Just last Tuesday I completed my last-ever college final. It was quite a glorious moment. I must admit, there were times I hardly believed it would happen, and that I would survive it and become a “real person” as we like to say at Emerson. Thanks to college, I have gained a myriad of traditional skills, like learning how to write effectively, speak poignantly and do many other important things that will help me find and keep a job.
But, with the increasing focus on social media in all professions, (especially my own, marketing) some of the most important pieces of information I learned while in college related to my use of social media. Since Emerson Social Media (on Twitter, #ESM) is so well-respected, and many BostInno readers don’t have any idea what you’d learn in a social media class at college, I thought I’d share a few inside tips. Here are the five most important things I learned about social media while in college.
1. Don’t underestimate the power of numbers
The most important thing I learned about social media at Emerson College is that like in any other situation, numbers are revealing. The power is in the people, and when they all rally around a cause it can be really powerful. Whenever Emersonians worked together to tweet about one subject, it got noticed. During Emerson’s social media class, taught by Dave Gerzof, there were a number of times that through sheer number of tweets we were able to get the attention of just about anyone. For example, when local video blogging guru Steve Garfield spoke to #ESM, the whole class tweeted constantly to his friend Jimmy Fallon, which soon elicited a response from the Twitter-savvy comedian. This wasn’t a very important “cause,” but when this kind of social activity is applied to a useful cause, it can be truly powerful. Twitter gives us all the chance to be heard, especially en masse.
2. Hashtags make it possible
On Twitter, content is king. It is not a new idea, but one tool that is not utilized enough, especially by brands, is the hashtag. Nothing gets the attention of the social media community on Twitter more then a trending topic. Impressions increase drastically, as does buzz. Just ask Laura Kinson, an Emerson student. Before a secret announcement from Emerson President Jackie Liebergott, she started the hashtag #jackiessecret. This generated over 1000 tweets in just over an hour or so. Everyone was guessing what she would be announcing, from serious to silly possibilities. Just from starting a fun hashtag, she was soon being interviewed by a number of local online publications. Organizing your brand or cause into a track-able form can solidify your online conversations and ideas. On Twitter, that’s done with hashtags.
3. Social media can’t be taught, but it can be learned
Whenever a teacher at Emerson College tried to “teach” the class about the proper etiquette of social media, the lesson was generally lost on the students. Hearing one person preach to you about what to do and how to do it in an ever changing platform like social media is pointless. No one person can teach you how to use social media. You need to learn it over time from a variety of people, as well as from direct experimentation. Over the two semesters of #ESM I took and then TA’ed, I came to understand this lesson without a doubt: The best way to learn social media is to soak up theories from as many different people as you can. #ESM used this idea perfectly, having speakers like Peter Rojas, Loic Le Meur, BostonTweet, and Edward Boches. Each person brought something to the class that no one else did. If just one of them talked to us, we would not have grasped many concepts, but all of them combined allowed us to gain a strong grasp of many areas of social media.
4. Put yourself in the room with as many people who are smarter then you as you can
To quote one of my favorite directors, Guy Ritchie in the movie Revolver, “You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.” This doesn’t only apply to chess and con-jobs like in the movie, but in social media as well. During every class I took at Emerson, the professors pounded one thing into my head constantly: network, network, network. This is vital in the sense that knowing people is key to growing your professional network, but also because you can never know everything in the social media realm. If you constantly attend events, watch videos and listen to podcasts by people you know are smarter then you (and there is ALWAYS someone smarter then you), then you will continue to grow. Stagnancy is death in all fields, but especially in social media. And the “room” is only getting bigger.
5. Don’t be stoopid
Social media does not create stupidity, it only gives us a new way to demonstrate it. I do not believe that college students are the only ones who are guilty of demonstrating their stupidity through social media, but I believe they make up for a large part of it because of their lack of professional experience. Facebook is the platform that we are most guilty of abusing with our idiocy. Many of my Facebook friends talk about how drunk they are, the classes they skipped, the teachers they hate, and share many other less-than professional statuses. This applies to everyone though: DO NOT write anything online that you would not say to your teacher, boss, or mom. Social media posts are permanent and will always be there for someone to find. Always.
What are your best social media lessons? Please feel free to share one in the comments section.
