Campus events need social media promotion | The Triangle

Campus events need social media promotion

Members of The Triangle staff had the opportunity to attend “Are you prepared for the 21st Century Workplace? Insights from Successful Women CEOs,” a panel discussion hosted Feb. 6 by the LeBow College of Business in Behrakis Grand Hall. The event was interesting, and the guest speakers had plenty of knowledge to share with the crowd. The only problem was that the room wasn’t at maximum occupancy. An event as insightful and beneficial to students as this one should have had a packed house, but why didn’t it?

Because sometimes administrators don’t recognize how to spread news quickly among the Drexel student community. By using everyone’s favorite social network: Facebook.

Take this year’s Homecoming Dance Party, for instance. Within a few hours of the headliner announcement, everyone on Facebook knew. Drexel’s Traditions Program posted an event on Facebook to which Drexel students could RSVP, leading the event to be only the second Homecoming concert in the event’s history to sell out.

While we understand that Homecoming was popular and that the word probably would have gotten out fast enough even if online social networking didn’t exist, we think the promotional tactics that Drexel Traditions used can easily be implemented for academic-based events, seminars and panel discussions.

In the last two years, we at The Triangle have taken advantage of social media’s influence on its users. We actively use our Facebook page and a Twitter account to feature stories and breaking news, and we recently joined the Instagram community. Not only has the promotion of articles and staff meetings on Facebook and Twitter increased our readership and staff size, but it has also led to the formation of a social media team, thus reshaping The Triangle’s digital strategy.

This is all aside from our recently created Web series, “The Triangle Live,” which has further demonstrated the power of social media promotion in our organization. With the start of any new media project, promotion is the key to hooking and retaining viewers. So far, “The Triangle Live” has covered two popular Drexel events: Homecoming 2013 and the Deepher Dude fundraiser. Both videos can be found on our website and YouTube channel. We promoted these segments on Facebook and Twitter, encouraging our friends and followers to share and retweet the links.

For example, members of Drexel Greek organizations including Delta Phi Epsilon, Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Sigma Phi shared the second episode of “The Triangle Live” on Facebook, exposing it to a larger mass of social media users. As a result, the video accrued over 400 views on YouTube in less than two days, making it our most immediately popular video of the past year.

It’s staggering to think of the impact a simple share on Facebook or retweet on Twitter can have on the success of a project, the popularity of a photo or the delivery of an idea into the mainstream. We think anyone not making use of these invaluable social resources isn’t properly using the Internet.

Hopefully our words of encouragement will inspire you to use social media to your advantage. However, that may manifest itself. If you’re not convinced or if you’d like to learn more about how exactly social media have impacted our lives, there’s a College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Seminar Series lecture Feb. 13 that you should attend. “Social Media and its Impact Through Active Contribution and Interaction” will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in Disque Hall Room 109 next Wednesday.

Social media have become a major part of our daily lives as a way to interact with friends and receive curated news and information about the things that matter most to us. When getting the word out about your latest project, there is only one thing to do: go where the people are.