Links to all of the talks mentioned can be accessed by navigating through the presentation itself. Also mentioned in the presentation: Dennis Crowley’s foursquare check-ins visualization video:

Foursquare check-ins show the pulse of New York City and Tokyo from Foursquare on Vimeo.

Looking for more SXSW Interactive 2013 content? Check out their Soundcloud set of various sessions you can listen to at your computer or on your mobile device.

We also briefly discussed the Battle for BU (thanks to Ryan Bersani for explaining it to us), and Spredfast, which is currently being used by PR, the Dean of Students office, Admissions and Alumni Relations.

Finally, we reviewed a web timeline of communications sent out from the University during the week of the Boston Marathon. SMC members should receive an e-mail shortly with a link to that timeline. Thank you again to all of our Communicators who helped spread important announcements on their platforms and answered questions.

We will plan to meet again in late August. Please feel free to email us with suggested topics.

The Social Media Communicators welcomed two representatives from Google Plus to campus for a presentation of the network on Tuesday, June 12. The team provided a walk-through of the basics of Google Plus, and provided some food for thought on how higher education communicators might be able to use it for their benefit. Five key takeaways from the afternoon:

- Google is aiming to integrate many of its existing tools directly into Plus. Plus will eventually become what Google calls “The Social Spine” of its products. The ability to share with others and interact socially will be available through Plus for documents, photos and photo editing, games, events and more.

- Circles can be an effective marketing tool. Not only can you curate circles of alumni, students, media and other focused groups to target with messaging, circles can also be shared with others to boost followership. For example, a school’s page could share a circle of key publications it recommends its students keep updated with. A professor could also create a circle of students in his or her class, and then share the circle so that everyone could connect with each other.

- Hangouts are a key advantage for Plus, and can be used for one-on-one and one-to-many. From a professor using a Hangout for virtual office hours, to a Hangout on Air, broadcast live on YouTube to showcase a campus event, Hangouts can be used for many different applications.

- Plus activity affects search. Google’s “Search Plus Your World” makes Google Plus an integral part of more personalized search. Participation in Google Plus provides an advantage when someone searches for your department or institution, and can connect with you directly.

- Providing social context with Plus can also affect your AdWords campaigns. Google Plus page endorsements and campaign extensions, according to the representatives who spoke with us, can have a positive impact on click-through rates of AdWords campaigns. If you use AdWords, this is something to consider.

A few more resources and examples to peruse:

• Google in Education
• Boston University on Google Plus

For questions on starting your own presence on Google Plus, reach out to us or directly to Zack Yeremian of the Google Boston Local Marketing Team at zyeremian@google.com

Pinterest

As Pinterest membership continues to grow, some SMC members have asked if it will work for their marketing efforts. Among the BU communicators adopting Pinterest:

• Dean of Students: Kat Hasenauer pointed us to Kenn Elmore’s page, which will be used during orientation to curate the presentation topics on the fly. Each presenter will be “pinned” with their name, office, and one key takeaway: “My advice to you as a freshman.”
• Student Activities Office: Melissa Grove helps to curate SAO’s Pinterest account as a resource for students. Boards help students with event planning and ideas, as well as fun boards like “We Love Scarlet.” They are also following other schools to see how they’re using the tool. They plan to increase their efforts on the platform over the summer with the help of student workers.
• College of Communication: Though COM’s Pinterest may soon be targeted to only the Photojournalism program, Paul Kresge admitted that they wanted to experiment with the platform because “it was there and it was something new” (a sentiment that felt common across the room). Paul also pointed to their Springpad account, recently set up by the company’s ambassadors, which pulls in richer data, including Google Maps and Yelp reviews, which may make guides for students more useful.

Overall, the feeling about Pinterest seemed to be 1) it’s caught our attention because of the user base growth & news, 2) it may not be a tool for every department, but it’s worth experimenting with for now, and 3) the best use case so far seems to be to provide useful information & guides for students. One person pointed to Drake University’s Pinterest as a great example of a higher ed institution using the tool well.

Class of 2016

Gordon Ryan, Admissions’ new Digital & Social Media Marketing Manager, spoke briefly about the Class of 2016′s reaction to admissions decisions on March 24. Using @ApplytoBU, Gordon estimates he responded to over 500 students with tweets of congratulations (dashing the myth that high school students aren’t on Twitter). He also mentioned that the Class of 2016 Facebook page jumped from about 500 members (from Early Decision) to over 3,000. The page now has nearly 3,800 fans (for a class of 3,900, a significant participation rate). Gordon estimates that about 10 percent of their website visits during that week came from social media referrals, and every post they put up receives between 500-2,000 engagements (clicks, etc).

Individual schools are experimenting with social engagement for their new fall class, too. The School of Public Health will be piloting a Yammer group for one class, and possibly a Facebook group for another at the same time. The College of Communication also has established a Facebook page and Twitter account for its freshman class.

Facebook

A few new features of Facebook were discussed in brief, namely the new “Groups at Universities” functionality that Boston University is a part of. Current BU Facebook administrators have no control over the activity here (no “superadmin” capabilities), and pages are not listed here, nor pre-existing groups. For now, it is likely a listening tool for connecting with students, but if SMCers find other uses for it down the road, please let us know.

The new “messages” capability for Pages was also mentioned as an aside. This can be turned on or off, but can serve as a way for fans to ask questions that they may not want to post on the Page’s wall.

If you are interested in sharing with other SMCers more between meetings, don’t forget to join the BU Social Facebook group.

CAS Presents

Jeremy Schwab presented the latest campaign from the College of Arts & Sciences, a series of faculty expert videos dubbed “CAS Presents.” He showcased one, “Why is Modeling a Bad Job?” featuring sociology professor Ashley Mears:

Using the help of his department’s interns, Jeremy will continue to produce video showcases of the CAS faculty. You can view all of their videos here.

We will aim to schedule two more meetings this summer, the first in June focusing on Google Plus, and the second in July or August. Please reach out to Mary or Jenny with any questions, or post it to the Facebook group.

These stories are Facebook’s way of inferring what content users would most like to see when they first log in. Facebook explains the formula they use to decide which posts appear:

We determine whether something is a highlighted story based on lots of factors, including your relationship to the person who posted the story, how many comments and likes it got, what type of story it is, etc. For example, a friend’s status update that might not normally be a highlighted story may be highlighted after many other friends comment on it.

Facebook Help Center: What is a highlighted story?

For those of us managing Facebook pages, this may mean that some fans will not see our content unless their friends are also interacting with us. Our content may also disappear from their News Feeds if they haven’t interacted with us recently by clicking on shared links, commenting on or liking our posts. In fact, comScore found that “[...] users are 40-150 times more likely to consume branded content in the Newsfeed than to visit the Fan Page itself.” (The Power of Like, July 2011)

How can we ensure that fans stay active? A few suggestions:

• Encourage feedback: Rather than only posting links, ask for opinions from your fans. Take a poll using Facebook Questions. Run a photo caption contest.
• Choose relevant and compelling content: This may seem elementary, but remember the audience you’re trying to reach. If it’s current students, provide campus news and bring up common milestones (the Beanpot; the end of finals; a department-wide social event). Check your Facebook Insights regularly to see which pieces of content are getting the most feedback. Patterns here may inform your decisions as you go.
• Encourage visits to your Facebook page elsewhere: Do you have sharing functionality built into your website? Are you promoting your Facebook page through your more traditional marketing channels?

How have you been promoting activity on your Facebook page?

Related: 27% of Facebook Browsing on Newsfeed, Just 10% on Apps (Inside Facebook)

On December 6, the Social Media Communicators met to discuss the use of QR codes, the emergence of Google+, and techniques for managing social media channels. The Public Relations team unveiled their new website, which includes a social media directory for schools, departments, and student groups.

Social Media Directory

Tom Testa, AVP of Public Relations, presented the new PR website, designed to house comprehensive faculty profiles, news releases and a directory of Boston University social media channels, among other services. Communicators should contact Mary Tunney to list their accounts.

QR Codes

While a few groups have tried using QR codes, including the Dean of Students office and the School of Medicine Alumni Association, the conclusion seems to be that while the technology is interesting, there are pitfalls and barriers to use. Kat Hasenauer of DOS explained that many students did not seem to understand how they work, or that they needed additional software on their phones to read them. She also mentioned that several students still have old-fashioned flip phones, which cannot read QR codes at all. One communicator suggested that directions on how to use a QR code should be included on the marketing materials where the code is being used. Scott Dasse of Interactive Design suggests this article on QR code adoption and use.

Google+

Since we recently launched the Boston University Google+ page, we wanted to ask about other communicators’ experience with the platform. Only a couple of departments mentioned their plans to use it, and opinions of it were mixed. Raul Fernandez of the Howard Thurman Center asserted that it’s yet another platform to maintain, but if the audience is there, he would support its integration into their strategy. By many accounts, the most powerful thing about Google+ is the role it plays in search. Ryan Bersani of Online Giving praised it for its customizable privacy settings, while others expressed concern that their privacy would be compromised in ways they did not explicitly allow.

Andrea Little from the School of Management said that they had been considering using the Google+ Hangouts functionality with their Admissions team. (Since the meeting, the Dean of Students office has hosted a Hangout with Cecilia Lalama in the Educational Resource Center.) It seems that currently, Google+ adoption is a phase of experimentation. A few things to keep in mind:

• Reserving your Google+ page means it will go live immediately. Unlike Facebook, the page will go live immediately.
• Pages are currently limited to one administrator and ownership is not transferable. But according to recent news, this should change soon.
• Tools like HootSuite are beginning to enable cross-posting to Google+, as well as Facebook and Twitter, to aid with time management and consistency across platforms.

Since Tuesday’s meeting, BU was featured with Emerson and Harvard in a BostInnovation piece on higher ed adoption of Google Plus.

Time Management

Finally, the group discussed time management. How are departments managing their platforms, and the messaging across them? Robert Flynn of Dining Services said that he is maintaining all of their platforms on his own, and that until it is no longer feasible, he would prefer it that way, citing concerns of maintaining a consistent voice. Other teams, including the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Public Health, and Admissions have taken a team approach, designating different employees and schedules for social media management. Kelsey Labrot of the Howard Thurman Center suggested a few tools to help with scheduling posts, including CoTweet and Tweue.

Suggestions for the next meeting? Comments on the topics discussed? Leave them below, or send a note to jemack@bu.edu.

We asked attendees about progression of their blogging efforts, and the sentiment from many was that groups are moving away from blogging due to time constraints and management. BU Dining Services said they had recently taken to Tumblr, as it easily allows them to post pictures and other shorter pieces of content. Admissions brought up their new blog, which allows them a way to provide more information to prospective students. PR mentioned that one of their latest blogs, Professor Voices, had been migrated from blogs.bu.edu to a new BU WordPress site.

Kat Cornetta of the Dean of Students office advised that departmental blogs, rather than being made separate entities on blogs.bu.edu, can be integrated into BU WordPress websites by:

• Creating blog posts in “News”
• Assigning each post to a category, which is the blog’s name
• Adding the category to the site’s main navigation

By creating multiple categories, you can create multiple “blogs,” which are simply subsections of your website.

Next, we discussed location-based services like Foursquare, and though some groups expressed interest in using it, no one seemed to have solid strategies yet. An example was brought up about using the Foursquare “Lists” feature to compile recurring features, like BU Today’s “Nearby Neighborhoods” or “Lunch Anyone?” series, to repurpose content and drive Foursquare users back to BU sites.

Other technical discussions followed, including:

• Embedding playable Vimeo clips on Facebook pages
• Reserving Foursquare venues and adding venue managers
• The inability to create LinkedIn sub-pages (currently limited to one main company page for Boston University, per LinkedIn’s guidelines)

We also shared a link to a Google Doc for all Social Media Communicators to post events that need cross-promotion. If you still need this link, please send us an e-mail.

Did you have an interesting discussion that wasn’t mentioned here? Feel free to leave it in the comments.

The School of Education teaches Orientation Session 5 how to do the Terrier Shuffle.

Below are some articles that caught our interest this past week:

The Broader Role of Moderators in Online Communities (The Online Community Guide): Removing bad content and resolving disputes is just a small part of being a moderator on the web (your blog; your Facebook page). A community manager should be interested in proactively starting discussions and guiding what the community will talk about. Setting up weekly features (thinking: BUAA’s Terrier Tip Tuesday) can help to grow a web community.

App Connects Governments And Citizens on Facebook (AllFacebook): The CRT Facebook app allows citizens to report municipal issues to their local governments. How could students work together to solve problems or provide regular feedback in an app like this? What types of issues could it address?

Google Plus is Not Your Blog (Chris Brogan): Nor is Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn — they serve as outposts for your content. They are enhancements to what you are already doing, whether it’s publishing a quarterly newsletter for alumni or hosting events for incoming students. We’ve noticed a few campus organizations, including the Programming Council and the International Affairs Association, have jumped onto Google+ recently (we’re currently holding off, as Google has options for businesses rolling out shortly.) Are you trying Google Plus? What are your thoughts so far?

The Student Affairs Technology Unconference Boston is being hosted by Dean of Students Kenn Elmore and Ed Cabellon on Friday, July 29th. There are a few tickets left, but if you’d rather save them for higher ed folks outside of BU, the hashtag to follow that day is #satechBOS.

On Facebook, Bigger Isn’t Always Better (10,000 Words): When asking how many Facebook fans you should have, consider the quality of those fans — are they participating? Are they visiting regularly?

10 Blogging Tactics That Increased One Business’ Traffic by 300% (Hubspot Blog): Using your blog as an FAQ repository and posting regularly (this business posted twice per week) are great ideas we’re planning on implementing here. What other tips have helped you build interest in your blog?

WordCamp 2011 is being hosted at Boston University. There is even an education track — check the schedule today.

Asian Slur Video Surfaces at Syracuse University (Storify): A great case study in how a school’s public relations team should consider social media as part of their crisis communications plans.

The Web Is Shrinking. Now What? (AllThingsD): Paying attention to the distinction to the “social web vs. the searchable web.”

@ is the Universal Sign of Engagement (Brian Solis): What real engagement (vs. reactionary conversation) really means. Found this article via Professor Steve Quigley and his Summer Session 1 #BUNewMedia class. Follow the hashtag on Twitter for updates and interesting articles.

Boston University and Social Media (Emma Tangerine): Emma Tangoren‘s blog post on what transpired this week between BU Students and @USATODAYcollege is a must-read. Many social media communicators and their efforts were mentioned. Also see her Storify summary and the related BU Quad article.

Anything we might be missing? Have an article that struck a chord for you this past week? Send it our way in the comments.

- Jenny

Developing the Social Media Management Team (@Greg2dot0′s Blog): “Focus on the behavior, not the tool.” Thinking lately about social media adoption in an organization as much more than technology training; it’s a culture change. I met with Robin Lubbock of WBUR several weeks ago and he explained how he’s meeting with staff one-on-one to get them set up on social tools (because everyone learns differently.)

Tumblr Now Has More Blogs Than WordPress.com (Mashable): Nearly 20.9M blogs have been created on Tumblr. We’re currently experimenting as well. Thinking of ways we can use Tumblr to talk with students (since so many are using Tumblr for their personal blogs (and tagging Boston University.) I’m looking at similar social portals that emphasize photos & short text — even personal website builders like flavors.me, about.me and Jason Kottke’s stellar.io now emphasize foolproof signup/design and visual appeal.

5 Tips for Launching Multiple Facebook Fan Pages (10,000 Words): “Assess your progress” is the key part for me. Facebook Pages (even if you’re only managing one) should have clear goals in place that tie directly to your overall marketing efforts. How do you assess your Facebook Page’s success? What particular metrics do you track? Did you know: Social Media Communicator for the School of Public Health, Elana Zak, is a contributor to this blog? Check out her latest post, “Standing Up for the Journalism Degree”

Nieman Reports: Curation, Community and the Future of News (The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University): Steven Rosenbaum sees an area for growth in “content curation” jobs: sifting through the massive amounts of social data surrounding a news event, and finding the key messages and influencers in the conversation. Be sure to check out the Digital Lifestyle Survey findings (I’m not sure whether I should be proud or embarrassed to say I’m in the “48.5%” category on that second graph — how about you?)

The Liberty Hotel’s Social Media page: This caught my eye this week. Looking forward to the launch of a social media guide for all BU accounts (currently in the works). Twitter users: Have you bookmarked our “BU on Twitter” list?

BU 2015: Student Blogs

We’ve noticed several initiatives across campus by students and organizations to acclimate prospective and current students (especially BU 2015) to life at BU and in Boston this summer. Some examples:

• The Quad’s “Cheapskate’s Guide to Boston,” running all summer, and “Orienting to BU,” just for freshmen
• COM Ambassadors: Check out their blog — they’re tweeting on @COMUGrad, too.
• BU FYI, run by the Dean of Students’ office (check Kenn’s blog, too — he has a new playlist each week for orientation)
• Common@Mugar: The Mugar team has been pounding the pavement — check out their latest initiative, New@BU, aimed at the freshman class. They also released a fun video this week on Session 2 of orientation.

Anything we might be missing? Have an article that struck a chord for you this past week? Send it our way in the comments.

- Jenny

Image courtesy roncaglia on Flickr / Creative Commons.