Presented at HighEdWebNY (#hewebny) on June 12, 2015. For social media managers struggling with the balance of being reactive and proactive on social networks, there’s at least one way to help quell the “content crazies” – to focus on the content already in existence to maximize its mileage. Through on campus partnerships, internal projects, and an eye toward our past creations to inspire future content, we can make the most of the stories we show, tell, and share about our school.

1. Evergreen and Growth:
Ma’ayan Plaut | Oberlin College
@maayanplaut | #hewebny
Sustainable Content Strategy
for Social Media Managers

2. Daughter of farmers

3. Antithesis of my life now?

4. You can take the girl off the farm
but you can’t take away her farming instincts.

5. Patience. Process. Product.

6. Bumper crops of content
Reactive, not proactive

7. Purposeful planting and planned pruning

8. Our prototype: admissions

9. • What are you trying to say?
• Who are you saying it to?
• What have you already said?
Exploratory conversation:

10. See the forest. See the trees.
Look back to see what you’ve done.

11. Chicken or egg?
Is our plan defined by our content?
Or is our content defined by our plan?

12. Start a gardening journal.
• Conditions
• Process
• Examples

13. Conditions: background & atmosphere
• Who is it for?
• Why are you doing this?
• Where are you sharing?

14. Process: planting & maintenance
• Who will do this?
• How often will you do this?
• How do you know it’s working?

15. Examples: diagrams & drawings
• Platform
• Sample posts
• Required media

16. • What do you have?
• Where is it?
• How’s it doing so far?
Content Audit

17. • Master calendar
• Spreadsheets
• Metadata
Create your almanac

18. • Days/weeks
• Academic calendar
• Important dates
• Relevant external dates
Master calendar

19. • Content dump
• Timely content
• Organized content
• Worksheets (metadata
& packaging)
• Metadata guide
Spreadsheets

20. • 79 theme weeks of content
• Aligned with major talking
points
• Three pieces of content per
theme/week
Organize your seed stock

21. • Heirlooms
• Hybrids
• Indoor starts
Special seeds

22. • Align with other communications
• Set up reminders
• Flexible/”free” days
Time your planting schedule

23. • Tagged URLs
• Bit.ly links
Metadata

24. • Watering
• Weeding
• Fertilizer
Tending your social media garden

25. How’s your content doing?
Watering

26. What’s growing along with your content?
Weeding

27. What affects your content?
Fertilizer

28. The world is your oyster (mushroom)
Garden’s going, now what?

29. Inform new content strategy

30. Inspire new content creation

31. Jump-start new templates

32. Questions? Thoughts?
(I love this stuff.)
@maayanplaut
maayan.plaut@oberlin.edu