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How Community and Technical Colleges Should Use Social Media

Posted on by Brian Lee

Facebook postThere are thousands of community and technical colleges in the United States, so how can administrators and marketers make their school stand out from their competition to reach their target markets? Here’s how community and technical colleges can use social media effectively:

  1. Use targeted marketing. Avoid a one-size-fits-all-approach in which you blast the same message to all your target audiences through all channels. Instead, use each social media platform for different purposes. For example, Pinterest could be used as a showcase for student projects and activities, while Twitter could be beneficial when announcing upcoming events for the entire school.
  2. Don’t be a used car salesman when promoting your institution. The best course is to provide value in the form of information or entertainment to your audiences. For example, rather than saying “Sign up for Health 101,” try talking about (and show examples of) how the class has benefited students.
  3. Be accessible to students. Although it would be helpful to have a large department to run social media effectively, you can get by with one or two dedicated rock stars. Simply putting up a page on Facebook isn’t enough these days. Active, frequent communication and moderator participation are key to engaging your current, prospective and former students.

This was our strategy when we consulted with Madison Area Technical College. Contact us to learn more about using social media tools to promote your community or technical college.

Facebook: the best personalized newspaper?

Posted on by Brian Lee

In early February, Facebook introduced a new data-driven mobile application to the market called Facebook Paper, which attempts to deliver exactly the information you want to see based on the stories you click.

Facebook Paper is not only a new app for checking out your Facebook news feed, but a new way to discover and consume compelling news media content from outside sources.

The content is  a mix of recent and popular posts from the profile pages of Facebook’s favorite publishers, curated by a small but powerful editorial team within Facebook.

The simple interface eliminates buttons and menus and creates a new user experience much different than traditional social media apps. Another example is the tilt-to-explore feature, which allows you to see the whole image by tilting your mobile device.

Users are able to customize their own paper by choosing nine out of the 20 different categories, or mini-magazines as they’re called, plus your Facebook news feed.

The mini-magazines include the following:

  • Headlines: essential news and analysis from the world’s best sources
  • Tech: understanding today’s startups and tomorrow’s innovators
  • Planet: adventures in science, sustainability and the natural world
  • Pop Life: celebrity chatter, deals and the lowdown on TV, movies and tunes
  • Score: sports news and commentary from journalists, fans and athletes themselves
  • Creators: visual delights and inspiration from designers and artists around the world
  • Flavor: fresh tastes, recipes, culinary news and food-related travel
  • Exposure: breakthrough images and photojournalism from independent, agency and magazine sources
  • Ideas: a daily, in-depth look at one standout idea, event or personality
  • Enterprise: news and insights about companies, global markets and savvy investing
  • Equalize: news for women and men, creating a level playing field
  • All City: urban arts, sports, music and style
  • Well Lived: what’s trending in destinations, activities, fashion and culture
  • Family Matters: empathy, advice and hacks for life with babies, kids and teens
  • Cute: adorable animals, cuddly babies and all things “awwwww-some”
  • LOL: laugh-out-loud funny people, late night TV clips, viral video and podcasts
  • Glow: style, substance and beauty that’s more than skin deep
  • Home: beautiful interiors, decorating ideas and DIY projects for home and garden
  • Pride: there’s strength in community

FOR CONTENT MARKETERS:

Here are some tips for getting your content to appear in a Facebook Paper feed:

  • Find out what posts are most “liked” and create similar content.
  • Focus on long-form content and video, when possible.
  • Include (high-quality) imagery, because the Facebook Paper app highlights the story with an image.
  • And as a universal principle for content marketing, create content that is valuable, informative or entertaining to your audience.

Twitter marketing during TV events

Posted on by Brian Lee

I feel bad for the people who have to manage the Twitter accounts of major brands during live events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars because it can’t be easy to stay on your toes for 3+ hours.

For example, you never know about the spontaneous things that happen, such as the safety during the first quarter of the Super Bowl or Ellen ordering pizza during the Oscars.

Here are my recommendations for tweeting during TV events:

  • Prepare tweets for every scenario. For example, “tweet XYZ if team 1 leads at halftime,” or “tweet XYZ if movie 3 wins best picture.”
  • Monitor trending tweets, hashtags and Twitter accounts relevant to the event (e.g. actors during the Oscars).
  • Like in crisis communications, create a list of everything else that could happen, from loss of power (2013 Super Bowl) to wardrobe malfunctions to flubbed lines to inadvertent product mentions, and then prepare tweets for them.
  • Have a small team accessible (e.g. same room, conference call, Skype, etc.) that can make quick decisions on what to tweet for everything else that happens.

Now here’s a list of some of the good and bad tweets during these recent TV events:

  • I wasn’t impressed with JCPenney’s tweeting with mittens stunt, in which the company purposely put out tweets with typos before revealing that it had been wearing mittens while typing. Sure it got people talking about the brand, but I’m anxious to see Q1 results if sales of mittens actually increased, because that’s the true measurement.
  • On a related note, congrats to Kia, Snickers and Doritos for tweeting back at JCPenney on the fly (e.g. Kia’s “Hey @jcpenney need a designated driver?”).
  • Ready for a shameless tweet? Try Papa John’s “Frozen wins, only at the movies. Our fresh, NEVER Frozen hand-tossed original crust pizza wins every time. #betteringredients.” I mean, really?
  • I liked Pizza Hut’s “Did someone say pizza? We got you” in response to Ellen wanting a pizza delivered.

Here’s my favorite tweet, although it did occur two days after the Oscars. This comes from @TheSimpsons, who wrote “.@TheEllenShow Oscar® Selfie: A wider view. #thesimpsons”