Knowing that we are constantly wired, and having social media as the way to connect and communicate at this point of time, how would student organizations conduct communication and promotional activities in the campus?
Be personal, authentic and passionate
It’s good to post – up status updates, tweets, videos et al on the current happenings of your student organization.
It’s even better, if such content has a face and a personality behind it.
The whole point of using social media in communication and promotion is creating that much – needed connection with your audience. You are the best representation, and possibly the one connection that your audience have with the student organization that you are participating.
You are talking WITH them, not TO them; it’s much easier to gauge what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and how you would do it, as a person, before getting them to do it with you, in your student organization.
Changes induced at an individual level would create a ripple effect collectively, especially when it comes to causes supported by student organizations in campus.
Engage in conversations
Once the audience feel connected to your cause, they would want to get involved in the action. With this in mind, encourage two – way communication by getting your audience to provide feedback, help you in decision making and spread the cause you / your student organization is working on.
Such interaction gives your audience a sense of belonging, making them feel good about the time and effort that they have invested in. This, in turn, encourages your audience to stay longer and fight for the cause together with you.
Additionally, ask your audience to share what they have and know, with regards to the cause in focus, and do the same to your audience as well. Emphasize more on the quality of content that you’re sharing – not only it generates interest and conversation among your audience and your student organization, it also promotes learning, which may be the main reason of the cause that you / your student organization is championing.
Integrate your organizational activities
Consistency in updates and content sharing is important in retaining your audience’s attention to the cause you’re in. You might want to think about how you would want to keep those updates flowing, when you would update and where to update.
This may involve some research and planning among members of your student organization.
The key point to be considered here is efficiency. You may have a key person, or a shared responsibility in between team members, with regards to updates and information sharing in the social media. You may also need to think about getting the action going on where the crowd’s converging, such as using your Facebook fan page to centralize all updates and information, rather than crawling all nook and cranny online.
Nokia’s age – old tagline says it best: connecting people. By getting people to know you and be interested in the cause you’re fighting for, you receive attention and audience for yourself and the student organization that you are working with; by engaging your audience in the cause you’re fighting for, you are bringing impact not only to the people you’re working with, as well as the community you lived in. So…
Be.You.
