Social Media for Beginners in Higher Education

Feel like everyone's on social media except you?  Want to start using social media for yourself or your department, but not sure where to start?  Here I will provide some tips to help you get started quickly on a few of the popular social networks.

Start by picking one or two social networks.  You might choose your networks based on the ones with whom you are most comfortable or the ones your audience use.  Once you feel comfortable, you can learn how to use additional social networks.

Facebook 

1. Create a Facebook page for your department. (You'll have to have a personal Facebook account to create a page.  Many people have a personal Facebook, but if you don't have a personal account, create one.)
2. Post about the people in your department.
3. Include images and videos in your posts.
4. Join and participate in Facebook groups related to your field.
5. If you want to network professionally on Facebook, you may want to allow people to follow you on your personal page or create a fan page you can use as a professional presence on Facebook.  If you allow people to follow you, you will need to specify for each of your posts whether you want them visible by friends only or friends and followers.

Twitter 

1. Create a personal account.
2. Post about your professional strengths.
3. Include images in your posts (pictures, infographics, quotes, etc.)
4. Create an account for your department.
5. Follow colleagues at your campus and people at other institutions with similar responsibilities and interests.
6. Include hashtags relevant to your field in your posts.
7. Participate in Twitter chats in your field.
8. Share content relevant to your audience.

LinkedIn 

1. Create a personal account.
2. Complete your profile (picture, position, institution).
3. Post content related to your field.
4. Follow people in your field.
5. Join and participate in groups related to your field.
6. Create a company page or group for your department.
7. Post on your company page or group about the achievements in your department (faculty awards, grants, current students, and alumni).
8. Share content relevant to your audience.
9. Add skills to your personal LinkedIn profile.
10. Endorse the skills of people you know.
11. Add recommendations to profiles of people you know.
12. Add examples of your work (presentations, websites, etc.) to your profile.

13. Use LinkedIn's publishing platform to post content related to your field.

Google+ 

1. Create a personal account.
2. Complete your profile (picture, position, institution).
3. Post content related to your field.
4. Follow people in your field.
5. Join and participate in communities related to your field.
6. Create a page for your department.
7. Post on your company page about the achievements in your department (faculty awards, grants, current students, and alumni).
8. Share content relevant to your audience.

 YouTube 

1. Create a YouTube channel for your department.
2. Get your university's video manager to interview department members and create videos about the members as well as department programs and services.
3. Organize videos into playlists.
4. Post videos on your website and social media profiles.

Pinterest 

1. Create a Pinterest account for your department.
2. Create a shared board for your department.
3. Pin images related to your department.
4. Add boards and pins about specific topics.
5. Look for content to pin that shows the steps in a process related to your department or content area.

Found these tips helpful? Making the leap into social media? 

Let me know your questions or concerns in the comment box below.  

Also share your goals and progress!