Learning to Fail
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Learning to Fail

5 rules for using social media in higher education

About the Book

In my day job, I sometimes train staff at a UK university how to blog and use social media to promote or support their professional persona, project or course...

Despite everyone usually knowing the basics (and sometimes much more) of social media, there always seems to be something holding some people back from truly 'getting it.' That 'something' seems to be fear; 'what if something I say gets taken out of context?' 'What if someone trolls me?' 'What if we don't have loads of followers straight away?'

Whether you're an experienced marketing professional looking to understand and use digital marketing more effectively, or an academic looking to use social media to support your course, this eBook is about learning to not be afraid to make mistakes online, to take risks and to genuinely understand the constantly shifting way your audience now communicates.

Featuring interviews with key figures from Sprout Social, Buzzfeed, BBC and a whole host of UK universities, this is essential reading for anyone interested in using social media as a marketing tool within a university.

About the Author

David Allen
David Allen

David Allen is a Digtial Marketing Manager at Birmingham City University, where he nudges academics into blogging. bangs on about usability and spins multiple digital media plates.

He lives in Wolverhampton, with his wife Kat and excessively Instagrammed dog, Louie.

Table of Contents

  • Rule 1. Plan.
    • “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
    • So what have we learned
  • Rule 2: Experiment
    • “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.“ - Ralph Waldo Emerson
    • So, what have we learned?
  • Rule 3 - Fail
    • ”Sometimes what we call “failure” is really just that necessary struggle called learning.” - Unknown
    • So, what have we learned?
  • Rule 4 - Engage
    • “Success in our mind is not simply that more people saw it. It’s really the rate of sharing; how often the sharing happens on a piece of content.” - Jon Perelman, Vice President, BuzzFeed
    • So, what have we learned?
  • Rule 5 - You are what you post
    • “I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” - Ernest Hemingway
  • The Interviews
  • Taking a strategic approach to social media marketing
  • Sprout Social’s advice on getting the most out of social media in a university
  • How Birmingham City University use Twitter
  • How Aston University use the web and social media
  • Going viral: BuzzFeed’s Jonathan Perelman on creating ‘sharable’ content
  • Noise, Holo Decks and personalisation at the BBC

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