I recently undertook the task of coming up with the simplest possible Social Media Strategy for Higher Ed.  Easy to memorize and implement, it consists of finding conversations, hosting conversations, and participating.

Of course, for most that wasn’t really a manual they could sink their teeth into, so after having a lot of conversations I came up with a more robust set of five guiding principles:

Think relevant and dynamic. Come up with a few major segments of your audience, and make a few streams of content production that speak to that segment.  Keep it going always.

Think chunky and sticky. Today’s internet users are being bombarded, you have to catch their eye with images and video.  At any point if you expose them to more information than they are asking for, you lose them.

Think real-time dialog. You should know when people are posting and asking questions, and you should respond in a relevant time period – which is as soon as possible.

Think showcase. Remember, people are primarily interested in themselves and their immediate social group, so you can capture your audience a person at a time by featuring them.  Have them guest blog, post their pictures, have them tell their stories.  They’ll pay attention and share it with their friends.

Think call-to-action and conversion. Always be pushing them down the funnel.  Social media participation is just another conversion point in a blended marketing environment.  If you don’t ask them to take the next step or view more information, they definitely won’t.