A presentation to the Indiana Association for College Admissions Counseling on the use of social media in education. It was meant as information for those beginning to take advantage of social media channels to communicate with students and families.

1. Will Patch
Manchester University
IACAC Fall Congress 2013

3. » REALIZE: Every situation is different
» Why do you want a presence on specific
networks?
» Each network takes time to maintain
» Each network has a different identity
» Don’t have a presence just to have it
˃ It should be maintained well
˃ Having a strong presence in a few places is better than being spread thin

4. » YouTube – >1 billion/month
» Facebook – 1.15 billion
» Twitter – 555 million
» Google+ - 343 million
» LinkedIn – 238 million
» Instagram – 150 million
» Tumblr – 108.9 million
» Pinterest – 70 million
» Wordpress – 66 million

5. » Think about who you want to reach and engage
˃ What information do you want to provide?
» Different networks can be used for different
audiences

6. » Facebook
˃ 18-24, men, women account for 2/3 of engagement though
» Twitter
˃ 18-29, affluent, urban minorities
» Pinterest
˃ College educated women under 50
» Google+
˃ 24-35 men, college educated
» Tumblr
˃ Under 30, most used social media among high school students

7. » Time
˃ Very time consuming
˃ How does it fit in your schedule?
˃ Planning, writing content, posting, interacting, moderating
» People
˃ Will it just be you?
˃ Will students be involved?
» Video/photography
˃ Where is the equipment coming from?
˃ What content?
˃ Who will take?
˃ Who will edit?

9. » Do you have one?
» Are you complying?
» Communicate among departments to make
sure you are all on the same page

11. » Reach: Status > Video > Photo > Link
» Engagement: Photo > Video > Status > Link
» Use hashtags
» Interact with your audience
» Moderate comments
» Use Insights
» Post suppression still used, engagement can
counter this (so does paying for ads)
˃ Pay attention to PTAT (People Talking About This)

12. » Use good quality photos, but try to keep under
3MB for covers

13. » High Schools
˃ News and Events
˃ Photo albums to showcase school culture
˃ Use as a staff recruitment tool – job searchers look at social media
˃ Make sure to use the profanity block list and moderate postings from
others to keep out spam
˃ Ex: North Shore Country Day, Canterbury School, Olentangy Local Schools

14. » Higher Ed
˃ Connect with students and alumni
˃ News updates
˃ Interact with the community
˃ Ex: Virtually any college or University

15. » Know who uses Twitter
» Have a hashtag plan
» There are 5 types of tweets:
˃ Humorous
˃ Educational
˃ Semi-promotional
˃ Conversational
˃ Opinionated
» Utilize search
» Respond to mentions

16. » Be aware of font colors and profile placement

17. » High Schools
˃ Updates, updates, updates
˃ Help promote school pride
˃ Weather delays or schedule changes
˃ Student spotlights: Friends can easily
share and promote the school
˃ Retweet good information about
college, SAT/ACT, FAFSA, school groups
˃ Ex: @lchsbears, @elderhighschool,
@canterburyfw

18. » Higher Ed
˃ Interact with current and future students
˃ Answer questions
˃ Make use of hashtag campaigns to build interactions
˃ Ex: Virtually any college or university

19. » Experiment with board names
» If you repin, check the links first
» Have your goal in place
˃ Photo album
˃ Tangential information
˃ “Follower fodder”
» Need good photos if you’re uploading

20. » High School
˃ Showcase campus events and activities to show culture and personality
˃ College prep boards help centralize information
˃ Ex: Sewickley Academy, North Shore Country Day, Gross Catholic HS,
Auburn Public Schools

21. » Higher Ed
˃ Visually beautiful with good descriptions are the best
˃ Showcase local area and attractions
˃ Ex: Michigan, Anderson, Briar Cliff, Manchester

22. » Treat as Facebook for a more mature, technical,
and professional audience
˃ Lives in between LinkedIn and Facebook
» Hangouts can help connect
» Make the post interesting and with a large, high
quality image

24. » Ex: Harvard, Brother Rice High School, (excellent
engagement) Wil Wheaton

25. » Blog, very visual
» Best for photos, not links
» Ex: Cal Research - ucresearch.tumblr.com

26. » Videos are extremely important for higher ed
» Showcase programs, profiles, or just fun
» Should be short 1.5-2 min max
» Ex: University of Minnesota, Iowa

28. » New kid on the
block
» Made for colleges
to target high
school students
» Not fully
implemented yet

31. » Use consistently across networks
˃ Resize for different requirements
» Make it clear enough to be seen in news feeds and
on phones
» Don’t change often, or at all

32. » Use unique hashtags: #XYZHigh2017 for events
not #Classof2017 (see @elderhighschool)
» General tags work best for campaigns (see
@mercedesbenz)
» Utilize search, see what students are using
» Don’t use more than 3 in a post

33. » This photo received
over 23,000
interactions in the
first 24 hours alone

34. » Content is king
» Be authentic.
» Stay active. More importantly, be interactive.
» A few well run networks is better than being
everywhere poorly
» Talk to people, see what others are doing
» Be multichannel in your approach

35. » If you have an idea for a new approach, don’t be
afraid to try it on a small scale
» “Sandbox” networks first
» Keep reading and learning
» Don’t restrict access or commenting.
» Try to be unique, if it doesn’t work, you’ve learned
something

37. » Track followers, reach, and engagement
» Post or page level data

38. » Shows stats for the site you have verified
» Shows average repins, impressions, and clicks/day
» Shows tips to improve each metric

39. » Hootsuite – Post scheduling for multiple outlets,
paid version offers analytics and more features
» Crowdbooster – Analytics and scheduling for
Facebook and Twitter
» LikeAlyzer - Very intelligent analytics and tips for
Facebook pages – measures on presence,
dialogue, action, and information.
» Tagboard – Tracks hashtags across most platforms

40. » Follower growth
˃ How many new followers are gained in a certain timeframe
» Reach
˃ How many unique users are reached in a certain timeframe
» Interactions
˃ How many users interact with your content in a certain timeframe
» Return on Investment (ROI)
˃ Interactions/post
» Natural Audience Ratio
˃ Followers/enrollment
˃ Best for comparing networks or your performance vs. competitors

41. » Facebook
˃ Used primarily for news updates, geared towards parents and alumni
˃ 2-3 updates per day
» Over 6 months:
˃ 32.7% growth to 5,613
˃ 1,524,623 reached
˃ 159,054 interactions
˃ 346 ROI
˃ 4.32 NA ratio

42. » Twitter
˃ Mostly for current students and high school
˃ Updates of campus activities and upcoming event promotion
˃ More frequent updates and interactions
» Over 6 months:
˃ 39.2% growth to 1,572
˃ 1,671,387 reached
˃ 1,756 interactions
˃ 4.1 ROI
˃ 1.21 NA ratio

43. » Pinterest
˃ Used for reaching out to new audiences
˃ Tangential information for current and prospective students
˃ Scholarship information
» Over 6 months:
˃ 406.9% growth to 3,650
˃ 7,022,701 reached
˃ 205,319 interactions
˃ 211 ROI
˃ 2.81 NA ratio

44. » Content updates in relation to followers
˃ 3+ times/day – 198 new/month AVG (5 - 2,076 range, N=35)
˃ 1-2 times/day – 83 new/month AVG (-1,130 - 1,934 range, N=80)
˃ 3-6 times/week – 46 new/month AVG (-2 - 493 range, N=93)
˃ 1-2 times/week – 34 new/month AVG (0 - 287 range, N=102)
˃ 1-4 times/month – 28 new/month AVG (-1 - 111 range, N=53)
˃ Less than 1/month – 18 new/month AVG (0 - 82 range, N=22)
˃ Never – 19 new/month AVG (-22 - 251 range, N=268)

45. » www.marketingland.com/library/social-media-
marketing-news
» www.socialmediaexaminer.com
» www.emoderation.com/social-media-blog
» thenextweb.com
» socialmediatoday.com
» www.scoop.it/t/emerging-online-media