Meet #hesm pros to follow: Andrew Smyk (@andrewsmyk) from @sheridancollege on social media success, challenges & tips

Andrew Smyk, Program Coordinator at Sheridan College, is one of the 15 higher ed professionals who presented at the 2nd Higher Ed Social Media Conference (now available on-demand).

Andrew teaches at his institution and uses social media with prospective and current students.

In this 3-question interview, Andrew tells us about his most successful initiative with social media, his biggest challenge and shares some advice on how to cope with the 24/7 world of social media in higher education. Oh – and he also granted my request for a selfie!

1) What is the most successful social media initiative you’ve run over the past year?

The most successful social media initiative was the lead up and holding of a screening of the Start Up Kids documentary. Securing sponsors was all done through social media as well as the the promotion of the event to students and the campus community. Plans are underway to hold the same event this year and to make it bigger and better by getting more campus programs and students involved in the planning of the event and bringing on additional sponsors for swag and other give-a-ways.

2) What is the biggest challenge you face in your social media work? How do you cope with it?

My biggest challenge with social media is finding the time to create and post content as well as having to deal with a constantly changing social media landscape.

The social media channels are constantly changing in terms of type of content being viewed and platforms. It takes time, research and some experimentation to deal with the changes and find how to implement the next round of initiatives. The dynamic nature of the web and social media, and finding out what makes for engaging content is a challenge but worth the effort and rewarding.

3) Social media work never stops. How do you maintain balance in your life & work given this constraint? Any tips, techniques or tools?

Research and planning are the big key components to maintain work/life balance.

Having the right tools to monitor and get feedback are a great help.

I would recommend Hootsuite University. It is a good way to learn social media metrics and how to properly use tools to manage your social media channels. I am still a big fan of Twitter and use Tweetdeck for managing and engaging in conversations with potential applicants and current students. The Twitter mobile app also provides the ability to carry on conversations and post content to multiple accounts easily while on the go.