15 Ways to Use Social Media in Education

With remote learning and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), social media has become an integral part of education more than ever before. Social media in education is used in many ways inside and outside the classroom.

As social media can make almost anything easier, we review 15 ways to use social media in education in this article.

Benefits of Social Media in Education

Here are the three most important benefits of using social media in education:

1. Expanding learning opportunities

Social media provides more learning opportunities. Online classes and remote jobs are the new black. Therefore, teaching students to work remotely has become a necessity to eradicate digital literacy and prepare them for their professional careers. Social media platforms support teachers differently, from sharing ads to giving live lectures.

2. Enhancing communication with students and graduates

Social media allows institutions to communicate quickly and directly with students, faculty, staff, and graduates. This enhances communication between different parties. Social media can attract students, inform parents of developments, expand relationships among graduates, and promote events on campus.

Focusing on nurturing the educational community and publishing engaging content helps increase university enrollment rates as well. According to a recent study, 41% of education officials attribute increased enrollment rates to social media strategies.

For example, Keele University says that campus photos on Instagram help students decide which university to choose. One student joined the university after seeing Facebook posts, which helped her make up her mind. She later became an ambassador for the university on social media.

3. Building brand identity

Social media supports and enhances the university's brand identity. University marketing teams use social media to maintain their brand reputation. With the right strategy, colleges and universities can attract more students, increase donations, promote events or initiatives, and improve graduate relations.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

There are many ways to use social media in the classroom, from kindergarten to college for communication and education. Here are seven ways to use social media in the classroom:

1. Using posts to publish updates and directives

Teachers and colleges can meet students wherever they are via social media platforms they are likely to be familiar with, such as Facebook or X.

Ask students to follow the class's Facebook page or join a Facebook group to see posts about course updates, homework, and tests. Universities can provide students with access to dedicated pages for specific universities or departments that they can see even if they are inactive on Facebook.

When using social media in education, it is important to maintain professional boundaries. Email students a direct link to the Facebook group, and do not send friend requests.

Groups are very useful, especially for online courses because they facilitate communication with students. Similarly, teachers and departments can use X to keep students updated.

2. Live streaming for lectures and discussions

Teachers can use Facebook Groups, Instagram Live, YouTube Live, or LinkedIn Live to stream lectures and facilitate learning. If a student can’t come to the lecture hall, they can join online or review later.

Adding captions helps students who suffer from hearing loss, international students, or students who learn visually. Platforms such as Instagram and YouTube allow recording of live streams, providing students with review materials during the midterm and final exams. Recorded live streams also boost the institution's ability to reach different parties such as scholars and professors from other colleges, states, or countries.

3. Using X to publish class updates

X is a great option for keeping students informed. Teachers can create one account for each class and reuse it each year or they can create a new account each school year.

Use X threads for sharing resources like practice quizzes, interesting perspectives, or thought-provoking quotes to promote critical thinking. Hashtags can mark specific discussions or conversations with guest speakers.

4. Creating a class blog for cross-channel discussions and learning

Blogs are another great way to use social media in class. Students can post class blog content on other social media platforms.

For example, a student might post a photo of their blog on LinkedIn to attract recruiters for a job or internship. Assigning students to write essays throughout the semester might enhance students’ short-form writing and critical thinking.

Don't limit yourself to English or writing lessons, as social media can be used to teach all subjects. There are some platforms that professors can use to create class blogs, such as WordPress. The course curriculum, directions, and resources can also be shared on the blog.

5. Using Instagram to tell digital stories

Have students practice storytelling on Instagram by creating class accounts. They can post photos or graphics. They can delete them once the course is over, if they wish.

This works especially well in lessons that rely heavily on visual content. Ask your photojournalism students to publish articles or encourage your social media marketing class to create a fake brand campaign.

6. Creating a Pinterest board for the class

Teachers can use Pinterest to create and organize resources, lesson plans, and worksheets for their classes in one place. They can also set up Pinterest boards for each of their classes and save pins related to the lessons.

Create boards according to grade or subject. Create subtopic boards for weekly units, projects, or worksheets. Pinterest also helps students organize digital bibliographies for research projects, papers, or group assignments. Students can pin websites, books, or videos to a board about one topic and refer to them when it's time to write an essay or thesis.

7. Preparing for the post-graduation stage and building relationships with graduates

LinkedIn helps current students develop networking skills, build their personal brand, and connect with graduates. Showcasing these professional skills also helps them get internships, obtain mentors, and secure job offers before they graduate.

Colleges can also use LinkedIn. For example, a business school might have a number of LinkedIn groups for graduates from a particular geographic area to connect them with students and faculty to provide internship opportunities, fundraise, and participate in volunteering activities and events.

Encouraging students to post relevant articles, projects, research, internship experiences, and other academic achievements enhances the university’s reputation on social media. This is an excellent example of the importance of engaging students in enhancing the university’s social media strategy.

Using Social Media for Educational Marketing

Just as there are many ways to use social media in the classroom, there are also many uses for social media in educational marketing. Marketing on social media can help you if you are looking to reach a larger audience for your educational institution.

1. Leveraging TikTok influencers by posting user-generated content

Although some universities ban the use of TikTok on campus, some teachers and institutions use it to teach and communicate with students. Influential students and teachers can provide user-generated content that satisfies a prospective student's desire to see original content from their peers and future professors.

For example, Professor Matt Prince of Chapman University went viral after he challenged his class to get 1 million likes on a TikTok video in exchange for canceling a final exam.

This challenge was fun and provided clear evidence of the power of social media.

2. Inserting social media links on the university’s website

In the 2023 Higher Education Social Media Benchmarks Report, 68% of high school students used social media to research colleges. Many parents and prospective students check out the university's website first if they are interested. Offering more ways to follow the university provides a different perspective on campus life.

Make it easier for parents and students to find your university's social media accounts by adding links to the main navigation bar of your website or by creating a social media directory that includes all of them in one place.

3. Giving a glimpse into university life through photos and videos

If you want to attract new students and parents to your university, you should post photos of campus events to show what they can expect. Use short videos like Reels, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts to help prospective students envision themselves attending university.

Highlighting sporting events, extracurriculars, and the campus' beauty sets your institution apart from others. While educational institutions use the same style, social media allows you to stand out in a more casual style.

4. Creating groups for graduates

Some graduates want to remain involved with their university after graduation. Creating a dedicated Facebook or LinkedIn group can increase their engagement.

For example, the University of Newcastle has over 148,000 graduates. Their team includes current students, staff, and graduates to enhance their career opportunities by being part of the group.

Graduates groups, groups for different graduating classes or departments, groups for extracurriculars, and various organizations allow former and current students to participate and meet others with common interests.

5. Developing a plan on social media to confront crises

How can you communicate with the entire campus in the event of an emergency? Whether there's a fire, a tornado, or any other emergency on campus, creating a social media crisis plan helps organizations prepare in advance.

Keep parents and students informed of the situation by publishing information about the crisis and whether the authorities have intervened to resolve it. Most universities have an automated messaging system, but social media also allows people to be notified directly.

Organizations can use social listening, which involves analyzing conversations and trends related to your brand to help with public relations crisis management plans. Indiana University benefited from social listening when an X account with a large number of followers revealed inappropriate posts for a professor who works at the university and shared them with their audience.

The social media team set up a social listening system using Sprout to understand the volume and reach of conversations around this issue. They leveraged social listening tools to quickly respond to the crisis, inform leadership, and organize a response plan.

6. Using chatbots to support students outside working hours

Using automated responses or chatbots helps students get answers to their questions immediately or at least direct them to a solution faster. Keele University has used chatbots from Sprout to instantly respond to frequently asked questions about courses and scholarships.

In the five months after using the chatbots, nearly 500 conversations covered a variety of topics from housing applications to international student services.

7. Reviewing your social media strategy to create student-focused content

Using social media in education allows teachers and marketers to communicate with students wherever they are through the channels they use daily. Social media allows institutions to become more student-focused. To maintain student engagement, institutions need to create content that matches the wants and needs of their audience.

If you want to manage your organization's social media channels successfully, you must develop and improve your strategy by reviewing content to select successful content and eliminate underperforming content.

8. Managing all groups in one place

Social media enables universities to bring their different audiences together. Most educational institutions have diverse groups of students, faculty, staff, and potential and current graduates. This causes the problem of decentralization.

Since colleges and universities have multiple social media accounts, it can be difficult to manage all of them smoothly. However, with social media management software, you can manage multiple networks in one place; thus, supervising different accounts becomes more manageable.

A tool like Sprout Social helps make social media management easier, regardless of whether you're marketing alone or have a marketing team. Multiple users can use Sprout to create content with consistent messaging and schedule posts across networks at the most optimal time using the Viral Post feature.

The Post Performance report takes the guesswork out of determining which content receives a positive response because teams can identify top posts and observe engagement across channels.

Sprout enables you to monitor and manage multiple accounts across different networks. It is ideal for educational institutions. Each department or teacher at your university might have their own separate social media accounts to post specific information. A social media management tool can help you ensure the right posts are posted on each of these accounts.

If there is news or content related to multiple sections, Sprout enables users to share the same content across multiple accounts with one click.

In Conclusion

Using social media goes beyond the classroom, as it helps teachers create a comprehensive and modern learning experience, build a learning community, and establish academic authority.