Why use social media?
Good reasons to use social media
Social media sites have become invaluable tools in education, marketing and communication, for the University of Cumbria, your personal brand and your future employer(s).
Social media plays an important role in every student’s life. It is often easier and more convenient to access information, provide information and communicate via social media. Tutors and students can be connected to each other and can make good use of these platforms for the benefit of their learning and teaching.
Instant online discussions
Social media is the go to medium for people to interact. Current staff and students, prospective staff and students, alumni, stakeholders and the wider community can all communicate with like-minded individuals and have their questions answered, make friends and network.
Relationships
The University, and its staff, can use social media to connect to students, prospective students, researchers and other organisations, but at its heart, social media is about creating relationships with people like you.
Students can connect to:
- Students on your course (in your cohort or years above/below)
- Students studying in the same field at other institutions
- Experts in your field
Knowledge Sharing
Social media provides a platform where you can share your knowledge and gain credibility in your chosen field(s) or specialism(s). Within an online community, you can also acquire information and insights from others who have already been where you are now or have completed similar research.
Low cost
It can be very cost effective communication medium and is usually free for the end-user. Not only can you use it to communicate, but it is also an excellent promotional tool for things like events, new courses and research advances.
Connect at any time
Social networking never sleeps. You might not get an instant reply from someone local at 3am GMT, but most social networking sites are not restricted by geography and there is often someone to chat to from the international community. Or you can post a question and wait until daylight.
Branding
Many people are increasingly spending a great deal of time on social networking sites. Social media should be seen as a wide-reaching tool to reach a huge audience and so getting your name, the university’s name out there on the web, in the way we choose, is incredibly important.
It can also be used as a tool to see what people are saying about us! See Protect Yourself Online
Social media content is now integrated with search results
Search engines like Google and Bing are increasingly indexing and ranking information from social networks. The more presence we have on social media sites, the higher our ratings become in online search results. This makes it increasingly important that we present ourselves in a positive light.