Higher Ed Social Media Summit

In our industry, we understand social media's essential role in supporting business goals, brand awareness, reputation, and audience engagement. Building a collaborative and effective social media strategy requires support, and those who don’t eat, sleep, and breathe social marketing may not see the strengths and opportunities as clearly. 

This presentation will focus on strategies to increase organizational buy-in for social media marketing by:

• Demonstrating the value of social media through data-driven evidence
• Understanding and addressing key stakeholders
• Addressing common challenges and offering tailored solutions
• Aligning goals
• Communication strategies and leveraging success stories

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Join Emma Dickerson for an insightful presentation on the importance of making your social media content accessible through the use of alt text for images and captions for videos. Discover why accessibility is crucial for creating an inclusive online environment and learn practical tips for implementing these features effectively. This session will empower you to enhance your social media presence by ensuring your content is accessible to everyone, including individuals with visual and hearing impairments.

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In recent months, Vanderbilt University has found itself at the center of national attention. From making headlines for our proactive response to the U.S. News & World Report scoring changes to being among the first universities in the nation to address student encampments and protests, Vanderbilt has been in the spotlight for various reasons. This session will explore how Vanderbilt has effectively leveraged social media to navigate these tumultuous times and reinforce and enhance the thought leadership of our Chancellor and Provost.

Join us to discover the strategic approaches Vanderbilt University employed to maintain a strong, positive presence amid challenges. We will delve into the specific social media strategies used to communicate our stance on national rankings, engage with student concerns, and uphold the university's reputation. This presentation will provide insights into how consistent, transparent, and thoughtful social media use can be a powerful tool for institutional leadership and crisis management.

Attendees will gain valuable lessons on:

• Crafting compelling social media narratives during crises.
• Engaging effectively with diverse university stakeholders through digital platforms.
• Strengthening institutional leadership's public persona and influence in challenging times.

Learn from Vanderbilt University's recent experiences to enhance your own institution's social media strategy and leadership communication.

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Creating an effective content strategy requires that marketers be thoughtful, flexible, and creative. Panelists will explore approaching content strategically, along with the nuts and bolts of ways marketers can stay consistent.

Discuss topics include:

• Mapping content to institutional goals and priorities
• Strategy tools available to make long-term content planning accessible and approachable
• Working internally and externally to develop collaborative content
• Planning for recurring events and balancing consistency vs. creativity
• How to leverage repurposing content and posting cadence to your advantage
• Finding content inspiration beyond your industry 
• Tackling content creation planning while balancing other social media priorities

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The right tech stack can massively impact a marketer’s efficiency, time management, and output. During this panel, marketers will compare tools they’ve seen make the biggest impact on their day-to-day work and the best use cases for them. 

Discussion topics include:

• Reviews of social media tools across various categories, including content creation, calendars, time management, social media listening, and more
• The role of tools in coordinating content plans with other social media marketers across campus
• How tools can support content planning in the short-term and long-term
• Noteworthy tools that support the time and budget constraints of the solo social media team

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The ever-evolving landscape of social media platforms requires carefully crafted strategies that are not only adaptable, engaging, and inclusive but also tailored to each platform algorithm.  With so many algorithm changes and new platforms emerging, it’s imperative that we understand the most effective strategies for each channel — including how the algorithms are designed, the ways in which they have changed recently, and where new platforms emerging have altered the landscape. 

These channels are incredibly powerful for communicating, connecting, and collaborating in their own ways, and with so many platforms, it can be difficult to classify them into one category for our work. With that in mind, we will examine them on an individual level to digest the value-add opportunities and the ways in which they influence one another. This session will review the most used social media platforms within the higher education industry and a few new players in the landscape. 

Takeaways: 

• Understand the current state of social media platforms and the various algorithms we are all trying to navigate (and dominate!). 
• Learn strategic approaches to ensure your brand’s social media content is designed for success on each social media platform. 
• Gain insights and skills in dynamic tactics to craft strategies, content, and engagement approaches that succeed across platforms.

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Videos are engaging and can drive incredible results that are not easily achieved using other static content formats. This panel will break down important considerations and “do’s and don’ts” for video content creation to help solo social media marketers and content teams streamline their processes and create their best-performing videos based on their brand goals.

Topics include:

• A breakdown of what makes an engaging video (story, structure, aspect ratio, and platform-by-platform style)
• How to create a video content creation workflow that works for you and your student workers
• Easy-to-use tools and other quick-win strategies to make video production easier
• Higher Ed-specific obstacles to getting footage and tips to overcome them
• Finding ways to showcase most students in videos and creating video content that feels authentic to your student body

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Historically, higher education communications have struggled or even avoided creating content around identity and heritage moments in the calendar year. The reasons for this are many: the volume of moments could overrule an editorial calendar, staff bandwidth issues, the need for cultural accuracy, creating a “fairness of coverage” among the moments, and lastly, avoiding performative declarations. 

However, recent cultural shifts have increased expectations for organizations to recognize cultural moments and support diversity. A lack of content can be perceived as “not caring” about a community. Universities must now ensure a diversity of stories and storytellers in their communications to foster a meaningful online community. But how is this work done in a meaningful, non-performative way that is relevant to their actual campus community?

Attendees of this talk will leave with:

• A framework for decision-making
• Guidance on how to approach culturally relevant content
• Real examples of how communities are celebrated
• Challenges and concerns to consider

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Tracking metrics and social media ROI often fall under the purview of solo social media marketers. In this session, Joel will share tips for managing metrics and analytics when time and resources are of the essence. 

You’ll learn how to:

• Keep track of the important metrics if you’re facing data-overwhelm
• Identify what you should be measuring
• How to translate the numbers into insights leadership will value
• Different ways to organize and calculate metrics
• Streamline tracking and reporting to make your life easier
• Defining light engagement vs. deep engagement
• Prioritize metrics and performance analysis alongside all of your other social media duties
• How to draw analytics from your competitors

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Student content creators are incredibly important to most higher ed marketers’ social media programs. While the opportunities feel endless, they can sometimes be hindered by time and resources, especially for one-person social media teams. During this panel, you’ll hear from time- and resource-strapped marketers on how they’ve managed to support a growing student social media team to help expand their content efforts. 

Topics include:

• Hiring, expected hours, and compensation best practices to consider depending on your available budget
• Balancing mentorship with production output from your student workers 
• Encouraging collaboration within your team of student content creators
• Managing, communicating, and establishing a content creation flow to keep students motivated and engaged
• Shared highlights and challenges that come along with establishing and growing a student content team

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While always a balance of risk and reward, social media trends provide incredible and unique opportunities to connect with your audiences. This panel will dive into the nuances of thoughtfully choosing the right moments for your brand to reap the biggest benefits. 

Discussion topics include:

• Trendspotting and forecasting: How to identify relevant trends and adopt them in a timely manner. 
• Creating an internal formula for evaluating trends: How to determine the right content fit for your brand, when to pass on a trend, and resources for guidance on trending content
• Incorporating trending formats into a pre-existing social media strategy
• How trends can backfire in the current social media landscape 
• Examples from our speakers on trend successes, how they’ve approached making tough calls on content, and lessons learned from underperforming content

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Section 1: The Student Recruiting Arc: Finding Collaborators to Amplify Your Mission with Kellen Manning

Finding students and building relationships to set the table for potential collaborations is a core tenet of our overall social strategy at Penn State. Meeting with up to five students a week has created an environment where students from across the University can authentically present themselves and their communities, spotlighting what makes our University unique and staying in line with our mission, values, and goals. To do this, we utilize every tool our platforms provide to create a never-ending supply of potential collaborators. This section will explore our methods and processes for building a robust student collaboration program.

What you’ll learn:

• Finding and reaching out to students from across the university using the tools platforms provide
• Building relationships that lead to unique content that showcases a thriving, diverse community while remaining in line with our University mission
• Utilizing the students' strengths and past work to get the most out of the collaboration
• Strategies on how to get students to participate, whether it be one-off posts or long-term paid roles

Section 2:  Setting Student Content Creators Up for Success with Rachael Hagerstrom

Students play a pivotal role in creating digital content for higher education institutions. This section will explore ways to leverage students' experiences, skills, and perspectives to create meaningful social media content that is authentic to the student experience and upholds the institution’s values and mission. 

What you’ll learn: 

• How to create a structure for students to work within for content creation that aligns with institutional goals, including setting expectations, resource management, and how to conduct brainstorming sessions and select assignments for students
• What things to think about when sending students out to create content on behalf of the institution 
• Managing your student content budget and balancing paid workers with volunteer opportunities
• The importance of understanding and working within your student culture to empower them to create content in the ways that work best for them

Section 3:  Expanding the Influence and Scope of Your Student Team with Stephanie Ramirez

Once you’ve found your students, built a structure for their work, and developed them as content creators, it’s important to consider expanding their social media management and strategic skills. Students who understand the behind-the-scenes work of a social media manager not only produce better content but can also help alleviate your workload. This section will explore how you can fold your student creators into your overall strategy and expand the influence and scope of their work.

What you’ll learn: 

• How to understand and cater to students’ interests and strengths
• Where students fit in behind the scenes
• What kinds of tasks and opportunities to delegate to students, from day-to-day drafting to creating campaigns
• How to fold student content creators and their work into the big picture, i.e., your institution’s social media strategy

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Join us for an immersive workshop designed to transform your approach to content creation through the power of AI. Our agenda is structured to provide a comprehensive understanding of AI use cases for content creation, practical experience with cutting-edge tools, and collaborative discussions to enhance your content strategy. Your instructor will guide you through AI creation of images, text, and video. This workshop will include educational segments, breakout sessions, and hands-on activities to ensure you leave with actionable insights and skills.

Key Takeaways:

• Practical Application: Hands-on activities will allow you to experiment with AI tools for generating and optimizing content.
• Visual Content Creation: Learn how to create and enhance images and videos using AI, making your content more engaging.
• Strategic Integration: Get insights on how to incorporate AI-driven content strategies into your existing marketing plans.

Agenda and Activities

Chapter 1: Understanding AI in Content Creation

15 Minutes - Education

• Introduction to AI in Marketing: What AI can do for content creation
• Key AI Tools: Overview of popular AI tools and platforms for marketers
• Case Studies: Successful examples of AI-driven content strategies

10 Minutes - Breakout Session

• Group Discussion: Identifying AI opportunities in your current content strategy

10 Minutes - Learning Share Out

• Sharing insights and ideas from breakout sessions with the larger group

10 Minutes - Break

Chapter 2: Implementing AI in Your Content Strategy

20 Minutes - Education

• Content Ideation: Using AI for generating content ideas and topics
• Content Creation: How AI can assist in writing, editing, and optimizing content

15 Minutes - Hands-On Activity

• Experimenting with AI tools for content ideas and topics

10 Minutes - Learning Share Out

• Sharing experiences and outcomes from the hands-on activity

10 Minutes - Break

Chapter 3: Visual Content: Leveraging AI for image and video creation

Part 1: Introduction to AI in Visual Content Creation 

15 Minutes - Education

• Overview: How AI is transforming image and video creation
• AI Tools for Visual Content: Introduction to tools like Canva, Adobe Sensei, Lumen5, and others
• Generating Images: Using AI to create original images and graphics
• Editing and Enhancing: Automating photo editing, retouching, and enhancements with AI

15 Minutes - Hands-On Activity

• Practical Exercise: Creating and editing images and videos
• Participants will use the tool to generate and enhance images based on given prompts

5 min break

Part 2: Video + AI 

10 Minutes - Education

• Video Creation: Using AI to produce engaging videos quickly (e.g., Lumen5, Magisto)
• Editing and Enhancement: Automating video editing, adding effects, and optimizing for platforms

15 Minutes - Hands-On Activity

• Practical Exercise: Creating and editing images and videos
• Participants will use the tool to generate and enhance images based on given prompts

15 Minutes - Learning Share Out

• Group Discussion: Sharing images and videos created during the hands-on activity
• Feedback and insights from participants on their experience

5 Minutes - Closing Remarks

• Summary of key takeaways
• Additional resources and next steps for integrating AI into your content strategy

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Join us for an immersive 3-hour workshop divided into three chapters, each featuring breakout sessions and ample time for questions. We'll embark on a journey to establish a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) account from the ground up. 

Witness a live screen share with Brenton as he navigates through GA4's Setup Assistant, providing real-time guidance every step of the way. Next, delve into Google Tag Manager (GTM), where we'll harness data directly from your website to seamlessly integrate it into GA4 for comprehensive tracking. Concluding the workshop, we'll explore advanced techniques for maximizing GA4 reporting capabilities and address common reporting challenges.

Key takeaways:

• Mastery of GA4 implementation
• Utilizing GTM to transmit tailored events to GA4 for precise conversion tracking
• Techniques for filtering and segmenting data within GA4

Agenda and Activities

Chapter 1: Getting Started with GA4

(40 minutes)

• Understanding UA versus GA4 (Poll: Familiarity with GA4)
• Live “Setup Assistant” walkthrough
  • Defining key audiences for tracking
  • Linking GA4 to Google Ads
  • Breakout session for hands-on practice
  • Q&A session

Chapter 2: Event and Conversion Configuration using Google Tag Manager

(100 minutes)

• Introduction to GTM and its functionality
• Setting up a new GTM Account and linking it to GA4
  • Live creation of three tags to monitor three distinct events using GTM (Poll: Lead generation vs E-commerce)
  • Breakout session for practical exercises
  • Q&A session
• Utilizing GA4’s DeBug View for pageview and event tracking testing
  • Breakout session for further exploration
  • Q&A session
• Converting Events into Conversions in GA4

Chapter 3: Data Interpretation in GA4

(40 minutes)

• Overview of reporting features in GA4
  • Segmenting data based on multiple dimensions
  • Filtering reports according to events and conversions
  • Enhancing reports with additional metrics
• Addressing common data issues
  • Ensuring accurate channel groupings
  • Achieving audience eligibility for paid ads
• Conclusion and final Q&A session

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In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the ways in which brands approach social media advertising are transforming at an unprecedented pace. This keynote panel, "The Evolution of Social Media Advertising: From Targeting to Personalization," will delve into the critical shifts that are reshaping how businesses connect with their audiences. Industry leaders will explore cutting-edge strategies for scaling content, the growing role of AI in driving hyper-personalization, and the importance of first-party data in refining targeting efforts. The session will also address the integration of AI and machine learning in social media strategies, the rise of new platforms, and effective influencer collaborations to boost authentic engagement and sales.

Key Takeaways:

• Proven strategies for scaling content to meet the demands of personalized advertising.
• Insights into the role of generative and predictive AI in enhancing targeting and personalization efforts.
• The importance of leveraging first-party data for more effective audience targeting.
• Predictions on AI and machine learning’s impact on social media strategies in 2024-2025.
• Emerging social media platforms and features that retail and grocery brands should prioritize to engage the next generation of consumers.
• Best practices for collaborating with influencers to foster authentic engagement and drive sales in a competitive market.

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We all want to improve our social media. There’s a lot of guidance and toolkits out there on how to increase engagement, grow your audiences, and drive traffic. But, this expert advice can feel like it doesn’t work for small teams or teams of one. There’s another way. By taking a data-driven approach towards social media, you can craft a custom strategy that fits your capacity.  

In this session, I will share how you can use data, available freely through social media platforms, to develop a strategy that fits your audience and is more resilient in the face of the ever-changing algorithms. Get tips for starting with social media experiments and learn how to creatively reuse content. By taking a data-informed approach, you and your team (if you are lucky enough to have one) can ensure that your social media has the greatest impact while not overtaxing you. 

You’ll learn: 

• How to use data to drive your social media strategy. 
• Best practices for running social media experiments. 
• Tips for repurposing and reusing content efficiently so you never struggle to find something to post. 

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In this session, Katie Gancarz of Hyatt Hotels Corporation will share how you can create thumb-stopping content across social media channels while leveraging data-driven insights, existing available content, and cultural insights and trends, no matter your budget size. This session will highlight how World of Hyatt’s social creates beautiful, engaging social media content across different channels and builds upon learnings with performance insights. 

Takeaways include: 

• Tips for how to combine data-driven insights and cultural trends in the content planning stage
• Pointers on how to elevate available assets of any kind with free tools 
• Best practices for creating eye-catching video content 

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In today's digital age, Social Media has become an essential marketing channel for driving brand awareness, engagement, and growth. For the perceived "lucky ones," Social Media has also become a key revenue driver, but the truth is, it is usually not just luck. 

A brand's willingness to invest in Social Media and apply a "social-first" approach to their business is what often makes these channels profitable. 

During this session, you will learn how to create a social-first environment across your company and position Social Media as a true business asset. 

Drawing from years of experience managing and growing Social Media for top brands, we'll explore key tactics to help you make Brand Social a central pillar of your company's marketing efforts.

You'll learn:

• A framework for establishing a social-first culture within your company
• Best practices for integrating social media into your overall marketing strategy
• Strategies to ensure your social media efforts are recognized and supported throughout the company

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LinkedIn Members interact with LinkedIn Pages over 2B times per month, which makes it essential that your brand's presence and content stands out. This session is designed to offer you top tips and tricks to help you make the most of your brand’s presence.

In this session, you'll learn practical strategies to enhance your brand’s visibility, including:

• The importance of creating a strong Page for your brand on LinkedIn and how to do it effectively
• Best practices for creating and sharing content that drives engagement on LinkedIn
• LinkedIn formats and features to best convey your message
• How to build a community around your brand
• Optimizing content with analytics

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In today's digital landscape, brands must be prepared to manage crises, navigate customer dissatisfaction, and respond to negative sentiment on social platforms. This session will explore how leading companies handle such challenges, sharing insights into decision-making frameworks, cross-functional collaboration, and best practices for crisis management. Panelists will discuss how to balance the need for rapid response with thoughtful, strategic action, all while maintaining the well-being of your social media team. Learn how to safeguard your brand’s reputation and effectively serve your customers even in the toughest situations.

Key Takeaways:

• Develop decision-making frameworks for determining when and how to respond to negativity online.
• Explore cross-functional collaboration strategies to ensure the right teams are involved in crisis response.
• Understand the importance of governance policies and regular audits of your social media crisis plan.
• Discover escalation best practices and the key roles within a crisis response team.
• Gain insights into social listening tools that can inform and improve your crisis management strategies.

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In today's digital landscape, the ability to extract actionable insights from social listening is crucial for driving strategic decision-making at the highest levels. This session will not only explore but also equip you with the practical skills to effectively gather, analyze, and present social listening insights that resonate with senior leadership. You'll learn how to tailor your data storytelling to align with executive priorities, ensuring your insights are clear, impactful, and directly tied to business goals. By focusing on actionable strategies and aligning key insights with business objectives, this talk will provide you with the tools to elevate your communication of social listening data to drive decision-making.

Key Takeaways: 

• How to identify the most relevant social listening insights for senior leadership
• Strategies to align social listening insights with business objectives and KPIs
• Techniques to simplify and streamline data storytelling for executive audiences
• Best practices for creating visually compelling, high-level presentations that drive actions 
• Examples of successful communication strategies for social listening insights 

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In today’s digital marketing era, maintaining a consistent and engaging social media presence shouldn’t break your budget or drain all your resources.

You will leave this session knowing how to better create and mobilize a holistic strategy that focuses on the strengths of your organic and paid social media tactics while driving engagement, elevating your brand and supporting demand generation.

This session will cover:

• How to develop your social media audience based on your ICP (ideal customer profile) and how to consistently engage your followers with persona focused content.
• Best practices for identifying successful organic content that can be further amplified for paid re-targeting efforts.
• Creative employee advocacy tactics that you can use to generate unique organic content that is perfect for boosting or setting the stage for a higher CTA ad.
• What metrics should you focus on to identify in real-time a successful paid/organic campaign and how to articulate that to leadership.
• Tactics that will enable marketers, at both smaller startups and enterprise level organizations, to better analyze data from paid initiatives to fuel higher engagement organic posts and visa versa.

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Influencers and creators are amassing big trust among consumers and it’s no secret they’re the key to a complete social media strategy. And while it can be difficult to imagine having to rationalize investing in influencers, it’s a day-to-day battle many social media practitioners fight. Building the structure and strategy for a brand influencer program is critical…and showing the impact of that program on your marketing efforts and business can be even more important.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this session:

• How to make the case for an influencer program budget and rationalize spend to leadership
• Creating an influencer content strategy that works hard for your brand but chases after business objectives
• How to build reporting that shows brand AND business impact to your peers and leadership

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ChatGPT reached 1 million users in just 5 days—a speed unmatched by any other platform. While some fear AI might replace human jobs, those who harness its power know that ChatGPT is a transformative tool that can enhance productivity and creativity. Understanding how to use ChatGPT effectively is becoming one of the most valuable skills in today's AI-powered economy.

In this session, Sydney Stern Miller, a Digital Marketing and Brand Strategist at Deloitte, will guide you through advanced ChatGPT prompting techniques that will take your social media marketing efforts to the next level. Discover how ChatGPT can become your smart intern, handling tasks ranging from content creation to customer engagement, freeing you to focus on strategic thinking and innovation.

You’ll learn:

• How to craft strategic prompts that maximize ChatGPT’s potential
• Techniques for integrating ChatGPT into your daily marketing tasks
• Ways to use ChatGPT for content generation, customer interaction, and data analysis
• Tips for balancing AI efficiency with essential soft skills
• Real-world examples of ChatGPT in action, from writing cover letters to explaining complex ideas

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In an age of hyper-connectivity and consumer skepticism, authenticity has become the cornerstone of effective brand storytelling. This session will delve into the strategies that help brands forge genuine connections with their audiences by showcasing real experiences, leveraging social proof, and building strong communities. Our panel of experts will explore how to create memorable social experiences that go beyond the ordinary, while also maintaining proactive and genuine engagement. Learn why authenticity is more important than ever in today’s social media landscape and how to craft stories that truly resonate.

Key Takeaways:

• Discover the role of social proof in enhancing brand authenticity and building trust with your audience.
• Learn how to create exceptional and memorable social experiences that resonate on a deeper level.
• Explore strategies for building and nurturing communities through authentic storytelling.
• Understand the importance of proactive engagement and real-time interactions that feel genuine.
• Gain insights into successful brands that exemplify effective and authentic storytelling.

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Join us for an insightful session where we delve into the success stories of UHealth, the University of Miami Health System, and the Miller School of Medicine's strategic social media initiatives. Discover the secrets behind our robust content strategy, fostering community engagement, and positioning ourselves as trusted authorities in the medical field. This session is important to attend for anyone working in healthcare education, managing multiple brands, or wanting to learn more about HIPAA regulations in social media content. 

Key Highlights

• Explore how UHealth achieved a remarkable 22.3% increase in total followers and a staggering 152.8% surge in engagement. 
• Uncover the details of our platform-specific tactics, including a vibrant 744% engagement increase on TikTok and a 164% surge on LinkedIn.
• Witness the dynamic and impactful social media brand crafted by the Miller School of Medicine. Dive into our well-thought-out content strategy that resulted in a remarkable 251% engagement growth across major platforms in just one year.
• Gain insights into how UHealth and the Miller School of Medicine have excelled in healthcare education and communication through social media initiatives. 
• Understand the commitment to excellence that has propelled these institutions to become trusted sources of medical knowledge and innovation.

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Higher education institutions are continually seeking innovative strategies to engage with their audience effectively. In this breakout session, we delve into the rich tapestry of insights gleaned from diverse industries and explore how these lessons can be applied to elevate social marketing efforts within higher education.

Drawing parallels between higher education and other sectors such as technology, retail, CPG, and entertainment, this session unveils a spectrum of innovative approaches, tools, and tactics that have proven successful in capturing audience attention, fostering community engagement, and driving impactful results.

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Instagram is still one of the most popular social media platforms among college students, but how can schools use it effectively to connect with them?

In this presentation, Brenna shares how she transformed UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Instagram presence from a passive, one-way communication channel to an active, student-centered community. Because of the intentional strategy shift, engagement increased by 105% compared to the previous year, and their audience also increased by 20%.

She discusses the strategies, tools, and best practices used to create and curate authentic content, including a template for reaching out to students and examples of high-performing posts.

After this talk, attendees will be able to:

• Use all types of Instagram posts (stories, Reels, feed) to showcase students
• Properly reach out to students/staff/faculty to gather content
• Keep content professional for a university while still having fun
• Track the best metrics for engagement

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Session objectives

• Understand the creator economy from the perspective of creators and the organizations hiring the
• Understand the strategies and tactics used by creators to grow followings and make content
• Understand how to discover and engage with the content creators on your campus

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Social media platforms are not just for sharing information and communication anymore. In today’s digitally connected world, social media is critical for higher education institutions to amplify their brand and set themselves apart. In this session, we’ll explore strategies to ensure your social media content truly reflects your institution and resonates with your audience.

After this session, you will be able to:

• Understand why a strong brand is so important to an integrated marketing strategy 
• Articulate what makes your own institution unique
• Identify elements that reinforce your brand’s identity on social media, such as visuals, phrases, traditions, voice, and tone
• Recognize the importance of storytelling to reinforce and support key messages

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At either the recreational or NCAA level, collegiate athletics plays an important role at most universities. It’s something for students, alumni, faculty, staff, and the public to rally around and provides a sense of community. At times, however, it can be hard to strike a balance on social media between promoting athletics and keeping the focus on student success in the classroom, faculty research, and other university initiatives.

Using the 2023 Georgia Game Changers campaign as an example, Jamie Lewis, senior social media manager at the University of Georgia, will provide a successful example of how her team partnered with UGA Athletics to leverage the success of the Georgia Bulldogs football team following back-to-back national championships to tell the story of 12 students who support the football ecosystem on Saturdays while excelling in the classroom and supporting the community during the week.

Attendees of this talk will leave with:

• Tactics on how to collaborate with university athletics and leverage on-the-field success to highlight academics
• Examples of ways to integrate athletic content into your institutional social media strategy
• Innovative approaches to short-form video content that highlight student success and student experiences on the field and in the classroom

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