One of the things I have tried to do as a professor is to explore not only new topics in my classes, but also new platforms. One that seems to come up a lot right now is Snapchat.
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While I do have an account, this is one platform I have not used as much as others. However, it appears that we are seeing more brands, agencies, and people using the platform more strategically to engage their audiences in new and innovative ways. It is a platform where you can share visual sharing app with friends and colleagues and have them deleted in a certain amount of time.
So, what are some ways that professors possibly could use Snapchat for personal and even professional uses? Here are some ideas we can look at possibly implementing both in and outside of the classroom:
- Creating entertaining experiences from every day tasks: Whether it is grading or creating lectures – showcasing a little creativity and fun to share with others creates an interactive and entertaining experience. It is about showcasing your personality as well as your point of view in a visual and creative manner.
- Case studies and share examples of campaigns that used Snapchat: It is always good to look at cases and campaigns that have used Snapchat and learn what were the message strategies, audiences considered in this campaign, and main takeaways from the experience. Here are a few that came up as good ones to look at along with these from AdWeek.
- Meeting your students in their new space to spark conversations: First, we saw professors use Facebook and then Twitter for engaging their students in and out of the classroom. There have only been a few professors who have utilized Instagram for their classes, and I would imagine even fewer who are on Snapchat. As professors, we need to be adaptive and test out these new platforms to see if they work and to communicate and build a community on these sites. More businesses are learning this as well when it comes to Snapchat.
- Behind the scenes and exclusive announcements for class: Whether it is announcing clients, guest speakers, or even assignments for class – professors could use Snapchat potentially for these actions. For behind the scenes – looking at presentations and networking events as opportunities to share this experience with students would also be beneficial as well.
- Discussing the opportunities and challenges with the new platform: Like all social media platforms, Snapchat does have their risks and challenges to them as a social media outlet. This is a perfect opportunity to build this discussion for classes on these various topics as well as for businesses. Creating a strategic brief for a business in a social media class to provide resources on how to use Snapchat professionally or even incorporate this platform into the managing online reputation reflection paper for social media would be good to share with your students as well.
- Creating films of experiences: While brands like Taco Bell have been innovative with Snapchat by creating films, professors could potentially create films of presentations, guest speakers, and other lectures to share with others.
- Sharing fun experiences with friends: There are times where you do want to use Snapchat for fun with colleagues and friends. This is one of the main characteristics of social media.
In summary, while there are a lot of possibilities here for Snapchat and brands, we as professors have to discuss the benefits and challenges of this platform and determine if this is one that we could potentially use both in and outside of the classroom. I think there is a lot of potential here – especially when connecting with students. However, it may not always work in every classroom – so this has to be evaluated case by case, or class by class.
Personally, I think any new platform opens the window to new opportunities to create engaging and interactive dialogue and conversations with students to help build a dynamic learning community. I would be interested in hearing what you all think about this as well.
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
Karen
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