We have sprung forward,
whether we were ready to or not ⏰😴🌷

Level up on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the social platform that boasts the largest following for most institutions. (That’s thanks in part to the now-defunct “University” pages that had an auto-follow feature to connect people with the institutions they listed on their profiles under Education.) 

Regardless of how you acquired it, you’re sitting on a social media goldmine, and it’s time to take full advantage of that large following on LinkedIn: alums, of course, but also other potential donors, current students (and even some prospective students), parents, current faculty/staff and prospective employees. LinkedIn may be the platform with the largest variety of reach among all priority audiences for institutions, yet it’s neglected in most strategies. Most post articles from an internal news platform a few times a week and move on. 

Engagement is at an all-time high right now on LinkedIn. Here’s how to take advantage of that:

• Video. You’re (hopefully) already producing it for other channels. Post it on LinkedIn.
  
• Campus Beauty. LinkedIn followers like seeing the campus. Renderings of future buildings and photo galleries of newly opened spaces also perform exceptionally well.
  
• Influencers and thought leaders. Whether it be your institution’s president, a highly cited researcher or another leader, partner with a LinkedIn personality for great content that will reach both your networks. At the very least, give them a tag when posting about them, which should include any earned media pieces.
  
• Don’t forget about the power of LinkedIn groups for alumni and other niche, close-knit areas you’re trying to reach with a community-connecting approach.
• Showcase pages — child pages of your main page — could be a great way to have some governance over your institution’s LinkedIn presence while giving other units a place of their own.

I watched a quirky, fun and short-lived social media trend take off last week. The cracker brand Ritz kicked it off, and then hundreds of brands took part in the trend by saying "Reply with a 🫴 and we'll give you a [something relevant to their brand]." Starbucks figured out a way to monetize it by offering drink suggestions, while others just had fun with it and were able to add their own flair. Great content often takes timing, planning, approvals and more. But sometimes it just naturally and quickly comes together, and that is why social media managers need to be empowered, with the freedom to join the hype and jump in. There’s no time to get approvals and have senior leaders wordsmith something that is moving this quickly. This does not mean social media managers should always work on an island. I’m a huge proponent of social media content being a source of collaboration among multiple teams in higher ed, especially when it comes to integrated campaigns. But sometimes, social media managers need the leeway to disrupt their scheduled content plans for the day to join the fun. 

Admitted student days are in full swing on campuses this month, and hundreds of thousands of college-ready high schoolers have yet to make decisions. Now is not the time to take your foot off the pedal on prospective student-focused content on your social media channels. Share user-generated content of those who have decided and declared it on their social media; gather some imagery of the best spots on campus and stitch them into a Reel/TikTok; and let admitted students know about your institution's variety of student club options or cool electives. One of your social media posts could be just the nudge a student needed to finally decide to put down a deposit.

Around the socials

> Meta is looking at launching Twitter-alternative platform
> More social media chatter moves to DMs — what does that mean for your strategy?

> TikTok's in-app purchases totaled more than $350M last quarter

My favorite moments at RWJ have been meeting with social media managers and specialists at various campuses and talking over their pain points, successes and everything in between. A little social media therapy is good for the soul. That is why we are launching Social Media Office Hours. Are you stuck somewhere? Just need an additional gut check or some advice on a strategy? I am happy to help talk it over. Your first session is on me, and you do not need to be an RWJ client to access this.

RWJ Social helps higher ed institutions shape social strategy through a variety of services, including influencer engagement, benchmarking, monitoring and more.

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