By Tony Lee, Editor in Chief, @sHecKii

As of April 17, St. Bonaventure’s official account lists 16-campus organizations on its Twitter list. 

However, over half of the sites listed have not updated its Twitter account for at least a week.

Some haven’t posted a single tweet. 

Ever.

A lack of standard has spread across St. Bonaventure University’s social-media sites. As a result, I sought out an expert regarding this situation. 

Nicole Schuman, ’03, who has worked as a marketing communications specialist at Sayers media Group/VoIP Supply and currently works as the web editor for Rowell Park Cancer Institute, gave The Intrepid an interview.

And it showed St. Bonaventure could be doing it better — and it wouldn’t take too much effort.

Schuman said frequency and interaction are not only crucial to an organization’s social media presence, but also its credibility. 

“I think they risk its reputation and ability to be taken seriously,” she said. “This, again, needs to be addressed in a social media policy and strategy created by a campus’ public affairs department.”

I am not asking or suggesting Bona’s takes an iron fist and shut down campus organizations’ social media privileges. 

Like Schuman said, some type of policy and strategy is necessary. A standard has to be set — especially if what Emily Sinsabaugh, vice president of university relations, has said is true.

“I would say we’re at least very much in line with what our competition is doing, and probably in some areas we’re being a little bit more creative and innovative,” Sinsabaugh said. “But on any given day, somebody else could have a better idea than us.”

And another western tier university, which Schuman said does a great job interacting with its followers, has.

“University at Buffalo has an excellent strategy,” she said. “Their Facebook page includes a tab slash chart including links to all of its social media all over the campus.”

A small university like St. Bonaventure has fewer resources, but that doesn’t mean St. Bonaventure can’t use its resources more efficiently. 

“If you aren’t going to put the work in and commitment to a social media platform, don’t create a page or account,” Schuman said. “In our society of immediate interaction and communication, users do not take kindly to a brand that does not interact with them regularly.”

Health Services has not posted a single tweet. The student government made only one post, and it was six months ago.

St. Bonaventure University is a brand, and campus organizations can help or hinder the brand. 

To be clear, I’m not picking on anyone. I believe universities can utilize social media as one of its best marketing tools.

But I also wanted to point out it could be a detrimental, too. 

Schuman also suggested a workshop to help organizations use social media and encourage cross promotion with each other. 

The Intrepid certainly doesn’t use or claim to use social media perfectly. But others have utilized it wrong, and it only hurts the brand called St. Bonaventure University.

And in the end, that hurts everyone associated with the university, not just the campus organizations. 

tony.lee@theintrepid.org

You can follower Schuman on Twitter at @Buffalogal.