Tim Cigelske, a communications specialist (@TeecycleTim) from Marquette University’s marketing and communications office spoke about “The Raynor Library Rave, and other adventures in higher ed social media.”

Cigelske came into his position as communications specialist in 2008 with social media experience, but he admitted he just “jumped in (to social media) to see what would happen” on behalf of Marquette.

And his approach has served Marquette’s social media presence very well. Mainly using Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter (starting to use Four Square) Cigelske has “torn down artificial walls” between the Marquette brand and its constituencies.

Specific examples:

Facebook: Marquette utilizes segmentation tools within Facebook to send out messages to specific groups of people.

Twitter: Early on in establishing the Marquette account, Cigelske engaged with people instead of just using the tool as a news feed (started October 14, 2008). The result as of today is 6,300 followers.

Flickr: Marquette sponsored a photo contest that asked people to submit photos as to what the University means to them. Marquette received more than 300 submissions from various audiences, including pictures of someone a showing off the Marquette logo (I think a flag) in a fighter jet plane and on top of Mt. Kilamanjaro. The result as of today is more than 1,400 photos of campus events on Flickr.

YouTube: Marquette saw a group of students who made creative videos and asked them to make a video about financial aid. Cigelske didn’t think the students would want to create a video about such a dry topic, but he asked anyway and they agreed. 

The result was a hilarious video (http://ow.ly/1w4f9) that prompted people to donate money and express their positive sentiment toward Marquette (the University has more than 450 videos on their channel). All I’ll say about the video is that it was a huge dance party in the middle of the library.

Overall takeaways:

It was clear after listening to this presentation that Marquette’s success in social media can be attributed to letting go and trusting others with its brand. Marquette wasn’t afraid to let a few students “take an idea and run with it” or just jump into Twitter.

People enjoy feeling like they are part of a community that supports and encourages them to speak about who they are. This encouragement of personal and authentic interaction builds a stronger foundation for Marquette’s brand. And Marquette’s social media presence creates a sense of trust and credibility in the eyes of its various consistencies.