Week 14: Social Media Reviewed

Looking back at all of the social media that we have worked with, there are some definite standouts which I feel gave me the best ROI. Others were fun at times, and yielded some useful information that I may not otherwise have come across. Still, given the investment in time for many of the platforms, I know that I would primarily just use Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the immediate future. I've also realized that I will need to delegate the duties of updating our social media, since I have come to find out it can be a commitment to deliver content on a daily basis.

Facebook has been great, especially since I have learned how to better integrate with other platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Learning to utilize the woobox features was key for this integration, and I feel that it has given us a more robust page. This is one area that I would like to facilitate greater collaboration with my colleagues, especially having somebody add posts a few days per week. Instagram has by far been the platform with which we have had the greatest collaboration and creativity with. While I feel confident with the written communication involved, there are others who far surpass me in presenting important information in a very creative manner. Thus far, I have left that up to them. Similar to Instagram, I feel that our department needs to have a daily presence on Twitter. Without that, we become a second thought to our followers and our presence will stagnate.

Another reason to use Twitter and Instagram on a daily basis is that they are extremely entertaining to use and communicate with followers. In fact, one of the highlights of my Twitter use came halfway through the semester when I was able to directly apply what we have learned from class and especially from the text "Likeable Social Media". I had just gotten back to my office from a meeting and noticed a series of Twitter notification that somebody had tagged our account in their comments. From what I gathered, the individual had a negative experience over the phone with one of our staff members, in addition to some concerning behavior on the person's personal account. As quickly as possible I added the person, apologized for the experience that they had, and asked them to follow us so that we could private message eachother. I was able to get the individual to speak with one of our counselors which made the person feel better about the initial interaction. They later returned to Twitter praising us for how quickly we addressed the matter and expressing gratitude for having somebody to hear their concerns.

For the time being, I'll use Facebook on a less frequent basis, but increase Instagram and Twitter to daily interactions or posts. On a side note, I have found a lot of enjoyment out of the blog, however, I don't see using it for our department. If I continue to blog it will be for personal enjoyment, not necessarily with any common topic, or for any particular reason.