December 2011
Thank you for your response to the last issue of Social Media News. In particular, we received some feedback to the question about social media and job descriptions, which we included below. Please continue to email all ideas and feedback to the New Media Initiatives Group.
This Month’s Topics
- Google Plus
- QR Codes 101
- Leadership Academy Course - Facebook II
- Social Media and Job Descriptions
- Don't Miss Clip
Google Plus
Facebook’s last huge feature advantage over Google Plus is now history, as the search engine giant recently debuted its equivalent of brand pages, but it will still take the challenger time to catch up to the incumbent.
Pages for Google Plus offer businesses many of the same features as Facebook brand pages, albeit with different terminology:
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Google Plus has the +1 button, while Facebook has the like button;
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Google Plus has Hangouts, while Facebook has video chat and group chat with Skype; and
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Google Plus has Circles, while Facebook has smart friend lists.
QR Codes 101
They are popping up everywhere - from store ads and magazine articles to library signs and business cards. Quick Response (QR) codes are the new black. These two-dimensional square-shaped codes are designed for smartphone users. The user can scan the code with his or her smartphone camera to pull up text, photos, videos, music and URLs.
QR codes have become mobile-friendly ways to point people in the offline space to online resources. Both large and small businesses have started to realize the potential of QR Codes and their ability to attract consumers.
Although QR codes are simple to create (using one of many free or inexpensive online applications), the content that the QR code links to should be in a mobile-friendly format and therefore can be challenging to create. The user should receive something of value that's different than the company's basic website or that saves them time. Before using a QR code, developers should consider what the end value will be for the user.
Interested in more information? Visit Mashable.com for "5 Steps for a Successful QR Code Marketing Campaign," or contact the New Media group.
Leadership Academy Course - Facebook II
NMIG member Michael Cassel, Senior Admissions Counselor in Enrollment Services, will lead an advanced Facebook course on Dec. 8 from noon to 2 p.m. as part of the Leadership Academy. This course is designed for active administrators of UST Facebook groups and pages.
The course will cover the following topics: Facebook ads, engaging your audience (when to post, content to post, contests), Facebook insights, revisiting university brand maintenance and tapping into “check ins".
Social Media and Job Descriptions
In the last issue of Social News Media, we asked readers about their day-to-day duties related to social media. Our main questions were:
- How many of you have social media management in your job description?
- Have you talked with your supervisor about the time and energy required to maintain social media sites?
We received your responses and would like to share a summary of our reader’s thoughts and tips:
- Many supervisors are understanding and aware of what it takes to have a successful social media presence.
- The amount of time spent on social media can vary. The time spent usually depends on the type of provided content. On average, it takes 4-6 hours per month to collect, write, edit and post information.
- Some job descriptions contain "social media maintenance" under administrative or management duties.
- To balance your social media workload, readers suggested developing a daily or weekly routine. Set aside time during the day where you can visit the websites and check for messages, comments or spam. Even if you check your pages outside of work hours while you visit your personal pages, it can help.
- Above all, know that the time spent updating and maintaining these types of social media sites is worth it because new, interesting content keeps visitors coming back.
- Thank you for your responses.
Don't Miss Clip
As stated earlier, Google Plus finally added brand pages to its service, but a “brandjacking” of Bank of America got the new feature off to a shaky start. Find out what happened in the video below.