Care and Feeding of a Social Media Team @lisacatto

WOU Newsflash Team Needs  •  More  content  for  website  and  social  media  pla3orms  •  Content  with  an  authen7c  student  voice  •  Help  address  campus  demands  and  severe  understanding  

with  student  workers  

The  beginning  •  Idea  for  student  social  media  team  came  from  #heweb11  •  Team  created  within  Public  Rela7ons  Office  

What  they  do  •  Write  content  for  team  student  blog    •  Create  content  for  flagship  university  social  media  

accounts  •  Helps  manage  and  create  content  for  flagship  university  

social  media  accounts  

Year 1 Setup  •  5  students  (5-­‐7  hours/week)  •  Individual  mee7ngs  with  team  members  to  assign  du7es  •  Focus  on  wri7ng  for  a  new  student  blog  •  Secondary  duty  of  event  photography  •  Assigned  dates  to  post  blog  entries  based  on  availability  

and  interest  

Pros  •  Campus  embraced  team  immediately  •  Began  geQng  requests  to  cover  stories  and  events  •  Great  tool  for  undergraduate  admissions  

Cons  •  Learning  how  to  be  a  manager  •  Challenges  with  wri7ng  quality  •  No  campus  awareness  of  team  

Year 2 Changes  from  previous  year  •  9  students  (<5  hours/week)  •  Regular  team  mee7ngs  to  assign  du7es  •  Some  hired  to  focus  on  wri7ng,  some  hired  to  focus  on  

photography  •  A  few  students  had  skills  in  both  areas  •  Writers  had  assigned  weekly  blog  days  

Pros  •  Massive  increase  in  campus  event  coverage  •  Facebook  photo  albums  led  to  major  increase  in  following  

and  engagement  •  Photos  were  available  to  campus  departments  for  their  

websites  

Cons  •  Challenge  to  manage  9  students  •  Too  narrow  of  a  focus  (wri7ng  vs.  photography)  –  needed  

everyone  to  do  both.  •  Students  consistently  worked  below  expected  number  of  

hours  

Year 3 Changes  from  previous  year  •  7  students  (4-­‐5  hours/week)  •  Everyone  expected  to  write  and  take  pictures  •  Involved  them  more  in  managing  flagship  university  social  

media  accounts  •  Branded  ourselves  as  WOU  Newsflash  Team  

Pros  •  x  

Cons  •  Applicants  had  stronger  wri7ng  background  than  

photography  •  Tried  new  ac7vi7es  but  we  were  inconsistent  with  

implementa7on  •  Tech  issues  with  blog  led  to  decrease  in  morale  

Year 4 (current) Changes  from  previous  year  •  3-­‐5  students  (10  hours/week)  •  Switched  from  working  remotely  to  working  in  office  •  Increased  training  on  social  media,  wri7ng,  photography  

and  prepared  guidebook  for  job  •  Website  redesign  placed  Newsflash  blog  feed  on  university  

homepage  •  Added  a  Newsflash  blog  post  to  every  university  magazine  

Goals  for  this  year  •  Write  for  non-­‐Newsflash  venues  

Lessons learned Pay  vs.  volunteer  •  Wanted  to  connect  with  current  and  prospec7ve  students  

by  sharing  the  voices  of  how  current  students  experience  campus  

Work  remotely  vs.  in  office  •  Wanted  to  connect  with  current  and  prospec7ve  students  

by  sharing  the  voices  of  how  current  students  experience  campus  

Specialized  vs.  generalized  •  Wanted  to  connect  with  current  and  prospec7ve  students  

by  sharing  the  voices  of  how  current  students  experience  campus  

Benefits of student SM team •  Authen7c  voice  about  the  student  experience  •  Feedback  

Work  remotely  vs.  in  office  •  Wanted  to  connect  with  current  and  prospec7ve  students  

by  sharing  the  voices  of  how  current  students  experience  campus  

Specialized  vs.  generalized  •  Wanted  to  connect  with  current  and  prospec7ve  students  

by  sharing  the  voices  of  how  current  students  experience  campus  

WOU  staff  member  

Newsflash  student  &  blog  post  author  

Comment  from  faculty  member  

Campus  organizaGon  engaging  and  correcGng  informaGon   Newsflash  student  response