Social Media Best Practices Aaron Knapp (@AaronRAKnapp) Financial Aid Coordinator, UW Colleges Online Jen Weber Financial Aid Counselor, UW-La Crosse #WASFAA
What We ll Cover Office Account Best Practices Personal Account Best Practices/Professional Development Importance of Social Media VisibleTweets example from #WASFAA Questions
Best Practices : Content All business all the time is boring. Common mistake is to drive your engagement through promotional updates Adjacent content Local scholarships, employment opportunities, free events on campus Frequency of updates The half-life of a tweet, for example, is around 18 seconds for most users.
Best Practices: Be Engaging Ask questions Monitor and Listen Keep it simple Cross-promote Gamify
Avoid Fightin Words
ESPN suspends Keith Olbermann after Twitter Battle
Best Practices : Tips and Tricks Add content which makes your customers lives easier. Respond, Share, and Like. It s social media so don t be the one always talking and never listening Humanize your account. Jokes
Best Practices: Earn Trust Show up Be human- Don t push buttons! don t react! Don t fight! Be off-topic celebrate holidays and world events. Tell a joke. No one lies to be marketed to constantly. Add Value. Offer assistance, answer questions, and go out of your way to make someone s life a little easier.
Humor Gone Wrong
Personal Accounts Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest
Questions to ask yourself If a personal account is it for business or pleasure? How do you want to brand yourself/your office? Who do you want to have access to it? Would you be comfortable with a professional colleague/supervisor reading your posts/tweets?
Using Social Media for Professional Development
Opportunity Opportunity to connect with individuals in state organizations Chance to connect with individuals in other regions, institutions, and organizations Provide input, feedback, and advice on policy, legislation, student outreach, etc.
#FAChat
Great Sources of Information NASFAA (@nasfaa) on Facebook and Twitter WASFAA (@WiscFAA) on Facebook and Twitter Financial aid chat - #fachat backchannel and @thefachat Enrollment management chat - #emchat LinkedIn contacts, Linkedin groups, and new contacts you meet at conferences and events to follow up Also, Googling groups/content areas/individuals that you are interested in connecting with
The 3 C s Of Social Media and Professional Development
Consumption Lots of ways to find information by following individuals, hashtags, and organizations When connecting with an individual or a group, refer to their posts, content, tweets, and the like to see if there are any more connections or information that you can obtain and use to expand Be open to the idea of connecting with someone you might not know to have a fruitful conversation or exchange information; this will help develop camaraderie and help you feel comfortable expanding your connections or opening up dialogue
Technique You can ease into conversations Start by taking information in Just like the FINAID-L listerserv, Twitter is public, but that doesn t mean you have to pay attention to all No time commitment required Can assist in obtaining news, updates, regulations, and best practices quicker
Processing Engaging Outreach Sharing Consumer Information Awards Formulas SAP General Questions Advice Resources Tools
Impact Be aware of the footprint that you re leaving Convey a positive and open message
Creating content takes more time, but can be more impactful as a user of social media Ideas: Blogs Sharing ideas via Twitter Tumblr Start a hashtag chat Contributing to other blogs as a guest author (hint hint: the WASFAA blog)
Great way to stay connected if you can t go Budget constraints Other commitments Can follow/engage in conference program and content from home/office Opportunity to share thoughts, views, and insight with those at the conference Social media at conferences enhances overall participation Meeting up with individuals/groups you ve talked with on social media sites Ex: #fachat at the FSA Conference or MASFAA events
Visibletweets.com Visibletweets allows us to review aggregate posts using the #WASFAA backchannel, which can be fun and accessible way to see what others are posting : www.visibletweets.com
Questions?