Cheyenne Cole
Managing Editor
@cheyenneccole
Cameron University’s Social Media Task Force is developing a coordinated and more visible social media presence.
The Social Media Task Force is comprised of various faculty and staff members who are familiar with social media and can recommend new or different ways to use it.
Senior Director of Public Affairs Keith Mitchell said the team is mostly focusing on students’ attention.
“As we communicate with each other,” he said, “we can put out a better product on social media. That, hopefully, will reflect what life is like on campus a little bit better, inform our students, our alumni and our other constituents and, hopefully, attract more students.”
According to Mitchell, Cameron mainly uses Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to reach those audiences.
When Mitchell researched and discovered that 70 percent of Americans now use social media, he knew it was time to maximize CU’s social media efforts.
“As it [social media] has grown in use,” he said, “more and more people use that to find out about universities, to get their news, to communicate with each other, to entertain themselves.”
Current students are targeted through Snapchat and Instagram, recent graduates through LinkedIn and alumni through Facebook and Twitter.
“It’s a way to keep our alumni connected to the university once they’re gone,” he said. “LinkedIn is a good way to help our recent graduates find jobs through résumé building.”
Mitchell said freshmen students told an upperclassman on the social media committee that the accounts prepared them for attending Cameron.
“Many of them weren’t in a position to come to Cameron and take a campus tour,” he said, “and they said they really were able to use Instagram and Snapchat to get an idea of what Cameron’s like and that helped prepare them for coming to campus.”
Students can get directly involved with the campaign on Takeover Tuesdays, in which one student posts about their entire day on campus on the CU Snapchat.
Mitchell said at this year’s Aggie Escape, students successfully tested the Snapchat takeover, and now various students selected by Public Affairs will have the opportunity to do so every two weeks.
“The whole point of that is for a student to show what life is like at Cameron – what an average day is,” he said.
To apply to run the CUAggies Snapchat for a day, go to cameron.edu/snapchat and fill out the form.
Each week, Public Affairs will select an Aggie of the Week.
To be Aggie of the Week, participants must post a selfie in spirit wear on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #AggieOfTheWeek and tag the Cameron account in the post.
Mitchell will announce the winner in his weekly Aggie Update email sent out on Fridays. The prize is CU swag from Public Affairs and $10 in CamCash.
Follow and/or like Cameron University on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Pinterest for updates.