WORKING IN SOCIAL MEDIA: REACHING YOUR STUDENTSHannah Schmidt, Marketing Communication Intern Purdue University

Today’s Agenda

Students’ perspective on Social media and Career Services

Developing a plan to communicate using Social Media

Overarching rules Building a relationship

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Neat sites for managing your Social

Media

What do your students use Social Media for?

Connecting with friends

Finding out what your friends are doing

Learning about hobbies/activities

Quick information-pressed for time

What do they expect from a Career Center through social media

Networking! Professional Other students

Information Basic information Reminders

Advice Career Professionalism

Student Concerns in Social Media

Privacy Information

Overload Creating Profiles Lengthy amounts

of information

Building your Social Media Strategy

Define your goals Narrow your focus Develop an office

routine Create specific

measureable goals

Don’t let new media frustrate you

Relationship Building

Overarching Rules

Offer something unique

Listen and act within 24 hours

Promote your social media sites outside of the web

Start conversations, don’t control them

Overarching Rules

Clear communication is key

Speak with students in person as well

Don’t assume all platforms are the same

The Three Major Players and their roles

•Daily Updates

Twitter

•Weekly/Monthly Updates

Facebook

•Long term Updates

LinkedIn

Twitter

Posts Direct Messages TwitPics Lists

Create your Profile

Learn the language Create a solid

description Use official

background and image

Network with as many career development tweeple as you can

Give credit where due

Twitter

Strengths--

Weaknesses--

Opportunities--

Threats--

Strengths-Growing usage among students-Great for building personal relationships-Great way to introduce social media savvy students to networking and job searching via social media

Weaknesses-140 characters-Newsfeed-Student dislike

Opportunities-Use Twitpics to give students live updates on career related events-Tweet helpful articles to students-Give quick advice to students-Manage lists for students to help the find job tweets and industry experts online-Promote special events to students-Connect with employers

Facebook

Status updates Fan Page

Tabs The Wall FBML

Messaging Discussion Tabs

Creating your Profile

Learn FBML Add as much

audio, visual content as possible

Create a Landing Page

Constantly Update

Look to corporate fanpages for ideas

Facebook

Strengths-High Usage among students-Easy to create pages-Reach out quickly to large audience

Weaknesses-Strong Competition-Students hesitant to connect-Students dislike constant updates

Opportunities-Creating Events for your events-Linking to student groups-Create content that clearly defines your purpose to your students-Update fans through status updates-Visually show what your career center does through photos-Become a source of quick information

LinkedIn

CareerExplorer Follow Companies Groups Networking Questions Headlines & News

Create your Profile

Create a Group Post discussion

topics Templates Subgroups Group Rules Newsfeed

Linked In

Strengths-Best long term network building-Allows students to separate personal/professional life-Develop Personal Brand

Weaknesses--Strong Learning Curve-Small amount of students use it (even fewer actively)-students are “afraid” to use it

Opportunities-Encourage employers, alumni, and students to actively participate in discussions-Workshops with students on how to interact on LinkedIn-Encourage students to use Questions, and create profiles-LinkedIn Q&A discussion-Use the neat applications to help students build personal brand

Social media Sites worth your time Flicker CoTweet,

HootSuite Bit.ly Klout

Recap

Students’ perspective on Social media and Career Services

Developing a plan to communicate using Social Media

Overarching rules Building a relationship

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Neat sites for managing your Social

Media

?Questions