From the series President's Awards for Excellence 2017

Outstanding Collaborative Unit

Social Media Managers Group

Members of the Social Media Managers Group

The Social Media Managers Group (SMMG) received the 2017 Outstanding Collaborative Unit Award for its success in uniting and promoting Wright State through social media.

Founded in 2013 by Katie Halberg, director of social media, SMMG consists of approximately 250 university professionals and trusted students who manage one or more social media profiles on behalf of Wright State. Members represent every college, school and division, including Lake Campus, and run more than 600 social media accounts to represent Wright State online.

Social media managers do so much more than share information online; they create relationships for the future to support recruitment and retention, encourage alumni engagement, enhance donor support and manage the university’s reputation and brand.

Halberg leads regular SMMG meetings to review the best practices, university events or opportunities and to learn from each other. She promotes consistent use of hashtags, such as #wrightstate, #WrightStateRightSchool and #WrightStateGrad. She also coordinated the adoption of Sprout Social, the university’s social media management enterprise platform, which managers use to schedule content, monitor brand mentions and pull valuable data. Sprout Social is Wright State’s first alert at news, crises and engagement opportunities.

Seth Bauguess, director of communications and a member of the SMMG, commended group members for their ability to strengthen the Wright State brand.

“Social media managers across the university do an excellent job of posting Newsroom stories and videos, which greatly increases the number of people, both inside and outside the university, who see our content,” Bauguess said. “It helps strengthen our existing internal brand advocates — believers in Wright State — and create new ones.”

Bauguess also said that social media is vital in managing crises at Wright State.

“Social media is almost always the first place we learn about a crisis and is a critical communications channel for campus constituents during a crisis,” he said. “The university’s social media subject matter expert is an invaluable resource when crises (small and big) occur. I know I can count on these social media professionals to get accurate information out in a timely fashion.”

The SMMG is not only useful in a crisis, however. Sharing positive content that informs the campus about Wright State’s community members doing excellent things is vital to morale on campus. Additionally, social media managers across campus utilize their channels to help maintain as much transparency, customer service and engagement as possible.

Social media is particularly relevant to Wright State because for many community members — especially prospective and current students — it is often their number one source of information. Social media is so important that it cannot be accomplished by one person or even one office. It requires a vast network of communications and marketing professionals across campus.

Kim Patton, assistant director for advancement communications, said the SMMG plays a vital role in the social media strategy of Wright State.

“Together, we are shaping the public perception of Wright State on social media and promoting the Wright State brand,” Patton said. “Truthful, honest communication is essential to the future growth and success of any business, organization or institution of higher education.”

Wright State celebrates its 50th anniversary as an independent public university in 2017, culminating with a special Homecoming celebration Sept. 29 through Oct. 1.

Current members of the SMMG:

Julia Acosta
Steve Adams
Marlena Akhbari
Salem Albayyari
Stephanie Allen
Sarah Ammar
Patrick Ammon
Catherine Anderson
Denise Anderson
Mark Anderson
Sam Armstrong
Jennifer Attenweiler
Wendy Barhorst
Sarah Barrett
Maureen Barry
Seth Bauguess
Carleen Beckermann
Dalila Bennett
Joan Bernstein
Dan Bertsos
Jessica Blair
Tammy Boatman
Matt Boaz
Vanessa Borelly Vega
Rebekah Bower
Cindy Bradley
Michelle Brasseur
Ty Lea Brewsaugh
Abbey Brown
Nickey Brown
Cassie Browning
Jennie Buckwalter
Laura Buerschen
Kate Bumhoffer
Keiana Burch
Tyler Burnett
Susan Carrafiello
Nicole Carter
Heather Casto
Lance Cauley
Nancy Caupp
Jason Champagne
Wonshin Choi
Sarah Christy
Sarah Cicora
Fran Clark
Jacob Clements
Branden Combs
Drew Corbett
David Cox
Misty Cox
Juliana Crask
Nicole Craw
Jon Cross
Melissa DeButz
Edward Depp
Brenda Dewberry
Lori Dodge
Melissa Doran
Lisa Duke
Barbara Dunaway
Leigh Duncan
Alysia Dunlap
Amanda Earnest
Tyler Edwards
Andy Erickson
Heather Erickson
David Evans
Michelle Feichtner
Justin Fiehrer
Erin Flanagan
Andrea Del Mar Flores Hernandez
Jamon Flowers
Susan Foskuhl
Robert Fox
Jori Fravel
Caillen French
Miranda Fryman
Chelsie Fuller
Dimitri Furman
Debbie Garber
Nicole Gardner
Jennifer Gebhart
Elizabeth Generas
Jason Gepperth
Holly Gersbacher
Erika Gilles
Michelle Gillespie
Beth Gisewite
Ayauna Goodwin
Michael Griest
Adrienne Gudelsky
Katie Halberg
Hatta Hall
Lee Hannah
Andrew Harris
Jonathon Henderson
Alicia Hendricks
Joanie Hendricks
Mark Heppner
Tracey Hill
Christopher Hogan
Samantha Holcombe
Mia Honaker
Lisa Hornick
Adam Horseman
Mark Horsley
Jeannette Horwitz
Wendy Howard
Amy Hubbard
Reagann Hughes
Allison Hurtt Roberts
Helena Jenkins
Brooke Johnson-Leppla
Tiffany Johnson
Amy Jones
Audwin Jones
Betsy Jones
Carol Jones
Melissa Keller
Daniel Kelly
David Kendrick
Gina Keucher
Carly Kimmins
Debbie Kimpton
Trent Kline
Pam Knauert Lavarnway
Jane Koester
Meltem Kokaly
Jennifer Kostic
Crystal Lake
Sandy Lamantia
Guillermo Leal
Maralee Leonard
Faith Liesner
Paul Lockhart
Karen Luchin
Laura Luehrmann
Monica Mack
Yemi Mahoney
Nicole Manns
Ray Marcano
Cynthia Marshall
Mitchell Martini
Angela Masten
Heather Maurer
Sherri Maxwell-Nickel
Jennifer McCamis
Beth McCarter
Katie McGrath
Lee McKarns
Gordon McKnight
Marjorie McLellan
David McMeans
Lori Metivier
Shari Mickey-Boggs
Kayla Mieczkowski
Bob Mihalek
Brittany Miller
Don Miller
Lucas Miller
Jasmine Milum
Benjamin Montague
Lisa Morriss
Jacob Mueller
Juan Munoz
Kai Muran
Twila Murray
Amy Neace
Jacqui Neal
Doug Newton
Kyle O’Brien
Melissa Odira
Marietta Orlowski
Justin Overman
Cory Owen
Lucy Owens
Priti Parikh
Phil Parrill
Kim Patton
Randall Paul
Brian Pennington
Ben Penry
Petey Peterson
Candace Phlipot
Hannah Pigg
Ellen Purvis
Jill Puthoff
Carol Rader
Laura Rapoch
Monica Ratliff
Amber Reading
Cristina Redko
Christine Reedy
David Reyes
Lisa Rickey
Lisa Righter
Brian Rigling
Trisha Ritter
Bobby Rubin
Anne Russell
Dominique Saul
Greg Scharer
Shu Schiller
Cindy Schisler
Noah Schroeder
Susan Schultheis
Vaughn Shannon
Sandhya Shenai
Cheryl Silcox
Matt Skira
Lynne Smith
Madison Smith
VK Sowers
Deanna Springer
Kris Sproles
Emily Stamas
Beth Stanze
Carole Staruch
Kelly Stone
Karen Strider-Iiames
Cheryl Stuart
Dave Stuart
Elizabeth Styers
Nita Teeters
Craig This
Charene Thornton
Jordan Toland
Becky Traxler
Elizabeth Turner
Jennifer Turpin
Jill Tussing
Michele Tyler
Cindy Vanzant
Nick Warrington
Amanda Watkins
Megan Watson
Tom Webb
Joyce Whitaker
Lindsay Wight
Sharon Wik
Debra Wilburn
Harolynn Williams
Billy Willis
Natasha Wilson
Chris Wydman
David Wynkoop
Korrin Ziswiler

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