What we get wrong in social media marketing

When I go to schools and talk to them, it is as an expert in social media marketing. I turned on the Bojangles' Twitter. I launched the Fisher-Price Facebook Page. When I went to Colgate, I grew the Twitter feed to tens of thousands and even got a hashtag to trend nationwide. I earned 13 million impressions on our page in one month using video. I made the front page of Reddit in an AMA.

If there was a social media platform, I tried it. Tumblr to post all English department poems, and the art coming from the art department. I gave out a cake to the Foursquare mayor of our dining hall.

So what did we get wrong?

They were new and interesting. Things that worked then, getting a Twitter hashtag to trend nationally, don't work now. Getting 13 million views on a Facebook Page was at the time when Facebook was prioritizing video.

As these platforms grew, and became part of the culture, they also grew and evolved.

But we didn't.

We still run all the same tired tropes of "you have to post everywhere" and "make sure you post 3 times a day, or 5 times a week, or some number we think is right.

How should higher ed use social media?

I think strategically. Do not "post on all platforms all the time" – but instead, understand what the platforms can do for you.

Know how Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram work. For example, if you're buying Instagram for enrollment, then for the love of Pete, get enrollment messages on stories, reels, and in the feed.

BTW: Meta is still over-emphasizing Reels. How do I know? I read the quarterly reports from Mark Zuckerberg wherein he says Meta is over-emphasizing Reels. If you trust one thing from this post, trust that making Facebook Reels targeted to parents of college-age kids will most likely get on the feeds of said parents.

I tried a lot of things on social media platforms. But that doesn't mean those things will work.

What works is thinking about them as marketing platforms that can solve a marketing problem.

When you realize that, you can begin to do this right.

What do you think?