This summer I created our department's Facebook Page and Twitter account.
Since then, other offices on campus have asked me for advice on Page
creation, gaining departmental buy-in, and increasing student
interaction. Although I can talk for hours about the intricacies and
possibilities of social networking, a beginner really only needs to
learn three simple steps. If you're unaware of the difference between
Pages and groups, learn more here.
Three Keys to a Successful Facebook Page:
- Keep administration in the loop. At the very least, make
sure your direct supervisor knows you're creating the page. If you need
data to justify Facebook participation, check out this presentation by Dr. Rey Junco about Facebook and student engagement. If you face resistance to social networking, try these 7 Creative Ways to Introduce Social Media to Your Team. Also, many of the bloggers on this site can offer anecdotal information about Facebook use on their campus - Be intentional when choosing Page administrators. If
you're in the position to have access to more than one potential
administrator, make sure you have a mix of people that (1) have
knowledge about your department, (2) understand the how-to's of
Facebook, and (3) have lots of Facebook friends on your campus (or in
your target audience). - Add content, THEN advertise. Too often staff/students get
very excited about a new social networking opportunity and want to
advertise it to the public right away. I would recommend taking a few
weeks or months to build content (complete your profile information,
add photos and videos, post status updates, etc). If you followed Step 2 and used your well-connect administrators to suggest fans of your
page, word-of-mouth should already have garnered some fan interactions.
Only when your page looks like something that would entice student to
come back should you consider advertising it in official publications.
When you make the decision to do this, take any opportunity you can to
make your social networking presence legitimate. For example, we
provide links to our Facebook Page and twitter account on our
department's homepage.
These three steps should get you started. From here, your
interactions should lead you to develop your Page in the manner that
best serves your population.
