1. Social Media Best Practices: A Guide to Representing Clark College through Social Media A 30 Clicks Presentation by Hannah Erickson, Communications Specialist Communications & Marketing Department May 2, 2012

2.  Why do I want to be on social media?  How familiar with social media am I?  Which medium is right for my department?  Who will be responsible for maintaining and monitoring this channel?  Who will be the backup person?  How much time can I spend on this?  What about college breaks and holidays?  Is my department head okay with this? Before you jump in, ask yourself …

3.  Research the medium.  Craft a mission statement for the channel.  Get permission from your department head.  Contact ComMark for advice on profile name, icon, promotion, etc.  Assign a primary and secondary administrator.  Create your social media channel.  Get social! (This means speaking AND listening.) First Steps

4.  Name should begin with “Clark” or “CC.”  Create either a group or a page—no personal profiles for departments, please!  NO CONTESTS! (Unless you have an app.)  No fake names/personas.  NO OSWALD.  No more than 2 posts a day.  Share or “like” relevant posts on other Clark College Facebook pages. Best Practices: Facebook

5.  Keep your handle short’n’sweet.  Be sure to use @ and # tags whenever possible.  Thank people for RTs.  Never post a link with nothing else.  Never click on a link with nothing else.  Abbreviations are fine, txtspk is not.  Use shortlinks. Best Practices: Twitter

6.  Records retention. (try backupify.com)  No promotion of private businesses or political candidates.  No FERPA or HIPAA violations. Because We’re a State Institution…

7.  Be transparent.  Be genuine.  Be timely.  Be respectful.  Be tolerant of criticism.  Be responsive.  Be familiar with the “rules of the road” for that medium. (Oh, and don’t link your Facebook and your Twitter, kthxbai!) Best Practices: General

8.  Clark College Communications & Marketing: Hannah Erickson (herickson@clark.edu)herickson@clark.edu  doteduguru.com College internet professionals doteduguru.com  higheredlive.com Social media in higher ed higheredlive.com  backupify.com Records retention backupify.com  hootsuite.com Scheduling tweets and posts in advance hootsuite.com Resources