Colleges and universities are using social media more than ever before to connect with alumni, students, prospective students, and their communities. But deploying social media within a university isn’t easy, and the challenges faced in higher education are very different from those faced in other industries. We asked the experts to provide their insights on how to manage the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities that social media provides.

Access the full webinar and slides at ar.gy/socialuniversity.

Benchmarking your audienceSocial media statistics that focus on higher education are hard to come by, so we did some of our own research. We looked across the Top 125 Universities as ranked by US News and World Report in 2011 to determine the average size of their audience (Twitter Followers and Facebook Fans).

Insitutions are broken down by size, and it should be no surprise that larger ones have larger audiences. In this graph, “Small” refers to institutions with an undergraduate population of less than 5,000, “Medium” is 5-15,000, and “Large” is 15,000+.

How does your university stack up?

Best Practices of Social UniversitiesBest Practice #1: Balance content.Every university has campus points of pride to report, such as Higher Education accolades, professors’ published research, and campus facility updates. But as you craft your social media strategy, it’s important to balance content we call “broccoli content” with the sweeter, more shareable “cake content.” Zack Barnett, of University of Oregon, continues to grow U of O’s social presence by, “feeding them enough cake to sneak in some broccoli from time to time.” Quickly assess your broccoli to cake ratio and adjust as necessary:

Broccoli Cake

awards human interest pieces

published research crowd-sourced content

Higher Ed. news contests

Another factor that plays a large role in Facebook marketing is EdgeRank. EdgeRank is the algorithm that determines whether and what content appears in your fans’ newsfeed. It is designed to show your fans the content they like when they want to see it.

Affinity x Weight x Time Decay = EdgeRank

To learn more about EdgeRank, including best practices, access our free webinar and slides at ar.gy/edgerankwebinar.

Best Practice #2: Show the big picture.It’s not unusual for schools to have hundreds (yes, hundreds) of social properties across Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Make sure students, faculty, and alumni can "nd and access all of your properties by listing them in an index on your site, like UNC and University of Oregon, or by creating lists within Twitter, like Harvard.

Best Practice #3: Coordinate across channels.Just as you synch your direct mail with your phone-a-thons, email blasts, and newsletters, it’s important to integrate social media into your campaigns. UNC’s “The Carolina Way” campaign included ways to participate via email, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Meet your audience where they are and invite them to participate.

Best Practice #4: Set Guidelines.Set guidelines to avoid mission creep on your social properties. UNC’s Office of Development crafted a Mission Statement to guide why they are posting and

what they are posting on social media.

UNC’s Social Media Mission Statement:The Social Media committee exists to create a presence for Carolina Development and its programs in social media in order to educate alumni, students, parents and friends about development and its programs and why giving is important. Content posted by the committee will be curated news about the University and its students, alumni, faculty and staff that is entertaining or enlightening with an emphasis on content that promotes giving.

Best Practice #5: Show your fans, don’t tell.Campus icons, landmarks, and images are powerful reminders of campus pride. Use photos and video to show your fans what’s happening on campus. Sunny days and snowman shots are sometimes the most widely shared!

Best Practice #6: Defend your social properties.Both internal and external pressures challenge the integrity of your social properties. Whether it’s boring content passed along to you by a colleague (internal) or misinformation posted on your page (external) , have an actionable plan for dealing with threats.

Best Practice #7: Share resources across departments.Share checklists, guidelines, and policies across teams. The U of O was inspired by Vanderbilt University and created a Social Media Checklist that covers content, de"ning and measuring success, main goals, strategies and more. You can access the list at ar.gy/socialmediachecklist

Argyle Social helps businesses drive results through social media. Publish, engage, and measure your social media efforts with an intuitive and powerful tool.Learn more at argylesocial.com.

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