engaging students through social media

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Engaging Students Through Social Media Presented by: Araceli “Sally” Pérez-Ramos, Manager of Communications & Online Programming St. Edward’s University

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Page 1: Engaging students through Social Media

Engaging Students

Through Social Media

Presented by:Araceli “Sally” Pérez-Ramos,

Manager of Communications & Online ProgrammingSt. Edward’s University

Page 2: Engaging students through Social Media

About St. Edward’s University

• Private liberal arts university• Undergraduate and graduate degrees • Student population = 5,500• Traditional-aged & Non-traditional student body• Centralized Career Services Office• Recent title change from Internship Coordinator to

Manager of Communications & Online Programming • Currently managing the following on social media:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WordPress, Newsletter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+

Page 3: Engaging students through Social Media

How can Social Media Help Career Services

Learn about your audience Target audience more effectively Find new students and employers to expand your audience Receive instant feedback from your students’ perspective Increase website traffic and search ranking Sharing content is faster and easier Create meaning relationships with students and employers through social

media dialogue Increase brand awareness and reach for little to no budget

Page 4: Engaging students through Social Media

How Students Are Using Social Media

– USA Today, July 14, 2015• 68.6% of students used social media to find an internship • Women had a higher likelihood of researching employers whereas men

were more likely to network and discuss internship opportunities on social media

Page 5: Engaging students through Social Media

The Popularity Contest

Page 6: Engaging students through Social Media

When are the Best Times to Post?

Page 7: Engaging students through Social Media

• Posting on your department Facebook page may not circulate into students’ feeds

• Join university Facebook groups and post

• Develop events on your page to engage students

• Remember – keep your characters short and include pictures & links

• Pictures & Links will increase your audience reached

• You can pay to Boost post too!

Facebook

Page 8: Engaging students through Social Media

Twitter

Twitter users can:• Find and add friends. Adding friends is NOT a

mutual relationship—they do not have to accept you as a friend for you to be able to follow them.

• Find and follow companies, recruiters, students, and fellow departments.

• Create a short bio—about one sentence in length.• Share links to anything on the Web.• Posts with pictures will always get more attention! • Track “trending topics”—the most popular topics

of conversation on Twitter & how can they relate to you? (i.e. #MotivationalMonday)

• When posting about internship and job opportunities, utilize company handles to engage employers

• Utilize hashtags to catch students’ attention (i.e. #lifeafterseu, #stedwardsu, #seualumni)

Remember: Hashtags are the key to information in the Twitter-verse!

Page 9: Engaging students through Social Media

Twitter VocabularyTweet: A short, 140-character message Twitter users broadcast to their contacts.

Twit/Tweeple/Tweeps: Nicknames for people who use Twitter- @seucareer, @stedwardsuRetweet: A way to share another user’s tweet with your own followers. @ Message: A way to mention or publicly message another Twitter individual.

DM/Direct Message: A way to privately message another Twitter individual.

Page 10: Engaging students through Social Media

Hashtags (#s): Denoted by a # in front of a word, hashtags are a way to link your tweet to an index of tweets on related topics.

Unfollow: This is when someone decides to remove a Twitter contact.

Favorite: If you like a tweet, then you can “favorite” it, and it will show up on your “Favorites” lists on your profile. The person whose tweets you like will also be notified.

Twitter VocabularyLists/Listed: This is a way to organize the

accounts you’re following into categories. If you make your lists public, other people can

follow them.

Trends: This is a list of the top 10 phrases used on Twitter at any given moment.

Page 11: Engaging students through Social Media

Shortening Your Links Since you only have 140 characters, be sure to shorten links to articles,

blogs, etc. Favorites used are:

For additional URL Shorteners, please click here!

Page 12: Engaging students through Social Media

Tweet Chats – Engaging Your Audience Beyond

the Posts• Hosted by Career Services

Professionals• Great networking• Opportunity to exchange ideas

or concerns • Topics change EVERY WEEK• Find out about job postings

throughout the U.S.• Learn about upcoming

webinars• Make new friends every

Thursday night at 8 pm

Page 13: Engaging students through Social Media

Beyond the Twitter Posts

Page 15: Engaging students through Social Media

Create Your Own Tweet Chat

Page 16: Engaging students through Social Media

• Host Department Group page • Post about events, job

opportunities, internships, and advice

• LinkedIn Blog• Host specialized

workshops/webinars• Utilize LinkedIn in online

programming • Engage in more than just your own

LinkedIn Group! • Highlight students posting articles

LinkedIn

Page 17: Engaging students through Social Media

Create Your Own Blog • Utilize WordPress, Blogger,

Wix, or SquareSpace but…• SEU hosts Wordpress for free!• Create a calendar!

Benefits of a blog:• Provides daily analytics

broken down • Great tool to showcase

expertise • Ask for guest bloggers, people

love to highlight samples of their writing

Writers:• Partner with Alumni office• Students (soon to graduate,

interns, etc)

http://sites.stedwards.edu/seucareer

Page 18: Engaging students through Social Media

Using Instagram as Your Secret Weapon

8 Tips to Increase Likes & Following on Instagram

1. Have a theme – what’s your thing?2. Post AMAZING content3. Tell a story with your caption4. Stick to a content schedule5. Engage with your followers6. Use your hashtags – but don’t

overkill it7. Develop a branded hashtag8. Use the explore tool to engage with

people outside your following

Apps to partner with Instagram: PicCollage, Aviary, Pixsta, Overgram & Instasize

Pablo by Buffer.com

Page 19: Engaging students through Social Media

Engage your Audience Through Memes and Gifs

http://memegenerator.net http://giphy.com

Page 20: Engaging students through Social Media

Social Media Newsletter

Pricing Plans: Educator Year Fee - $59

www.smore.com

• Engaged entire university in naming the newsletter

• Comes out every Monday • Smore allows you to do

social media blasts via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and mass email

• Subscribers can add themselves to email list

• Able to embed on university CAPD site

Page 21: Engaging students through Social Media

Track Your HashtagsTagBoard is free• Track hashtags for

Twitter & Instagram• Will only show as a

collection• Will not catch anything

other than hashtags

Storify is free• Track hashtags on all

social media networks• Create slide show, tiled

collection or scroll• Will catch usernames

and hashtags

Page 22: Engaging students through Social Media

LiveStreaming: The Next Big Thing

Meerkat (launched 2/27/15) & Periscope (launched 3/26/15)• Setting Up a LiveStream

– Simply enter a title for your broadcast, tap the "Schedule" option, set the time and add a photo.

– Your followers will get a notification you're planning a future broadcast. When the time comes, the apps will alert you to begin.

• Both are only available for iPhone and Androids

Page 23: Engaging students through Social Media

Online Chat • Program: ZoHo Chat

(free)• Mirrored from Berkley

University • Debuting Fall 2015• Hours: 8 pm – 10 pm/

Monday – Thursday• Student Career

Advisors will be managing evening shifts

Page 24: Engaging students through Social Media

Managing All Your Social Media: HootSuite

Free to host up to 5 accountsAbility to schedule posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, FourSquare, WordPressTrack analytics for various social media accountsCollaborate with others on scheduled posts Can also monitor, post, and schedule from smartphone

Page 25: Engaging students through Social Media

Managing Your Twitter Posts - TweetDeck

Page 26: Engaging students through Social Media

Ideas to Get Them Engaged

• Provide incentives to have them follow you

• Present social media at freshman orientation

• Secure online ambassadors – students, staff, administrators

• Engage with other departments to share information

• Post interesting articles outside of your department’s activities

• Join campus Facebook Groups – works miracles!

Page 27: Engaging students through Social Media

Get Your Fellow Departments Involved!

Student Academic Success Center (SASS) Social Media Consortium

• Academic Counseling & Exploration, Academic Support Programs, College Assistance Migrant Program, International Education, Student Disability Services and Career and Professional Development

• Lead for departmental appointed social media liaisons (10 in total)

• Trained liaisons on how to utilize social media

• Meet quarterly to discuss new initiatives, trainings, and scheduled tweet chats

Page 28: Engaging students through Social Media

Risks to Consider• What are the risks?

– Privacy implications– Inability to succeed

• How to manage these risks– Be professional at all times with these accounts– Designate 1-2 people in office to manage accounts– Be consistent– Create a privacy policy– User generated content

• Addressing student comments• Remove comments that use bad language • Don’t get mad with criticism• Answer questions immediately• Address complaints immediately

Page 29: Engaging students through Social Media

Whoa! That’s A LOT!

Remember: This is an investment in your department

– Standing students are your best promoters

– Your online presence will be seen by countless others

– Students will follow you because they want to be in the know

– Social Media helps to create a sense of community

– Hire an intern to help you! Most Important:

HAVE FUN WITH SOCIAL MEDIA!

Page 30: Engaging students through Social Media

Before You Take This On…

Ponder these thoughts:1. Where should your focus be … beyond LinkedIn, Twitter,

and Facebook?

2. What specific activities should be considered?

3. What are the realities of managing multiple accounts?

Page 31: Engaging students through Social Media

Questions?

Araceli “Sally” Perez-Ramos, Manager of Communications & Online ProgrammingSt. Edward’s University, Austin, TX

[email protected]

facebook.com/seucareer@sallyperezramos

@seucareer

http://bit.ly/HilltopScoop @seucareer

pinterest.com/seucareer

smore.com/u/seucareer