Using Social Media Listening and Monitoring to Recruit Creators

When Kellen Manning took his first social media job at Boston University, he was a one-person team and he got creative about finding content and creators. He used organic social listening and monitoring practices to find members of the community who were already creating great content and built a strategy around UGC. Now as a director, he continues this practice, building it into his team’s process, and they’ve extended it to searching for faculty creators.

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Key Takeaways

• Social Listening is a Superpower: Organic monitoring within platforms is a powerful, cost-effective way to identify potential collaborators and uncover trends.
• Creator Collaboration is Key: Recruiting students, faculty, and alumni as content creators results in authentic, relatable, and high-performing content.
• Experimentation Drives Growth: Taking risks and testing new ideas—even bold ones—leads to innovation and helps teams evolve.
• Platform Optimization Matters: Tailoring content to fit the audience and purpose of each social media platform maximizes engagement and impact.
• Trends are Opportunities: Thoughtfully integrating trends helps connect with broader audiences while showcasing institutional culture.

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Episode Summary

How It All Began: A Journey into Social Media

Kellen Manning’s path to social media management was anything but traditional. Starting with a self-taught crash course in HTML and an experimental grad school project analyzing social media use in municipalities, he broke into the field with a fresh perspective. His unique ability to adapt and experiment has fueled a career working with top institutions, where he’s redefined how higher ed leverages digital platforms.

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The Power of Social Listening

Kellen emphasizes the importance of organic social listening within platforms. While tools like Hootsuite and Talkwalker can aggregate conversations, digging directly into TikTok’s For You Page or Instagram’s tags often reveals hidden gems. At Penn State, this approach has led to creative collaborations, like a viral acapella group performance with over 4 million views on TikTok and 2 million views on Instagram.

Instead of simply reposting user-generated content, Kellen and his team reach out to students, alumni, and faculty to build partnerships. This direct engagement fosters authentic storytelling and highlights the diverse experiences within Penn State.

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Turning Trends into Authentic Stories

Trends are an integral part of Penn State’s social strategy. Kellen views them as modern-day memes—relatable, engaging, and often humorous opportunities to connect with audiences. By tailoring trends to reflect the university’s culture, his team ensures that the content resonates with current students while appealing to prospective ones.

For instance, using student-generated TikToks to showcase the excitement of college acceptance created a buzz among high schoolers, with many commenting, “Let me in!” These authentic moments serve as a bridge between prospective students and the university’s vibrant culture.

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Empowering Faculty and Researchers as Creators

At Penn State, the social team is expanding its creator pool to include faculty and researchers. A standout example is their collaboration with tick researchers who produced a fun yet educational video racing ticks on a miniature track. The quirky concept showcased groundbreaking research in an accessible way, proving that even niche topics can find broad appeal.

Kellen’s team ensures that collaborators feel comfortable with the creative process, emphasizing that polished production isn’t always necessary. This flexibility allows for raw, authentic storytelling that performs well across platforms.

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Optimizing for Platforms

Each platform serves a distinct purpose in Penn State’s social strategy:

• TikTok: Engages prospective students with fun, relatable content.
• Instagram: Highlights current student life and young alumni achievements.
• LinkedIn: Focuses on alumni success and the enduring value of a Penn State degree.
• Facebook: Offers nostalgic content for older alumni and insights for parents.
• YouTube: Hosts long-form storytelling and highlights.By tailoring content to platform-specific audiences, Kellen ensures that every post meets its intended audience where they are.

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About the Show: 

Confessions of a Higher Ed Social Media Manager covers the do's, don'ts, and dynamics of the complex and challenging social media ecosystem. We analyze the successes and failures of those in the higher education social space — what went right, what went wrong, and what are the lessons learned. We’ll share actionable steps so you can push past the pitfalls others have faced. No matter if you're on a team of 20 or a team of one, we've got you covered. Confessions of a Higher Ed Social Media Manager is hosted by Jenny Li Fowler and is a proud member of the Enrollify Podcast Network.