Jason Harris Answers Key Questions About Social Media

This October at Converge 2015, our focus is to bring the best and brightest together to revolutionize higher education. In this series of blog posts, Content Marketing Intern, Mikayla Wilson, asks our speakers key questions. Read on to find out more about our passionate speakers and the importance of their topics.

Name: Jason Harris

Organization: Sysomos

Session: Is This Thing On? Listen and Measure Strategically on Social

Date & Time: Thursday, October 22 | 3:45-4:45PM

Summary: Ever put your ear up to a fire hose? Alicia Brown of York University and Jason Harris of Sysomos share insights and examples on how social media monitoring and measurement can take your institution’s objectives to the next level.

MW: Tell us more about yourself.

JH: I’m a senior marketing manager at Sysomos. I manage our evangelism and community/social channels.

My background is in corporate community management, corporate communications and social analytics. I work like mad to ensure data is relevant to decision makers and stakeholders. At Sysomos, I serve as a corporate liaison for the company’s clients, partners and customers.

MW: What is new and next in social media?

JH: Social media has reached a “mainstreaming” point, where more people have adopted and are active on social sharing platforms of all kinds.

We’re producing posts with pictures, live video and Snaps of all kinds. It’s overwhelming for brands and organizations that are trying to figure out where to invest the limited resources social channels demand.

What’s needed is context and smart intelligence tools that give insightful data in the context of your organization’s needs and requirements.

Data isn’t significant on its own – it’s just information. In order to make smarter business decisions, we have to apply data science to the information we bring in and use the outcomes to inform the actions we take in marketing and throughout our businesses. It’s not only about being better at social. It’s also about finding the action levers in marketing and pinpointing them so our listening, engagement and even paid media deliver the ultimate return.

MW: What challenges have you seen in higher education in inbound marketing?

JH: I’ve seen challenges in social media for higher education that are common throughout the social marketing landscape. First, it’s trying to figure out which social channels and efforts are worth the spend of limited marketing resources. Where are the audiences and how can we best reach them?

I think because social networking and social media are attributed to younger folks, educational entities see them as only a recruitment tool. This simply isn’t the case anymore. Social media should be seen as a channel aimed at alumni engagement and activation as well.

From football games in the fall to college of business alumni meet ups in major metro areas, social media can help rekindle alumni relationships that have gone stale.

The value in relationships between your students, alumni and institution only get better over time. Engaging not only your incoming students, but also your current student base and the people who have a strong emotional attachment to the school is critical for long-term sustainability.

Finding a way to balance all of those while staying efficient, effective and making great use of limited resources is a challenge that I think any higher education institution can relate to.

MW: What are you most excited about for Converge 2015?

JH: It might sound cliché, but I’m looking forward to meeting new people. I’m an extrovert, and I really love conferences. I love hearing where people are from, where they went to college/university and finding out how these threads ultimately weave our story together as individuals. I look forward to meeting y’all in New Orleans!

MW: Attend Converge 2015 to hear Jason and many other great speakers. We hope to see you there!