While the use of social media tools is now recognised as an important medium to communicate with our audience, many institutions are still in the dark as to how best to use these tools to support recruitment, build brand and reputation, and facilitate better internal communications. There are pockets of good practice out there, but also dismal failures due to the lack of understanding of the nature and premise of social media. This session will explore how institutions should approach the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, and participants will have the opportunity to develop guidelines on using social media for their areas of work. There will also be opportunity to discuss how best to respond to negative comments and how to deal with awkward postings.

4. Unless you’ve been hiding underneath a rock... #A4

6. What is social media? Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media #A4 http://www.hubspot.com

8. So if social media is the best thing since sliced bread… #A4

9. Why do we get it so wrong? http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/2836828090/ #A4

15. So, how do we do it right? #A4

24. Developing Social Media Guidelines #A4

34. Thank you for your participation Joanna Blackburn Web Marketing Manager University of Salford [email_address] @mancypino #A4