LinkedIn Profiles, University pages and Why Educators need to understand LinkedIn

Every University, collage and school should have a social media policy, not only to cover safety, security and raise awareness of all the pitfalls and problems of social media, but to promote the positive use of social media to help with job hunting and careers advice.

I also believe that Educators should have sufficient familiarity with LinkedIn  and other social media, together with the implications for career and employment, for their own benefit and to be able to support learners to use it for their studies and career development.

With the introduction of University pages on LinkedIn and the announcement that from September the age limit will be lowered to 13 (in the UK) it made me think again about the way people use the different types of profile. Something which I find annoying is when people don’t understand the difference between personal profiles and Company pages  (read my previous post) , now with new University pages it could get even more confusing.

So I looked at LinkedIn to find what they had to say on the subject.

‘University Pages is the destination on LinkedIn for your school to market itself and build a community. It’s a place to showcase what makes your institution special – academically, socially, and culturally. You can have conversations with the audiences interested in your school, including alumni, current students, parents, prospective students, and even employers, faculty, or donors.

Company Pages is the place for your school to brand itself as an employer. Administrators of Company Pages can share employment opportunities, updates relating to the business, and highlight products and services. Learn more about Company Pages.’

This means that there are now at least three reasons for Universities and higher educationalists to understand LinkedIn; to have effective personal profiles, to have appropriate profiles for their University, School or Collage and to give relevant support and advice to students.

University pages will allow prospective students and parents to  do the same for their education, while gaining valuable working knowledge of LinkedIn. Students (and parents) can use LinkedIn to research careers and employers, network, initiate and participate in discussions, get introductions and even apply for jobs.

Connect with me if you would like more assistance with social media policy or creating a University page

uk.linkedin.com/in/cjonesprofile

5 reasons to have a social media policy

There are many benefits for having a social media policy for your business but here is a quick overview of my top 5!

1) To define your objectives, so that everyone understands the reasons for being on social media.

2)  Establish roles and responsibilities. Who is responsible for posting, monitoring, quality, content etc

3)  Distinguish between personal and business use and set standards for acceptable behaviour.

4)  Set standards for the business and define the on line brand e.g. ‘Templates’ for profiles and updates and which platforms to use

5)  Establish a strategy for how to react when things go wrong so that problems can be dealt with effectively, limiting damage to your business

What would you add?

Why your business needs a Social Media Policy

If you are in business there are many reasons why you might need a social media policy – even if you are not currently using social media.   Just for starters consider the following;

• Social media is here to stay, do not make the mistake of thinking that just because you are not interested in using social media you can just ignore it
• It is increasingly likely that your employees, colleagues and clients will be on social media – and they will expect you to be as well.
• A compelling on-line presence it necessary for most businesses and it takes more than just a website to attain this; social media is an ideal addition to your on-line presence
• If you employ people it is good practice to include social media use in your HR policies, so that you can set expectations for your employees
• Your Social media profile is a public representation of your business brand or ‘persona’; it is vital to ensure that it conveys the right image.
• Social media is a great source of market research and customer service: it is vital to LISTEN.

When drafting your policy think about

• Your strategy – like other areas in business, social media needs a strategy to ensure that your activity contributes towards what you wish to achieve
• Weighing the benefits and risks of engaging with social media, your social media policy can help minimise the risks and enhance the benefits
• Your social media profile – Your social media is a very public face of your business and needs to be carefully cultivated and safeguarded.
• The level of involvement of all parts of your business and differentiating between personal and business use
• goals – How will you measure success?

A social media policy could include include

• Purpose – your social media strategy and how you expect to achieve your goals
• Standards for security, privacy, quality, confidentiality
• Roles and responsibilities, including ownership of profiles and associated data
• Relevant compliance issues – professional and legal
• Expectations for business use. Set guidelines for your social media activities (e.g. processes, who can post, platforms used etc)
  When representing the business specify guidelines for which platforms are required/permitted, how profiles are defined, content posted, quality. frequency
• Expectations for the personal use of social media. You can not stop employees using social media in their personal lives but you can give guidelines as to acceptable behaviour and how this reflects on you and your business/brand
• Review; particularly important due to the pace of change in social media so frequent reviews of all aspects should be written into the policy