Higher ed social media talks with Nitasha Maindiratta, Digital Marketing and Communications Manager – NYU Steinhardt School

Nitasha Maindiratta, Digital Marketing and Communications Manager at NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, is one of the 12 presenters of the 2019-2020 Higher Ed Social Media Conference.

In this 4-question interview, Nitasha tells us about higher ed social media in 2020, a favorite tool, 3 higher ed social media campaigns as well as strategy and measurement.

1) Where do you think higher ed social media is heading in 2020?

I think higher ed will start to hand content production over to students, specifically vlogs on YouTube. Gen Z consistently cites YouTube as their go-to social media platform and students want to learn what it is like to attend an institution directly from their future peers. Many students have already taken to YouTube and are generating thousands of views around their college experiences. Higher ed will start to take note and recruit students to film their day-to-day for the university’s YouTube account, sharing content prospective students want, where they are.

2) What’s your favorite new tool for your social media work?

TrackMaven is my new favorite tool for social media work. I have sparingly used third-party measurement platforms as they do not provide me with many of the metrics I believe show intent and active engagement with the brand, such as link clicks and Instagram saves. TrackMaven provides many of the metrics I used to calculate (for hours) by hand, making reporting much more effective. As a bonus, TrackMaven sources competitors’ first-party data to easily compare performance and content, and connects to Google Analytics to help solve social media managers’ very difficult task of linking their work to ROI.

3) What higher ed social media campaigns have recently caught your attention?

Colorado State University “Women in Science: Building a World”
I thought CSU’s video was incredible at turning a student’s work into a piece of visually compelling content that honed in on audience’s hope for a better, more equitable world. I also like this video because it resonates with people outside of the CSU community such as myself, increasing brand awareness and social shares.

Harvard Graduate School of Education “The Biology of Positivity”
HGSE does a great job of focusing on thought-leadership to increase brand awareness and engagement on social. I was a fan of “The Biology of Positivity” not only because I think it was wonderfully made through simple yet compelling graphics, but because it resonated with me as someone who practices mindfulness.

New York University We Don’t Have Football. So What?
I love how NYU took what could be perceived as a weakness in higher ed – a lack of a football team which often cultivates a sense of community among students and alumni -– into an opportunity to highlight other incredible and unique NYU athletes around the world including an award-winning baton twirler, archer, and Nascar driver.

4) What are your strategic social media goals and how do you measure against these goals?

Influencer engagement on Twitter was a major goal in 2019. We define Twitter influencers as reporters, publications, public officials, industry leaders, and organizations. NYU Steinhardt’s high-performing content is often the result of retweets from influencers, and forming these online relationships increases the thought leadership and clout of the school. We aim to tag 10 influencers per month and easily surpass this goal. At the end of each month, we take a look at tweets containing influencers’ handles and examine whether they were effective, and if so, why. Through this, we have found that inclusion of key industry leaders, especially our faculty, increases engagement and link clicks.