How we trained academics from Bangor University to use social media with confidence
The backstory
Bangor University had nearly 100 school and department social media channels. All run by lecturers who’ve been tasked to promote their subject and recruit students. Many of whom had no interest or experience in content creation. So, the University wanted to find out how the subject accounts impact the university’s reputation and if there’s a better way to use social media.
The audit identified many underutilised channel features, copy was often long and not suitable for socials and content that was inaccessible and unengaging. So, in addition to developing a framework the University can use, we also recommended that Academic staff be equipped with skills to confidently reach students and promote their research.
How it went down
We used the findings from the audit to develop a bespoke full-day training program and delivered it over two days to 50 people from various departments. The training was fun, interactive and full of activities and covered:
The strengths of each platform.
Publishing accessible content.
Ways to engage students and the public.
Creating content when short on time.
Writing concise and engaging copy.
Using LinkedIn/ X to promote research.
By the end of the full training day, everyone's confidence had grown and many ideas were born through collaboration.
The results
Increased social media knowledge and motivation across the organisation
50 team members inspired to create content and promote their work
Here's what they said
“This was one of the most engaging and informative workshops I've attended in a very long time, where everybody in the room listened and participated willingly!”
“It was a really enjoyable training session. A good balance of listening and activities.”
“Nina was one of the best trainers I’ve had, having done a significant amount of training over my career!”
“Brilliant training session. Nina was superb! very insightful and delivered the training in a fun way :)”
