Live Events
Example content from live coverage and special events as Connecticut College's Social Media Strategist
Live Events
Example content from live coverage and special events as Connecticut College's Social Media Strategist
Commencement 2015
Quotations were "pre-tweeted" and ready to go at the push of the button, allowing beautiful and seamless tweets to be sent, live, during the ceremony.
Beautiful photography continually performs the best on Instagram. The photo below was captured by climbing a fire escape during the last minutes of the ceremony. It became the account's second-most-liked photo ever, with an engagement score of 20.14% *.
In the Instagram image below, users were encouraged to double-tap on the image, liking it. On Instagram's native app, when a user double-taps, a heart briefly appears upon the image and, in this case, the heart was the secret element to the message. This post became the most-liked post in account history, with an engagement score of 26.46% *.
*Note: Instagram engagement is calculated upon total followers, not actual reach or impressions, unlike Facebook and Twitter.
Given the nature of Facebook and its algorithms, in conjunction with the event at hand (information about the preparations for Commencement only appeals to a small subsection of the audience,) Facebook was used less in the lead-up to the event and was not used at all during the event. Follow-up posts, however, performed impressively, with the post-event story (left) garnering an engagement score of 4.06% and the post-event video (right) garnering an engagement score of 3.87%.
Inauguration of President Katherine Bergeron
This important event was a perfect example of social media in action. #ThinkDoLead was embraced by the campus in the weeks leading up to the event and our social media original content and curation efforts reached a global community.
Pre-event posts linked to a series of BuzzFeed Brand Publisher articles related to the Inauguration. These articles provided information about the College and its traditions.
During the event, tweets were sent live, with images (and name graphics) captured from the live webcast. These posts were retweeted broadly, including by elected officials such as Governor Malloy.
Following the event, additional tweets linked to a wrap-up BuzzFeed story, "11 Epic Moments from Inauguration Weekend," featuring gifs of key moments from the Installation Ceremony.
In anticipation of the week-long festivities, I created a "frame" for Instagram photos, so that Inauguration Weekend branding could be applied on-the-fly. In the week leading up to the ceremony, students used #ThinkDoLead to capture the receptions, teas and parties (including the image below, dubbed the President's "Epic Selfie.")
During the Installation Ceremony, select key, emotional moments were uploaded to Instagram.
Building Community
Using popular culture and shared experiences to build a vibrant and engaging social media community
Building Community
Using popular culture and shared experiences to build a vibrant and engaging social media community
Pop culture & a lighthearted touch
When your mascot is a camel, you can't be too serious. Social media allows the College to have a different, more human voice, while still maintaining an official, trusted presence. Particularly when interacting with prospective students, current students and young alumni, a dose of humor and pop culture goes a long way.
Instagram & Twitter
When the dress became national news, I quickly created a Camel version which appealed to our Twitter and Instagram audiences who were hotly-debating the issue.
When the College was named an LGBTQ-friendly school for the second year in a row, I created a celebratory graphic which performed very well on social media.
Instagram & Facebook
In celebration of Valentine's Day 2015, I made this graphic which was posted on Instagram and Facebook with great success and very high engagement.
Celebrating our community
Students, faculty, staff and alumni are often making news. Each day, I'm being sent news of accomplishments and awards and often I get to send the Facebook post or tweet that shares the news with the world.
As the women's soccer team headed back to campus following their NESCAC tournament win, I grabbed my camera and drove to work on a Sunday night to capture their arrival.
Instagram & Twitter
Late in the evening, once College alum Dana Heinz Perry '85 won an Oscar, I quickly created a Camel version of the iconic Oscar statue for social media.
Twitter & Instagram
Each year, we welcome a new class of Camels. Acceptance nights are an exciting moment to congratulate students as they get news that might change their life. A tweet back from their new college is an unexpected bit of icing on the cake.
As a college, we are constantly dealing with issues that face all of higher education, including sexual assault prevention. We've taken a proactive stance and hold our community accountable, and this message is something I'm comfortable communicating to our prospective students and alumni on social media.
Asking questions and sparking memories
Given my interest in architecture and history, I love digging through the archives and sparking the memories of the alumni I communicate with. #TBT is my favorite day of the week.
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Case Studies
Notable, high-profile moments at the helm of Connecticut College's social media efforts
Case Studies
Notable, high-profile moments at the helm of Connecticut College's social media efforts
Passing of Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers was a former student at Connecticut College for Women and when she fell ill, I reached out to the College archivist to see if we had any previously-undiscovered material. As it would turn out, the College has a photo from her freshmen year "facebook."
Although we were sad to learn of her passing, I was poised and ready to send a condolence tweet with the image. At 3:06 p.m., only minutes after Joan's passing, the tweet was sent and by 3:11 p.m., the first of three state media crews was calling to ask permission to run the photo. All three stations would end up reporting live from campus that evening ... all because of a tweet.
Are Oreos as addictive as cocaine?
CC student research took the national media by storm in October, 2013. During the media sensation, which was featured on nearly every local, regional and national news broadcast, I monitored, intercepted, catalogued and retweeted hundreds of social media posts. The sensational Oreo story made it into Conan O'Brien's monologue and was satirized by The Onion. Jon Stewart, sadly, couldn't comment on the story, for his show was on vacation for the week.
#NoFilter needed for this campus
Connecticut College provides a beautiful backdrop for Instagram photos that foster a sense of place, inspire and remind alumni of their connections to their alma mater, and pique the interests of prospective students. These are some of my favorite and most engaged-with photos from the College's Instagram account from the past school year. I take great pride in photographing 95% of the images posted to the account.