communications – Andrew Careaga

Question of the day: Should universities tweet?

Last November, we set up a Twitter account for our university and mildly publicized the fact on our Name Change Conversations blog. But we haven’t done much with it.

At this point, we have 11 followers, including myself and a couple other communications staffers, and we’ve updated eight times. I haven’t yet worked with our enrollment management team to inform prospective students of the site, and we haven’t notified our alumni through our traditional communications vehicles (email and the alumni magazine).

So, it’s been a very low-key campaign — if you could call it that.

I haven’t found any examples of other universities using Twitter for marketing, pr or external communications purposes.

This morning, I asked the Twittersphere how university comms/PR/marketing folks might be able to use this tool, and have gotten some interesting responses. Here are a few of them:

fcmartin3rd suggests that campuses use Twitter for “inspirational messages; connection with high schoolers; following thought leaders; reminders; pedagoguery!”

amandachapel says, “there’s very little value here. Besides, why would any org want to hold an open meeting on a lawless freeway?”

toster tweets: “I can see universities Twittering for comms, but little else. Even then, I would expect it to be only partially adopted.”

vargasl suggests: “What about twittering events at school? Gaining prospective student interest… ” (That’s how she handled the Oscars on Sunday night, live-twittering while watching E!)

You can keep track of the conversation on my Twitter page. But I’d also like to hear from you readers, too. I know some of you see little value in this tool, and I know others of you who use it regularly as a personal/semi-professional tool but not necessarily as an official representation of your school.

So, let’s hear all sides on the matter.

How could Twitter be incorporated in a college/university communications strategy?

Also, if you know of any universities currently using Twitter, please let me know so I can see how they’re doing.

Leave your comments below or, if you’re on Twitter and want to keep it to 140 characters or fewer, drop a Tweet to http://twitter.com/andrewcareaga.

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Now playing: Johnny Thunders – You Can’t Put Your Arms Round a Memory
via FoxyTunes

Job opportunity at Missouri S&T

If you’re interested in working in a dynamic, sometimes stressful, often fun, communications department of a technological research university, then have I got a deal for you.

I’m currently searching for an assistant director of communications to help us move forward as we make the transition from the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) to Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). The communications department coordinates all PR, marketing and branding for the campus, in consultation with several other internal groups.

From my perspective, the ideal candidate will be someone who can manage the processes, work flow and staffing allocation for projects that involve small teams of staff across disciplines (i.e., graphic designers, writers and editors, and web designers/coders together). We need someone who can invigorate and inspire as well as “manage” people and processes. Although we’re a small enough team, with enough collaboration, that we don’t require a lot of managing.

The person doesn’t necessarily have to have a higher ed background. At this point, I’m leaving options open so we can get as large a pool as possible.

Interested? Drop me a line (andrew DOT careaga AT gmail DOT com) or log on to UMR’s Employment Opportunities site to register and search for the job.

Friday Five: not that you asked, but…

The Internet is full of unsolicited advice. Some of it is even useful. Here are five bits of counsel that may interest you:

For writers: Five easy steps to editing your own work, by Anna Goldsmith of The Hired Pens, guest blogging at CopyBlogger.
For marketers struggling with ROI of social media: Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent offers some ideas about measurement as part of a marketing meme making the rounds.
For communicators, marketers, history buffs and closet socialists: FutureLab offers a lesson in mass communications with Soviet Propaganda – The Art of Mass Persuasion. Posted by Ilya Vedrashko on Thursday, the 90th anniversary of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, it features Vedrashko’s slide show of images that “showcase some of the tools and techniques used by the Soviet AgitProp (agitation and propaganda) as well as other governments, democratic and otherwise, and how some of the imagery was borrowed by brand marketers.” Makes you wonder who really won the cold war.
For web designers and managers: Sam Jackson’s take on why college and university web sites don’t make the grade.
For alumni relations folks: Andy Shaindlin (alumni futures) introduces a new Facebook group just for you.

Bonus link: discovered later but for everyone — be they writers, editors, designers, marketers, bosses, bureaucrats, teachers, students … anyone and everyone: 10 Simple, Sure-fire Ways to Make Today Your Best Day Ever. Just gloss over the metaphysical portions if you like (although I recommend reading the whole thing). If you don’t read it today, read it before you go to work on Monday.

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Now playing: The New Pornographers – Adventures In Solitude
via FoxyTunes