I was invited to do another guest blog post for my good friend and fellow crisis/social media professional Melissa Agnes. If you haven’t had a chance to follow Melissa on Twitter or check out her blog – definitely do so! She provides great insight and commentary on social media and crisis events. Plus, she’s a fabulous person! 🙂
The subject of this blog post was open for me, but I did want to write about something I was witnessing from where I was in the academic profession. We have seen more employers looking for emerging professionals in the area of social media. Not necessarily just focusing on knowing what tools to use exactly – but how to apply these tools strategically. Some professors have not been able to do this successfully, but there are some that are leading the charge in this area.
This was the focus on my blog post to discuss four professors who have succeeded in not only remaining cutting edge with the latest trends in social media, but have raised the bar for their students so they are prepared for the workplace and expectations firms and brands have of them in social media.
Kelli Matthews (Oregon), William Ward (Syracuse), Amber Hutchins (Kennesaw State), and Robert French (Auburn University) have all done this in their PR classes at their respective universities. I would like to thank each of these professors for their insights, conversations, and willingness to share their insights and perspectives openly with others in the social media and PR community.
I have been teaching a social media class as well here at the University of Louisville, and there are some principles I have used to help me in the classroom:
- Lead by example – whether this means following the blogging schedule or participating in some of the activities for the class (ex. Hootsuite), we are all part of the learning process and can learn something from everyone. I have been very impressed with what my students have shared in the classroom – it has created a great learning environment.
- Experiment with assignments – look at what is trending and see if this can be incorporated within the classroom. This is what I was able to do with a gamification and mobile app assignment for my class semester with Ptch. Was very fun!
- Share resources and be engaged with students on a platform of choice – whether it is Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or other social media platforms, you want to be engaged and consistent with content with your students. I have used Twitter (hashtag for the class is #Freberg13) to post announcements, reminders, resources, pictures of guest speakers, and initiate class discussions on the site. It’s been a lot of fun not only for the students, but several professionals, brands, and practitioners have been following these updates as well. It’s been a great way to build a community online in the class as well as on social media.
In summary, in order to be successful in teaching, researching, or practicing social media – you have to embody what it is all about from all aspects of your persona. Social media is not necessarily a tool, but a mindset to have. We as professors need to make sure we communicate and share this with our students in our social media classes.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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