What Should a College President Know About Social Media?
Maybe your president knows quite enough about social media. Or maybe he or she needs some help understanding what it is and why a president should pay attention to, or even use, Twitter or Facebook (or both!) himself or herself.
So what should presidents know about social media? Why is it important? Why should they use it themselves? What are the benefits to them? To their institutions? Who will pay attention to their tweets or updates or posts? Do you know of a president who’s doing a great job with social media?
And: why am I asking these questions?
It’s simple: I’m doing a workshop next month at CIC’s Presidents Institute. I’m really pleased to be co-presenting in this session with Dr. Robert L. Wyatt, the president of Coker College. President Wyatt tweets as @robertlwyatt.
So this is your opportunity to influence the thinking of the leaders of some of the best colleges in the country. Don’t delay: act now! Share your thoughts via the comments below or send me michael.stoner(at)mstoner.com.
A president doesn’t need to know how to tweet, how to blog or even how to share a story on Facebook. However, she does need to know the impact of these activities since they have the potential to impact everything else she does.
I’m fortunate to work at an institution where the president recognizes the potential of social media and fully embraces it as a means to communicate with various audiences. President Elizabeth (Beth) J. Stroble regularly tweets her experiences and engages her fans on Facebook. She’s one of the best I’ve seen.
http://twitter.com/websterpres
https://www.facebook.com/BethStroble
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Patrick Powers
Great topic! Administrators should understand why they want to use social media before entering to the space. There is a lot to think about when deciding to commit to having a social media presence.
It’s easy to be a passive observer and I think college Presidents should, at the very least, give this a shot. It requires much more effort to be an active participant however. This means not only learning how to use social media to communicate and adopting new habits, but for those who are very removed from communication technologies this could involve significant a lifestyle change to really be engaged.
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Ashley Hennigan
Patrick, I agree that presidents need to understand social media and its impact, even if they don’t use it themselves. It’s clear from our research on social media and advancement that the more investment institutions have in their social channels, the more successful they are. And I’m going to follow @BethStroble right now! Thanks for the recommendation, especially because Webster is a CIC member….
Ashley, thank you for the observation about lurking before doing. I agree: understanding the commitment to do it well is really important!
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Michael Stoner
I agree with Patrick; Presidents need not participate in social media (especially if it doesn’t come naturally for them - trying to force it doesn’t work), but they need to be aware of its impact. They can cultivate the expertise to make the most effective use of SM within their organization.
Perhaps most important is the level of transparency it brings to everything people in visible positions do (so they need to be cautious about how they present themselves in their ‘private’ life - if such a thing exists).
Moreover, they need to realize that the unprecedented transparency has put a lot of power in the hands of students to speak loudly when they aren’t treated fairly, so customer service needs to be a core competency of every institution (even colleges).
Another important ingredient in being successful with social media is the space and resources to experiment with the new medium. Hopefully college presidents are encouraging their marketing and public relations staff to try new things and learn from the results.
Finally, they need not be afraid of social media. So much emphasis is placed on the potential negative consequences of information coming to light through SM when the reality is that it produces far more positive messages that need to be amplified.
Posted on December 5, 2011 by Derek DeVries
All good comments and very relevant to your presentation, Michael.
Based on our experience, one of the most important elements to address is what Derek refers to in his post: not to be afraid of social media.
Many college presidents are baby boomers who don’t totally understand social media because of their lack of use and a general misunderstanding about the medium. Their reluctance to consider using or embracing it is also heavily shaped by a strong bias for traditional forms of communication. Providing the presidents with evidence about how useful social media can be will be a big step in helping individuals overcome their fears and gain a greater understanding about its potential.
The other big topic that presidents have brought up with us is the dollar cost of time and talent. Since most CIC member institutions are heavily tuition-driven, there is always a heightened sensitivity about adding to the expense side of the ledger. In most cases, the investment in social media is more of a reallocation of resources and doesn’t represent the financial obstacle that many presidents and CFOs believe it is.
Posted on December 5, 2011 by John Lawlor
Derek and John—great comments. I agree that not being afraid of social media is essential: not only as far as doing it personally is concerned, but also understanding that now there’s a disadvantage for an institution not to be involved in the conversations that are going on about it on social channels.
I also know that there’s a hurdle to overcome in understanding how social channels can be useful to an individual and to an institution. That’s why presidents can benefit from lurking, to see how things work even if they don’t end up having much of a presence themselves. Helps them to prioritize staff time which is the real cost for engagement.
Posted on December 6, 2011 by Michael Stoner
I think that presidents should know that it’s important for them to share their positive experiences with social media with other presidents and powerful academic leaders. As has been mentioned here, there’s a fear of social media, and that fear comes from the unknown. I think it would be great if presidents that have had good experiences embracing new media expressed their experience with their peers (in journals and at conferences), this would help some of the social media-averse university leadership get over some of their initial fear and perhaps attempt to try it.
Posted on December 12, 2011 by Kindra Cotton