universities using social media

UNIVERSITIES & COLLEGES WHO TOP THE CLASS

IN SOCIAL MEDIA

CONNECTOR CLIENTS

Bord BiaConor Lynch

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

CITY LIT COLLEGE

In the UK, City Lit College is exploring the social and artistic aspects of selfies. The course, “The art of self portraiture” approaches selfies as more than just a social media fad, and aims to provide students a “platform to develop ideas towards the creation of a coherent body of work.

SOCIAL MEDIA TURNS INTO LESSONS TOPICS

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

During 2013 April's lockdown after the Boston bomb, Harvard changed its on-campus event for admitted students to a #virtualvisitas experience through social media. The social media event generated over 500 tweets.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

DRAKE UNIVERSITY

Aaron Jaco, digital media specialist with the Office of Marketing and Communications at Drake University, described Drake University’s approach as focusing on building relationships and community as a way to further the school’s reputation and image.

Jaco oversees the school’s top-level social presence across all platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

YOUTUBE ACTIVE

Since the social leaders know what prospective students might be most interested in on social, they’re better equipped to deliver on those needs. “The key is to meet your audience where they are and where they are receptive to your message,” Jaco said. “In every case, the message should be something that sparks positive affinity and starts a dialogue among your audience, their peers, and your brand.”

LOYOLA CHICAGO

Loyola has tailored its approach to content on the available social media channels. “In general, we use Twitter for conversations, responding to students’ concerns, sharing live events, retweeting engaging and positive content from the Loyola community, and more”

“We use Facebook for longer messages including, but not limited to, promoting events on campus, sharing student profiles, and posting professional videos.”

The school has also distinguished between the available photo-sharing networks, with Instagram delivering “very visual, quick messages with photos and video” while the team reserves YouTube and Flickr for professionally produced visual content.

“We use all of our traditional communications and social media channels to cross promote, but many times it is through word of mouth and other organic online sharing that people find our social media accounts”

Sharing what makes you unique, building community around a shared experience or interest, and focusing on conversations are strategies that brands in any sector can employ successfully.

While the story changes to reflect the specific university, the importance of telling the story in the first place stays the same.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE

“One of the basic ways we use social media is to share what’s happening on campus right now – sharing different photos, and event information can help showcase to incoming students what’s going on at The College of Saint Rose and what makes our campus different from others, using social media we relay that you’re not just a face in the crowd.”

“With parents it’s been really helpful because they love seeing some of the more engaging activities that we’ve been doing. Parents love seeing what we’re doing outside of the academic arena that makes Saint Rose stand out.”

UMASS AMHERST

Sharing stories on a blog not only drives traffic to a school’s website but also offers a huge SEO value to the alumni. UMASS Amherst encourages alumni to share their stories on their website to just that – increase their SEO rankings. “I can boost their signal and give them good SEO, so next time an employer Googles them they’re going to be much more present.”

Social media now plays an important role in helping colleges stay connected with alumni and also increasing the value of their education by expanding their school’s recognition.

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI

The University of Miami every year launches the annual underwater photography contest. Finding the top images was no easy feat with more than 500 images submitted to the contest.UM's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science has been hosting the competition since 2005 and receives entries from around the world.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Ohio State's social media is a benchmark among institutions of higher education. Their Facebook page counts more than 630,000 likes.“Our best content is visual, timely, and truly social”

UNIVERSITY OF OHIO

On Twitter more than 138,000 people follow them.“We focus on sharing news, promoting other universityaccounts and interacting with users. We use #news and #events to populate the news section of osu.edu. @OhioStateLive covers major university events in real time. The live account is an effort to live tweet when appropriate, without overwhelming followers of the main account.”

YouTube populates a Watch section on the main university web site, osu.edu

Ohio State’s LinkedIn University Page has over 274,000 followers. The majority are alumni who love to see photos of campus and hear about the latest research or university news.

With University Page geo-targeting options, LinkedIn is also a place we can promote regional alumni events.

“With more than 30,000 followers, Instagram is a way to share the sights and sounds of campus. During major events or Buckeye football games, real-time photos give users a feel for what it means to be a Buckeye.”

Every week, a foreign student talks about his/her experience at “La Sorbonne” using social channels.

UNIVERSITY OF PARIS SORBONNE

Video are posted regularly explaining which courses the University offers, news, events and general information.

“One Day at Duke” is comprised of more than a thousand photos, videos and messages that were submitted online by Duke community members worldwide on a single day.

DUKE UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE

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Conor Lynch, CEOOffice : +353 1 906 0006Mobile : +353 86 811 8833

Email : conor@connector.ie

Twitter : @connector360@socialmedia_ie

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