You’re a content creator for your academic institution. How can you know when to create an Instagram reels series and when to make a podcast series?
Getting started can be overwhelming, but analyzing your institution’s culture can help you refine your understanding of your community.
Embedded in the framework ofevery academic institution is a unique and complex culture with core values and traditions. Following the years and decades of their initial establishment, colleges and universities become an influential cultural hub for awide variety of research pursuits, entertainment and social issues. From academics to sports and civil rights, these institutions often excel in thought leadership and activism.
Ultimately, schools have a variety of interests. You’ll want to select channels that best capture and highlight the complexity and diversity of the stories that you aim toshare.
We’ve compiled a few questions to help you define your institution’s culture. While these questions are just a starting point, they’ll help you narrow down certain qualities about your community and, in turn, aid you in creating stronger content.
What are your school’s demographics?
Where are the students and faculty of your institution from? What is the racial makeup of students vs. the racial makeup of faculty? What percentage of students at your institution identify as male, and what percentage identify as female? What is the average age of a student in their first year?
Asking these questions will help you gain a better understanding of what cultural interests might be present at your institution. You may consider gathering data about the local population.
However, while access to demographic information is certainly a great way to begin understanding culture, it’s important to not make assumptions about your audience on this information alone. Make connections with your school’s admissions and communication offices and student and alumni groups for a deeper understanding—numbers don’t tell the whole story.
What are your school’s interests?
University campuses are home to a boatload of interests. Though your school may be known for one interest in particular, such as sports, medicine, or art, you’ll still want to ensure that you spend time learning the fine nuances of these interests.
The channel that you choose to engage your audience will largely depend on the nature of their interests. For instance, if you choose to cover school sports, your audience will likely want to see frequent updates on games. A channel like Instagram or Twitter might be best for sharing such content.
However, remember that using other channels can sometimes be more effective depending on the nature of the content you would like to share. Are you doing a deep-dive on the history of sports at your institution, or interviewing players? In that scenario, trying a long-form content channel like a podcast may serve your purpose better than Twitter. Keep an open mind!
The Business of College Sports podcast, though unaffiliated with a specific school, explores a variety of issues in higher education athletics. Topics include exploring the experience of international student athletes and investigating the business and monetization side of college sports.
What are your school’s behaviors and habits?
One of the most important aspects of learning a school’s culture is to observe the shared behaviors of groups. How do students and faculty celebrate interests and victories? How do they respond to crises? And how do school staff and administration respond to these situations?
Though your institution might favor certain channels for making quick informational announcements, think about how you might make use of other channels to address these circumstances in a more impactful and meaningful way.
Respective departments within institutions often celebrate alumni success by sharing updates on the career paths alumni pursue after graduation. While these updates might be shared through platforms like Instagram or Facebook, it is beneficial to explore other content mediums.
Universities sometimes choose to host an alumni podcast. These podcasts effectively function to not only share updates about alumni, but also celebrate their work and interests, give encouragement and advice to existing students about life after school and promote the university’s services.
New York University shares a variety of podcasts produced by and featuring NYU students, alumni, faculty and staff. From pursuits of future technology to the queer experience and America’s criminal justice system, these podcasts mirror the diversity of interests on the NYU campus.
Reminders
While academic institutions have overarching umbrella cultures, there are subcultures present on campus as well. Individual microgroups reside on every campus, and their own cultures might not be as readily apparent to outsiders learning about an institution for the first time through a webpage.
With that being said, it’s important that you prepare to do some digging. Don’t just rely on a google search or a conversation with school faculty and staff to get a sense of your institution’s culture. While these may be good starting points, they will likely get you very general information.
Culture shifts. Even after your initial efforts to invest time and resources towards understanding your community’s culture, it’s important to remember that your work doesn’t end there. To stay in the know, you’ll have to carve out intentional time to dedicate towards keeping up with your community’s interests.
