Come Together,Right Now

CASE DISTRICT II CONFERENCE

February 10, 2014 #CASE2Bmore

Cross-promoting

and Crowdsourcing

Great Social Media Content That Inspires People to Care

about Your Institution

* #instaFrostburg by Instagram’s @hnoreddine

A Little About Us

Becca Ramspott@beccaramspott

Communications Specialist Frostburg State University

Kyle Gunnels@kgunnels

Senior Project DirectorTVP Communications

What We’re Here to Talk about:

• Social Media: A Shifting Paradigm• Why Crowdsource and Cross-

promote?• Things to Remember• Case Study: Ithaca College• Case Study: Frostburg State

University• Questions/Comments

Social Media: A Shifting Paradigm• Social media is not an “add on”

• More than just PR…community building

• No longer limited by need for super-polished content…spontaneous, authentic, personal, shared creativity

• No longer one-way pushing out of press releases and announcements…it’s a conversation

Social Media: A Shifting Paradigm

• Not just all Facebook all the time, but an ever-changing digital landscape, where users move from one social media site to another

• Not just text … pictures, pictures, pictures—the need to see and be seen

• Content is voluntarily shared in the public sphere

* #instaFrostburg selfie by Instagram user @ohmymander

Social Media: A Shifting Paradigm

• Do not get overwhelmed…you don’t have to ‘sample’ everything, in fact, you shouldn’t!

Social Media Part of Bigger Picture in How Higher Education is Changing

• We need to remain nimble with constant changes, but never lose sight of our institutional goals

• Be relevant to what your constituents need and want—be willing to evolve strategically

• Our students, faculty, staff, donors, parents and friends are the backbone of our universities’ futures; we need to create a collective sense of ownership

Why Crowdsource and Cross-promote?

• Many of us are short on time, staff and resources

• Old school versus new school

• Change is the only constant in social media: We have to be nimble!

• Digital engagement is about creating conversations between different groups of people

Why Crowdsource and Cross-promote?

• Build relationships across campus

• Engage prospective students, current students, alumni, media and more

• Establish sense of good will with your audiences

• Create content to use for different purposes

Use crowdsourced content and strategically cross-promote content between different communities!• Help people feel emotionally invested in how your

institution is telling its story by acknowledging their creativity, taking advantage of their talent

• Renewed sense of discovery, visual storytelling, digital engagement among different campus constituents

• Convenient content sharing among different constituents

• Fosters sense of campus-wide awareness and support for social media, conveys buy-in

• Provides campus with educational outreach opportunities (workshops, webinars, resources)

• Teaching, mentoring and learning from students

Build a team of campus-wide constituents to spearhead social media best practices

Tips for Curating Content, Conversations• LISTEN to what’s out there—what people are

saying about your brand and where they’re saying it

– Socialmention.com (<<< FREE!)

– Statigram

– Hootsuite/Tweetdeck “Mentions” feature

– Brand monitoring/listening tools like Radian6

– Students, students, students!!

Tips for Curating Content, Conversations• Have a strategy, but STAY NIMBLE and BE

CREATIVE

– Think smart, simple, creative and shareable—ensure potential reward is worth the effort

– Be willing to let go of projects that aren’t working or no longer serve your institution’s goals

– Make sure whatever content you’re curating and creating supports institutional goals

Integrated Marketing

• Remember to promote social via traditional

– Add links to social media in email signatures

– Highlight social media on related print materials

Ithaca College

Life at Ithaca College: #IClife

• “Ten disposable cameras. Five locations. One authentic view of a day at Ithaca College.”

Life at Ithaca College: #IClife

@ithacacollege

Frostburg State University

Frostburg State University• VERY small shop

• Limited resources: no full-time videographer or photographer on our staff

• No budget for specific campaign projects: Yay, grants! : )

• Support from senior leadership to take risks, try new ideas>>> Creative problem solving >>> Less red tape >>> Close-knit campus community =

familiarity with available resources

Frostburg’s Foray Into Social Media

#instaFrostburg

#instaFrostburg

#instaFrostburg

#instaFrostburg

Crowdsourcing and Cross-promotion in Peru #fsucobperu

Meet a Bobcat: Multi-platform Enrollment Communications, Outreach

Using Meet a Bobcat to Encourage Conversations, Discovery All Over Web

Cross-promote content across Web for a collective, mobile conversation

Cross-promote content across Web for a collective, mobile conversation

Crowdsourcing as shorthand for campus leadership/buy-in

• Frostburg’s Social Media Group not just limited to marketing people—includes representatives from admissions, athletics, faculty who teach with social media

• Shared vision of digital engagement > Being on the same page by setting priorities and sharing resources, cross-promoting key events

Create resources to educate and empower your campus …

• eFrostburg Community (downloadable marketing guide, guidelines on personal versus professional use, etc.)

• Frostburg SAID for students

• Everyone is an ambassador of your institution online and off

Questions? Comments?

Keep the Conversation Going

Becca Ramspottreramspott@frostburg.edu@beccaramspottwww.linkedin.com/in/beccaramspott

“Higher Ed Reads” on Pinterest

Kyle Gunnelskyle@tvpcommunications.co

m@kgunnelswww.linkedin.com/in/

kgunnels

Resources

eFrostburg Community: www.frostburg.edu/socialmedia

Frostburg SAID: http://frostburgsaid.tumblr.com/

“Studying Abroad with Social Media” (by Becca Ramspott)http://tvpcommunications.com/studying-abroad-with-social-media/

“Teaching Digital Identity” (by Becca Ramspott)http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2014/02/10/essay-need-colleges-engage-students-their-digital-identities

“Creating a Student Social Media Army at Ithaca College” http://meetcontent.com/blog/creating-a-student-social-media-army-at-ithaca-college/

Higher Ed Live: “Social Media Student Teams”http://higheredlive.com/social-media-student-teams/