on-demand.
The 2020-2021 Conference will take place in December 2021.
What will help you “win” social media for higher ed in 2020?
- Are you in charge of social media at your school?
- Do you spend more time on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and/or Twitter than you do in meetings on campus?
- Do you smile (or cry, sing or even jump) each time Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat announce new features?
- Do you wonder how to measure your social media efforts?
- Are spending more and more of your time crafting Stories for Instagram
- Are you using social videos or paid social more and more?
This conference, now available on-demand, was designed for you: it is all about social media in higher ed, only about social media in higher ed.
It is THE annual online event for higher ed social media professionals and teams.
Want to watch the #HESM19 Conference sessions?
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee, LOG IN! to access the recordings and handouts.
If you didn’t attend the conference live, buy a $485 on-demand 12-month pass now and get unlimited access to:
- 12 (+ 3 bonus) session recordings
- handouts (PDF)
- Audio recording of the general Q&A Session
Past conference attendees always rave about it!
The 2020-2021 Conference will take place in December 2020. The call for proposals will go out in August 2020.
2019-2020 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
This online conference, now available on-demand, offers 12 (+ 3 bonus) focused sessions of about 10 minutes each and a general Q&A session.
Making your social media content MORE accessible
Erika Boltz, Social Media Coordinator – UF Health
Social media accessibility is important (and a hot topic!) in higher education. So much has changed over a couple of years as social media platforms slowly become more accessible. In this session Erika Boltz will provide practical tips, techniques and tools to help your increase the accessibility of your content – no matter the format or the platform you use. You will also learn all the latest updates and hacks you need to comply with the mandate for higher education to offer information and communication to everybody.
Social Media Accessibility: Bringing everybody up to speed. Fast
Emily Phillips, Social Media Coordinator – William & Mary
In spring of 2019, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) began a review of W&M’s social media accessibility. In this session, Emily Phillips will share the journey she took with the campus community to fix issues and help make social accessible at W&M. You will also learn how you can create a comprehensive-yet-manageable accessibility strategy to tackle social media accessibility proactively across your institution.
Take Back Your Strategy: Achieving Goals Through Paid Social
Corynn Myers, Digital Marketing Manager – University of Michigan
With the significant decrease in organic reach, paid social has become a necessity in higher ed campaigns. But with budget restraints and talent-gaps, higher ed teams often outsource their marketing to agencies and freelancers. In this session, Corynn Myers will share the University of Michigan’s recipe for success in taking back paid social strategies, holding agencies accountable and reaching your goals in a more meaningful way.
Social Media for an Army of One
Jamila Walker, University Social Media Manager – Old Dominion University
While a few forward-thinking schools have invested in teams, social media is still handled by an army of one at many colleges and universities. In this session, Jamila Walker will share very practical tactics and great tools to get all the social media work done. You will also learn some useful strategies to save your sanity and nurture your creativity while managing all the demands of your social media job.
How a Simple Question Can Amplify Your Engagement
Emily Ricci, Assistant Director of Digital Communications – Mount Saint Mary College
Asking questions on social media has been the number one way of growing social media engagement at Mount Saint Mary College. In this session, Emily Ricci will walk you through this question-based approach. You will learn how to formulate good questions for higher ed audiences, the benefits for enrollment, market research, and alumni affairs and the importance of responding to comments.
From Crowdsourcing to Ambassadorship: How to Utilize Your Student Feedback, Content and Workforce
Jon McBride, Media Relations and Social Media Manager – BYU
Students want to hear from students on social media. They are key to social media strategy at your school. In this session, Jon McBride will share how Brigham Young University set up a strategic system that builds upon itself and has provided the university with everything from mental health tips to amplification of important university messages. You will learn how to mobilize your students to crowdsource information, join your street team, volunteer for takeovers, work for your office or even run key processes.
Searching, Selecting and Cultivating Alumni Brand Ambassadors
Nitasha Maindiratta, Digital Marketing and Communications Manager – NYU Steinhardt School
Word-of-mouth has proven to be one of the top recruitment tools for universities. So how can you use social media to cultivate brand evangelists who will advocate for your school? In this session, Nitasha Maindiratta will share the process she uses at her school to identify, select and cultivate brand ambassadors with high social media footprints. You will hear tips and lessons learned that you can use to cultivate, through social media engagement (and without a big influencer budget), your own high-potential influencing alums.
How to Self Promote on Reddit (Without Getting Kicked Out)
Jenna Spinelle, Communications Specialist, McCourtney Institute for Democracy – Penn State
Reddit isn’t your usual social media platform. If you scan the guidelines of any community on the site, you’ll see that self-promotion is a total faux-pas. The traditional rules of marketing do not apply on Reddit, but it can still be used for promotional purposes. In this session, Jenna Spinelle will walk you through the techniques to share your content, capture users’ attention and bring value to the community. You will also see how she used those strategies to promote the podcast she produces at Penn State.
How to Proactively Manage the Online Reputation of Your School
Molly Mattison, Senior Marketing Manager – Adtalem Global Education
Research shows that 84% of people trust reviews as much as a personal recommendation. With reviews appearing prominently on first-page search results for most colleges and universities, a few negative comments can have a big impact on your reputation, brand and even enrollment. In this session, Molly Mattison will show you how to be proactive in your approach to online review management. You will also learn how to use both automated and personalized outreach in social media, on campus and through other digital channels.
Beyond the Game with Athletics: Nurturing Engagement and Humanity Online
Samantha Paterson, Manager, Social Media – University of Calgary
What do you do when you need a spirited brand ambassador on social media but the humans at your institution are a bit reluctant? You call Athletics to the rescue! In this session, Samantha Paterson will share how a partnership with Athletics ended up delivering fun social moments tied to big games and leverage UCDinos mascot Rex, a big red dinosaur, to engage audiences in areas of mental health, Alumni Relations and school spirit beyond varsity games.You will also get detailed ideas to help you replicate this successful campaign at your school.
Recipe for a Video Series: How to Tell the Story of Your Programs on Social Media
Emma Guillen, Digital Communication Manager – Mount Saint Mary College
Video is a beloved format for storytelling in higher education. But what do you do when you don’t have a videographer on staff and your background isn’t in filmmaking? You get creative, enroll some outside help and learn as you go. In this session, Emma Guillen will explain the process she used to develop a series of narrative-driven, documentary-style videos highlighting students from different academic programs. You will also hear tips for how to successfully share these videos on platforms such as IGTV with a cross-channel approach.
Embracing Your Inner Influencer to Revamp Your Higher Ed YouTube Channel
Sonja Likness, Director of social media & content strategy – Duke University
The influencer rules YouTube. It’s personality, fun and one-on-one conversations that make YouTube work as a platform. But what is your university doing on YouTube? If you’re like most schools, you’re using YouTube as a bucket to hold all of your video content. You can do better. In this session, Sonja Likness will share how Duke University has started to treat its YouTube channel as a social media channel by borrowing from the playbook of YouTube influencers. You will also hear some useful tips to help you reach the audience already on YouTube.
2019-2020 Bonus On-Demand Sessions
Give the People What They Want: Using Data to Build Your Content Strategy (released on Feb 3, 2020)
Michelle Tarby, Director of Interactive Content Strategy – Le Moyne College
If you’ve heard “we need to post more about {insert topic here}” or “if we post this, I’m sure it will go viral,” you know how opinions abond when it comes to the content that needs to be published on your institutional social media accounts. In this session, Michele Tarby will share her 1-year journey to put good data behind social media content strategy. You’ll also hear 5 tips to start using UTM tracking to show what campaigns and posts are most engaging and 3 ways to use the data you gather.
5 Ways to Effectively Engage with Prospective Students on Instagram and Instagram Stories (released on Jan 6, 2020)
Morgan Goff, Social Media Specialist – West Virginia University
Prospective students love Instagram. At West Virginia University, it has become one of the main platforms to recruit new students. In this session, Morgan Goff will explain how her school usex Instagram to its fullest to showcase student experiences, research and campus views. You’ll also get 5 tips to better engage with prospective students on Instagram and Instagram Stories.
Facebook and Instagram: Making sense of In-Platform Analytics Tools (released on Dec 16, 2019)
Jessica Stutt, Integrated Marketing Manager – University of New Brunswick
Facebook has released a series of helpful tools to get the most out of your social media efforts. With the help of Creator Studio, FB Analytics and Business Manager, it’s easier than ever to create, execute and measure your performance on Facebook and Instagram. In this session, Jessica Stutt will provide an overview of the different tools and explain why you should use them. You will also find out what works best depending on your situation and how you can leverage Facebook’s tools to improve your social media measurement process.
Higher Education Social Media Conference Faculty
Erika Boltz is an ally and activist living with a disability, working as a social media coordinator at UF Health. She has been working to make social media (mostly in the higher ed world) more accessible for the last two years by training hundreds of social media managers at her previous institution, Virginia Commonwealth University, and by presenting at multiple national conferences on the topic. Erika has eight years of experience working in higher ed in a variety of roles in both admissions and communications offices with a focus on recruitment strategy, governance, crisis and social media communications.
She is also an alum of Higher Ed Experts’ social media marketing for higher program and past presenter for the Higher Ed Experts Social Media and Content conferences.
In her role as a social media coordinator at William & Mary, Emily Phillips manages the official W&M channels and the W&M News channels for the university. This includes steering the channels’ strategies, creating content, studying analytics and trying (and mostly failing) to sound hip.
Before joining the higher ed world, Emily provided PR and social media services for a national theme park brand. She is also an alum of Higher Ed Experts’ course on social media analytics.
Corynn (kor-in) Myers is the digital marketing manager at the University of Michigan. She oversees all digital marketing strategies at the brand level and is a dedicated marketing strategist for the university’s schools, colleges, institutions, units, and health system. Her team provides campus-wide, digital first marketing services and has successfully moved over $1M in media spend in-house.
Jamila Walker is the University Social Media Manager at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia with over ten years of experience in digital, public relations and marketing.
Jamila leads the institution’s social media program and works with different colleges, departments, faculty and students to identify the most effective way to disseminate key messages across digital platforms and tracks the success of those messages across multiple channels.
Emily Ricci is the Assistant Director of Digital Communications at Mount Saint Mary College. She has been working in higher ed marketing since 2014 and started overseeing the college’s main social media profiles in 2017. Her favorite thing about social media is driving engagement, especially among the college’s alumni, of which she is a proud member (Class of 2015). Emily also owns a Catholic marketing company on the side as well as teaches at the college as an adjunct in the Religious Studies division.
Jon is a media relations and social media manager at BYU where he combines those skill sets to spread the digital reach of the university with influencer relations. His most unique professional accomplishment was landing a pitch to Beyoncé’s publicist and getting a post out to her 63 million Facebook followers, but his most meaningful work as of late has been in using Instagram stories to address hard-hitting and impactful university topics such as sexual assault, consent, mental health, racism, hate speech, respect and more.
Nitasha Maindiratta is the Digital Marketing and Communications Manager at NYU Steinhardt, where she manages social media communications, provides training and guidance to Steinhardt social media content producers, and coordinates on digital marketing campaigns geared towards student recruitment. Prior to joining the Steinhardt team, Nitasha was a Communications Associate at Education Through Music, a nonprofit that provides music education as a core subject to students throughout New York City.
She is working towards her M.B.A. at NYU’s Stern School of Business, and received her M.A. in Communications at Johns Hopkins University and B.A. in Journalism and Music at New York University.
Jenna Spinelle loves a good story and has spent more than a decade telling them as a journalist, marketing professional, and most recently, as a podcaster. She hosts and produces the Democracy Works podcast, a collaboration between the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State and WPSU Penn State, central Pennsylvania’s NPR station. When she’s not podcasting, Jenna plans and executes all of the McCourtney Institute’s external communications. She also teaches journalism at Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and works with national and international clients as a freelance writer and marketer.
Molly Mattison leads the Social Media & Content Center of Excellence at Adtalem Global Education, a leading workforce solutions provider and the parent organization of several higher education institutions.
Molly has spent her career focused on integrated communications in higher education, having previously worked for Union Graduate College (now Clarkson University) and Wellesley College.
Sam Paterson is the University of Calgary’s Manager, Social Media. Prior to joining UCalgary, she led a small but mighty social media team for B2B global tech company SMART Technologies – building community, managing influencers and representing brands across over 50 social media channels spanning several time zones in multiple languages.
Emma Guillen is a digital communication manager at Boston University, where she leads her college’s social media and content marketing strategy. Day to day, her role involves planning editorial content for social channels, developing stories for the college’s website and online alumni magazine, managing internal communications, and directing multimedia production. Before joining BU, Emma was a digital marketing specialist at the University of Miami.
Emma graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2016, and is currently pursuing her master’s at Boston University’s College of Communication. She’s also a proud graduate of Higher Ed Expert’s social media marketing course!
Sonja Likness joined Duke in 2014 with extensive experience in social media and brand-building as well as analytics and cross-platform planning. Her responsibilities include University-wide social media consultations and strategy, content development and distribution, analytics reporting and strategy.
Michelle currently serves as the Director of Interactive Content Strategy at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY where she oversees all facets of the College’s online presence.
She has over twenty years experience in leading educational institutions, for-profits, not-for-profits, and businesses through all phases of strategy, design, development, implementation and benchmarking.
She has served on the planning committee of the HighEdWeb conference since 2004, spoken at previous Higher Ed Analytics conferences, as well as served as a member of multiple conference planning committees in higher education. You can read her blog or follow her on Twitter @tarbym.
Morgan Goff is a Social Media Specialist at West Virginia University. She graduated from WVU in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and again in 2019 with a Master of Business Administration. As a student, she joined the WVU Social team as their first intern and was their first graduate assistant too. Morgan provided the Social team with invaluable insight as she saw the University through the eyes of both a student and a social media manager.
Now, she works full-time with the Social team and continues to provide advice and opinions for the University. While she manages and works with accounts on all platforms, her main expertise lies with Instagram. She has managed the @westvirginiau Instagram account for over three years. Under her guidance, the account has grown from 39,000 to almost 110,000 followers. During this time, she has learned what works best on Instagram and has embraced the platform as one of WVU’s main recruitment tools. Each day, she engages with prospective students to display the beauty of campus, answer questions about the University, show student experiences, and convince them that they too should become a Mountaineer.
Jessica Stutt is the Integrated Marketing Manager at the University of New Brunswick. She is an experienced marketing professional with a background in marketing analytics and measurement. She has significant experience in collecting and analyzing data from a variety of marketing sources and converting raw data into meaningful, comprehensive reports.
Before joining the Marketing Office at the University of New Brunswick, Jessica worked in marketing at Salesforce Radian6, a social media monitoring platform. Jessica holds a BA and MBA from the UNB as well as a Master of Urban Studies from Simon Fraser University.
She is a faculty member at Higher Ed Experts and teaches social media and digital analytics. She is also a graduate of Higher Ed Experts’ Social Media Measurement and Advanced Web Analytics professional certificate programs.
Should I get the Higher Education Social Media Conference on-demand?
This on-demand conference is recommended for teams including:
- Community Managers
- Higher Education Marketers
- Online Marketing Specialists
- Social Media Directors
- Social Media Marketing Managers
- Social Media Strategists
- Web Communication Coordinators
Still have questions? Contact Karine Joly at karine@higheredexperts.com
What is included in my Conference access fee?
The access fee covers 1-year licensing and includes the following:
- A 1-year unlimited access to the recordings of all the 2019-2020 presentations and the Q&A session – on-demand through links that we will provide to you.
- All session materials (slides handouts in PDF)
2018 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
This online conference, now available on-demand, offers 12 + 2 focused sessions of about 10 minutes each and a general Q&A session.
Creating Social Media Content That Matters
Geoff Coyle, Social Media Editor – West Virginia University
We all make an effort to engage with prospective students, current students and alumni, but can we make them care? These days, they tend to shy away from interacting unless truly compelled to do so. In this session, Geoff Coyle will explain how West Virginia University is creating content to engage. You’ll also learn how to better understand your audiences, the types of content they notice and how to build your own engaging content.
Curating content via Snapchat to capture off-campus academic experiences
Mary Jo Stockton, Director of Web and Social Content – Longwood University
Thinking students don’t want to hear about colleges on Snapchat? It’s a matter of (strong) opinions among higher ed social media professionals. But, everybody agrees students love to use the little ghost app. In this session, Mary Jo Stockton will explain how Longwood University used Snapchat to source authentic content (with the help of Mish Guru) from students abroad and off-campus. You’ll learn how these videos were then shared on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat and provided great content throughout the summer.
Step-by-Step Success with Instagram Stories
Tim Brixius, Digital & social media specialist – Franklin & Marshall College
Instagram Stories have become a very engaging way to communicate with current — and prospective – students. In this session, Tim Brixius will share the process he relies on to plan, create and schedule engaging Instagram Stories. You will also learn how he works with interns to create social media content that engages thousands at a campus with only 2250 students.
Getting the most out of Instagram Insights
Jessica Stutt, Integrated Marketing Manager – University of New Brunswick
As Instagram Insights continues to expand, you have now more opportunity to measure the performance of your posts, stories and even IGTV videos. In this session, Jessica Stutt will give you a guided tour of Instagram Insights. You will also learn how to extract meaningful data points to evaluate your efforts and to measure the outcomes of all these swipes up.
Lessons learned from 5 social media giving days
Tiffany Broadbent Beker, Director of Digital Marketing, University Advancement – William & Mary
Started more than four years ago, William & Mary’s giving day, One Tribe One Day (OTOD), has become the university’s single largest giving day of the year. In 2018, 12,770 donors contributed almost $2.5 million in just 24 hours. In this session, Tiffany Broadbent Beker will shared lessons learned running this social media fundraising campaign. You will also learn how W&M increased its donors more than tenfold over the past 5 years.
Content Unicorns and Zombies: How Listening to Your Audience Results in Magic
Nicole Morell, Associate Director, Digital Marketing Strategy – MIT Alumni Association
Content is everything on social media. It’s the pixie dust that makes or breaks reach and engagement. In this session, Nicole Morell will show how to identify the content that best resonates with your audience. You will learn how to use your Unicorns (well-loved content) and your Zombies (content people always find on their own ) to support engagement, marketing goals and content strategy.
Face the Parents. Book their Enthusiasm: Deploying a Parent Facebook Group
Kristin Austin, Ed.D., Assistant Professor – Bloomsburg University of PA
Parents can be critical influences in healthy college adjustment when engaged appropriately. In this session, Dr. Kristin Austin will share the top findings of her doctoral research on a closed, private Facebook group for parents of new college students. You’ll also learn how you can maximize the impact of a Facebook group for parents at your school.
Going Live (on Facebook) in 3, 2, 1….
Christen Gowan, Associate Director of Media Relations and Social Media – Union College
Everybody loves video in social media – including Facebook algorithm. In this session, Christen Gowan will explain how to create interesting AND engaging Facebook Live broadcasts by following a plan and using the right tools for the job. You will also learn how to engage the audience at home in a meaningful way – the key to reach on Facebook.
Engage, Educate and Entertain with a social video process
Hillary Green, Digital Specialist – The University of Texas at Arlington
UTA has developed several successful video series to engage, educate and entertain its social media audiences. In this session, Hillary Green will share the social media video process that made it all happen. You’ll learn how to adapt this process to create high-quality, engaging social videos no matter how big (or small) your team is.
Social Media Preppers: Preparing for Chaos
Erika Forsack, Social Media Strategist – Virginia Commonwealth University
We all encounter our share of trolls, ranters and ravers on a daily basis, but are you truly prepared for chaos when it strikes? In this session, Erika Forsack will walk you through the development of a response tree to prepare a unified response to almost any crisis that your social media account managers can use at your school.
Keeping Up With The Latest In Paid Social: Snapchat, Instagram Stories & Spotify
Dominique Benjamin, Digital & Social Media Coordinator – Texas A&M University Enrollment & Academic Services
Breaking news: Organic reach is still on the decline. That means “pay-to-play” (i.e. paid social) is now part of the picture. The good news is that social media advertising has proven to be an effective way to reach a targeted audience. In this session, Dominique Benjamin will share his experiences with the latest advertising tactics across Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and Spotify. You’ll learn what works and how to optimize content for each platform.
Rethinking #HESM in the Age of “Private” Social
Todd Sanders, Director of Digital Communications and Social Media – University of Florida
The only constant in social media is change, right? Private networks and locked down accounts are more and more popular with prospective and current students. In this session, Todd Sanders will discuss the rising need for higher ed social media professionals to reach and engage an audience that is sharing less and less on the public social media scene. You will learn how UF started to rethink social and how you can do the same at your school.
2018 Bonus On-Demand Sessions
Chatbots or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Engagement
Jonathan Migneault, Social Media Coordinator – Laurentian University
Chatbots are great for engaging with your audience quickly and effectively, but how do you maintain that human touch? In this 1st bonus on-demand session, Jonathan Migneault will explain how to manage the transition from a Facebook Messenger chatbot (using the popular ChatFuel platform) to a human representative from your university. You will see how it is possible to scale up customer service with a conversational bot while preserving the human touch for those special questions.
Amplifying social across paid, owned and earned media
Ellen Curtis, Director of Marketing and Communication – California Polytechnic Corp
Just because you build it, doesn’t mean people will tweet, post, or comment. In this 2nd bonus on-demand session, Ellen Curtis shows us how to use paid, owned and earned media to amplifying the impact of social media. You will see how this approach helped her increase the reach and impact of the 12 university service-oriented social media accounts she managed to communicate with students at Cal Poly.
2017 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee, LOG IN! to access the 2016 recordings
This online conference, now available on-demand, offers 12 focused sessions of 10 minutes each and a general session Q&A at the end.
Building & Executing a Collaborative, Themed Social Media Content Calendar
Dr. Corie Martin, Web Services & Digital Marketing Director – Western Kentucky University
Thanks to the algorithmic feeds on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn, social media reach is now a direct function of engagement. So, coordination and collaboration across units are keys to get social media content widely distributed. By creating a “Marketing Super Users Group,” WKU successfully created and executed a collaborative communication flow using web-based tools (Google Calendar, Dropbox) to disseminate news over institutional social media and blog networks. In this session, Dr Corie Martin will outline how you can implement a similar collaborative, themed content strategy on your campus by using the networks you have and empowering your campus influencers.
Tips and Tools for Measuring the Impact of Social Media on Giving Day Campaigns
Holly Sherburne, Director of Digital and Social Media – Bowdoin College
Social media is an integral part of most “giving day” campaigns, but does it really have an impact? Does engagement lead to more gifts (or even better, new gifts), or are you preaching to the choir? Do calls-to-action by social media ambassadors help? Which social networks are the most effective and who is using them? In this session, Holly Sherburne will share tips and tools to collect data. You will also find out how her team collaborated with the Office of Annual Giving to evaluate the impact of social media on their #BowdoinOneDay campaign.
Making data-driven decisions on your visual social media content
Jessica Stutt, Integrated Marketing Manager – University of New Brunswick (Canada)
Visual content is crucial on social media, right? As platforms continue to evolve with a strong bias towards images and videos, how do you select your visual content? Do you design it to reflect your other marketing assets? Do you use high a quality, professional photo? Do you try to do something more organic? In this session, Jessica Stutt will show how you can answer these questions with data. By looking at real examples and results, you’ll get some easy and actionable insights into how to optimize your own visual content.
Lessons learned on advertising with Instagram Stories, Instagram and Facebook Ads
Rebecca Stapley, Assistant Director, Multimedia & PR – Nazareth College
Now that advertising is a new reality on social media, exploring and optimizing options are necessary to the success of any campaign. In this session, Rebecca Stapley will share her journey with Instagram stories as paid ads, a new component added to the advertising mix for Nazareth College’s Open House this summer. You’ll learn how to place your ads and optimize your visuals from the experience and results of this success Instagram Story 😉
Social media lessons learned when a student passes away and no one is to blame
AJ Lopez III, Social Media Coordinator – Midwestern State University
A student death is a tragedy you wish you will never have to deal with on social media. Yet, when the tragedy strikes, you can’t escape. In September 2017, a player on the Midwestern State University football team was taken to the hospital after an accident on the field a minute before the end of the home game. In this session, AJ Lopez III will explain how social media played a key role to help the campus community rally behind the student and later his family when he passed away a few days after the accident. You’ll learn first hand what to expect when your campus is grieving, steps to use your social media presence to keep everybody informed, and how to prepare yourself for the stress.
How to make your social media team SMERT to deal with campus & weather emergencies
Holly Hill, Director of Web and New Media Services – Flagler College
What difference can 11 months and a strategic approach to social media emergency response make when your campus is hit by Hurricanes Matthew and Irma? A lot. After becoming the de-facto emergency call center for their school in 2016, the social media team at Flagler College knew there was a better way to communicate in times of crisis. In this session, Holly Hill will explain how the SMERT – the Social Media Emergency Response Team – was created in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and put to the test by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Starting From Scratch: How to recover when Facebook shuts down your school account
Angi Roberts, Information Services Manager – University of Guelph (Canada)
The main presence on Facebook of UofG Admissions Office, the beloved Mascot account, ceased to exist at 4:24pm on a Friday afternoon in January 2017. Facebook had shut down the account at the beginning of the most important season in the admissions cycle. In this session, Angi Roberts will explain how her office started from scratch on Facebook. She’ll share lessons learned the tough way and will show recovery, regrowth and renewed engagement are indeed possible on Facebook.
Social media for good, fun and outreach: the case of Aisha’s Letter
Andrew Twist, Digital Content Producer – The University of Sheffield (UK)
In January 2017, Aisha sent a letter to Professor Tim Birkhead at the University of Sheffield to ask a few questions for a Science competition at her primary school. Professor Tim was keen to help, but Aisha had forgotten to include her contact information, so he couldn’t reply. In this session, Andrew Twist will tell you how his team devise the social media campaign that helped find Aisha and told the story of her campus visit. You’ll learn how the University of Sheffield used Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram to write a beautiful post scriptum to Aisha’s letter.
Instagram or Snapchat Stories: The Quick (and Easy) Guide
Erin Supinka, Assistant Director of Digital Engagement – Dartmouth College
Whether you’re Team Snapchat or Team Instagram, it’s now impossible to ignore the story format. Camera roll uploads, analytics available past 24 hours, and easy engagement with Instagram Stories changed the game of expiring content. From creating a story on the go to translating existing content into Instagram-friendly nuggets, the key to a successful story is a solid tool kit and workflow. In this session, Erin Supinka will share favorite tools, quick tips, and insights to measuring success you can use for your own Instagram or Snapchat Stories.
InstaNews: Integrating Top-Level Research into Instagram Stories
Jacob Schupbach, Social Media Specialist – University at Buffalo
Who said Instagram was just for beautiful sunsets on campus? The University at Buffalo has started to use it to share news about its top-level research. Inspired by Snapchat’s Discover feeds, UB’s ‘InstaNews’ features a weekly look at research, events and other happenings on campus, and has driven impressive traffic to news stories on the website. In this session, Jacob Schupbach will share his recipe for selecting the right content. You’ll also learn all you need to know to try to replicate this Instagram Success Story: challenges, key learnings and strategic approach.
Snap Back to (Virtual) Reality: Producing Engaging 360° Social Media Content
Dominique Benjamin, Communications Coordinator – Texas A&M University
Virtual reality is still new territory for video creators trying to get it right. This year, Texas A&M brought VR to the national stage at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2017 and to audiences on social media. In this session, Dominique Benjamin will explain how this forced the team to think outside the “box” and inside the “sphere.” You’ll also hear the case for immersive 360° storytelling on Facebook and YouTube.
Saving Social for (in?) Higher Education
Nikki Sunstrum, Director of Social Media – University of Michigan
Social media has not only altered how we communicate personally, it has reshaped the information we consume and distorted our emotional responses. Many brands – and some schools – have made the choice to embrace sarcasm and savage or shallow online engagement. In this session, Nikki Sunstrum will explain how the University of Michigan has chosen to stay true (and blue!) to its mission. You’ll learn more about Sunstrum’s proactive approach to digital conversations. You’ll get inspired by her call to higher ed social media professionals to go beyond memes and help save social.
2016 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee, LOG IN! to access the 2016 recordings
What prospective students REALLY want to talk about on social media
Dr. Corie Martin, Director, Web Services & Digital Marketing – Western Kentucky University
Is your institution doing all it can to strategically reach prospective students during the yield period? Do you use the right media and messaging? In 2015, Dr. Corie Martin completed a research study on admissions and marketing recruitment outreach activities. She observed thousands of student interactions within university social media communities. In this session, she will share the results of this academic research. You’ll learn what was really important to students according to this study and how your team can prepare for the next generation of prospective students.
Creating A Commencement Experience That Resonates Using Social Media
Chris Barrows, Social Media and Mobile Products Coordinator – New York University
It’s challenging to create a sense of community on a non-traditional campus. At New York University, the Digital Communications Group launched #CongratagradNYU to build a stronger, more engaged digital and global community during commencement season. In this case study, Chris Barrows will explain how this social media campaign offers an immersive and interactive commencement experience for all students, faculty, family, and friends, regardless of their location. You’ll also find out more about the critical components of this campaign you can borrow to create similar momentum at your school.
10 Tips for Your 24 Hour Giving Challenge
Michelle Tarby, Director of Interactive Content Strategy – Le Moyne College
Have you already run a 24-hour social media giving challenge at your school? These fun fundraising campaigns have become really popular at large institutions. In this session, Michelle Tarby will tell you how Le Moyne College successfully ran its first 24 hour giving challenge with a small budget, a tiny team and much fear of what the day could bring. You’ll also walk away with 10 practical tips to run your own 24-hour giving challenge at your school.
Breaking down silos: 5 reasons to collaborate with social media
Jes Scott, Social Media Coordinator – University of Victoria
Feeling pressure from your dean or manager to do more with social media? Don’t fall into the trap of creating new accounts! It’s hard to get people to pay attention online, especially when you start from scratch. In this session, Jes Scott will discuss five short case studies where UVic departments identified their goals and decided to work together instead of going solo on social media. She will also share tips to help you tame the urge to create more accounts at your school.
Snapping Together – Managing an Institutional Wide Snapchat Account
Tyler Thomas, Social Media & Content Manager – University of Nebraska
Snapchat is one of the most popular social media platforms for engaging with college students. But like any social platform it has its complexities and unique uses. In this case study, Tyler will explain why the University of Nebraska decided to create and manage just ONE account campus wide. You’ll learn how this Big Ten University rallied its large community around this single snapchat account – and how you can do it at your school no matter its size.
From 0 to 1000 in 24: Launching a Snapchat Account IRL
Meg Keniston, Associate Director of Marketing – St. Lawrence University
You’ve done your research, developed your strategy, claimed your handle, and are ready to launch a new social media account! What now? In this session, Meg Keniston will explain how St. Lawrence University drummed up tremendous excitement on and off campus the day they launched the University’s Snapchat account – and earned more than 1,000 followers within 24 hours.
When social networks compete, strategy wins
Jessica Leontarakis, Social Media Specialist – Princeton University
During the summer of 2016, Princeton Social Media planned a week-long Snapchat campaign to give incoming students a glimpse of their new home. Two days into the campaign Instagram launched its Snapchat competitor, Instagram Stories. In this session, Jessica Leontarakis will talk about the challenges and opportunities Instagram Stories presented and how initial experiments with the platform helped reshape Princeton University’s social media strategy for the 2016-2017 academic year.
One Instagram Account to Rule Them All
Andrea Limas, Social Media Strategist – University of San Francisco
Instagram is still full of possibilities for higher education. Whether you want to reach prospective students, current students, alumni or parents, it’s possible to reach them all through one Instagram account. In this case study, Andrea Limas will explain how USFCA use Instagram’s new Stories feature, an editorial calendar featuring campus-wide publishing themes, advanced analytics for business, audience driven hashtag campaigns, and strategically placed user generated content to provide a 360’ view of its community. You will also find out how you can integrate Instagram with your website, eNewsletters, digital signage, and even Snapchat.
An Easy Way (Really!) To Create Videos to Aid Your Social Media Efforts
Robert Bochnak, Director of Social Media – Harvard Business School Office of Alumni Relations
Videos are difficult to create, time-consuming, and expensive. But, social media videos don’t have to be that way. In this session, Robert Bochnak will explain how he used PowerPoint, user-generated alumni content, and royalty-free music to create a series of simple videos viewed more than 16,000 times on Instagram and Facebook over the past year. You’ll learn how he created these videos and how they have evolved over time.
Social? Camera? Action! 10 lessons learned for Facebook Live & Periscope
Tiffany Broadbent Beker, Web Developer & Social Media Coordinator – William & Mary
Looking for new and interesting ways to showcase your great campus, faculty, staff, and students? Facebook Live and Periscope can help. Live social video offers a way to interact with your entire community – in real time – on popular existing platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In this session, Tiffany Broadbent Beker will explore William & Mary’s forays into Facebook Live and Periscope from faculty expert interviews to campus tours. She will also share 10 lessons learned for live social video.
Reaching Your Audience at a Small(er) Institution
Abby Meyer, Social Media Specialist – University of Nebraska Medical Center
At a big university, quality social content can go a long way organically. But, it’s another story when you don’t have a huge student population. For smaller schools, sometimes organic reach isn’t strong enough to see the results you want. In this session, Abby Meyer will show you how boosted content and paid ads helped UNMC exceed reach and engagement expectations on Facebook while accomplishing a high return on investment. You will also learn the importance of accurately targeting your audience for this paid content – something that was so crucial to UNMC’s success.
Beyond Likes & Followers: 5 Metrics That Matter
Dr. Liz Gross, Social Media Measurement Instructor – Higher Ed Experts
We don’t lack social data, but many of us are stuck with what to do with the masses of data we have. In this session, Dr. Liz Gross will review 5 metrics that can help you assess the effectiveness of your social media efforts, refine your content and publishing strategy, and measure engagement. You’ll learn where to find all of these metrics available for free in popular social platforms and third-party software – but often hidden.
2015 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee, LOG IN! to access the 2015 recordings
Big Picture: Social Media from the VP-level
Rachel Reuben, Principal- Rachel Reuben Consulting
Social media can be exciting, thrilling, rewarding, and quite time-consuming when you are in charge of it for your school. So, where does it fit in the big picture for your institution? In this presentation, Rachel Reuben will draw from her previous experiences as a vice president of Communications at Colgate University and associate vice president for marketing communications at Ithaca College to give you insight into social media as seen by senior administration. You’ll also learn some tips and tricks to better communicate your social media-related ideas, wins and needs to senior decision makers.
Creating Community Amongst Social Media Managers
Chris Barrows, Social Media, and Mobile Products Coordinator- New York University
It’s never easy to bring social media managers together no matter the size of your institution.
In this presentation, Chris Barrows will share his experience creating and managing NYU social media ambassador group. You’ll learn how to create your own community, effectively communicate with your group and ensure long-term success.
Inside the mind of students and alumni online to win social media engagement
Tracy Playle, Director & Content Strategist – Pickle Jar Communications Ltd (UK)
Do your social media accounts suffer from a lack of engagement? Many do and the culprit is usually: either content or a misunderstood audiences. In this presentation, Tracy Playle will show how to use Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s social technographics profiling tool (amongst others) to help get deeper into the minds of students and alumni. You’ll learn how to plan more effective social media activity, manage everybody’s expectations in terms of engagement and measure that engagement.
Can’t-Miss Tips for Social Media Community Building and Engagement
Robert Bochnak, Assistant Director, Alumni Marketing and Communications – Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School’s Alumni Office has generated over 25,000 unique interactions with alumni via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. In this case study, Robert Bochnak will explain how the “Identify-Engage-Leverage” approach made it all possible. You’ll also learn how to apply HBS’s model at your school.
#BuckeyeLove: More than a Hashtag, A Winning Fundraising Campaign
Lauren Boyd, Multimedia specialist – The Ohio State University
When Ohio State asked its social media followers to share their #BuckeyeLove stories around Valentine’s Day in 2014, it was a hit. So, in 2015, the university created an even bigger, university-wide social media campaign in partnership with the annual giving office. In this case study, Lauren Boyd will explain how she worked with several social media partners on campus to create a university win — telling research and academic stories through a fun hashtag with a subtle giving spin. You’ll also learn how this strategy is now going to be used for future campaigns.
Facebook’s Not Dead! How to Create and Foster a Facebook Group
Chelsey Rovesti, Manager of Social Media- Point Park University
While prospective students aren’t sharing much of their personal details on Facebook (Mom, Dad, and Grandma are watching, right?), Millennials and Generation Zers still use Facebook to connect with potential classmates and get a feel for the campus. In this presentation, Chelsey Rovesti will discuss how to create a successful “Class of” Facebook group for your prospective students. You’ll learn how to involve key campus stakeholders, recruit and train current students and staff, promote your group and other winning tactics to create a positive environment for students to connect.
Periscope Case-study: Lessons Learned from #DukeSocial’s first ‘Scopes
Dominique Benjamin, Digital & Social Media Specialist- Duke University
Is your school on Periscope yet? Should it be? It might be too early to decide, but it’s never too late to learn more about this new live-streaming mobile platform. In this presentation, Dominique Benjamin will share a case study of Duke’s first Periscope experiments. You’ll learn how to evaluate the platform for your own, the type of content that works best on this new platform and other lessons learned at Duke.
10 Solutions to Snapchat Struggles
Candace Nelson, Senior Writer & Social Media Editor – West Virginia University
If your school is on Snapchat, you’ve learned the hard way that the social media platform doesn’t make it easy for universities. Who hasn’t suffered from failed geofilter submissions, banned third-party apps and lack of text space? In this presentation, Candace Nelson will take you through 10 challenges universities may face with Snapchat and share how they were tackled at WVU. You’ll get tips and tricks to take your university’s Snapchat account to the next level.
Crowdsourcing Your Social Media Content
Tiffany Broadbent Beker, Web Developer & Social Media Coordinator – William & Mary
Countless pieces of content are generated online every day – and some of those tidbits are of direct interest to the audiences at your institution. In this presentation, Tiffany Broadbent Beker will share a case study about William & Mary’s community-run “Life@W&M” Instagram account. You’ll learn how to harness the power and authentic voice of your community (and save yourself some time) by handing over content creation to others.
Using Humor Effectively in Social Media
Kate Post, Digital Media Specialist – California State University, Chico
Humor can be an incredible tool for building active and engaged social media communities – when used right. There’s a fine line between humor that resonates with campus audiences and humor that undermines the seriousness of your official university communications. In this presentation, Kate Post will walk you through this line. You’ll learn how to find the right tone on social media for your brand, give your channels a personality and write humorous posts.
Putting Out Fires Without Causing a Flood
Nina Sossen, Director of Social Media- University of Massachusetts Amherst
Campus emergencies, controversial events, and even a single snowflake can quickly turn your social media landscape into chaos. When a “crisis” hits, students, parents, faculty, alumni, news media and observers all rush to social media and create a jumble of comments, questions, and rumors. In this presentation, Nina Sossen will explain how to effectively listen to the conversation and when and how to use campus social media to respond. You’ll also learn how to quell the chaos and provide accurate and concise information, all while maintaining the university’s brand and respecting the community’s right to free speech.
Hacked: Lessons Learned from a highly visible Facebook page hack
Nikki Sunstrum, Director of Social Media- University of Michigan
In August 2015, three of University of Michigan’s most popular Facebook pages were hacked. Malicious posts were published on the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, and Michigan Athletics Facebook pages. The UMSocial team had to act quickly and diligently to recover from the hack. In this case study, Nikki Sunstrum will explain how her team managed the 12-hour aftermath before full control was regained. You’ll also learn how to be proactive and protect your social properties from similar attacks.
2014 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee, LOG IN! to access the 2014 recordings
Higher ed social media: Latest trends & next big things
Cara Rousseau, Digital & Social Media Strategy Manager at Duke University
Innovation in higher ed social media never stops. In this presentation, Cara will give you a fast-paced overview of the latest social media trends and strategies used in higher education. From post-Facebook conversations to brand ambassadors and “trendjacking,” you’ll take away lots of ideas and practical information to try at your school.
Listen, respond, and take action: Using resources you have to reach students and your goals
Corie Martin, Creative Web Services Manager at Western Kentucky University
How do you use social media to engage students during their college search process? Do you simply share information, or do you invite student feedback? Relationships that you establish early on can encourage your students to enroll and persist at your institution. In this presentation, Corie Martin will explain how you can use the resources you already have in place to create a winning social media student service program for both new and existing students to help meet enrollment goals, excite students, and get the job done.
#FollowTheLeader: Best practices in social media for higher education presidents, provosts, deans & VPs
Dan Zaiontz, Marketing Professor & Special Projects Coordinator at Seneca College
Is your college president on social media yet? Do you wish s/he was doing a better job at it? After conducting a major research study including more than 20 confidential interviews with Canadian and American university and college presidents, Dan Zaiontz wrote the book that will help you get your leader there: “#FollowTheLeader: Best Practices in Social Media for Higher Education,” to be published by mStoner Media in December 2014. In this presentation, he will share best practices in social media engagement by higher education leaders and a few recommendations for strategic advisors in assisting leaders to do social media right.
10 steps to successfully launch a social media ambassador program
Sandra Ordonez, Assistant Director of Social Media at St. John’s University
Don’t have a social media ambassador program yet? Want to revamp yours? In this presentation, Sandra Ordonez will tell you how to launch a Social Media Ambassador Program for your department with 10 effective steps. She’ll explain how to get your social media ambassadors to create social content, promote and attend events, as well as assist with the growth of your social media following.
Building your programs searchable reach: Using social media to help in searchability and findability.
Andrew Smyk, Program Coordinator at Sheridan College
How to use simple strategies for web and social media content to help build your programs reach and findability? In this presentation, Andrew Smyk will explain how social media content can help promote your academic program and help potential students find your program. You’ll also learn how to be selective with cross posting content and use multiple social media streams to create an opportunity for potential students to stumble across your program.
Surprise & Delight: How to build engagement when they least suspect it
Tyler Thomas, Social Media Specialist at University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Our audiences are busy, have strong ‘baloney detectors’ and are often inundated with information. The Surprise & Delight tactic allows your brand to enter the conversation and build positive sentiment without your audience even knowing it. In this presentation, Tyler will introduce you to the ins and outs of this tactic from the simplest Surprise & Delight social situations to more advanced campus wide initiatives that make a huge splash.
Social media success story: How U of G overcame the “We Don’t Do Stupid” Generation.
Angi Roberts, Information Services Manager at the University of Guelph
This generation of prospective students belong have always been bombarded with savvy marketing campaigns. They’re a tough audience to crack. They don’t do stupid. In this presentation, Angi will tell you how the integrated campaign to hand-deliver admissions letters launched last spring helped wow students. You also find out how you can make these students your fans, influencers and marketers by giving them what they want: something remarkable.
Facebook Case-Study: Far from dead for incoming students and current parents
Kat Hasenauer Cornetta, Assistant to the Dean of Students for Programs, Communications & Technology at Boston University
Survey after survey and article after article, the demise of Facebook as a communication platform for students is announced everywhere. At Boston University, the Dean of Students Office had begun to buy into the idea that students were straying away from Facebook to get information or interact with their community. Yet, after being asked to collaborate on two new Facebook properties, Kat Hasenauer Cornetta was surprised to witness the most engagement she had ever seen in 8 years of managing Facebook for her division. In this presentation, Kat will share details on the audience research and strategy leading to this success story as well as lessons learned in managing communities of incoming students and current parents.
Instagram case-study: “Thanks for the #NazMoveIn memories”
Alicia Nestle, Assistant Director-Multimedia and PR at Nazareth College
From Orientation weekend to Labor Day weekend, Nazareth College asked students to capture their first few weeks of school and show their school pride by taking part in the #NazMoveIn Instagram Challenge. The Challenge encouraged incoming freshmen and transfers to feel connected via the Nazareth College social community, while providing the College an opportunity to crowdsource and curate authentic photos taken by Nazareth students. In this case-study, Alicia Nestle will present the strategic goals, dynamics, lessons learned and results of this Instagram challenge.
Instagram case-study: The #LifeAtCentral Challenge
Rachel Esterline Perkins, Associate Director of Public Relations and Social Media at Central Michigan University
In its inaugural year in 2013, CMU’s #LifeAtCentral Instagram Challenge reached 47,500+ people with 120,000+ impressions, and increased followers by nearly 40 percent in one month. In this presentation, Rachel Esterline Perkins will review the successes and challenges of running a month-long photo-a-day challenge at a large university. She will also explain how the challenge evolved after the first year to encourage further growth and engagement in its 2nd edition in October 2014.
Facebook promoted posts and Twitter ads: Is it worth it?
Julie Winch, Social Media Director at Emory University
To promote, or not to promote? That is always the question. Promoting your posts on Facebook or Twitter can sometimes give you hundreds more likes and shares than organic posts , and other times it’s a total waste of money. What does promoting your post really give you – impressions or engagement? Can you accomplish both? In this session, Julie Winch will help you find the best bang for your buck when it comes to boosting your social posts.
It’s time to venture into the world of Tumblr
Stephanie Leishman, Social Media Strategist at MIT
Have you stepped into the wonderful world of Tumblr yet? Tumblr is not another Facebook and works very differently. In this presentation, Stephanie Leishman will tell you what’s different and how you should approach this platform. You’ll learn the basics of Tumblr for higher ed and find out how to reach a younger demographic through several case studies.
Snapchat won’t bite: Why your university should give Snapchat a try
Tony Dobies, Senior Writer at West Virginia University
Don’t fear Snapchat! It can be a powerful tool in higher ed. WVU wasn’t the 1st university to start, but did its homework. In this presentation, Tony Dobies will explain how WVU launched its Snapchat account and how it has used it so far for football games, presidential snaps & campus visits.
Photo Friday: Your website can be more social than you think
Lori Packer, Web Editor at the University of Rochester
Every Friday for more than five years, the University of Rochester has turned over the large photos on its homepage to the People: students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents. In this presentation, Lori Packer will tell you all about the goals, dynamics and results of Photo Friday, so you can make the case for publishing social user-generated content on YOUR school website, too.
More than just a #: How hashtags can take your event from good to great
Tiffany Broadbent Beker, Social Media Coordinator and Web Developer at the College of William & Mary
Hashtags are associated with nearly every marketing campaign nowadays, but are they actually useful? More than just a trendy # symbol, hashtags can create conversations and buzz long before an event starts and help them continue after the last participant has left. Are you using this marketing and social media tactic effectively for your organization and its events? In this presentation, Tiffany Broadbent Beker will explore how to create a great hashtag, how to publicize it, and some of the best ways to showcase it before, during and after your event using examples from W&M’s 2014 admission and commencement programs.
2013 Higher Ed Social Media Conference Recordings
If you previously registered and paid your registration fee for the 2013 edition, LOG IN
- Social content strategy for crazy times: Make content more social
Ma’ayan Plaut, Social Strategy and Projects Manager at Oberlin College
New change to a social platform? It’s no time to rethink your social media strategy; stick to your content strategy and all will be fine. Re-center yourself with the mantra “Make content more social” — an attempt to proactively create, host, and share more social stories. In this session, Ma’ayan will show you how moving horizontally rather than vertically through your social spaces allows for more seamless and integrated social experience, with an emphasis on telling your best story, aided by the tools you have at your disposal.
- As easy as herding squirrels: Coordinating social media across your campus
Tiffany Broadbent Beker, Social Media Coordinator at College of William & Mary
How do you support and coordinate 500 social media accounts managed by hundreds of people scattered in different units across your campus? In this session, Tiffany will share College of William & Mary’s secret recipe to tackle this challenge. She will explain how a social hub and a social media users group can also help tame your school’s nuts-loving Social Media Beast.
- Thinking outside the box when curating social media content
Erika Fields, Web Content Communications Director at Wellesley College
Curating content for several social media outlets on a wide range of topics and programs can be time consuming, overwhelming and frustrating. You understand social media inside out, but do you know as much about every single program or initiative implemented at your school? In this session, Erika will share the lessons learned on her professional journey to an educated social media strategy by relying on the content experts at her school.
- When social media IS the crisis
Jaime Hunt, Director of Web Strategy and Interactive Media at Radford University
Monitoring and responding to social media is a necessary component of any crisis communication plan. But, when tempers rise, social media can become its own crisis, risking damaging your institution’s reputation. In this session, Jaime will share lessons learned from Radford University’s experience dealing with social media during an on-campus crisis.
- How your academic departments can use social media to connect with the right students
Andrew Smyk, Program Coordinator at Sheridan College
Simple communication strategies and social media tools can help maintain student enthusiasm for enrolling in your program and keeping applicants engaged through the “out of sight, out of mind” summer months. In this session, Andrew we will go over how to develop, launch and maintain a cross-channel recruitment and admissions strategy to increase enrollment and recruit highly motivated and focused students for an academic program. This is not an exercise in filling seats, but a way to get the type of student your academic departments want in their programs.
- Boosting social media engagement with gamification
Bryan Fendley, Director of Academic Computing at the University of Arkansas at Monticello
Not sure if gamification should be a part of your social mix? Take ten minutes to see why gamification works to boost social media marketing by improving engagement. In this session, Bryan will show who uses gamification in higher ed with success, what legal issues you should know before starting a gamified campaign and the tools you can use to help you get started.
- Optimizing images for Facebook, Twitter and beyond
Lisa Sherrodd, Website Strategist at University of Wyoming
A picture is worth a thousand words, right? If you work in social media, you know how true this statement is. In this session, Lisa will tell you how to make your images appear the best on social media platforms. You will learn why paying attention to optimizing graphics for social media is worth your time and leave with practical tips on sizing, image platform and using text in graphics for a professional look and feel.
- Instant success: Making Instagram social for your institution
Meg Bernier, Assistant Director Social Media at St Lawrence University
Do YOUR students love Instagram too? We used Instagram to break through and connect with our audience; in less than a year, it has become our most engaging platform for students, younger alumni and prospective students. Learn about how we’ve made the platform work for us and why our second Instagram account is becoming even more popular than the first.
- Get schooled: LinkedIn University pages
Jaclyn Vetrano, Web & Social Media Coordinator at Genesee Community College
LinkedIn has launched LinkedIn University Pages to focus on engaging students and helping them find a job after graduation through a strong alumni connection. Beyond strengthening your school’s brand, LinkedIn University allows you to capture student life through photos, videos, and galleries, as well as share news and respond to questions from prospective students. In this session, Jaclyn will help you learn how to maximize your space on LinkedIn University and offer some tips for collaboration to maximize content.
- Connecting colleges through Google+
Cara Rousseau, Social Media Strategy Manager at Duke University
Still think Google+ is a ghost town? Think again. Colleges and universities use Google+ in different ways to reach prospective students, connect faculty to media outlets and improve search engine optimization. In this session, Cara will explain how Duke has incorporated Google+ into an overall social media strategy and explain what differentiates Google+ from other social platforms.
- A new perspective on social media reporting
Alaina Wiens, Web Content Strategist at University of Michigan-Flint
Good conversations make for good interactions on social media. Good content leads to higher engagement and happier communities. So, which conversations and topics are getting traction across social platforms? What matters to your audience? In this presentation, Alaina will share steps to creating a conversation-driven social media report. With the right data, you’ll be able to identify which topics, no matter the type of post, are resulting in the most engagement.
- Social media, Google Analytics and SEO: Assessing social media
Joshua Dodson, Web & SEO Analyst at EKY and Analytics Instructor at Higher Ed Experts
How does Social play into the bigger picture of what your institution wants to achieve with its marketing and communications? Do you know what results you get from Facebook? Do you know what you want Twitter to accomplish for you? In this session, Joshua will talk about how you can use Google Analytics to examine the effects of social media and will explain social media’s connection to larger search engine optimization goals.
