Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Center for Health and Well-Being

Social Media Action Planby

Chris Weiss, Hannah Skarin, Crystal Carlson, & RC Stabile

Description of Department Indiana University of Pennsylvania

› ~15,000 students› 3 branch campuses› Carnegie Classification: Doctoral/Research

Center for Health and Well Being (CHWB)› Comprised of Counseling and Health

Centers

(About IUP; About IUP’s Health Service)

“The infrastructure of health care needs a total repair from the ground up. It needs to be Facebook-ed [and] wiki-ed…”

(Hawn, 2009, p. 362)

Mission & Goals Health Center

› Skilled, competent, caring health professionals provide patient education and medical services to students

› Designed to improve students' wellness and sustain their health

› To help students be successful in their academic endeavors

(About IUP’s Health Service)

Mission & Goals Health Center

› Health service staff works collaboratively to identify and advocate for student needs

› To continually grow and provide appropriate high-quality, cost-effective responses through recent departmental restructuring

› To make contact with 100% of incoming students each year

(About IUP’s Health Service)

Mission & Goals Health Center

› To create a stronger connection between the health center and the Punxsutawney branch campus

› To meet the health-care needs of IUP students twenty-four hours a day

› To advocate for student health-care needs on campus

(About IUP’s Health Service)

“Technological innovation has challenged student affairs administrators to contemplate and implement alternative forms of services…"

(Moneta, 1997, p. 5)

Mission & Goals Counseling Center

› Work with the divisions of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to enhance the learning environment

› Assist students in accomplishing the following developmental tasks Resolving impasses to effective psychosocial

functioning Achieving academic, personal, and

professional goals.

(About Counseling)

“Students are increasingly seeking access to support services at times most convenient to them…”

(Moneta, 1997, p. 7)

Why Social Media? “Contact 100% of incoming

students…”› Links posted on web pages, Facebook, &

Twitter will provide an outlet for a greater majority of students to connect to the center

“Assist Branch Campuses…”› Providing online live chat & threaded

discussions to students on branch campuses will allow students the opportunity to seek advice from health-care professionals

(Mangold & Faulds, 2009)

Why Social Media? “Twenty-Four Hour Service…”

› Provide access to information through social media

“Advocate for Student Needs…”› Social media will allow students to be more

open about their needs, allowing us to be more accurate and effective advocates for them

(Moneta, 1997)

Why Social Media? “Cost Effectiveness…”

› Social media provides students with increased access to health-care and counseling services at no extra expense

“Enhance the Learning Environment…”› Use social media to publicize current trends in

health-care, counseling needs, and educational opportunities as they arise on campus

“It is critical for student affairs staff to create a new vision for practice that incorporates emerging technology…"

(Ausiello & Wells, 1997, p. 71)

Application of Theory Maslow’s Safety Needs

(as cited in Schultz & Schultz, 1998)

› Security in knowing where to find resources

› Comfort in utilizing social media to find info

Moving through autonomy towards interdependence (Chickering & Reisser, 1993)

› Autonomy in finding their own information› Interdependence through utilization of

resources and peer referrals

Application of Theory Support of Myers-Briggs

Introverted Personality Types (as cited in Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010)

› Removes need to engage with staff in person about sensitive issues

Bandura’s Observational Learning/Modeling (as cited in Schultz & Schultz, 1998)

› Students see benefits of friends utilizing services and facilities to discuss sensitive issues (Mangold & Faulds, 2009)

“Consumers now have the ability to tell hundreds or thousands of other people with a few keystrokes!"

(Mangold & Faulds, 2009, p. 359)

Social Media Strategic Plan Engage Students on Facebook

› Create a Center for Health and Well-Being Facebook page

› Friend request students› Publicize through status updates, flyers,

campus announcements, twitter account, and student leaders

› Initiate a contest to increase the number of students who ‘Like’ the page

Social Media Strategic Plan Engage Students on Twitter

› Create a Twitter account for the Center for Health and Well-Being

› Follow students› Publicize through tweets, hash tags, flyers,

campus announcements, Facebook page, and student leaders

› Initiate a contest to increase the number of students who follow the account

Social Media Strategic Plan Social Media Contest

› Have students submit positive interactions using a Facebook note tagged to the Center for Health and Well-Being

› Have students follow the Center for Health and Well-Being Twitter account and tweet after visits

› Hold raffle drawing from the list of applicants for prizes

› Utilize submitted positive interactions for qualitative assessments and future publicity

(Mangold & Faulds, 2009)

Social Media Strategic Plan Social Media Examples

› Twitter and Facebook educational updates: “Swine flu H1N1 is on the rise in our community, get vaccinated today!”

› Facebook publicity update: “Friend us and submit a positive interaction you have had with our department for a chance to win the raffle!”

› Twitter educational tweet: “Every 2 minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted. If you or someone you know is a victim please seek our services”

“Electronically the campus becomes a 24 hour domain…”

(Moneta, 1997, p. 7)

Social Media Strategic Plan Incorporate with Departmental

Thrust› Increased access to students in a format

they already connect with› Improve students perception of the

department› Publicize to students where they are

through social media› Increase student satisfaction by using

social media to interact immediately

Social Media Strategic Plan Incorporate with Departmental

Thrust› Inexpensive to utilize social media, easy to

disseminate information quickly› Branch campus will be able to become

aware of services offered on main campus› Branch campus may utilize threaded

conversations & online resources that are offered through social media

“Social networks are all about speeding up and enriching communication…”

(Hawn, 2009, p. 364)

Potential Difficulties Stigma of students interacting with the

counseling center online› Solution: Remove the stigma of interacting

virtually with the counseling center through online contests and distribution of relevant information

Staff resistance to using social media› Solution: Create training and development

opportunities for staff members to eliminate resistance to, and recognize the benefits of using social media(Mangold & Faulds, 2009)

Potential Difficulties Common misinterpretation of electronic

means of communication› Solution: Awareness and commitment to

intentionally clear messages when using an electronic medium

Social media can only be used to increase students’ awareness of resources, not treat them remotely› Solution: Post clear goals of only using social

media to increase awareness and not treat students

Potential Difficulties Time management: who will maintain

the social media accounts, information could get outdated very quickly and be detrimental to students’ continued use› Solution: Designate or hire a dedicated

social media professional, or outsource the responsibilities

“The college student today experiences college in both real and virtual communities..."

(Martinez Aleman & Wartman, 2009, p. 1)

References About Counseling. (2011). Retrieved February 17, 2011 from

http://www.iup.edu/counseling/about/default.aspx About IUP. (2011). Retrived February 17, 2011 from

http://www.iup.edu/about About IUP’s Health Service. (2011). Retrieved February 19, 2011

from http://www.iup.edu/healthcenter/about/default.aspx Ausiello, K., & Wells, B. (1997).  Information technology and

student affairs: Planning for the twenty-first century.  In C. M. Engstrom and K. W. Kruger (eds.), Using technology to promote student learning: Opportunities for today and tomorrow (pp. 5-16).  New directions for student services, no. 78.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Chickering, A. W., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student development in college: Theory,

research, and practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

References Hawn, C. (2009). Take two aspirin and tweet me in the morning:

How Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are reshaping health care. Health Affairs, 28(2), 361-368.

Junco, R., & Mastrodicasa, J. (2007).  Connecting to the net.generation: What higher education professionals need to know about today’s students.  Washington, D.C.: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-365.

Martinez Aleman, A. M., & Wartman, K. L. (2009).  Online social networking on campus: Understanding what matters in

student culture.  New York, NY: Routledge. Moneta, L. (1997).  The integration of technology with the

management of student services.  In C. M. Engstrom and K. W. Kruger (eds.), Using technology to promote student learning: Opportunities for today and tomorrow (pp. 5-16).  New directions for student services, no. 78.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

References Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. E. (1998). Theories of personality (6th

ed.). New York, NY: Brooks-Cole.