March 22, 2017

A first-rate group of higher education social media professionals descended on the City of Stars for the CASE Social Media & Community Conference in Los Angeles last week—determined to learn, connect, and of course, for the chance of seeing Ryan Gosling dancing through the streets.

Knowledge was flying left and right, connections were made, epiphanies were had, and inspiration was abundant. While I couldn’t possibly recap all the fantastic takeaways in one post, here are a few gems that I heard during my time at #casesmc.  

Small team? Small budget? No problem–you’re among friends.

“Who here has a big budget and plenty of staff”? Ask this question to a group of higher ed social media marketers, and you’ll likely be scanning the crowd in vain for a long time looking for an upraised hand. Like many in higher education marketing, they work with limited budget and staff, so collaboration & sharing rules. One example of this is sharing their favorite free tools. Abby Meyer’s session “Best Tools & Practices to Help You Manage Social Media on a Tight Budget” was a great example of this, as she shared a collection of helpful tools to create high-quality content without a big team or budget.  

Own your value as a social media professional.

Conference chair Nikki Sunstrum reminded the crowd of this important point during a panel discussion. “Own it! You’re not just the person who tweets stuff”! Social media managers can sometimes be pigeonholed as just “playing around on Facebook,” so help combat that false perception by tying your social media efforts to ROI. Own your impact!

Make sure your interns have a valuable experience.

This was another insightful set of reminders from a panel discussion. Interns and student workers are a huge asset to your social media efforts. They’re likely to be out and about on campus more than you, and they’ll have a more accurate feel of the true campus “pulse.” First, don’t even think of them as “interns.” They are your coworkers. Tyler Thomas reminded us to not make them “coffee retrievers” or do tasks you wouldn’t do yourself. Chris Barrows made a great point about talking to your interns about what they want to work on, and starting from there! Be mindful of titles, think how you’re contributing to their resumés, and remember that you can be a positive influence on their future path. 

Think social first.

Tyler Thomas unloaded a barrel of knowledge in his session “Amplifying Your Message – Leveraging Social Media to Extend the Reach of Your Traditional Content.” This reminder to think social first was a particularly valuable takeaway. Instead of creating content and then thinking about social media as an afterthought, why not focus on how it’ll be shared on social first, and then create from there? You’ll save time and effort, and your social content will shine that much more.

Thanks to all who worked so hard to organize the conference, and kudos to all who attended and shared at CASE Social Media & Community in Los Angeles! Stay in touch, and keep doing great work.

Tell Us What You Think

Were you at CASE Social Media & Community Conference? What were your most valuable takeaways?