Slides from a lecture on social media applied to University career centers. Subjects: Why Social Media? | Strategy elements | What can we do with social media? | Potential problems | Focus: Facebook and LinkedIn

1. Career Centers
and
Social Media
Lorenzo Amadei – November 8th, 2012

2. Why Social Media?
Strategy elements
What can we do with social media?
Potential problems
Focus: Facebook and LinkedIn

3. Why Social media?
They have definitely revolutionized Web as we knew it
before
More and more people use them and are already there
They are accessible anywhere/anytime (via phone,
computer, tablet, etc.)
They are “always on”, regardless of office working hours
They can also easily connect you to other offices, campuses,
and professionals in the field of Career Services

4. Why Social media?
Low cost (in funds, resources, staff) and, in the majority of
cases, free
Easy to manage and update (almost no technology
knowledge required)

5. Strategy elements
1. What social media will we be using?
• How to choose them?
• How are we going to use them?
• Cross-posting?
1. An initial survey of students and alumni may be useful
• What social media are they already using?
3. Who will take care of social media in the office?

6. Strategy elements
4. Create “embassies” in chosen social media with a
consistent office brand
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Youtube, Google+, blog?, …
Using the same brand (logo, phrase, etc.) across all sites provides
visual recognition
Put hyperlink buttons to social media on your website
Different social media offer a broad range of purposes
• Facebook – Social context and largest online community
• LinkedIn – Professional purpose, networking opportunities
• Twitter – On the spot information and article sharing through micro-blogging
• Youtube – Video production and distribution, job post advertising
• Google+ – Latest on the scene, gaining popularity

7. Strategy elements
5. Connect these networks to become self-sustaining
Provide hyperlinks between the different social media pages
Use cross-posting tools
Consider using a platform like Hootsuite, in order to:
• manage all platform “at once”
• schedule posting even when the office is closed
• get statistical analysis (also from link shortening tools i.e. bit.ly)

8. Strategy elements
6. Build up a following of students, alumni, staff, faculty,
professional organizations and employers
Sending out emails to all students/alumni to inform about office’s
Social media initiative
Providing opportunities to draw in followers (raffle opportunities only
available to members on particular sites, trivia questions, teasers,
etc.)
Following other departments/professionals/institutions… and in turn
requesting that they follow the Career Center
Using catchy hashtag trends on Twitter such as #FollowFriday to
share other professionals’ tweets, and create a connection with them
Creating own trends (i.e. #yourcareer) with tips about careers

9. Strategy elements
7. Train staff and students
Provide staff trainings to give a realm of understanding to everyone
Maintain a person within the office, responsible for all social media,
so that office colleagues know who to reach out to if they have a
question
Produce introductory articles (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog)
and/or video clips (YouTube) and make links to them available on
current Career Center or University homepage
Provide workshops for individuals who have questions or want
training in the usage of social media

10. Strategy elements
8. Monitor usage and collect data
Using statistics collected on social media, monitor how well the
new channels have been received, what elements have been most
effective and what should be improved instead
Through the communities collect information on graduates’
employment, careers, experiences...

11. What can we do with social media?
inform
connect teach
help

12. What can we do with social media?
Increase awareness of job and internship opportunities
By posting on social media, we can raise awareness of job and
internship postings present in office database, and also share links
to opportunities posted online by others (other centers, companies,
institutions…)
Improve information service to students and alumni
Because social media do not shut down after business hours,
students can gain access and maintain contact with the information
posted 24/7

13. What can we do with social media?
Increase networking opportunities
Communities that the office can create can provide students,
alumni, and wider community members a chance to network with
other individuals they may not meet otherwise
Improve awareness of the importance of social media in
today life and in alumni/students’ careers
Students and alumni should learn how to use social media
responsibly and effectively for self-promotion, job seeking and
career developing
Help them create an online presence (blog, twitter, youtube,
slideshare...)

14. What can we do with social media?
Increase collaboration across departments
Increase access, reputation and marketing
The office can spread its marketing and outreach with a minimal
effort, and tap into a wide variety of different social media elements

15. Potential problems
Website integration is not always possible nor easy
Training less technologically savvy staff, students, and
alumni can be difficult, time-expensive, ineffective…
Social media settings may change
University breaks and summers
Social media pages/accounts can not be “abandoned” for long
breaks. A solution (scheduling posts?) must be found…

16. Potential problems
Internal resistance
Internal staff, professors… may have a negative attitude (I won’t use
them, I don’t believe they may help me, they are a waste of time)
Internal obstacles
Access to social media may be forbidden or limited from inside the
University

17. Focus

18. Why facebook
Students are already there and
using its features to interact,
share and comment
Easily share information, invite
people to events and interact

19. The strategy
Sharing information
Where do you find content?
Where and how often do you
post?
Interact with students/alumni
Public messages and
interactions
Private messages

20. The strategy
Get started by creating a Facebook account
Page or personal profile?
• To have a personal account for a career center, you
have to “trick the system” and tell Facebook that your
career center has a first and last name (i.e. first name:
Career | last name: Center)
• The page is a more correct option, and allows for
multiple administrators/managers
• Posting as person or as page?

21. The strategy: posting
On your wall or page
You can share info, thoughts, videos, links, photos, events
You can also ask questions
Share things that should be valuable to students

22. The strategy: posting
Content:
Links to resources at your career center website
Articles found online
Take-aways from conversations you have had with
students
Headlines from career blogs or job posting sites
Tips (how to effectively create a CV, how to apply to a
job offer, hot to create a blog, tips about job
interviews…)

23. The strategy: posting
Frequency:
Average about once a day
Between 3-10 posts per week
Enough so people know you post new things, but not
so much that you clutter people walls and newsfeeds

24. The strategy: interacting
Wall messages (public messages)
Facebook messaging system and/or page messages
(private messages)

25. Interacting: how
What if someone (i.e. a student) posts something
inappropriate on page wall?
Reply? Hide? Delete?

26. Interacting: frequency
If someone sends you a message, writes on your wall,
comments on your status, you will receive an e-mail or
an alert
Try respond with immediacy or as soon as you can

27. The strategy: a timeline
At least once a day (morning or afternoon) update your
status with a post, a link, a video, a photo... (1-5
minutes)
As applicable, interact with students/people through
posts, messages, comments, etc. These messages
need not be long. (5-10 minutes)

28. Focus

29. Why LinkedIn
The most important professional social network
More and more, recruiters and companies use LinkedIn
to look for (and evaluate) potential candidates
More and more often, jobs
offers are posted there

30. LinkedIn for Career Centers
Create account (not very honest, but…)
Build your network
Create company/university/office page
Follow companies/institutions pages
Create or join groups
http://careerservices.linkedin.com/

31. LinkedIn for Career Centers
Build and enhance your own professional brand
Enhance the brand and services of your career center
Attract more companies and organizations to recruit your
students and alumni
Find answers to questions and share resources with
colleagues
Keep in contact with former students/alumni

32. LinkedIn for Alumni/students
Create account
Create, complete (and keep updated!) personal profile
Build network
Use apps (blog, slideshare…)
Join groups
Follow your Career Center
Follow companies
Show and prove your skills

33. LinkedIn for Alumni/students
Build a professional online presence
Build a professional online reputation
Connect with other alumni and “useful” contacts
Research companies and industries
Explore opportunities with organizations that don’t
recruit on campus
Learn professional networking etiquette

34. How LinkedIn Works
Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends
Your Friends’ Friends
Your Friends

35. Interesting…
careers.unc.edu
/students/networking-and-social-media
www.udel.edu/CSC/socialmedia.html
mashable.com
/2009/04/07/social-media-career-success/
www.d.umn.edu/careers/social/index.html
www.udel.edu/CSC/socialmedia.html
www.impacthiringsolutions.com/careerblog/2010/03/2
2/how-recruiters-search-using-linkedin-what-we-look-
for/

36. Interesting…
www.slideshare.net/linkedin/linkedin-career-services-
webinar-presentation-slides
www.princeton.edu/career/pdfs/Princeton-University-
Office-of-Career-Services-Social-Media-Guidelines-
Strategy_2011-2012.pdf
studentaffairs.com/vcs/2011entries/TheCollegeOfSai
ntRose-lamb.pptx
www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/aboutus/socialmedia.html
www.brandeis.edu/hiatt/students/networking

37. Thank you for your attention
Lorenzo Amadei
amadei@iol.it
facebook.com/lorenzo.amadei | @lamadei | www.linkedin.com/in/lorenzoamadei