Andrea Limas, Social Media Strategist at University of San Francisco, is one of the 12 presenters of the 4th Higher Ed Social Media Conference.
In this 3-question interview, Andrea tells us a success story, shares the most difficult parts of the job and discusses the required skills to thrive as a higher ed social media pro.
1) What’s your best social media success story?
We have really elevated our efforts on Instagram and Snapchat – our priority channels for reaching prospective students.
USFCA’s marketing department has committed to creating compelling stories through professional photography and videos to reach a new a digital-driven generation.
Many of this year’s incoming freshmen and transfer students informed us that our social media channels helped them to decide to choose our school. It worked!
2) What are the 2 most difficult parts of your social media job and how do you deal with them?
Handling the volume of content necessary to run multiple channels for an entire university can be exhausting.
I rely heavily on my team of student workers. They are not only knowledgeable about the current trends and events on campus, but are eager and willing to learn how to translate a social media hobby into an integrated marketing plan.
Building and nurturing a team of student workers pays off in the end with successful execution of USFCA’s social media strategy.
I would not be able to do my job without my team!
3) What are the 2 most important skills to thrive as a social media pro in higher ed?
The first is having a broad knowledge of marketing communications in general. The two main misconceptions people have about social media is that it is simple and anyone can do it, or it is unnecessary for their communications plan. A successful social media marketer must have knowledge about all aspects of digital marketing and be able to evaluate how social can be used to elevate an integrated marketing plan to a broader audience.
A qualified social media professional must be analytics driven and possess a creative eye. This is often a hard combination to find, but we must always ask ourselves why we are launching a campaign. What are the goals, who is the audience, and how will we measure it? Compelling creative with no plan is one of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make.
Follow Andrea Limas for a day at work on Instagram!
You’re going to love Higher Ed Experts’ #HESM Instagram Takeovers where your higher ed social media colleagues share a day in their life.
Check out Andrea’s 1-day takeover of Higher Ed Experts’ brand new Instagram account.
A conference for Higher Ed Social Media pros & teams?
The HESM conference has become a must-attend event for social media teams in higher education looking for new ideas and best practices.
Read below what a few of your higher ed colleagues who attended the past editions of the Higher Ed Social Media Conference say about the event.