What Do You Need to Make Social Media Successful in Higher Ed?

Higher education is not the only space where social media is a challenge, however, I think this market has to address both consumer (students) and business (internal stakeholders) to business (other departments, organizations) end of social. What causes challenges to institution wide adoption?

• Social media proliferation is hard for any organization, but extremely challenging for higher ed teams to keep up due to resources (human and monetary). A given, but an important area to address why schools need to narrow down their focus when it comes to social. it is not about quantity, but quality. 
  
• New channels coming out often (hello Vine, Snapchat).
• Not asking the question of where your audience is. Or the other 9 questions before making the social media leap.
• Knowing how to deal with crisis communications and social media important role.
• The wrong people managing social media. Think about this in terms of strategy versus tactic.
• No buy-in that social media is both a channel and a medium outside of the admissions office.
• Social media is reviewed only when there is a problem.
• Social media is not only about broadcasting your news, it is about engaging with prospective and current students, alumni, staff, and community.

So, how can you address the above?

• Set goals up for social media
• Buy-in from senior leaders both in your organization and outside
• Listen before sending out any information. what are people sharing about your school now? How can you contribute to the conversation?
• Have a social media response procedure in place to deal with negative comments or crisis situations
• Enlist in folks both on staff and students to contribute to the conversation.
• Make sure to train folks who will use social media on behalf of the school
• Monitor your success and share those internally
• Plan for engagement. What can your school do to interact?
• Plan for content. What content will you share?
  

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