#21 - Pioneering New Pathways in Higher ed social media marketing with andrew cassel of middlebury college
My guest today is Andrew Cassel. Andrew is the Senior Social Strategist at Middlebury College in the beautiful state of Vermont. He’s heads up all of Middlebury’s social media strategy and execution and he’s here to tell us what’s working for Middlebury, what hasn’t worked so well. Now if the idea of using Tumblr and Pinterest is your college marketing strategy sounds odd, you’ll want to keep listening. Andrew employs some non-mainstream platforms into Middlebury’s strategy and has interesting reasons for doing so.
LINKS:
Connect with Andrew:
Linkedin
Middlebury College Website
Mentioned in this episode:
-Pricing for Video Storytelling Subscription: pricing.unveild.tv
-Download the 3-part storytelling framework for student/alumni testimonials - "3 Absolutely Crucial Components Every Compelling College Student/Alumni Testimonial Needs"
Interested in creating compelling student success stories?
Learn more about our video storytelling subscriptions
by downloading our pricing guide.
Transcript (done with AI so only about 80% accurate):
00:00:00:02 - 00:00:21:00
Speaker 1
Hey, welcome to the Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast on the B Podcast Network. This is a podcast dedicated to helping higher ed marketers tell better stories, create better content and enroll more students. My name is John Azoni I'm the founder at UNVEILD, a video production company working specifically with college marketing teams on automating their video storytelling content through subscription approach.
00:00:21:00 - 00:00:38:20
Speaker 1
And you can learn more about that at UNVEILD dot TV. That's UNVEILD. If you're listening to this podcast for the first time, go ahead and subscribe. And if you've been listening for a while now and haven't left to review, I'd love for you to do that. My guest today is Andrew Castle. Andrew is the senior social strategist.
00:00:38:20 - 00:01:08:07
Speaker 1
That's a hard thing to say. Senior social strategist at Middlebury College in the beautiful state of Vermont. He heads up all of Middlebury social media strategy and execution, and he's here to tell us what's working for Middlebury, what hasn't been working so well. And now the idea of if the idea of using Tumblr and Pinterest in your college marketing strategy sounds odd, keep listening because Andrew employs some non-mainstream platforms into Middlebury strategy and has interesting reasons for doing so.
00:01:09:01 - 00:01:13:03
Speaker 1
So here's my conversation with Andrew Castle. Andrew, thanks for being on the show. Appreciate you being here.
00:01:13:09 - 00:01:21:00
Speaker 2
It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for asking the Internet who it might be and that I thought I might be worthy of joining you as a guest is very flattering.
00:01:22:01 - 00:01:43:20
Speaker 1
Yeah, we were just laughing about how I found Andrew, which was yesterday. We're recording this on May 3rd and and I found him on Chat gb t. I asked TVT what were what are some LinkedIn influencers in the higher ed space that I can have on my podcast and his name was on the top ten list. So the robots have taken notice.
00:01:44:07 - 00:01:48:14
Speaker 1
They're watching Andrew here and you know, he's getting out there.
00:01:48:14 - 00:02:02:06
Speaker 2
It's great. I talk about them a lot. I think I as a collaborator in the work that we do in higher ed for communications and social media and across all sort of digital communications is is has great, great potential for the future. And so I'm excited to be in that space.
00:02:03:08 - 00:02:11:23
Speaker 1
Yeah, I love it. Okay, so tell me about who you are, what you do, the work that you do at Middlebury, and then yeah, we'll go from there.
00:02:12:08 - 00:02:30:20
Speaker 2
Absolutely. My name is Andrew, and I started working in higher ed and social media about 12 years ago. I was in a play. I do a lot of theater and it was in a play with a friend and she had her laptop open. I was like, What's that? She said, That's the thing called Facebook. This is back in 2010.
00:02:31:01 - 00:02:55:01
Speaker 2
I'm like, What is Facebook? She's like, Oh, it's the social network where you can connect with people that you know. And I had never heard of it or explored it before. So I logged on and I got an account. I was hooked right away. This idea of being able to share into a personal network of friends and people that had similar interests to you where you could post something right away and everybody would see it really was spoke to my introverted nature where I didn't have to call people or text people at the time post in one place.
00:02:55:01 - 00:03:25:17
Speaker 2
That could be done. But then I started seeing this potential as a communications tool, and I came from a background of electronic journalism. I did a lot of reporting and writing and stuff like that and trying to reach out and to let people know what was going on. This social networking of early Facebook really felt like if you want to tell people your story of your brand, who the people are that work there, what it's like to attend there as a student, this would be a really, really good, viable, valuable tool to use.
00:03:25:17 - 00:03:42:23
Speaker 2
So I had a job inside the communications and marketing office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where I lived and worked before I moved to Middlebury in Vermont, and I said to the team again, This is 2010. It was like we should be on this Facebook thing. It's a thing that's really, really helpful. And I don't even. That's for kids, isn't it?
00:03:42:23 - 00:04:00:05
Speaker 2
It's not something that really they but eventually, like they'd heard enough about it at conferences or mentioned it and the things that they read like, okay, you want to give it a try, see what you can do. So I sort of handed the keys to a vehicle that was fully gassed up and the road was just empty ahead of me.
00:04:00:10 - 00:04:23:20
Speaker 2
And my team was like, Go put the pedal to the metal. See what? Find what you can do with it. And we just took off. Loved sharing videos, images. We had a great campus photographer, so it was a really, really great way to put the university out there at a time when we're really, really, we're looking for ways to recruit, enroll, retain and then get some development and donations back.
00:04:23:20 - 00:04:44:07
Speaker 2
And I felt that social media was a real way to accomplish all those things. And my team saw that over the months and the years when they saw the one of the great things about working in the social media space is one of them. How can you how are you doing? How's it all going out there and say, Well, I showed it to over a million people in the past six months with my reach and my impressions.
00:04:44:07 - 00:05:04:20
Speaker 2
They love those big numbers. So hearing those numbers, seeing that stuff was the encouragement that they needed to really start seeing with an expanding out. As Instagram started and then got purchased by Facebook, how it could be on Twitter, how could be on LinkedIn. So my early career for the first few years was really experimenting, trying as we all were in those days.
00:05:04:20 - 00:05:27:12
Speaker 2
What's this sort of frontier of digital communication with our students? What's it going to be like? And that was the time when it was, quote unquote, free marketing that was also very appealing to teams back then. So did that for years. Then the job at Middlebury opened up and it was a little bit chance to move a little bit closer to family at a time when that was important.
00:05:27:20 - 00:05:55:14
Speaker 2
So took those skills from this large public, really heavily Arctic research focused university, huge lots of different sort of students that would go there. I don't like this term, but it is the industry term, the nontraditional students, people at all times in their career wanting an education. That was the University of Alaska Fairbanks experience, taking some of my tool kit over to Middlebury, a small private liberal arts college for years.
00:05:55:18 - 00:06:22:12
Speaker 2
The students come there, it's very focused. So there was a little bit of a learning curve of how to adapt these tools for different audiences. But the skills are always there, no matter what the platform is or changes in the future. The skills of authenticity, openness, positiveness and just clarity in message doesn't matter what you're talking about. Those will always be successful.
00:06:23:00 - 00:06:41:20
Speaker 2
And so for the past three years and going on for now as we reach into the fall, been able to do that for a middlebury and I my title there is a social strategist, so I collaborate with the communications team. In the marketing team, what can we do with these tools? And Middlebury has a graduate school that they oversee in Monterey.
00:06:41:20 - 00:07:15:19
Speaker 2
So using some of that stuff for these very important issues of radicalization, counterterrorism, diplomacy, translation, interpretation with the Institute, then over at Middlebury itself, students who are 18 to 22 learning how to critically think about the world, to analyze the world, to go out and then become doctors or philosophers or poets or people in the finance world. So there's all these really, really incredible people that I get to talk to and share their stories and help them shape what they look like on these social channels.
00:07:16:00 - 00:07:34:19
Speaker 2
And then it's just moving into the future. Who knows what it's going to be like? But there's more and more ways to tell stories using these amazing tools, and I'm very lucky to feel supported, to explore, experiment, to succeed and to fail along the way, to find things that don't work, to have a team that's like, okay, that didn't work.
00:07:35:00 - 00:07:54:18
Speaker 2
And to set that expectation, I think I've learned over the past decade of doing this is important. At the beginning, this might not work. Are really important words to say to the people that you're working with so that if you come back and say, Well, we didn't quite get the engagement that we wanted, we didn't quite get as many people to click on the link or we didn't get the whatever the call to action would be wasn't what we hoped.
00:07:55:10 - 00:08:02:01
Speaker 2
Then having that trust and that understanding that, well, we'll try again, we'll learn from this no matter what is essential.
00:08:03:18 - 00:08:26:06
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's great. And, and to have, you know, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to have been given the keys to a relatively new approach to marketing is is kind of uncommon. You know, I think I remember back then because I was I was working in nonprofit at the time and right around 2010, I was like really, really into social media.
00:08:26:06 - 00:08:44:17
Speaker 1
And like the big hot job was to be a social media manager at some brand, a company or whatever. But, you know, even doing it for the nonprofit I was working at, there was there was a lot of acceptance, a lot of like, Yeah, let's do this. But a lot of like, I don't know what this is yet and we're not sure how to harness it.
00:08:45:16 - 00:08:54:22
Speaker 1
So I was fortunate enough to, to really be let loose as well and just kind of experiment. But I know that's not the case. That wasn't the case everywhere back then.
00:08:55:04 - 00:09:21:03
Speaker 2
I was I agree completely. It was so amazing to be so supported by the team that I was working with. And the thing that you just mentioned was the education that was needed at the time was what is Facebook? How can we use it? Why? Why is it valuable? And that's another practicing that, having an elevator speech down that you use after years and years of having to defend it or explain it is still very, very useful for no matter what.
00:09:21:03 - 00:09:33:05
Speaker 2
You can almost insert any platform there. And those are good ways to be able to talk about those things to people who just like I want to know about it. I think it's good. Tell me why. And so being able to explain it is very important.
00:09:34:23 - 00:09:46:13
Speaker 1
So tell me a little bit about Middlebury College or you already did tell me a little bit, but like, what's it is there? Is there a like how do you guys differentiate yourself? Is there kind of a primary focus that you guys lean towards?
00:09:46:23 - 00:10:11:05
Speaker 2
The differentiator for Middlebury College is definitely the global connectiveness of the graduates from the college and the institute and how connected they still are to the place that they got their education and not just a willingness to support the students that are there, but an actual drive. And it's almost like a duty is not big enough of a word.
00:10:11:15 - 00:10:46:13
Speaker 2
There's this. I came from this place I want to give back to it. And so what we really talk about in our marketing and communications stuff and our content marketing is the opportunity that Middlebury provides is the almost limitless choice afterwards. And our amazingly globally connected alumni network people who are at the highest levels of government diplomacy and finance here in Manhattan, in Beijing, in Paris, in Frankfurt, wherever you go, you are your Middlebury shirt.
00:10:46:13 - 00:11:07:05
Speaker 2
People like I went there, How can I help you? What can I do? What support do you need? And so when a prospective student is considering where they're going to go, and if Middlebury is in the constellation of schools that they're thinking about, they have a lot of choices that they're going to be offered. And so the thing that we say is, sure, a sense of place is really important for us as well.
00:11:07:05 - 00:11:33:14
Speaker 2
Like it's a small town in a small state, it's cold in the winter. It's a very close knit community. You're going to find a lot of people here, but it's the opportunity of what comes next. I think that in higher education, marketing and communications sometimes is not talked about enough, that when we are marketing and selling the product of the opportunity of our higher education institution, we are not selling the thing.
00:11:33:21 - 00:11:55:13
Speaker 2
We're selling what comes after. We're selling the next thing. This is a bridge to the future that you want. And Middlebury, we are able to say fully, truthfully and authentically this bridge can lead to success almost right out of the gate. As soon as you get that diploma, your internship will lead to a group of people who are there to help you succeed.
00:11:55:17 - 00:11:57:02
Speaker 2
That's how we stand apart.
00:11:58:14 - 00:12:32:18
Speaker 1
Very good. Very well said. And I think, you know, obviously it's a storytelling podcast about higher ed storytelling. So we talk about storytelling a lot and that really is a major tenet of, you know, what we talk about on this podcast is not talking about the thing that you're trying to sell, but talking about the other thing, you know, yes, like something talking about something other and allowing that to, you know, help you arrive at the brand and the benefits of, you know, the school, the benefits of attending there and why those things, why those features and benefits are going to help you achieve this greater other more important thing.
00:12:33:04 - 00:12:52:10
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think that's what I was as you mentioned, like this, the early days in the 20 tens, all those years ago, it was looking at the other brands and what they were doing on social media. I had this existential moment of like what am what is my product? It's not shoes, it's not a movie. It's not like there's nothing that you can put your hands on.
00:12:52:13 - 00:13:21:00
Speaker 2
So what am I really marketing? And I talked with my team members and the brilliant people that I was working with, and they were like, Well, our product is opportunity, chance to do things that really changed. How were the stories that I was telling using these tools? Like suddenly it was when you're a student, you have the opportunity to go to an event, you have the opportunity to go to an athletic competition, you have the opportunity to go to a lecture, you have the opportunity to make friends, and then you have the opportunity for a job afterwards.
00:13:21:00 - 00:13:41:19
Speaker 2
And being able to focus on that and telling that story I found very liberating and just empowering like this is the chance that you have. And then I think for people receiving that story and reading that story and experiencing that, then they have those What people say today, like it's my main character moment. I am the main character of this story.
00:13:42:00 - 00:14:00:14
Speaker 2
As I move through this education path to my future. So being able to set it up that way, you have the chance. You get to do the things that you want to do. I think it's been so great and so that higher ed product is opportunity is something that I really, really leaned into for all the storytelling I've done for the past ten years.
00:14:01:20 - 00:14:09:09
Speaker 1
It's that's great. And I know I saw on your I think it's only your LinkedIn that says you describe social media as the theater of the theater of the self.
00:14:09:15 - 00:14:31:15
Speaker 2
Yes, the self Theater of the self. I absolutely can. So working in the theater, which is the thing that I love to do, is you have a script, you have a character, you have a costume that you put on, you have a set piece, you have a story that you tell and it's all put together. And then you're building this all to present to an audience like you've crafted the whole thing.
00:14:31:15 - 00:14:48:20
Speaker 2
And then they come into the liminal space and they see the thing, and then you experience it together, and then everybody moves on with their life. Every single social posting is that exact same thing. What script am I writing about? What I'm trying to say today? What costume am I going to wear? How am I setting up my background?
00:14:48:23 - 00:15:22:09
Speaker 2
What am I putting around for the set of my creating for this piece of content that I'm going to share the story that I'm going to tell for an audience that's going to show up when it comes up in their feed so that we are putting this whole thing on every post that we make personally and professionally. We are doing theater, we're writing a script, we're costuming, we're creating a set, we're telling the story for an audience that will receive it, and then everybody claps either with a like or a comment or a share, hopefully, and then they move on to the next story that comes up in their feed.
00:15:22:20 - 00:15:44:04
Speaker 2
So thinking of it that way really helped me get past like the ego part of it. Like it's not just about how, you know, I'm not trying to be an influencer about my cool life, just trying to tell what's happening and share it with an audience in a way that they will have a response. Either click on a link or just, you know, throw like that way.
00:15:45:21 - 00:16:09:00
Speaker 1
And that's, that's I've never thought about that way before because that's that's an interesting it's it makes it, you know, every opportunity that you have to post on social media becomes if you think about it like a performance and there's an actual audience that's forced to listen to you, you know what's going to what's going to make them clap at the end versus what's just going to be like, okay, why did I buy a ticket to this thing?
00:16:09:04 - 00:16:26:23
Speaker 2
Right, Right, right. I just I came to this weird, this weird, you know, experimental piece with my friend. They dragged me there. That's that same experience as when your friend is looking at their feed that. Oh, look at that. Isn't that funny? And you're like, I guess so. So it is. Yeah, there is. Your audience chooses to be there.
00:16:26:23 - 00:16:42:01
Speaker 2
Hopefully they followed you for a reason. They want to see the stuff that you share and if you share something they don't like, well, I guess they're going to go to another show. It's up to you to keep them along the way. And I the same with theater. Not every play is funny, some are dramatic, some are very sad.
00:16:42:14 - 00:16:59:02
Speaker 2
Some have really important things to say. Some are just there to distract you for the moment. And, you know, a cat video has just as much value as an important crisis communication from whatever is going on. At the same time, it's just being aware that it's been has been also interesting perspective.
00:16:59:02 - 00:17:10:11
Speaker 1
So tell me about when you started at Middlebury College. What kind of issues or hurdles were there that you had to address because you met you mentioned coming to a from a larger school to a smaller school being one. What were some of those things?
00:17:11:05 - 00:17:31:09
Speaker 2
It was getting to know this culture of what a private college is like versus a public. What like what are the things that people want to hear about? It's different than this is, you know, I want I need a certificate so that I can make a little bit more money so that I can feed my family. That's a lot of what you have students are doing.
00:17:31:09 - 00:17:56:13
Speaker 2
They want to make sure they can improve their life a little bit. Middlebury was very focused and the audience was 18 to 22 year olds that wanted to change the world, not just make a better opportunity for the family tomorrow. And so it was starting to think about this. The the students that we serve as higher ed communicators and what they need that's different from what I was used to.
00:17:56:13 - 00:18:25:23
Speaker 2
And they needed support for day to day. Here's what you're because when you have this small residential campus and you live on campus, you work on campus, you study on campus, you meet your friends on campus, you want to make sure that you're letting them know all of the things that are going on. But, John, the interesting thing was right when I was starting to learn all of that, going out to meet everybody, February 20, 20, March 2020, then the pandemic became a thing.
00:18:25:23 - 00:18:48:10
Speaker 2
And suddenly the big lesson was how do I communicate this ongoing crisis information in a really effective way? And I had had great crisis training with my team at UAF, moved that right over. And so that was not a change. It was, How can I do this in a thing that's ongoing? That was a big challenge, that was outside anything to do with the college.
00:18:48:21 - 00:19:03:11
Speaker 2
But the big adjustment for my work from a big school, big public school to a small private school was what do the audience need? And really listening to what they were saying to each other and then being able to tell the stories that they were interested in knowing more about?
00:19:04:11 - 00:19:09:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. How do you how do you how do you listen to people? How do you find out what they're saying to each other.
00:19:10:12 - 00:19:38:22
Speaker 2
If that is a job in itself? So I'm going to take a big step back to say the first thing that you do is to identify what you want to listen for. Do I want to listen for? If people are upset, I want to listen for people happy, what they think about our brand in general. And then you establish a list of keywords and then with those keywords, you know, Middlebury, challenging Middlebury, useful, Middlebury bad because you want to know what people are saying, good or bad things either.
00:19:39:04 - 00:20:01:19
Speaker 2
And then you take those keywords and then you either use a big social listening tool like there's Brandwatch Sprout social or whatever it is tool that you want to spend a bunch of money to do that. You can put them in there. You can hire someone to do the listening for you. There's great companies that do that, but there's also great value in just sitting down, looking at the platform, putting your keywords into the search and see what comes up and scrolling through there.
00:20:02:00 - 00:20:26:23
Speaker 2
And then from there, like it can be sometimes social listening takes 5 minutes because you go through like, Oh, everybody's really happy today, you know, great. Someone's like, How is ever how's everybody doing out there? We're doing great. But I'm things when things are a little not as happy, then it's a lot more time looking. And then there's a difference when I'm talking about with Sprout particularly because that's a tool that we pay for.
00:20:26:23 - 00:20:45:15
Speaker 2
It's been very, very useful. They have this thing they call it, they measure the sentiment like, is it a positive post about you or is it a negative post about you? And this is a place that humans and I don't really the human brain is much better than I write about this because someone could be like that place is effing awesome.
00:20:45:19 - 00:21:02:14
Speaker 2
The A.I. reads the F word as bad, but the user meant it as a good thing. And so that's where I would say, Oh, they're mad at you. Are they mad at me? I want to see what they did. Oh, they're not mad. They're really excited. They're just using that expletive in a way that the computer can identify.
00:21:02:14 - 00:21:20:08
Speaker 2
It needs more machine learning for that. So the social listening is knowing what you're listening for, choosing the tool, whether it's platform based or if you have an overarching tool that does that for you, then spending the time to really look at it and think about what you're seeing and then being ready to move that information to where it needs to go.
00:21:20:12 - 00:21:40:10
Speaker 2
Either gets folded into a thing that you report on at the end of the year. You're like, look at all the great things that people are saying or it's a chance to get out ahead of a crisis and pass that on to the people who make everyone's upset because there's no water in the residence. All this morning I found that through social listening, I send that off to the people that need to know about it.
00:21:40:16 - 00:22:04:09
Speaker 2
Facility says, Yeah, we're on it, but at least I have found out about it and I know about it and I can share it now. There are other tools for social listening that are not as pleasant or as fun to use, but equally important, those are the geo centered platforms like Fizz and Yik Yak, which using those platforms can really, really let you know what your close community is thinking about.
00:22:04:19 - 00:22:33:11
Speaker 2
And it can be because those platforms are anonymous. You know, you don't have to put your name in there or anything like that. It can get really, really, really ugly really fast. And this is an interesting thing that I have found. We in higher education always talk about how amazing the students are. This is a great place. But then you go and you look at Yik Yak, you're like, Oh my gosh, these are this is the people that say, You are saying these things that are just you know, you might you probably would never say them aloud.
00:22:33:20 - 00:22:48:16
Speaker 2
But so the social listening is knowing what you're listening for, knowing where you're listening and then looking at all under oh, picking up all those rocks in the corner to see what's being said. Because in there could be the thing that you really, really need to know.
00:22:48:16 - 00:23:13:05
Speaker 1
That's that's really interesting. And I think also just, you know, the whole social listening and differentiating yourself, the differentiating your school will go hand in hand. You know, I've talked to previous guests that have mentioned the way that they've differentiated their schools is by just talking to alumni and getting alumni to look back and say, well, you know, what was the really what were the big rocks, you know, for you that that were really important.
00:23:13:23 - 00:23:35:08
Speaker 1
But but even, you know, kind of combining that with you know, a social listening tool to kind of get that feedback in the moment, it is is important, I think. I think we often differentiate our schools based on like what we want to be the case, you know, what we want to be true versus versus what students actually think.
00:23:35:08 - 00:23:49:00
Speaker 1
It's like companies coming up with core values. It's like, well, here's here's who we we aspire to be, you know, and and then, you know, interesting to interesting to learn that one of Enron's core values is integrity.
00:23:50:10 - 00:24:09:23
Speaker 2
And they're like, well, you didn't really live up to that. I have I had a written a handwritten note at a meeting years and years ago. That was a my up because right over here I keep it right over 62 all the time. Says the brand is what we are, not what we want to be like. And that is exactly what you were just saying.
00:24:09:23 - 00:24:29:19
Speaker 2
And that is what social listening can do, is to say, how are people feeling about it? And that's the important thing to say about social listening, is it can measure the sentiment for what you can do and then then that can inform strategy. Like we want to say that we are really that that diversity, equity and inclusion is something that's really important to us.
00:24:29:21 - 00:24:47:14
Speaker 2
We've done all of these things over the past few years. We have all of this stuff that we're doing out there and then if I can go out using social listening tools and be like, Well, people aren't saying that about us. They're saying the opposite. That can inform strategy to be like, okay, well we need to share and do other things so they can see all of this stuff.
00:24:47:20 - 00:25:09:11
Speaker 2
Where are they saying that? Where are you hearing that? Well, I'm hearing that on Reddit. Okay, great. What can we post about that? This Reddit audience might see or what concerns do they have? How can we address that? So the social listening can really inform broad, overarching strategy. Do they feel good about us? Do they feel that we are successful in what we want to be successful in?
00:25:09:16 - 00:25:14:15
Speaker 2
And how can I hear what they're saying? And then from what I hear, how can that inform what I do?
00:25:15:16 - 00:25:56:12
Speaker 1
Yeah, and there's so much nuance, I think, in DIY efforts, you know, when it comes to inclusion in inclusive language and things like that, that I think we're all just kind of learning as as we go and we're learning from the people that experience the negative side of that. So something like, you know, social listening tool can really, I think, just help us learn what it means to be an inclusive environment and inclusive school and celebrate diversity and equity inclusion, you know, more so than just kind of taking these broad strokes and saying, okay, well, we we have to have a mix of, you know, representations of different skin colors in our marketing and things
00:25:56:12 - 00:26:03:09
Speaker 1
like that. You know, there's so much more nuanced things that you can't learn unless you actually hear gripes from people.
00:26:04:05 - 00:26:33:10
Speaker 2
It's very true. And the very audiences that we want to uplift and support and make sure that everybody is being heard are the voices that we don't listen to enough. And so it can be a focus of, well, what are what is the Black Student Union saying on your campus about your campus, about their experience there? And that could be that's where social listening is more of a really ongoing thing to find out.
00:26:33:10 - 00:26:51:03
Speaker 2
Does that change over time or are there things that we need to address? Like how can we make sure that the systems that have been in place for so long that we are actually working to dismantle and not support, and then we have things like the affirmative action thing at the Supreme Court, which is happening, which is going to have a big impact on some of this work that we're doing.
00:26:51:03 - 00:27:13:16
Speaker 2
And what does that mean and how can we make sure that we get the students who want and should be in our classrooms there rather than the people who traditionally are there? It is ongoing. It's really, really, really hard. I faced that as a higher ed, as a white man in higher education, communications when we were thinking about all of this stuff.
00:27:13:16 - 00:27:46:00
Speaker 2
And it was really, really coming to the forefront and really confronting this in ourselves, our own biases and approaches and privileges of I work for higher ed. Higher ed has a being that has been upholding this systemic problems for decades, if not centuries, like I am part of the problem. And what can I do in the work that I do to make a difference, to accept that, to realize that, and to change that in myself in my day to day work.
00:27:46:13 - 00:28:06:07
Speaker 1
Quick break here to tell you about our video storytelling subscriptions. Look, making even one video takes a lot of legwork if you're doing it. The more polished video route. If you're doing it more the iPhone, you know, quick grab route, do that all day long. But if you want to do the polished videos where you're hiring an outside crew and that kind of thing, it's a lot of work that goes into it.
00:28:06:07 - 00:28:32:16
Speaker 1
Lots of steps to hire a video vendor, herd all the cats, and then you get one video out of that most times. But imagine a world where you'd get 132 videos across the year and pretty much all you had to do was find the stories of successful student and alumni to tell and pass on to someone else to do all the nitty gritty scheduling, planning, coordinating all that stuff that you hate to do well, that someone is us unveiled.
00:28:32:16 - 00:28:57:10
Speaker 1
Our aim is to take the friction out of telling great stories. Whether you're a big school or a small liberal arts college, you can tell really compelling stories all year round through video and fill your content calendar with great video content. And we get this done anywhere in the U.S. We bet shoot an entire year's worth of content and then every month drip out to you one new student or alumni story along with a whole package of additional video content.
00:28:57:10 - 00:29:16:03
Speaker 1
So you get the full length story, which is usually 2 to 3 minutes. You'll get a 32nd cut down, a 15 second cut down, use those in various ways, and then eight topical videos, extra good stuff from the interview that we've repurposed into content for you. And here's where this can benefit you when it comes to these short form vertical videos.
00:29:16:03 - 00:29:35:17
Speaker 1
Not only can you take what we deliver and crop them vertically and, you know, make great tik-tok and reels content, but you can keep all the B-roll and interview footage that we shot so you can make as much stuff as you want. There's a wealth of additional content opportunities as we're building your massive footage and interview library and you don't have to go film anything.
00:29:35:17 - 00:29:54:21
Speaker 1
So head over to pricing.unveild.tv to download our pricing guide, which has everything in it you need to know. And if you'd like to chat further, you can book a call with me on our website. unveild.tv. Okay, Back to my conversation with Andrew. I want I want to talk about tell me about the, you know, the stock practically about your social media strategies.
00:29:55:12 - 00:29:59:22
Speaker 2
Practically. Oh, gosh. Okay. Let's get down to some nuts and bolts here. Okay. What would you like to do?
00:30:01:09 - 00:30:02:23
Speaker 1
You know, tell me, you know all your secrets.
00:30:03:13 - 00:30:07:11
Speaker 2
Of course, that we have some proprietary information.
00:30:07:11 - 00:30:14:15
Speaker 1
I'm just curious to know, like what? What channels are you guys active on? Where have you seen the most success? What's working, what's not? Tell me a little bit about that.
00:30:14:15 - 00:30:30:07
Speaker 2
Fascinating you ask that, John. Thank you so much. What a great question. We just wrapped up our yield campaign. May 1st is National Decision Day. So a lot of 18 year olds, 17 year olds, 19 year olds were out there over the past month and a half, really agonizing about what they were going to do, where they were going to go.
00:30:30:13 - 00:30:47:14
Speaker 2
So we had we're part of a yield campaign to we've admitted these students. We want to get the students in. So we had we just finished a large campaign that gave me a lot of data that could inform exactly the question that you want. So for that campaign, we wanted to make sure that people were hearing about Middlebury.
00:30:47:19 - 00:31:15:06
Speaker 2
We wanted to tell the story about Middlebury to as many people as we could. It was a combination of both paid and organic. Paid Part was on tech talk and we focused on areas of the country that really interested in expanding who hears about Middlebury. We know that in New England and Vermont, where the colleges and all the places up here people know about the college, but in places like Arizona, Texas, California, Oregon, Georgia, Florida, those not as many people hear about it all that as much as they do up here.
00:31:15:06 - 00:31:34:05
Speaker 2
So we targeted things. And it was amazing to see on TikTok. That was the only place that we spent a few hundred dollars, hundreds of thousands of views and clicks. So before I talk about anything else, the big thing to say is right now for higher education, social media, the best way to succeed is to pay for it.
00:31:34:05 - 00:31:55:02
Speaker 2
There's no other there's no question about it. You can get it where you want it. You can control the message. You can control the interest of the people that are using it. This idea of organic social, this has really great value and effectiveness is fading by the day. So I really encourage anyone who is thinking about how to succeed, really start talking about what your budget's going to be like, what's paid.
00:31:55:02 - 00:32:06:20
Speaker 2
It's going to be like, Are you paying for your Twitter blue check? We are not. Are you going to pay for a meta verification for your Instagram, for yourself, for your own place? These are big questions about what paid social is going to be like going on in the future.
00:32:07:13 - 00:32:23:12
Speaker 1
It was at this point in the conversation that my doorbell rang and I had to go sign for a package. I've been waiting on FedEx chose the perfect time to show up. I love it. Okay. And so now we're back to picking up our conversation where we left off because it was a crapshoot when when a package is going to show up that I have to be home to sign.
00:32:23:18 - 00:32:37:14
Speaker 1
So my my daughter is turning eight this weekend and she wants to do a music video. And so we decided, well, let's let's make it look cool. Will order a bunch of smoke bombs. Like colorful smoke bombs. Yes.
00:32:38:00 - 00:32:42:07
Speaker 2
Oh, those are great. That's going to be fun.
00:32:42:07 - 00:32:45:11
Speaker 1
So it turns out you have to sign for explosives.
00:32:46:10 - 00:33:00:18
Speaker 2
You know what? I was wondering if you're going to see Taylor Swift at the Arabs concert. I've been seeing so much on TikTok about that. I mean, these are people who are going to that big extravaganza and maybe maybe her errors to her outfit was arriving, but it wasn't that big of.
00:33:02:00 - 00:33:14:08
Speaker 1
We tried my dad tried to get get tickets for for my girls and, you know, Yeah. Oh, no. That was back before the Ticketmaster debacle. And and, you know, here we are. They haven't gotten to see Taylor Swift.
00:33:14:11 - 00:33:30:23
Speaker 2
You could have a birthday party for a lot of fun or like, well, you're not going to college. You're going to go see Taylor Swift. Yeah. So hopefully, hopefully so for our organic campaign, it was very video focused, made a choice to do that because most platforms are really encouraging video these days, are really leaning into that for that algorithm.
00:33:30:23 - 00:34:00:02
Speaker 2
And so for organic sharing, want to make sure we're doing what the algorithm is interested in. And all the research says they're really making sure that video is very, very heavy out there, vertical video. So we used we crowdsourced videos from user generated content. We had some original content that we made and then repurposed content from the past, you know, five or seven years with a strong focus on sense of place, community and outcomes, because those are the things you know, you come here, it's a beautiful place to be.
00:34:00:02 - 00:34:22:20
Speaker 2
You're going to have this great network of community after you're here and then you can really find your friends and find a future support group here. So the platforms that we we showed across ten platforms during that yield campaign to sort of get a bunch of information from all those places we shared on Tumblr, that was, you know, no surprise, not a lot of people on there, but I think it's really important that we're searching for us, but it's important to be in the space.
00:34:22:20 - 00:34:39:08
Speaker 2
So just in case someone does, you know that one student that decides to apply it because wherever they see it, that is a return on investment for all of the sorry for doing the thing, just one, no matter where they see it. If it was on Tumblr and they saw it, great. So that was a place that I want to do audience development and same with Pinterest.
00:34:39:10 - 00:35:07:01
Speaker 2
Pinterest I think has great, great, great potential for higher education. I would love to talk more about that. It's the thing that I'm really, really curious to explore. Again, it was more experimental than there was our Mastodon instance that we're sharing into. We're really not sharing on Twitter as much. We have it for crisis communication and listening, but Twitter has become a place that was like, okay, we're going to use it very, you know, sparsely, but really trying to build up this decentralized, federated in the Fed, diverse.
00:35:07:04 - 00:35:37:11
Speaker 2
And again, the mastodon is another thing that I'd love to talk about maybe in the future of where this stuff is going to go. So those are some of the smaller platforms. Then it got into the big ones. Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, LinkedIn, those were the places that we really focused on really, really great engagement. In fact, this video centered organic social media campaign performed best percentage wise for engagement of any yield campaign from the past four years since COVID.
00:35:37:19 - 00:35:58:11
Speaker 2
And that was because we had these great storehouse of videos that we could share and say, This is a great place to be. So it taps into not only I want to go there, but also students of I'm Happy I'm here alum who are. I'm so glad I went there. Loved ones who would be like, Oh my God, I'm so grateful for that place, for my child or for the community that what goes on up there.
00:35:58:17 - 00:36:24:05
Speaker 2
So these stories of what it's like, what's it feel like, what you can get out of it was really, really it was proven successful with the engagement rates, looking at just that metric. Also, each platform had a different thing to say, like YouTube for the first time, we got some prospective students in that age range looking at the videos on there, and that might have to do with the introduction of YouTube shorts.
00:36:24:20 - 00:36:44:07
Speaker 2
So it's interesting to look and see what works and what didn't based on how the platforms have changed. You know, Tok is different than it was a year ago. YouTube is different from a year ago. Instagram was different from last year or the year before or the year before. How do you measure success over years? But these platforms are changing so much.
00:36:44:14 - 00:37:06:14
Speaker 2
That's a question. That's the research question that hopefully your data can help you answer. What is the sort of sameness that you can measure time over time? So those are the main platforms that we shared on. We also shared into Reddit, also shared. I can look at my little sketch. I want to make sure they don't leave one out because they all are deserving discord.
00:37:06:14 - 00:37:33:03
Speaker 2
That's the other one that we're sort of experimenting with, with how we can build a community at the campus as well. So we shared across all of those places and then we knew that we would have some shining stars in the mainstream ones. But we want to do audience development to build our places. And so these campaigns can really help not just recruit and enroll and commit, but also raise awareness, develop an audience, and then have your community move with you forward.
00:37:35:04 - 00:37:39:12
Speaker 1
That's a lot. And Tumblr haven't heard of. I didn't think that was still a thing.
00:37:40:02 - 00:37:45:04
Speaker 2
Tumblr is still a thing. Tumblr is still a thing. It is. There is a strong like.
00:37:45:10 - 00:37:46:21
Speaker 1
We're marketing on LiveJournal.
00:37:46:21 - 00:38:07:03
Speaker 2
All you see, the more you type, we'll talk about differentiators a bit and that's I think and interesting. So this is I'm going to bring up Pinterest or Tumblr here, but both of those things think this works on to that. Prospective students see so much material from so many places that are that are, you know, wooing them to get them to come there.
00:38:07:10 - 00:38:26:04
Speaker 2
And it all looks pretty much it's very similar. Very, very similar. How do you stand out? So if if I in my imagination, I'm a prospective student, I get an email from a school saying, Hey, we think you'd be a great fit for here. Look at our Instagram, look at our TikTok, see what it's like. Okay, Yeah, everybody's got an Instagram and TikTok, a moment of delight.
00:38:26:04 - 00:38:53:10
Speaker 2
Here's an email. Look at our Pinterest, Look at our Tumblr. What, you guys have those? What's that like? So if you can get that prospective student to take that action, click on that link. You've done something that's different from the other ones that are just Instagram and Facebook and all. That's because our prospective students are part of getting into Generation Alpha, and I've been doing a lot of research to get ready to talk to Generation Alpha about what they want to do.
00:38:53:17 - 00:39:12:20
Speaker 2
And that's one of the things that I say is that, you know, for social strategists that are in a position like me, I'm already being strategized by 13 and 14 year olds because they know how to use these tools much better and more efficiently than I ever can. So what can I do to take that into account? What next steps can I take?
00:39:13:00 - 00:39:31:18
Speaker 2
Assuming that they're already searching on YouTube and Instagram and TikTok for Middlebury? So if they're are you going to do that? I don't need to worry about that. What things do I worry about? So when they do this work to find it, to use those tools to find us, what can I put there that they want to see?
00:39:32:03 - 00:39:49:05
Speaker 2
And that's where things like this past year campaign can really help out because we sent people to a specific website. Go to this web page to find out more about the college. We can see that they went there, They did the thing, Where do they go after that? What are they interested in? Academics. They want to know to the admissions thing.
00:39:49:05 - 00:40:07:01
Speaker 2
They want to know outcomes. So if I can put that front and center, oh, I'm curious about Middlebury. I heard about it. I'm going to search about it on Instagram. They go to Instagram and they see the next thing that they want to know about What can I do after it? What's there for me? What am I going to learn when I'm there?
00:40:07:09 - 00:40:32:18
Speaker 2
Then I'm anticipating what their need is, giving them a personalized experience. Then they feel very welcome. They'll follow, they'll engage, they'll be interested as we go along the way. So these ideas of these smaller platforms that aren't quite as mainstream can be a really good differentiator when you're communicating with prospective students for that moment of delight, to get them to click on that button and take them the action that you want them to take.
00:40:33:10 - 00:40:58:23
Speaker 2
The other thing I talk about when I talk about these other platforms is every platform started with zero followers. When we first started Instagram, there was no one following. It worked hard for years to get those followers. You can do the same on every platform if you encourage people to go there and if you put content that people want to see on there, you can make your Pinterest really, really exciting.
00:40:59:07 - 00:41:19:07
Speaker 2
And I encourage anyone who may be listening, who has not searched on Pinterest for a while about the school to go do that. You'll be really surprised at what people have been sharing and talking about where you work on that platform and if you're not on there talking about or giving them something to do, then you're missing out.
00:41:20:06 - 00:41:40:01
Speaker 2
The other thing I love about Pinterest is as some of these other platforms like Instagram is becoming like, we want these small content creators, this content, this creator economy. That's what we're really leaning into higher education. It's not a small content creator. We are a big brand, we are a big organization. So we have to fight against that.
00:41:40:08 - 00:42:03:01
Speaker 2
Pinterest is a platform that is built for big brands to market themselves in a very esthetically, fun, pleasing way. That is exactly what we want. People go on Pinterest to find out what opportunity it is for them to have a new outfit or for an experience, or to learn something or to make a new, you know. Do you go there for a do it yourself project?
00:42:03:01 - 00:42:26:00
Speaker 2
I cannot think of any greater do it yourself project than your college education. Like, you are really, really putting that together. So if you can provide tools on Pinterest, I think it has great, great value. Such a small audience. It's really time to grow it. But if you tell people to go there and you put stuff there that they want to see, it'll have great, you know, yeah, return on investment.
00:42:26:23 - 00:42:35:04
Speaker 1
So what? So, so tell me more about what you guys post on there. What would be like the top maybe two or three, you know, pillars of things that you would put.
00:42:35:05 - 00:42:54:14
Speaker 2
So the most successful I think I'm going to look at this talk about this yield campaign again because I'm thinking a lot about it. It just happened and provided such great data, including for Pinterest. So the things that worked on there were a sense of place stuff worked really, really well on there. No surprise because it's pretty and looks really good and it's easy to pin it to your own boards and to save it.
00:42:55:12 - 00:43:15:11
Speaker 2
The other things that I post on there is we get so many fliers for events and there's always this thing, What do we do with all these fliers that we get? Where do we put them? They're not accessible for an Instagram thing. They don't look good on this other place. Pinterest board fliers link to the event is great because then you can share that Pinterest board as another link somewhere else.
00:43:15:15 - 00:43:36:21
Speaker 2
You're like, Hey people, what's going on? The events. So it really provides a place to put stuff that you can share other places and let people know. So the first thing is sense of place. Event fliers are great. And then there's also these news articles because Pinterest allows you to take a link, put it in there, choose the image that's associated with the metadata on there, and then present that in a very pleasing way.
00:43:37:03 - 00:43:50:17
Speaker 2
In your Pinterest feed, someone clicks on that link, takes it right to your website. You don't have to get in their Lincoln bio or any of that stuff that you do with Instagram or other places all the time, or on TikTok if you're not, you know, paying for that sort of stuff. But you can click right on that link.
00:43:50:17 - 00:44:15:00
Speaker 2
You can go right to the content, whether it's a news story, student success story, your commencement brochure or whatever it is. So providing that user something that they can do and they are they can take that action right away is great. So that's the third thing that I would say that we share all the time is news stories with the links with the picture and then put them all together in these boards that people can follow.
00:44:15:00 - 00:44:20:05
Speaker 1
That's great. That's really interesting. Now I now I want to check out Pinterest and see how I can see.
00:44:20:05 - 00:44:25:17
Speaker 2
It now, Tumblr and Pinterest. You're just going to have a whole renewed experience on your social platform.
00:44:25:17 - 00:44:47:12
Speaker 1
Yes, that's awesome. And one thing I think you guys do really well, and I'm sure Vermont just lends itself to that sense of place that you talked about is, you know, I was on your Facebook and just, oh, the one video that you guys have on your on your Facebook, I think it's on your Facebook is like students like ice skating around this like gorgeous landscape and I was.
00:44:47:20 - 00:45:08:13
Speaker 1
To me, I'm like, oh, man, I want to go back to college. You know, just that time of life where it's like you can you can choose to go anywhere in the world. And for me, like when I chose, you know, I spent my first semester of college in Maryland. And a lot of the reason was that sense of place, the weather, the environment, the vibe.
00:45:08:14 - 00:45:19:20
Speaker 1
You know, when I visited the campus and I think, yeah, Vermont, probably there's no shortage of like really pretty stuff. Tell me about tell me about that. Like.
00:45:20:03 - 00:45:49:15
Speaker 2
It is a joy. It is. It sells itself. I mean, with that sort of stuff, sense of place is so it's one of the things. So the challenge at Middlebury same thing with Alaska with sense of place was you could just share it all the time and then it becomes meaningless. You're always sharing pictures of beautiful fall foliage, lovely sunsets, gorgeous rolling valleys, green hills, you know, misty in the background has powerful, powerful things.
00:45:49:15 - 00:46:12:21
Speaker 2
So it becomes a challenge of how much do you share that and when how where is that balance? And is there too much? Because it's it's fighting the engagement metrics itself because everybody likes pretty pictures of a sunset. But how much value does that have over time? Is is there more value in look at this, what's happening in the classroom.
00:46:13:03 - 00:46:35:06
Speaker 2
But the sense of place is so important. And it's one of those things that it's also a chance to be really authentic about what students are going to be getting into when they come to this place. There was true in Fairbanks where it can get 2030 below for, you know, ten days at a time. How do you convince someone that they want to go to that environment?
00:46:35:15 - 00:46:58:19
Speaker 2
Well, you're going to be learning all these cool things. Middlebury has it gets cold, but you can do all these things outside, as you mentioned, the ice skating, the skiing, the sledding on campus. So it's turning those sense of place images and thoughts and feelings and then telling the story of what opportunity that provides for you as a student.
00:46:58:19 - 00:47:14:17
Speaker 2
You can go and you can drive out, You can watch the colors change on the roads and then come back to your dorm. This place that people spend hundreds of dollars to come and travel and just see a tree turn orange. Well, guess what? It's all around you. You can live in that. You can see that whole cycle.
00:47:14:23 - 00:47:36:23
Speaker 2
You can if you There are students who come who have never seen snow falling before you. So it's that you can come here and you've seen it in TV, you've seen in the movies, you've read about it in books. Now you can have that experience yourself. And so it's turning those things that just seem so mundane and recognizing that members of your audience have never had that experience.
00:47:36:23 - 00:47:53:22
Speaker 2
It's really, really special for them. And then making sure that you tell that, come here, sled on the hill right outside your dorm and go get some hot cocoa at the student center and watch a concert that night that your friends playing. And who doesn't want to do that for sure?
00:47:53:22 - 00:48:09:23
Speaker 1
That's awesome. I can't I can't fathom people never having seen snow because it's just all I see in Michigan. But I have cousins that grew up in Florida, and I remember they came up to visit when they're little kids and that was the first time they saw snow. I just thought that was so bizarre.
00:48:10:19 - 00:48:26:11
Speaker 2
And this is in if you grow up in a city you've never had, like walk down a country path or go hiking or going on a camping trip. So it's this outdoor activity that is that's the selling point in the story to tell when we're really talking about sense of place here at Middlebury.
00:48:27:07 - 00:48:51:01
Speaker 1
Yeah. And then one thing I think you guys do great in terms of video content is you know, I saw on your on your YouTube you have some really quality videos that you know, look like a you know, a crew, professional crew shot. And those are really compelling but in and you also have what looks like kind of like student generated stories.
00:48:51:05 - 00:49:09:10
Speaker 1
There was one at Claire Claire Contreras where it's like her, it's just her in talking to the webcam about her experiences and then what looked like just her own selfies or just off her camera roll pictures and videos. And I'm like, to me, I'm like, that's equally as effective. You know?
00:49:09:21 - 00:49:26:15
Speaker 2
It is. And it's the balance that you're mentioning is exactly what we're sort of going, is that, sure, we can put us really slick video out there. It's got great music, It's well shots, well lit. It's really, really put together. You know what? We're really, really put together. We really know what we're doing. We have that professional attitude.
00:49:26:15 - 00:49:50:13
Speaker 2
We can do that, but we're also scrappy. You know, we can pick up our phone, we can record the story that's happening today. We can go through and show you all this stuff. It's just life and being able to have a team that supports that raggedy storytelling is so great because so many people want to just have that slick view book feel all the time.
00:49:51:04 - 00:50:17:04
Speaker 2
But for the authenticity that Gen-z and Generation Alpha want, that's not going to work with them. They watch because as we've talked about, A.I. is becoming such a thing every image now you can't trust, even with videos, with deepfake videos and sounds and all that stuff. So if you are 13 and 14 now generation, is anyone born in 2010 or afterwards.
00:50:17:15 - 00:50:37:16
Speaker 2
So Generation Alpha born in 2010, now it's 2023. There are 13 now. Now is when they can within the terms of service, start having social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook and take time. So they're just starting to use these tools to explore and find out things. And if they're also hearing you can't trust anything that you see or hear.
00:50:37:21 - 00:50:54:15
Speaker 2
They've learned that from all the stuff that they've seen with AI generation, they're probably using these A.I. tools on their own right now. So if we're out there putting videos that say, Look how great it is, you could be around, you know, is that really that or is it a deepfake video that you map someone's face over because it looks so slick and so put together?
00:50:54:22 - 00:51:17:16
Speaker 2
Do I really trust that? But a student who's like, hey, here's the thing and it's a little jiggly camera and you go over here, you know, that has more of the authentic feel I trust that more. That's the story that really speaks to me in a way the slick video doesn't. But for right now, the balance is so important and being able to see both of those sides of a place can they put on a good front?
00:51:17:16 - 00:51:24:05
Speaker 2
They can. But are they keeping it real? They are. That's the place that I'm interested in knowing more about.
00:51:25:09 - 00:51:47:00
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, that's really powerful. And yeah, I do think you need both because, you know, at least in today's, you know, if you go on, you know, a buttoned up schools website and then you see just a shaky camera just student kind of walking around, there's kind of a disconnect there, at least for me, because I'm kind of just like that.
00:51:47:00 - 00:52:11:05
Speaker 1
I feel like the website at least is the program pages are a good opportunity for that quality. But but when you step off of that and you get into the day to day social content, it would be a disconnect to have really polished, you know, videos on there. And I just, you know, yeah, most, most people are just really resonating with I just makes me think.
00:52:11:12 - 00:52:30:05
Speaker 1
It makes me think my daughter my daughter makes it she's the one. She's turning eight. She's she makes videos of herself just doing gymnastics, doing back bends and stuff like that. I'm like, that's the world that she's growing up in is just, you know, pointing the camera at yourself and just doing something that you're interested in, you know?
00:52:30:05 - 00:52:32:03
Speaker 1
Right. Not worrying about writing and.
00:52:33:01 - 00:53:12:07
Speaker 2
And that's what that is. It's that exact feeling of as a school, we're just going to point the camera at ourselves as a school and record thing that we're doing today, and then we'll share it. And there is great value and just this is who we are today. We're just having fun. We wanted to include you because you're important to us, but there is that also great feeling that comes with a bit more, you know, slick performance and slick presentation and of what you can talk about because you do want that, that gives a certain level of confidence that you're making a good choice of where you're going to go for these years and investment
00:53:12:07 - 00:53:13:05
Speaker 2
of your time and money.
00:53:14:13 - 00:53:42:01
Speaker 1
Yeah, a good example of that is my I have friends from a production company I used to work at. They worked with the university small university here called Rochester University in Michigan. Rochester has a basketball coach that was just one of these sort of like took I mean, just imagine any movie you've seen where that they you know, they're practicing out of a janitor's closet and then they're winning like national championships.
00:53:42:17 - 00:54:05:10
Speaker 1
And it was all because of like how he how he, you know, poured into these men, these these individuals to, you know, raise them up to be good people, not so much about, you know, basketball. So it just all the tenants of just a heartwarming story. And then they they did a whole documentary on on him that was just released last week.
00:54:06:02 - 00:54:28:23
Speaker 1
And it's really, really compelling to watch because it shot it's shot very well. It's very slick and it feels like a movie. Like, I think there would be a disconnect if that story was just kind of what YouTube style? Yeah, it wouldn't be. I mean, it would probably you know, it would be impactful, but it's not doesn't give you that like punch in the gut, like going to see a movie does.
00:54:28:23 - 00:54:50:03
Speaker 1
And I think that that's a really you know, that's a really interesting use of video content. Video crew is to come and tell a larger story like that and make a bigger investment in it and make it a thing, make it almost like a product like this is this is something that we're sponsoring, you know, this kind of life change.
00:54:50:03 - 00:55:13:13
Speaker 2
The thing that you just mentioned that I think is so important with video storytelling is if you if you make an investment in the video, you're paying either your employees or an outside contractor to make the highly produced video for you, your audiences will see that and be like, Oh, they invested in that. They cared enough to put some resources towards that so that I will see it.
00:55:13:23 - 00:55:47:19
Speaker 2
I respect that investment. They made an effort and so, okay, that tells me something about them. They care enough about their project and product to put that money into it. I will take that a little more seriously, but can they be fun? So it is wanting to know both of those things and being able to provide. And that's one of the good reasons to share across a variety of platforms, because then on LinkedIn you want that really polished, powerful storytelling put together thing.
00:55:47:19 - 00:56:11:14
Speaker 2
You want that on, say, LinkedIn on Tumblr, you might want a little bit more of the rough and ready out there, getting ready for my day thing and I'll take that. Of course, you want to balance this together. Yeah, but the more platforms that you have advance. Yes. The more the you do the, the, the more variety of platforms that you have, the more variety of stories you can tell.
00:56:12:16 - 00:56:27:10
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's great. Well, last question here. What advice would you have for other other small colleges in their social media strategies? What's what's something that, you know, some wisdom that you've gained that you can impart on our listeners?
00:56:27:17 - 00:56:52:07
Speaker 2
The wisdom that I have gained is some of the most important thing that you can do as a social media at a small college to share regularly share really good content all the time. Because when something happens bad at your place, your community is going to be relying on you and the trust and the community that you build to your every day sharing is going to really depend on you.
00:56:52:15 - 00:57:22:17
Speaker 2
When something bad happens to be out there, to be a voice of comfort, of connection after the bad thing happens. So at a small college, yes, we need to market our stuff. We need to keep all those things in mind. But every single post grows community, keep that community in mind every day, because the stronger that that is when the crisis happens, no matter what it is, they will look to you for support and connection.
00:57:23:00 - 00:57:38:00
Speaker 2
And if you have provided that ahead of time, then it's there when they need it after it. So don't wait for the crisis to strengthen your community. Know that every post you make does that and keep that in mind and you will be successful.
00:57:38:00 - 00:57:41:21
Speaker 1
Wow. Great. That's very theatrical response.
00:57:43:13 - 00:57:45:05
Speaker 2
Excellent. Excellent.
00:57:46:16 - 00:57:49:00
Speaker 1
Well, Andrew, where can where can people connect with you at?
00:57:50:11 - 00:58:02:13
Speaker 2
You. I'm on my Mastodon instance. I'm on home dot social account. We didn't divulge based on I loved it, but that's where I am. On message on LinkedIn. I'm Andrew Cassell. On LinkedIn, you can see those are the best places to connect with me.
00:58:03:20 - 00:58:07:18
Speaker 1
Awesome. I was curious to ask about the mastodon. What what's what is that about?
00:58:08:00 - 00:58:27:23
Speaker 2
Sure. So how much time do we have? I'll go. Really quick. I'll do it quickly. Quickly. So you're familiar with the TV show Star Trek and the TV show Star Trek. There is a know federation of planets. Each planet has its own identity politics and economy, but they all work together. Same thing. And Mastodon is a federated collection of individual instances.
00:58:28:03 - 00:58:46:21
Speaker 2
And in that instance you have the people that you like, your neighborhood, your house is inside this instance, which is the neighborhood, and then it's connected to the city, which is the big fed of us. So Mastodon instances, it's all run by people. There's no advertising, there's no algorithm. It's really, really hard. It's social networking versus social media.
00:58:47:06 - 00:59:02:16
Speaker 2
Social media. I describe in this way as you're on a tightrope on your unicycle juggling, saying, Hey, everybody, look at me. Tomorrow I'm going to have ten balls of juggling. Next time you have 20, you got to come back to see all the stuff that I'm doing as I perform on social media. Social networking is like, Hey, dudes, we're just hanging out.
00:59:02:20 - 00:59:22:12
Speaker 2
Here's something that I like. You might like it. I don't know. I don't care. I liked it, and I wanted to share with you that vibe of finding the things that you're really interested in an environment that is not controlled by an algorithm or by someone who where you are, the data, so on you choose which place you want to be and home.
00:59:22:21 - 00:59:44:20
Speaker 2
That social outcome is my instance. You can find me on there. There's all sorts. It's a whole conversation in itself. But ultimately what it is, is these people make these places to share that you want to go in and it is safe from advertising and from an algorithm.
00:59:46:02 - 00:59:50:12
Speaker 1
Interesting. Okay. I'm going to do some digging on that. Maybe we'll maybe we'll have you back on the show.
00:59:50:15 - 01:00:14:10
Speaker 2
I hope so. There's so much to talk about that if you want to talk about it. It's one of those things where the more that you start talking about it, the more you start pulling it apart. And I really will all as a tease for what I hope we'll talk more about. I really do see it as the future of higher education communication, both internal and external, because everybody you can create your own instance.
01:00:14:15 - 01:00:32:00
Speaker 2
And the thing that I imagined, John, is one day you get your email for the place that you're going to go, you get your email and then you get your account on the instance for your school and suddenly you're connected with everybody else. They're in a whole new way. That's the social plane outside of that. It creates community in that way.
01:00:32:00 - 01:00:34:11
Speaker 2
So there's so much to talk about with Mastodon.
01:00:36:05 - 01:00:41:09
Speaker 1
Okay, okay. Look out for look out for that.
01:00:41:09 - 01:00:49:12
Speaker 2
Great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for letting me talk about some of the stuff that I care and love to do so much. It's a great it's I really, really appreciate it.
01:00:49:12 - 01:01:04:03
Speaker 1
Thank you for listening. Andrew. And I did, in fact, schedule a second episode to record about Mastodon because I'd never heard of it and I want to hear more about it, so we might as well just record that conversation so you can learn along with me. So keep an eye out for that. Three things I want to give you before you go.
01:01:04:03 - 01:01:24:18
Speaker 1
Reminder to go to pricing.unveild.tv. If you're interested in our subscriptions and download our pricing guide. And number two, if you want to take the storytelling you're already doing to the next level, I have a free resource for you. It's a three part framework for creating compelling student and alumni testimonials that you can get at unveild.tv/studenttestimonials
01:01:24:18 - 01:01:42:22
Speaker 1
And it doesn't even have to be for video. Put the framework to use in any format in which you tell student outcome stories. And number three, we'd love for you to leave a review for this podcast. It helps us out a ton. Thank you for listening. My name's John Azoni go connect with me on LinkedIn and the meantime I'll catch you on the next episode of the Higher Ed Storytelling University Podcast.
01:01:43:00 - 01:01:45:08
Speaker 1
Thanks.
