2012 brings the third annual CASE Social Media and Community Conference. I’ve never attended this conference but I remember reading some tweets from San Francisco in 2011. In fact, I think I first heard about #casesmc via social media from @rachelreuben. That was back before I met her live and in person.
In case you’ve missed the build of 2012 tweets about #casesmc, I’m super thrilled to announce that, this year, I’m serving as the conference chair.
For the past several weeks, I’ve been working with Jen Lichty at CASE to identify faculty and speakers for this event. I’m pretty excited about the program we’ve put together. It starts with a Social Media 101 pre-conference workshop designed to orient social media newbies just in time for the conference that follows. We are very lucky to have Patrick Powers leading the workshop. If you need a knowledge base about social media, you can rely on Patrick to deliver. He’s sure to be awesome.
The conference gets underway mid-day on April 18 with sessions and keynotes that will be varied, on point, and useful. (I promise to do my best on that commitment!) The full program with session titles and descriptions is on the conference website. Along with me, the mStoner contingent at #casesmc will include Michael Stoner. Here is a bit about the presentations Michael and I will offer:
From Michael
- Succeeding with Social Media (co-presented with Cheryl Slover-Linett, Slover Linett Strategies): In this session, we’ll look at what we learned in our third year of conducting the CASE/mStoner/Slover Linett survey on social media in advancement. What’s changed—and what has stayed the same? How have schools, colleges, and universities responded to external demands for stronger, more engaging social channels? How have staffing, management, and policies shifted internally to keep up with these needs? We’ll explore these and other findings. This year, we focused more sharply on success, probing on particular tools, practices and tactics of social media that help institutions to achieve successful outcomes. We’ll look at what our data reveals about the characteristics of successful campaigns and institutions on social media.
- Social Media and the President: Today, social media is pervasive. Not only are presidents expected to communicate with important constituents through social tools like Facebook and Twitter, but many recognize them as channels that allow them to amplify their messages. This session offers ideas on how presidents can maximize their use of social media—and why social channels are an important component of today’s communications mix.
From Susan
- What do I say? Some content ideas for your social media channels.: It bears repeating, content is king. If you are just getting started with a social media channel, it can be daunting to figure out what to say. Even those of us who have been doing this for a while experience an occasional dry spell or suffer through good, old-fashioned writers block. Whether you are a newbie or a seasoned pro, coming up with good stuff to use on your institutions social media channels is sometimes challenging. This session will present a few (many!) suggestions.
- Connect Your Own Dots: Social Media Integration as a Best Practice for Marketing and Communications (co-presented with Nyleva Corely, UT Austin): Your audiences experience your brand and hear from you through a long list of social media and non-social media channels and you shouldn’t expect them to connect the dots. You need to develop an institutional plan that will allow you to stay on message across multiple communication channels using everything from social media aggregators to editorial calendars to social media campaigns. Not only that, a social media strategy isolated from your broader communication strategy is a risk. We’ll share specifics and demonstrate best practices through case studies from educational institutions.”
It’s not too early to register for this Chicago event to be held on April 18 – 20. And, while you’re looking at the 2012 #casesmc website, check out the list of faculty and speakers. I think we’ve pulled together some of the mostexperienced and expert thought leaders within the social media discipline. I hope you agree. What a Tweet up this will be!
Just in case you’re not convinced, here are, straight from the CASE website, the official benefits of attending. These bullet points work well for the request-to-attend email you might need to send to your boss:
- For the social media novice, you’ll receive a practical orientation to the most widely used social media platforms. Get comfortable getting started.
- For the more experienced social media professional, you’ll engage (face-to-face) with respected educational leaders and be inspired by some of our advanced sessions.
- We’ll discuss the results of the third CASE/mStoner/Slover-Linnett survey on the use of social media in advancement.
- You’ll discover how educational institutions are tracking, assessing, and evaluating the effectiveness of social media channels.
Did you plan to get more social in 2012? Are you deciding now which conferences you’ll attend this year? Then join us at #casesmc in Chicago.