Great #hesm pros to follow: Chris Barrow (@CBarrows) from New York University (@nyuniversity)

Chris Barrow, Social Media and Mobile Products Coordinator at New York University, is one of the 12 presenters of the 3rd Higher Ed Social Media Conference.

In this 3-question interview, Chris tells us how he manages social media, shares a surprising social media outcome and tackles the tough ROI question.

1) How do you manage your activity on social media?

Organization is EVERYTHING. In order to keep everything on-task, I utilize Google Apps like Google Drive and Google Calendar to ensure I have planned my way wisely. Additionally, tools like Wunderlist allow me to keep tracks on-point even if I’m on the go. Focusing my workload effectively is a must as it’s easy to get behind on things when you’re consulting employees around a global university.

2) What’s the most surprising social media outcome you’ve experienced this year? What did you learn?

The boom I’ve seen in employees interest in social media training. I don’t mean to speak of how to use social media professionally at NYU – but rather – how to use it personally. I’ve had the tremendous opportunity to train everyone from staff to faculty on important platforms like LinkedIn. People are truly interested in social media – even if their bosses may not have their focus on that area – and training is a MUST.

3) How do you approach the question of return on investment (ROI) when it comes to social media?

ROI can be a tricky question – but there is an ROI in social media. It may not be immediate. It may be hard to measure at times. But it’s there.
There are certainly things we can measure – such as clicks to our websites or links – and driving people to this content should be a part of our strategy. Additionally, working with admissions is an opportunity I think that we must all try to take advantage of so we can better determine if the students we’re sharing experiences with are finding them engaging enough that they choose our schools.