Social Media University

In my role as QUT’s Digital Marketing Officer, I’ve been asked to investigate possible social media platforms that the university can use for its different channels.

There are major advantages to having a single social media platform for university content managers, so I won’t get into that here.

But in selecting a platform, you need to consider a fair few factors – after all, a fair few people within the university will be using this platform. A few of these are:

• the university publishing policy
• the platform’s features
• budget
• learning curve of users
• integration with other channels
• reliability

• The university publishing policy

This is one of the most important factors to consider when selecting a social media platform. Most clued-up universities have a publishing policy for social media. Why? To ensure that the content is accurate and written in a consistent tone of voice, for one, and to ensure a system of checks and balances for content. There’s a few more reasons, but you get the idea. For instance, some universities have content contributors that source and upload content, and content publishers which publish the content to the actual social media channel. Few social media platforms allow for this functionality – multiple users with different rights, and the few I could find include Media Funnel and CoTweet (enterprise version).

• The platform’s features

What functionality should your platform have? The best way to answer this is to ask yourself – what channels do I use, what do I do on these channels, and how do I do it? Most universities have Facebook presences, for example. Is it a person, group or page? Can the social media platform connect to these? Do I need to schedule posts? Can I reply via the platform? Can I upload photos? You get the idea. Do this for all major channels, including ones you aren’t currently on. For us, post scheduling, rich media uploading, multiple users are a must, for example. CoTweet has a good example of some features you should consider in enterprise social media platforms.

• Budget

Prices for implementing and using different enterprise social media platforms vary widely. Hootsuite’s Pro package starts from $5.99/mth, CoTweet’s package starts in the thousands and Media Funnel starts at $1/mth. Most platforms start charging when extra users/channels are added. A few of the free ones include Seesmic Desktop 2 and the ever-popular Tweetdeck. Considering obvious budget constraints for most university departments, and the ever-changing nature of technology, it’s imperative to get this one right.

• Learning curve of users

If an enterprise social media platform is implemented for a university, there will obviously be a wide range of platform users, some who are more inclined towards technology than others. Ask yourself – who at the least will be using this platform? How tech-savvy are they? Does the platform provide resources/training for users? Or is this something I’ll have to undertake? How quickly people are able to use a platform will be reflected in the efficiency of content dissemination as well as the effectiveness of the channel (and your decision-making abilities).

• Integration with other channels

It’s imperative that any social media platform integrates the main channel that your university uses. As a minimum, for example, we’re looking at Twitter, Facebook pages, Youtube and WordPress blogs, though their functionality within a social media marketing platform remains to be seen. I think the reasoning for this one is a no-brainer.

• Reliability

I’ve tried several social media platforms, and each seems to conk out on occasion. Sometimes they won’t connect to the channel’s API, sometimes they won’t retweet… the list goes on. If any platform is tasked with handling your university’s social media channels, it’s imperative that the channel is reliable. How do you check this? While no method is foolproof, I read reviews and forums for issues regarding the platforms I’m interested in, and where possible, use the test version of each for several weeks.

Either way, any (social media platform) solution isn’t set in stone  - merely the best decision, considering the resources, at that time.

Want a list of enterprise social media platforms? Try here, here and here. In the meantime, happy hunting with your chosen platform.

What other factors should be considered when selecting an enterprise social media platform?

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