Cheryl Broom [00:00:07]:
Hi, I'm Cheryl Broom, CEO of GradComm and host of Higher Education Conversations
sponsored by Edtech Connect. As the economy contracts and donors have less change to
spare, colleges and universities are left with limited funds to keep vital programs afloat. This is
why higher ed institutions are turning to social media to help encourage giving. Last year, North
Carolina State University, a leading public research university, teamed up with Hootsuite social
media management and marketing platform, which led to $34 million, raised a 47% increase
from the previous year and 58 million impressions from the hashtag Givingpack content today I
talk to Megan Elliser, director of social media at North Carolina State University, who gives tips
on how to launch effective giving day campaigns on social media, balance donation drives with
community building on social media, and how to creatively reach new audiences on social while
also raising funds. Plus, she shares so much more about how a college can maximize its social
media presence. You'll want to grab a notepad to write down all the great takeaways from this
conversation. Enjoy. Well, Megan, I'm so happy to have you here on the podcast today.
Cheryl Broom [00:01:28]:
Thank you for joining me.
Megan [00:01:30]:
Thank you for having me. Very excited to be here.
Cheryl [00:01:32]:
I am particularly excited to talk to you because I just came right off of a social media conference
last week and was actually sharing with a whole bunch of my colleagues how amazing your
social media is at North Carolina State University and all the great things you've been doing. So
I think our guests today are going to just love hearing about your approach to social media and
some of your recent successes. But before we dive in, tell me a little bit about who you are,
what you do at the university, and your background.
Megan [00:02:05]:
Sure.
Megan [00:02:06]:
Well, thank you for your kind words about NC state social media. So I'm Megan also, I'm the
director of the social media hub here at NC State. I've been with NC State in a professional
capacity for almost seven years now. Actually kind of worked at every level within my team. So
I've always been a part of the social media hub, which is within university communications. And
prior to that, I was a student at NC State. So I've been with the Wolfpack for quite a while now,
and my background is in communications with a concentration in media. I worked for a student
newspaper during my time here, which really lent itself well to getting into the social media
space.
Megan [00:02:42]:
So that's a little bit about me and my background.Cheryl [00:02:46]:
Now, you said something that I think a lot of our listeners may not be familiar with, and that is
the social media hub.
Megan [00:02:53]:
What is that? Yes.
Megan [00:02:55]:
So the social media hub is the.
Megan [00:02:58]:
Official name of my team, and it's.
Megan [00:03:01]:
Made up currently of eleven folks, not including myself, nine of whom are social media
specialists and the social media specialists on my team. I know some of you might say, like,
that's crazy that we have nine people doing social media for NC State, but they manage
accounts for different colleges and units at the university. So, for example, one person manages
the alumni association social media presence, another person manages the Wilson College of
Textile social media presence.
Megan [00:03:29]:
So even though they're all social media.
Megan [00:03:31]:
Specialists, we each have kind of our own accounts within the college.
Megan [00:03:34]:
Everyone reports directly to me, but then.
Megan [00:03:37]:
Has a dotted line to the lead communicator in their college or unit. So that lead communicator is
really providing guidance on the messaging, the strategy for their overall college or unit.
Megan [00:03:48]:
But then on my side, I can.
Megan [00:03:50]:
Provide more of that tactical instruction that is specific to social media. And we also have a lot of
shared resources among our teams, such as hootsuite enterprise video equipment and things
like that.
Megan [00:04:02]:So that's the interesting model that we have that I think makes us a.
Megan [00:04:06]:
Little unique in this space. I can't take credit for it, but I'm really grateful for it.
Cheryl [00:04:10]:
How long have you had it set up this way?
Megan [00:04:12]:
Was it always like this?
Megan [00:04:14]:
Since I started. And I think when I started in 2017, it had already been going since maybe 2015.
Cheryl [00:04:22]:
Wow, that's great. I get a lot of complaints from clients that I work with about different schools or
different colleges kind of going rogue with their social media, but you've been able to keep it all
under one roof with this dotted line structure. Does that help create consistency across
accounts? What are some of the advantages of that?
Megan [00:04:45]:
It definitely helps in terms of branding.
Megan [00:04:48]:
And ensuring that all of our colleges.
Megan [00:04:50]:
And units are still maintaining the NC state voice and tone and representing our brand well. I
think the other major benefit is that at least once per week, my entire team is sitting together in
the.
Megan [00:05:03]:
Same space, and so we can collaborate fairly easily.
Megan [00:05:07]:
Another person who's on my team is our assistant director for social media, and she manages
the main NC State university enterprise accounts. And so having the colleges with the direct
connection to our enterprise accounts, it really helps both ways. It helps the colleges to elevate
their message to those larger accounts, and it.
Megan [00:05:24]:
Also helps for us on the enterprise.
Megan [00:05:26]:Accounts to have more of an insight into what is happening in the colleges, what's really
important for them, because NCC is a huge university, and so this helps it to feel a little bit
smaller, a little more centralized wow, that's fantastic.
Cheryl [00:05:39]:
I'm jealous right now, and I don't even work in a college anymore. I'm like, this is so cool. One of
the really neat things that you were able to do is to tie in an interactive social media campaign
into your day of giving. And I'd love for you to tell our listeners what that day was and how you
made this such an amazing success.
Megan [00:06:02]:
Yes.
Megan [00:06:03]:
So NC State is admittedly a little bit late to the day of giving game. We had our first day of giving
in 2019 and our annual giving team. I have to give a lot of credit to them for how they brought
the whole university together because, again, we are very large. And so getting this many
people to.
Megan [00:06:18]:
Do the same thing and have consistent.
Megan [00:06:20]:
Messaging is not an easy task. But they did a lot of research into how other universities have
seen success on the day, and one tactic that stood out to us was what's called social media
challenges. And so an example of a social.
Megan [00:06:35]:
Media challenge is we have bonus funds.
Megan [00:06:38]:
That are up for grabs on day of giving. And the colleges, the units and their constituents can
participate in a social media challenge such as the one wolf pack challenge. So we have, like,
maybe from one to 02:00 p.m. Post a photo of you and your family wearing NC state gear and
you'll be entered for the chance to win bonus funds for whichever college or unit you tag in your
post.
Megan [00:07:00]:
So that is one way that we've.
Megan [00:07:02]:
Really made day of giving.
Megan [00:07:04]:It's certainly about the fundraising aspect, but.
Megan [00:07:06]:
I think the social media challenges helped.
Megan [00:07:08]:
Tie it back to the impact of the day.
Megan [00:07:11]:
It gamifies it, so it's a little more fun.
Megan [00:07:13]:
And it kind of brings in that.
Megan [00:07:15]:
Sense of community, which is really important, especially for our student audience who might.
Megan [00:07:19]:
Not be as inclined to give, but.
Megan [00:07:22]:
can't give money.
It helps them to feel like they're part of something bigger and they can participate even if they
Cheryl [00:07:27]:
I love how you set that up because I have a client and we're working this list of students who
have dropped out, and we want to get them to reconnect to a counselor. So we did a campaign
where if they did, like a reconnection, they got some college sweatshirts and swag, but nobody
really cared about getting this college swag. I mean, they've already dropped out. They don't
really care about getting a sweatshirt. And so I love how you didn't give winners stuff. You gave
them the chance to choose where to donate money to, so they actually got to play the game.
But then they got to make a decision afterwards, too.
Megan [00:08:11]:
Yeah, I think one of the challenges that really stands out to me in that regard, and I have to give
credit to my former supervisor for this one called the hashtag match Challenge. And it's really
such a good example of how we allow our students to tell us where to give this money. So for
the hashtag match challenge, the.
Megan [00:08:27]:
Students will tweet about their favorite college.
Megan [00:08:30]:
Or unit at NC State.Megan [00:08:32]:
They don't have to include a photo.
Megan [00:08:33]:
But they usually include a nice little photo in a memory. And with every tweet, up to five tweets,
that counts directly as a $10 donation to whichever college or unit they tag. And we do that for
up to $4,000. So 400 tweets. The additional benefit of that is whichever college unit is tagged
the most times.
Megan [00:08:53]:
Wins a bonus on top of that.
Megan [00:08:56]:
So they'll win a $2,000 bonus, typically.
Megan [00:08:59]:
And our music department has really taken.
Megan [00:09:01]:
This challenge by storm. They are undefeated. And they just really come at this with all of their
students at midnight, because it starts at midnight.
Megan [00:09:13]:
They're all tweeting their favorite moments during.
Megan [00:09:17]:
Their time in the marching band or in the jazz band or whatever part of the music department.
And it's been really cool to see how they've come together to make this their thing, and they're
just so proud of the music department, and it's been.
Megan [00:09:31]:
Really great to see that.
Cheryl [00:09:32]:
Wow. I bet faculty, probably everybody's getting involved, encouraging people to tweet things
and post things. So what a great way to involve your whole community.
Megan [00:09:44]:
Definitely.
Cheryl [00:09:45]:
Yeah, that's such a great idea. Do you do any other contests throughout the year or anything
else that's interactive?Megan [00:09:53]:
We have a few other contests with our annual giving team, so one of them is going on starting
next week, I believe. And that's called the Pantry bowl, where we compete with another
university to see which college can raise the most money for our on campus food pantry. And so
that's another kind of interactive element that we have to our annual giving. But day of giving is
certainly unique in just how many challenges we have on that day.
Megan [00:10:20]:
It is 24 hours nonstop, full day of fun.
Cheryl [00:10:24]:
So for the giving challenge, where you're trying to get, you're having students post something
and then you're choosing a winner who then gets to donate funds to their school of choice. How
do you judge that? Who's making the decisions, and where do you look for these posts? How do
you actually make that happen?
Megan [00:10:45]:
Yeah, it's been a little different every year. So some years we've had board members be the
judges, which is a fun way to kind of get them involved in the day. Other years it has been
myself or other members of my team who are not representing a college or unit just.
Megan [00:10:59]:
So we can keep it kind of separate. Right.
Megan [00:11:02]:
And in terms of looking for the posts, every post has to include our hashtag. So hashtag giving
pack and has to be public or on Instagram Stories. If you tag NC State, then we'll see it. So
we've definitely had to make some adjustments over the years, especially in the coming year,
with how X or Twitter has really been changing the way that that platform works. And so we've
had to evolve a.
Megan [00:11:24]:
Little bit, but usually people are using the hashtag and that's how we find the posts. Great.
Cheryl [00:11:29]:
Well, I want to talk to you more about how you've had to evolve over the last couple of years,
particularly with Twitter X.
Megan [00:11:37]:
But first, let's take a quick break.
Megan [00:11:38]:
And hear from our sponsor.Cheryl [00:11:42]:
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Megan [00:12:35]:
All right, we're back.
Cheryl [00:12:36]:
Before the break, we were talking about how the universities had to evolve over the year or over
the last couple of years, particularly with Twitter and X. And a lot of the colleges that I've been
talking to have kind of like abandoned their Twitter strategy or kind of just let it language as they
figure out what's happening with the platform. Have you seen a decline in users? How have you
had to modify what you've done?
Megan [00:13:01]:
We have seen slower follower growth, but we are actually still seeing follower growth on our
Twitter account and actually more engagement than we thought we would given all of the
changes. So it's still a platform that we are using to share NC state news and it's still really
important for particularly our day of giving strategy. But I will say we've taken steps back to
invest more time, at least year round invest more time into Instagram. That's the platform that
has certainly been most important to our student audience. And with day of giving in, know
some of the challenges that used to be Twitter only challenges. We now have other ways that
you can enter, whether that's Instagram or Facebook, just so people have options, because we.
Megan [00:13:45]:
Know a lot of users have left.
Cheryl [00:13:47]:
Twitter recently for your Instagram challenges. When you and I were talking in preparation for
this podcast, you said something really interesting, that you're actually looking for people
posting things on their stories and not in their newsfeeds. And I think that's definitely something
that's changed over the last couple of years. Why is that? Why do you think people are posting
in their stories so much?
Megan [00:14:11]:I think Gen z really cares about their Instagram grid, which I get that we also really care about
our Instagram grid and want our content there to kind of fit a certain aesthetic. And so with that
in mind, we opened up some of these social media.
Megan [00:14:27]:
Challenges to Instagram stories, knowing that people.
Megan [00:14:32]:
Are more willing to post there. It's only up for 24 hours, and it still helps us achieve our goal.
Megan [00:14:37]:
Of getting the word out about day.
Megan [00:14:39]:
Of giving and kind of creating that sense of fomo around the day. So I think it's been, one
important part of our strategy is to open that up a little bit so that.
Megan [00:14:47]:
People aren't having to change their grid.
Cheryl [00:14:50]:
Yeah, it's just so amazing. I mean, this is why it's so important to have somebody like you that's
a social media expert on your campus. Because when Instagram introduced stories, a lot of
people were like, this is dumb. Like, oh, that's like Snapchat. This is dumb. And now that's
where everybody is personally, and I'm not even Gen Z. I'm Gen X. I don't post on my feed at all
anymore, unless it's like a photo collage of my vacation that I want to see in a couple of years.
Cheryl [00:15:22]:
You do protect your feed. So I think that's a great lesson for other colleges and universities that
are looking to do something. Like, what you've done is to make sure that you're asking people to
post things in areas where they're most likely to participate.
Megan [00:15:36]:
Right.
Megan [00:15:36]:
And I think this also ties back.
Megan [00:15:38]:
To our overall day of giving strategy.
Megan [00:15:40]:
Which is that we tailor our posts.Megan [00:15:44]:
Depending on which platform we're on. So our Facebook posts are not the same as our
Instagram posts on day of giving. And that's very intentional because we know.
Megan [00:15:52]:
That our Facebook audience know a graphic.
Megan [00:15:55]:
About day of giving will work well for them. They can read all the information there. A graphic
does not work for our Instagram audience.
Megan [00:16:01]:
They don't want to see it. It feels contrived, and they want a photo post.
Megan [00:16:06]:
They want to see the students or a video. Real.
Megan [00:16:10]:
So having kind of that knowledge of.
Megan [00:16:13]:
Your audience across platforms has been really important to our success.
Cheryl [00:16:17]:
Speaking of Facebook, who is your main audience on Facebook?
Megan [00:16:21]:
On Facebook, we get particularly a lot.
Megan [00:16:23]:
Of alumni, but also students'parents are pretty active there.
Megan [00:16:27]:
They kind of look to Facebook to.
Megan [00:16:29]:
See what their students might be up to. So that's kind of our primary on Facebook. But we do
know that there's a lot of lurkers, a lot of Gen Z students who are just looking but not actually
engaging.
Cheryl [00:16:38]:
One of my employees has a child at a university, and she stalks their Facebook page in hopes
that she'll see a picture of her kid on campus.Megan [00:16:50]:
Well, sometimes it happens. We post, like, a photo every year of our incoming class, and the
parents always comment.
Megan [00:16:55]:
And they're like, my students at the.
Megan [00:16:57]:
Very bottom, two people away from the left.
Megan [00:17:00]:
It's cute to see them engaging like that.
Cheryl [00:17:03]:
That's such a great idea. I think more colleges should do that, that parents do. I have a
teenager, and I'm like, man, can you just tell me. Throw me a bone. Just tell me one thing you're
doing. He's like, mom, stop asking me questions. It's so annoying. I'm like, I just want to know
one thing.
Cheryl [00:17:19]:
So that is a great way to kind of stay connected to your kid without bothering them all the time,
asking them to send pictures. Do you prioritize your audiences for each channel? Do you say,
okay, Instagram, we're really talking to current students, or is that not part of your strategy?
Megan [00:17:39]:
We definitely think Instagram is where you'll see the biggest difference. And that kind of goes
back to.
Megan [00:17:44]:
Historically, how on Instagram, you couldn't link.
Megan [00:17:48]:
In any of your posts, and you still can't unless it's an Instagram story. But because of that, it has
to be a much more visual type of content compared know, on Facebook or LinkedIn, we can link
out to a news story, and that's a lot of our content on those platforms. But you'll definitely see on
our Instagram account, we try to feature a lot more student faces and student voices to.
Megan [00:18:10]:
Really bring our campus to life so.
Megan [00:18:12]:
That when prospective students go look at our account. They can get a better sense for what it
might be like to attend.Megan [00:18:18]:
The, you know, that has a more.
Megan [00:18:21]:
our staff.
Of a current student audience, whereas, of course, LinkedIn is a lot more about our faculty and
Cheryl [00:18:26]:
And do you do like TikTok or Snapchat?
Megan [00:18:29]:
Are those platforms you're active on?
Megan [00:18:31]:
We are not on either of those currently. We did used to be on Snapchat, and we might be on
TikTok at some point, but we're not on either of those at the moment.
Cheryl [00:18:40]:
It's interesting that with a staff as large as yours, that you've made that decision to not be on
every single platform.
Megan [00:18:46]:
Why is, I think, as large as my staff is?
Megan [00:18:51]:
We realize with TikTok that it really.
Megan [00:18:54]:
Needs to be our students who are the face of that account.
Megan [00:18:58]:
And so none of us who are.
Megan [00:19:01]:
Full time staffers are really representing the college the way that we think it should be
represented. It should really be students sharing their stories. A day in the life of a student is
much more interesting for TikTok and feels more natural to that platform.
Megan [00:19:16]:
So that is the main reason why.
Megan [00:19:18]:
We made that choice initially.Megan [00:19:20]:
Also, there were a lot of considerations.
Megan [00:19:23]:
and so we.
Regarding whether or not TikTok would be banned in our state, as it has been in many states,
Megan [00:19:29]:
Kind of hesitated a little bit to.
Megan [00:19:32]:
Jump into that platform. So, yeah, those are some of our considerations.
Megan [00:19:37]:
Yeah.
Cheryl [00:19:37]:
And I think that's really smart. I tell my clients all the time, my philosophy is, it's better to be
really good at one platform than to spread yourself thin and be mediocre on all of them. So
focus on the one that you can really make an impact on and then move on to the next thing
once you have that down. So it seems like you've made a good choice because you're doing so
fantastic on the other platforms. You mentioned students being the face of TikTok, which I agree
100% with. And I know you're creating a new student program.
Megan [00:20:12]:
Yes.
Megan [00:20:12]:
So with the rise of vertical video and Instagram reels and all of these platforms we've just talked
about, we really noticed or identified a need for more students to be involved in the creation of
our social media content. And we've had one or two student.
Megan [00:20:28]:
Interns here and there, but with a.
Megan [00:20:30]:
campus.
Campus of 38,000 students, one or two is not really enough to represent the diversity of our
Megan [00:20:37]:
And so we are really fortunate to.
Megan [00:20:40]:Be launching what we're calling the student creator program at NC State, and we are working to
hire our long term goal is a dozen students who will primarily be creating vertical video content
for the main NC state account, as well.
Megan [00:20:55]:
As the other accounts on my team.
Megan [00:20:57]:
Within the social media hub. And so that will allow us to create more of these vertical videos and
might essentially let us enter that TikTok space that we were kind of hesitant to enter initially. So
that is one way that we're.
Megan [00:21:10]:
Hoping to get more student stories out there kind of on camera.
Cheryl [00:21:15]:
Will you be giving your students a lot of direction on what to go out and produce, or you're going
to let them kind of spread their wings and do it on their own? What's the plan?
Megan [00:21:27]:
It'll definitely be a combination.
Megan [00:21:29]:
There will be certain days when they'll.
Megan [00:21:31]:
Have assignments like, we really need you to go cover this event, but there will be other times
where we want them to definitely feel empowered to bring us their ideas and tell us what they're
seeing on their TikTok accounts.
Megan [00:21:45]:
The funny thing about TikTok is that.
Megan [00:21:47]:
The algorithm is so good that my TikTok looks nothing like their TikTok. And so just knowing
what they're seeing and what is trending in their world is really helpful insight for us to have. I
think we really want it to be a combination. Their ideas are valuable to us. They are our target
audience on a lot of platforms, and so it'll be kind of a combination.
Megan [00:22:08]:
We want to make sure that they are covering the events that we need.
Megan [00:22:13]:
Covered and getting the training that they.Megan [00:22:15]:
Need, but also they need to bring their ideas to the table, too. Yeah.
Cheryl [00:22:20]:
For these students and for you all as creators, what are some tools that have really helped you
produce good content?
Megan [00:22:27]:
Let's see, in terms of literal apps.
Megan [00:22:30]:
That we use or just everything.
Cheryl [00:22:33]:
I know you mentioned hootsuite before, which would be great to hear how you're using that. And
then, yeah, if you have any tips for apps, I know, like if you send your students out, are you
going to give them an app to create the video in? Or anything that people could learn from to
apply in their own colleges would be really helpful.
Megan [00:22:53]:
Yeah.
Megan [00:22:53]:
So specifically, regarding vertical video, we love Capcut. Capcut has a lot of built in templates,
so you can find a trend and then use the template there.
Megan [00:23:05]:
You just click on a bunch of.
Megan [00:23:07]:
Your clips in your phone and it auto generates the video so that it's cut to the beat of whatever
music is playing. So that has been really helpful to get into this vertical video space. Capcut also
has a desktop version, which is pretty solid, especially if you're not quite comfortable enough to
enter Adobe premiere. It's a good kind of in between. We've also found canva to be really
helpful for branding and for adding text on our videos. So those are some of our favorite video
creation tools. And then yeah, we use Hootsuite enterprise for scheduling our content and we
run monthly analytics reports. We tag all of our content in Hootsuite with content buckets.
Megan [00:23:46]:
And so that helps us to see which type of content is receiving the most engagement month over
month.
Megan [00:23:51]:And it also helps us for campaigns.
Megan [00:23:53]:
Like day of giving, we can see how many posts did we make about day of giving? How many
people did those posts reach?
Megan [00:23:59]:
So those are a few of our tactics for content.
Cheryl [00:24:02]:
That's great. I know my team absolutely loves all those tools that you just mentioned. So
definitely for those of you listening, check them out, because not only is Megan using them, but
we're using them too for a lot of our clients and they are super helpful. Now I need to personally
learn how to edit better videos so that all of my kids'soccer videos can be trending. Let's talk
really quickly about analytics. I think that's amazing that not only you're obviously creating a
mountain of content, but you're analyzing it. What are some things that you're looking for? Like
what makes a post or a campaign a success?
Megan [00:24:45]:
Yeah, I think it really depends on.
Megan [00:24:47]:
What the campaign is. But for our monthly analytics reports, the most important metric for us is
engagement. We really want to make sure that the content we're making is not just.
Megan [00:24:58]:
Being served to people, but that it's.
Megan [00:25:01]:
Resonating with them to the point that they like it or comment or share it with a friend. And so
creating content that is shareable is a really important element of our.
Megan [00:25:12]:
Strategy and something that we look at.
Megan [00:25:14]:
Most when we're doing our analytics reports.
Cheryl [00:25:16]:
Have you ever posted something that didn't go the way that you wanted it to go?
Megan [00:25:23]:
Yes, all the time.Cheryl [00:25:25]:
What do you do?
Megan [00:25:26]:
You learn from it and then you try it again.
Megan [00:25:29]:
That's.
Megan [00:25:29]:
I think the beauty of social media.
Megan [00:25:31]:
Is there's no harm in trying it again.
Megan [00:25:34]:
You can post the same thing multiple times, multiple different ways.
Megan [00:25:38]:
I think it's actually not only when.
Megan [00:25:41]:
Something goes wrong, but when something goes well, too.
Megan [00:25:43]:
You want to post that content another.
Megan [00:25:45]:
then.
Time, in another way. We have several series where we'll post a video, long form video, and
Megan [00:25:52]:
We'Ll post a web story that is.
Megan [00:25:55]:
The transcript of that video. And maybe before that, we've posted a.
Megan [00:25:58]:
Teaser that's a vertical clip.
Megan [00:26:01]:
That's 20 seconds.
Megan [00:26:02]:So all of that, I think, is.
Megan [00:26:04]:
Important to.
Megan [00:26:08]:
For when a post doesn't.
Megan [00:26:09]:
Do well, it's important to post multiple times.
Megan [00:26:10]:
But also when it does do well.
Megan [00:26:12]:
You want to make sure you're getting the most out of the content that you've created.
Cheryl [00:26:15]:
Yeah. There's a lot of fear, I think, in smaller, especially smaller social media teams of posting
something and not working. So I think that's a great point, is, hey, if it doesn't work the first time,
try it again, maybe reframe it in a new way. You never know.
Megan [00:26:34]:
Right?
Cheryl [00:26:35]:
There aren't any big, I mean, I'm sure there's big mistakes. Like, you can post things that are
mistakes, but typically you're not making a mistake by posting something, you're just trying new
content.
Megan [00:26:46]:
Right.
Megan [00:26:46]:
And I think social media is such an art and it's a science, there's no perfect formula for a social
media post.
Megan [00:26:55]:
So I think that's where you just.
Megan [00:26:56]:
Have to say, let me try it again next week.
Megan [00:26:59]:We'll do it a little bit differently and see if that works or if.
Megan [00:27:02]:
It needs to be a different time of day.
Cheryl [00:27:05]:
One of my previous podcast guests had talked about repurposing content, and she has
something called the seven rule, and I might be paraphrasing it incorrectly, but basically that
every piece of content you should find seven ways to repurpose. So that can be exactly like
what you said, taking a long form video and cutting it into a 22nd, having a tweet, pulling out a
faculty quote and putting that on LinkedIn. So I always thought that was a great way to frame
everything you do instead of just looking for flash in the pan quick things. How can you take one
really good piece of content and make it useful in different platforms in different ways?
Megan [00:27:49]:
Right? I mean, your audience most likely didn't see the first time you posted it. And if they did,
they won't be offended that you posted a second time.
Cheryl [00:27:56]:
Yeah, no one's going to be like, you posted this last week, Megan. Well, as we wrap up, is there
anything that you've absolutely loved, like any post or campaign that you're most proud of or
that got the most attention?
Megan [00:28:13]:
Oh, that is such a hard question. I'm trying to think of what we've.
Megan [00:28:18]:
Done recently that I'm really proud of.
Megan [00:28:23]:
There's a lot that I'm proud of my team for, I guess, one piece consistently that I think we do well
is our graduation series. So every fall and spring, we'll have a different video series highlighting
our graduates.
Megan [00:28:36]:
One that we did a few years.
Megan [00:28:37]:
Ago was called best of friends. And so we had two students who were best friends who were
graduating together.
Megan [00:28:44]:
Share their story of how they helped.Megan [00:28:47]:
One another get to graduation, and they wrote letters to one another about the importance of
their friendship on their college career.
Megan [00:28:55]:
And it was really sweet and emotional.
Megan [00:28:57]:
And that was kind of during the.
Megan [00:28:58]:
COVID time when they had a lot.
Megan [00:29:00]:
to the finish line.
Of difficulties in their time in college. And so it was really about the people who helped them get
Megan [00:29:07]:
And that's one storytelling piece that I.
Megan [00:29:10]:
Think we did really well, was sharing.
Megan [00:29:13]:
Those sweet moments of our graduates.
Cheryl [00:29:16]:
Oh, that's great. What a fantastic idea. There's so much that we could learn from you and your
model. Last question for today. What tips do you have for other universities and colleges,
particularly ones that might be a little bit earlier in their journey? How would you suggest that
they excel like you have on their social media accounts?
Megan [00:29:39]:
Yeah, I think, for starters, it's really important to hire a social media manager.
Megan [00:29:43]:
Who you trust and don't get too.
Megan [00:29:48]:
Bogged down in having a really long approval process. I think I'm really lucky that we are not in
that situation. But I know a lot of universities have a multistep approval process, and sometimes
that's necessary.
Megan [00:30:01]:But for something like social media, where.
Megan [00:30:04]:
You need to be nimble, I think hiring someone who you trust and letting.
Megan [00:30:07]:
Them do their job is one of.
Megan [00:30:09]:
The most important things you can do.
Megan [00:30:11]:
And then secondly, one social media tactic.
Megan [00:30:14]:
That I think is not employed enough is social listening. And so I think even if you're.
Megan [00:30:20]:
Not super active on your university's social.
Megan [00:30:24]:
Media accounts, if you're not posting a lot of content, you should still be on social media to hear
what your students have to say or what your employees or anyone related to your university.
Megan [00:30:34]:
Has to say, they might be telling.
Megan [00:30:38]:
You that we're having a really hard time finding the financial aid information. And then you'll
realize you need to.
Megan [00:30:44]:
Kind of change your website a little.
Megan [00:30:46]:
Bit to make that easier to find.
Megan [00:30:47]:
Or you might find, like we did.
Megan [00:30:51]:
A few days ago, that your students.
Megan [00:30:52]:Really think that there needs to be.
Megan [00:30:54]:
More pasta options on campus. And if you need to change that, and so just listening to what
students are saying, I think social media, you.
Megan [00:31:01]:
Get caught up in the volume of.
Megan [00:31:03]:
Content and all the different types of ways that you tell your story. And that's my favorite part.
That's a very important element of social media marketing. But also, don't forget that it's a.
Megan [00:31:12]:
Two way conversation and that your audience.
Megan [00:31:14]:
Is saying important things on their social.
Megan [00:31:18]:
Media accounts that might affect you and.
Megan [00:31:20]:
That you should maybe take into consideration.
Cheryl [00:31:22]:
Wonderful. What a great tip for everybody. Well, thank you so much, Megan. It's been so much
fun talking to you and learning from you, and I know you're going to get a whole bunch of new
followers from all over the nation once this podcast airs. So thank you so much for your time,
and best of luck with everything you're doing.
Megan [00:31:41]:
Thank you so much, Cheryl.
Megan [00:31:42]:
It was great talking with you.
Cheryl [00:31:44]:
And that wraps up this episode of the Higher Education Conversations Podcast. I'm host and
GradComm CEO Cheryl Broom. A big thank you to our sponsor, Edtech Connect. Edtech
Connect is free, so anyone with the email address can sign up and list the software and
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universities find us and learn from the great experts we have on the show. That's it for now.
Cheryl [00:32:24]:
Until next time.