Social media has been adopted by many (if not all) higher education institutions, but is still in it’s infancy. Social media is more than tweeting and wall posts. Learn how to develop a sustainable social media program which includes crisis management, governance, training, strategy development and more. In addition, learn how to get buy-in from the social media naysayers on campus.
20. 4 areas of a social media program
1. Social Media Policy, Procedures, Guidelines
2. A Training Program
3. A Social Media Centre of Excellence (CoE)
4. Governance Model
22. 1. Craft a social media policy
“You are building
relationships that have not
existed before… in these
new open
relationships, the power
shift is such that we are
not quite sure how we
should act.”
-- Charlene Li
23. 1. Craft a social media policy
From Lethbridge College – view full procedure here: http://bit.ly/15oAKDq
24. 1. Craft a social media policy
This is posted on each institutional Facebook page at Lethbridge College.
27. 2. Develop a training program
Official Use
• Created on-demand training
• Staff could watch the recording from their desk
at their convenience
• Covered the policy, social media best practices
and responding to negative comments
• Awarded a certificate upon completion
30. 2. Develop a training program
General Use/Increase Awareness
• Developed lunch sessions on topics like Twitter 101,
Facebook Privacy, etc.
• Presented at department meetings
• Guest lectured in class
• This helps the campus community to better
understand social media & improves buy-in
Great resources
http://bit.ly/iqWkAv
http://on.mash.to/YGzxmT
32. 3. Establish a Centre of Excellence
Planning
Mission
Roles
Policies
Roadmap
Resources
Budget
People
Education
Research
Processes
Monitoring
Measurement
Collaboration
34. Business case for a CoE
• Consistent social experience
• Improve efficiency
• Foster accountability
35. 3. Establish a Centre of Excellence
Steps to get started:
1. Identify a lead (social strategist)
2. Obtain executive sponsorship
3. Educate the campus community
For more info on Social Media Centre of Excellence concept, visit Jeremiah
Owyang’s blog at: http://bit.ly/WFpLpW
37. 4. Choose a governance model
One department manages
all social media activities.
A cross-functional team
(CoE) sits in the hub
helping business areas.
For more information on social media governance models, visit http://bit.ly/100xRHe
Bryan Rhodes: work on social media training and Digital IQ Centre at IntelJeremiah Owyang: work on social media governance modelsCharlene Li: author of Open Leadership and focus on social media policyUS Air Force: development of social media triage chart
While a social media program may seem to be about policies, risk management and measurements. It’s more about culture. A social media program, when deployed effectively, can change the culture – allowing the organization to be more open and involving everyone. Or does the culture need to change first?
I want to tell my story, which is actually the story of the evolution of social media in higher education.Started at Lethbridge College in 2008 as the Web Services ManagerSaw a gap in institutional social media use
Start using YouTube, Facebook and Twitter on behalf of the College around 2010. At this time no structure in place.President saw an opportunity and a need and ask me to create a new position for myself as the Social Media Strategist to provide leadership in this area.
I had the opportunity to create my own position description and chart my course going forward. It had it’s challenges, but was extremely exciting.Can I take a poll how many of your institutions have a social media specialist?
Since that time, there have been over 20 new institutional Facebook pages, and a number of Twitter accounts created and the main FB page has grown to almost 5000 fans – that’s more than the annual full-time student count.The reality is that many of these social media accounts would have been created anyway. A social media program just provided some direction, clarity and helped ensure more success.
I’m sure we all know about rogue social media accounts. Whether it’s a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, the risks are the same.
Social media will continue to grow and if it grows on your campuses without a formal social media program, trying to implement a program afterwards might feel like you’re herding cats.
Social media accounts are very easy to setup. But without educating those managing and providing the right direction through a social media program, they may use the tools incorrectly, resulting in unplanned results.
This
A policy is more than restricting, it should be about empowering and educating using the proper processes.Your policy and procedures will lay the ground work making it possible to developing a Centre of Excellence, governance model, etc.Some may think that they don’t need a social media policy because they have a student conduct policy, a communications policy, a non-disclosure policy, etc.Charlene Li thinks differently.
This policy and associated appendices were drafted with cross-functional representation from IT, HR, Risk Management, Student Services and Marketing.You should address how and what to be open about, processes for creating and managing social media accounts, etc.
In addition to developing social media policies, procedures and guidelines, you should develop posting and commenting guidelines that are linked off your social media networks. This helps manages expectations and provides justification if (when) you need to remove content.
The Digital IQ courses cover such areas as:Tweet Like You Mean It: The Right Way To Tweet Your BrandThe Importance of Brand Identity in Social MediaWOM (Word Of Mouth) The Anatomy of Buzz AND MORE
How many have received negative comments or comments that may be inappropriate on your social media accounts?
As part of our training program we educated staff on how to respond to negative comments. Can I poll how many of your institutions have received negative comments on your social accounts?This is the social media triage chart developed by the US Air Force.We used this as a guide to develop our own social media triage chart.
You need to have this developed and have your social media account administrators trained on it.
In addition to developing social media policies, procedures and guidelines, you should develop posting and commenting guidelines that are linked off your social media networks. This helps manages expectations and provides justification if (when) you need to remove content.
The CoE is lead by your social media champion
As I worked to establish the CoE, one of the biggest challenges was understanding and buy-in. I had a cross-departmental group who were willing to participate, but when it came to strategy, metrics, etc., they basically said “you’re the social media expert” For a CoE to be successful, it cannot be one person.
Many organizations, especially government and public bodies, choose to adopt a very prescriptive governance model. This is mostly because other factors like guidelines, training, culture are not in place – resulting in fear.
In addition to developing social media policies, procedures and guidelines, you should develop posting and commenting guidelines that are linked off your social media networks. This helps manages expectations and provides justification if (when) you need to remove content.
Just as the largest word in this word cloud shows, social media is about community. That includes your internal community.You need to have full participation from all areas on campus. They don’t all have to manage social accounts, but at a minimum need to be focused on social content.