Social Media at Youngstown State is a blog designed to achieve a dynamic interactive approach connecting communication to administrators. The blog is the result of work done by Ross Morrone, assistant director of Youngstown State University’s Office of Marketing Communications.
The blog is a resource for social media administrators at YSU, but it can be helpful to others outside the university as well.
The idea originated with Andrea Tharp, assistant editor of social media in the office of marketing communications. Tharp provides content for the site, while Morrone guided the website’s production. The inaugural posts were available to viewers on the website last week.
“The blog is more about unifying our entire social media team here at YSU. But in general, keeping a blog is a great way to try your hand at publishing and writing, becoming an expert in your field, networking, and building and listening to an audience,” Tharp said.
Tharp suggested one of the biggest challenges facing social media personnel at YSU was the lack of communication between administrators.
The office of marketing communications had tried on several occasions to attempt to educate others through campus-wide presentations and requested workshops. However, Tharp thought the most effective solution to their problem was to create an online resource for administrators to access whenever needed and on their own time. The blog was created for ideas and news to be shared amongst the group.
Social Media at Youngstown State includes four main sections: Tips and Tutorials, The Social News, Question and Answer and Helpful Articles.
Tips and Tutorials is a how-to section for various technical aspects of social media. It will also contain YSU related topics, such as how to choose a profile photo, how to name your YSU page and the university’s best practices.
The Social News at YSU is a collaborative area consisting of weekly updates and events happening around campus. The Social News will also share hashtags other YSU pages are promoting.
The Question and Answer section allows social administrators to send questions to Tharp about Facebook, Twitter, university policies, etc. Tharp will provide an answer and encourage other administrators to comment with additional information or help.
The last section, Helpful Articles, will link to articles regarding social media or changes to a specific platform. Helpful Articles will keep readers updated with what’s going on in the field.
From social media beginners to experts, Tharp hopes that this blog will become an active online hub and tool for the university.
“I think it will be a great way to build our team and better represent the university as a unified group online,” Tharp said.
Morrone stressed that over the past two years social media has become an intricate part of overall marketing strategy at YSU and is highly effective.
“Now that YSU is beginning to blog about social media, it shows that we’ve been able to establish a solid social media foundation in higher education,” Morrone said.
Morrone stated that he had been receiving emails from departments asking how they can better communicate with students.
“Social media can be a great means for communication, but they need to understand that there are right and wrong ways to use it,” he said. “This blog will be a place for them read, learn and reference as they develop their social channels.”
Morrone stated that students, faculty and staff can benefit from these social platforms as a means for personal and professional communication. He believes that online readers can gain an abundant amount of knowledge about social media from the blog.
The blog will consist of one to three updates per week and sometimes feature guest bloggers. Tharp plans on getting the word out about the blog by sending email newsletters to the social media administrators alerting them to the resource, encouraging them to send questions or updates from their fields of expertise and linking to popular posts around the web.
