GoldenWriting

I’ve been consulting with UCSD’s University Communications Office and as part of that project, was asked to give a presentation to the campus’s Marketing Council on guidelines and best practices for social media engagement. The meeting was held this morning and filled with about two dozen of UCSD’s marketing professionals from departments ranging from Athletics and Housing to the Printing Office and Scripps Institute of Oceanography. What they have in common, of course, is communicating with the students, faculty, and alumni, as well as the general public.

I had worked with the University Communications Office to develop initial guidelines and best practices, which they have posted to their website. So, I reviewed these guidelines and resources with them. We then got into a discussion of best practices and some of the issues they run up against, which are in many ways unique to a university setting. The primary issue, of course, is corralling student bloggers who want to participate in writing posts for the university but bristle at being given any kinds of guidelines whatsoever, including language.

I’m curious as to how other universities and colleges are dealing with this. The aunt in me believes that these young people want to be treated like the adults they are and that one of the lessons this gives them for when they enter the professional world is that they have to operate within the structures and values of the organizations they work for. If they want complete freedom, they can start their own personal blog, but if they want to participate in communications under the auspices of the university they have to comply with the university’s guidelines–which by the way, are purposely designed to address values and brand consistency but are not filled with micro-managing edicts.

Another subject that came up had to do with guest bloggers and posters–how do you oversee their contributions to make sure they don’t blow up in your face? My response was to create guidelines that address common issues and style, like most traditional media outlets, and distribute those to the guest blogger. I think people who are hosting blogs, Facebook pages, and other sites do tend to worry that these are somehow special and different from other types of media. And, yes, in many ways they are. However, magazines and newspapers have been accepting contributions from outside writers for generations and this is no different. You are in charge of the content you manage and part of that is making sure that any contribution put up on your page follows the guidelines you establish, whether it’s punctuation style, barring foul or incendiary language, or prohibiting plagerism.

Of course, I’m interested in learning if there are other ways of addressing either of these issues and if you have a different perspective, please leave a comment.