Tim Walker invited Natanya Anderson and myself to join him on a social media panel at the Association for University Business and Economic Research conference held at the Driskoll Hotel. Here is the full audio and a few pics. I posted a few more at Flickr, and I recorded the audio:Â Tim Walker’s Social Media Panel.mp3
Tim asked me to speak to “INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES — some practical pointers about how social media plays out in a university / institutional setting” and here is the outline I prepared.
Openings
- We started a year after we discussed starting, waiting for right people, prototype
- I started with those that got it, wanted to do it, were already. Still looking for the eagerly engaged.
- My sell was based on current communications failures, newsletters and site overburdened
- Pitched as: make it easier on your audience and yourselves, communicate more efficiently
Pitch
- Our newsletters are too much, basically SPAM
- Our site (and Web team) are overburdened with ‘bulletin board” info (and little strategy, audience focus)
- Even our school news blog can’t publish everybody’s local news…you need a direct publishing method
Effect
- Our newsletters are more weekly headlines
- Our audience can ‘follow’ us in a variety of ways
- They can comment on the blog and respond to our Twitter or FB accounts
- Our Web stewards have control over local news
McCombs has come along way, hasn’t it? I’m thinking it started to bloom at Higher Ed Web. Who would have imagined one conference could have such a great impact?
Nice to hear you say so Sandie. Yes, looking back, that combination of conference sessions and visionary conversations of ours between sessions, over meals, traveling, really got the ball rolling. High five!