The Student Social Media Academy is a self-paced training experience built specifically for students managing social media in higher education. Students learn how to create content, apply institutional brand and voice, think strategically, navigate the responsibilities that come with representing a campus online, and build skills they can use immediately in their roles.
From central marketing interns and student affairs teams to ambassadors, athletics, academic departments and student organizations, students are creating content on behalf of your institution.
The Academy meets them where they are, giving student creators a shared foundation for representing your campus thoughtfully, strategically and confidently, and allowing institutions to establish trust with their student employees through investing in their professional development.
Explore how social media is used in higher education and the impact it has on campus connectivity.
Learn to identify the mission, vision, values, and voice of your institution and find ways to bring it to life.
Harness your campus' digital landscape by defining goals, learning about your audience, evaluating your channels, and measuring the content you deliver.
Dive into how to craft compelling content and discover the essential tools needed to engage your campus audience.
Develop critical thinking skills in strategy and be equipped to make informed decisions to protect sensitive campus information. Gain awareness in digital wellness.
Lessons on personal branding, advanced skills that will help you expand your role as a content creator, and future careers in social media.
The Academy workbook gives students a place to apply what they’re learning as they move through each module. It’s easy to download and print, with activities and prompts that help students connect the lessons to their own role, campus and social media work.
Every Academy purchase includes a Supervisor Guide so supervisors can follow along with what their students are learning.
The Academy brings together professionals with firsthand experience managing institutional social media, supervising student creators and navigating the realities of campus communications.
The Student Social Media Academy offers any campus the opportunity to access expertise and training needed to engage student employees as skilled support to move your social strategy forward.
Includes:
Institutions enrolling larger student teams may qualify for the All-Access Campus Pass, with options for campus-wide and annual access.
Yearly subscriptions are available for even more benefits. Contact socialacademy@josieahlquist.com to learn more.
Everything in the Student Social Media Academy, plus the Supervisor Toolkit designed to help supervisors train, support and retain student social media staff.
As a residence life graduate assistant in 2002, I started involving my student staff when platforms like MySpace and Facebook arrived. Over the years, I created more opportunities and formal training to empower students to be key communication strategists, no matter the platform.
Following many years of working on college campuses, I went rogue in 2013 and became an independent speaker, consultant, and coach on digital engagement and leadership.
The one thing I miss about working at a campus is guiding students over time and being part of their transformation. The creation of this Academy is a result of the last twenty years spent developing strategies, and I look forward to meeting you and your students!
Facebook Group: Student Leaders as Social Media Managers
Still have questions about the Academy?
I’d be happy to chat so you feel as excited about the program as I am!
Cassaundra Moore is the executive director of new media strategy at Washington University in St. Louis. Cassaundra leads WashU’s central social media strategy in an ongoing effort to engage, inform and connect with the university’s core audiences. Through partnerships across the WashU campus community, she has developed and led the creation of meaningful and compelling content that assists in telling the university’s story.
Cassaundra leads the governance of social media best practices, crisis communications and provides guidance for executive leadership who create social media channels. Before WashU, she managed multiple client engagement roles, including social media, video, client education, and events.
Rachel oversees digital and social media strategy, external communications direction, public and media relations, internal messaging, crisis management, and executive communications. After graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, she spent close to a decade as a journalist, and joined the world of higher education in 2014, finding her passion at the intersection of story-telling and education.
She manages a team of incredible student workers each year on the UAFS campus who run TikTok, Instagram, website and LinkedIn campaigns. With her student team, she’s claimed a number of social media impact awards including a CASE Grand Gold award in 2022 for a direct to student social media outreach campaign titled Mental Health Monday. Last academic year her team’s efforts gained the small regional public for 5.9 billion impressions across earned media.
She was named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal Forty under 40 class. She spends her time at home with her musician husband Cory, their two children, Sara and Kyler, their German Shepherd dog, Atticus, and an ever growing slate of foster puppies.
I am a digital & social media marketing and communications professional with over 20 years of experience across multiple industries. I’ve worked on client-side, agency, and media environments, giving me a full-circle understanding. I graduated from the University of Denver with a B.A. in Digital Media Studies and a Master of Science in Marketing from Florida International University (FIU).
My experience includes building websites, blogging, social media management, digital audits, content production, crisis management, podcasting, and digital strategy with a specialty in Hispanic audiences. I’ve worked with brands such as Dr Pepper, Avocados from México, Clamato, Southwest Airlines, The Home Depot, and more. My work has been recognized and awarded, including the Latin Social TV Award for Best Connected Show (Idol Puerto Rico 2012).
I currently serve as Social Media Director for FIU, developing content strategies, social listening, training, media buying, and analytics while supporting colleges and units.
Morgan Campbell is a social media manager for the Daniels School of Business at Purdue University. She graduated from IUPUI in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations. Her responsibilities include content creation, implementing strategy, paid campaigns, consulting, videography, photography, crisis communication, social listening, and more. Additionally, she supervises 2-3 student interns throughout the year who assist with the creation of content for the school’s social media channels. Before joining Purdue University, she presented at conferences, participated in podcasts, and contributed to several articles relating to the launch of Indiana University’s TikTok account and strategy.
She/hers
Residing and working in Columbus, Ohio, Kati has six years of higher education digital marketing experience as the Coordinator of Social Media and Digital Marketing at Youngstown State University where she managed the university’s official social media accounts, coordinated media production for the university, and managed a team of four student employees. In 2021, Kati transitioned to the aviation industry where she’s currently managing social media, websites, photography, and videography for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. She continues her work with college students, bringing in an intern each year to help run social media. More recently, she joined Team Josie as the Marketing Manager.
When she isn’t spending her days online, she’s filling her camera roll with photos of her dog, Roonie, playing dominoes and card games with friends, baking with her mom, and cheering on her favorite sports teams.
Over the last ten years, I have trained thousands of students and professionals across the globe on how to craft purposeful and values-driven social media strategies that are effective and engaging.
The one thing I miss about working at a campus is guiding students over time and being part of their transformation. The creation of this academy is a result of the last twenty years spent developing strategies, and I look forward to meeting you and your students.
Rebekah Tilley is the assistant vice president of communication and marketing for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement (UICA). In that role she supports fundraising and alumni engagement efforts for the university, including its CASE Gold winning Iowa Magazine, and serves UICA in a variety of strategic communication efforts.
Previously she was the director of strategic communication for the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business, and the director of communication for the University of Kentucky College of Law. She is a Kentucky native and a proud alum of the University of Kentucky.
The newsletter that brings the latest in digital engagement and leadership right to your inbox
Unsubscribe anytime. Read our Privacy Policy.
The newsletter that brings the latest in digital engagement and leadership right to your inbox
Unsubscribe anytime. Read our Privacy Policy.
