Social Media Challenge: Community Management

I'm going to cover one of the challenges of working in social media for this post. Community management can be a challenging part of my job as the Social Media Specialist at UNMC. We are a professional health sciences academic institution, focused on educating future health professionals. Our hospital partner, Nebraska Medicine, resides on our main campus, offering amazing clinical opportunities for our students and faculty. There is a misconception in the Nebraska community though, that UNMC is the hospital, when it is technically the university. In normal conversation, calling the hospital "UNMC" is not a big deal. But on social media, we often get positive and negative comments and reviews on UNMC about the hospital's care from Nebraska Medicine's patients. It can get confusing when there is so much overlap between UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, but Nebraska Medicine has their own social media presence and team. So community management can be a challenge as I strive to make it clear who UNMC is through our social platforms. Fortunately, I am able to deflect many comments from patients to Nebraska Medicine's team, but I always emphasize the difference between both organizations to these misguided individuals.

Furthermore, we also receive regular inquiries about our academic programs through UNMC's social media accounts. This can be stressful because as social media community managers, it's easy to assume that our response should be immediate. But I often don't know the answer to these questions from prospective students, and in order to accurately respond, I must seek assistance from others on campus. It's definitely acceptable to tell those who inquire for more information about your university that you are gathering details and will respond soon. This lets the individual know that your school isn't ignoring the inquiry, but cares to take the time to collect the right information before responding.

#SnapchatStorytelling

I loved attending a session presented by Yusuf Omar on the effective use of Snapchat at the Mobile Me & You Conference this weekend. 

The conference took place at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications in Chicago, IL. The conference focuses on mobile-first content in journalism and communications.

Omar is building the world largest’s mobile journalism team at the Hindustan Times, where he empowers over 750 mobile journalists to further the Hindustan Times’ success on small screens.

“Snapchat is becoming the biggest news outlet in the world, and is the fastest social app with more video views than Facebook,” Omar stated.

The future of content will be aggregating thousands of cameras, Omar explained, but Snapchat is already doing it. He also clarified that citizens are the reporters, and Snapchat is curating the content, making them the journalists.

Defining your purpose is crucial, according to Omar. The content on Snapchat must be exclusive and full of personality, giving your audience something that is not offered on other platforms.

He explained that Hindustan Times is utilizing Snapchat to hide the identity of individuals for sensitive stories with topics such as rape and sexual abuse. Victims use the filters from Snapchat to mostly disguise themselves while still giving themselves personality through their eyes and the filters.

He predicts that Snapchat is moving toward using their Discovery platform more, which is a professional segment of the app that delivers polished content from publishers on a daily basis. Making Discovery more open to consumers would allow for new types of content through citizen reporting.

Omar also sees Snapchat excelling at hyper local news, where they can build a story around snaps for a local event. Snapchat is already doing this in some respects, but the opportunity to grow in the area is significant. Snapchat is very secretive about their next moves as a app though, keeping the public mostly in the dark about what’s coming up.

Mobile Conference Recap!

I had the pleasure of attending the Mobile Me & You 2 Conference in Chicago, IL this weekend, learning about the latest innovations in mobile media. Several graduate students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were able to attend, as UNL was a sponsor of the conference. 

Andy Boyle, of NBC Digital, and Kurt Gessler, Deputy Editor of Digital News at Chicago Tribune, presented at the conference at the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications in Chicago, IL on October 29, 2016. 

Boyle and Gessler presented about how to evaluate your new mobile app or product. “You need to have a plan. What is success? What is failure? How do you define success? Is it traffic? Impact? Money? Ads served? Downloads? Subscriptions?” asked Boyle. He explained that you generally need to know your metric for evaluation first before proceeding. Boyle stated that the ultimate goal for most project-level work, though, has to be impact.  

“Don’t assume you know who the audience is or what type of mobile device they are using,” emphasized Boyle. He gave an example of this when the Chicago Tribune thought they knew their audience didn’t use tablets, only to find out 50% of the app’s use was on tablets.  

Boyle and Gessler also offered more advice to the audience about mobile apps, such as the importance of giving fewer decision options to your audience, and updating your applications and website because the digital space changes so quickly.

They also talked about how crucial it is to offer your craziest ideas first, they don’t need to be grounded in reality. Pitch the ideas and other team members will think how they can build on it. Don’t be afraid to fail due to the risk that management could say “no” to an idea. To avoid rejection, getting buy-in from executives early on can help garner that support in advance.

Boyle closed the presentation with a quote from Bob Woodward on the timely topic of working with management to move ideas forward: “All good work is done in deviance of management.”

Tip of the Day: Layout Layout Layout!

I've had some people ask me about the collages I share on UNMC's Instagram, and how I make them look so clean, without an app's watermark. I use Layout, an app developed within the same family as Instagram! It's FREE, super easy to use, and you can incorporate up to nine photos in a Layout collage. You can move the photos around, flip or mirror them, and add borders (like the collage below), before syncing it with Instagram to share. I would highly recommend it!

Fruit vs. Med Students: A Comparison Story on Different Types of Social Media Managers

I formally began my career in social media by interning at an advertising agency. I worked over 40 hours a week managing the social content for my client, Cuties Clementines. At least eight people were working on the client team at any given point, and most of those individuals worked on social content. My position was a catch-all "Swiss Army Knife" role, serving as a project manager for Cuties' social media content, monitoring Cuties' social platforms, listening to the social conversation, engaging with consumers, shooting photos, writing copy, etc. I loved the variety that every week brought. We were expected to develop original content daily for Cuties' Facebook and Twitter platforms, which usually required a significant amount of time to concept the ideas and design them. Our main target audience was moms, buying healthy foods for their kids. Working in an advertising agency on a national client like Cuties was stressful at times, but it was so much fun. We were moving so quickly, constantly brainstorming new ways to engage moms with the brand, whether it was through recipes and crafts involving Cuties, or Twitter Chats or contests.

Working in higher education social media now at the University of Nebraska Medical Center has been just as enjoyable but significantly different. As the Web Content/Social Media Specialist, I am responsible for the social media strategy, content, and execution for all of UNMC's primary social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Instead of working on a team of 6-8 people on social media content, I am now primarily working alone, with an intern. Being fully responsible for UNMC's social presence, as well as social listening, monitoring, engagement, paid content, etc. can be a lot to juggle, so it's important be organized, self-motivated, and capable of brainstorming without a team around you. Since I'm no longer producing content based on a product, like clementines, my role as a strategist is different as well. Social media is more of a public relations initiative at UNMC, continually engaging with our community and informing them about the great things happening at UNMC.

How have your experiences in higher education differed from outside academia? What has helped with your transition? Let me know in the comments below!

Tip of the Day: CANVA

Have you heard of Canva? It's this week's Tip of the Day because of how easy it makes your life as a Social Media Manager! Check out all these design templates available to you, and it's all for FREE! So many design templates and various scenarios ready to be tweaked to meet your needs. You can also customize the fonts and colors to match your brand standards. Using Canva is very user-friendly. Don't have the time or skills for Photoshop or InDesign? Have no fear, Canva is here! You can set up an account and use all of the capabilities for free, and purchase stock photography for only $1 per photo! This is truly a lifesaver for those working in social media, when our social media plans call for well-designed graphics so regularly. Check it out! canva.com

#IamUNMC: A Community Hashtag

Incredible work happens everyday at UNMC. But, it can be challenging to replicate the excitement I hear and see daily on campus through social media.

When I became the Web Content/Social Media Specialist and began managing UNMC's social media presence at the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year, I wondered how I could engage students to be loud and proud on social media about the UNMC experience.

The answer: An on-going community hashtag campaign, #IamUNMC.

Whether students are studying in a lab, working on a group project, or skating on the ice rink, including "#IamUNMC" in their Twitter and Instagram posts has become a great way for students on all of our campuses to let their UNMC pride shine. An on-going community hashtag like this is a great way to curate social content about your school.

College of Dentistry student Olivia Rauschenbach said #IamUNMC is a fun way to connect with students on other UNMC campus. "It's encouraging to relate via day-to-day activities with students who, like you, are pursuing their dreams in the medical field."

The impact is best seen in the volume of #IamUNMC posts. I love checking out the photo stream at unmc.edu/iamunmc where all the posts are displayed, with photos shared from Hawaii to the New York City marathon!

College of Allied Health Professions student Lauren Akahoshi said the photo stream also said the photo stream also provides prospective students with a peek at campus life. It "adds so much more liveliness to the UNMC image. It shows that UNMC is much more than just medicine and school. There are so many other things that happen here on a daily basis."

Using #IamUNMC also gives students a sense of unity, recognizing that they are a part of something greater.

College of Nursing student Lyndsay Thornton said she values that cohesiveness. "I've bounced around many schools obtaining pre-requisite courses, so I've never had the feeling of belonging anywhere. UNMC and this campaign make me feel like I finally belong to something!"