Book Review of "#Follow the Leader: Lessons in Social Media Success from #HigherEd CEOs"

Abstract

Zaiontz, Dan. (2015). #Follow the leader: Lessons in social media from #HigherEd CEOs. St. Louis, MO: EDUniverse Media. Pages: 143. Price: 29.99 USD (paper).Dan Zaiontz's #Follow the Leader's subtitle, lessons in social media from #HigherEd CEOS, pithily captures the essence of the book. Written as a social media manual for leaders in higher education, it is based on interviews with twenty-two college and university presidents in Canada and the United States, focusing on they navigate the social media landscape, using (as the frequent use of hashtags already suggests) Twitter, yet also Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+, YouTube and other tools build and maintain an institutional presence, communicate with various stakeholders, and create and support virtual communities for their respective higher education institutions. #Follow the Leader is an accessible, engaging and well-structured book that outlines the risks and rewards of social media presence for higher education leaders, culls best practices from the range of social media profiles it offers on college/university presidents that have been interviewed, and offers planning tools and matrices for higher education leaders and their communication advisors develop workable and actionable social media strategies. Importantly, #Follow the Leader is not an academic treatise nor does it desire locate itself within larger scholastic debates around social media consumption and behaviour, theories of leadership and management, the corporatization of higher education and the politics of higher education leadership and administration, name a few potential discussions. While avoiding these debates and those similar them may contribute its reading ease, better situating itself in various kinds of debates that traverse higher education and business management, academically and in terms of policy, might have also deepened the significance of its approach and message.Zaointz's primer begins with the suggestion that, in 2015, when the book was published, social media presence for higher education leaders wasn't mandatory. Yet, his whole book is a detailed examination of the merits and benefits of actively cultivating such a presence. He begins with outlining key questions that leaders should entertain in deciding embark on their respective social media journeys, including their reasons for engaging with prospective and current students, faculty, alumni, government, media and fundraising stakeholders, their own personal capacities for risk and reputational harm and their personal strengths as communicators. Thus, Zaointz's manual is both a how to as well as a learn from. While profiling the relatively successful strategies employed by his interviewees, including presidents of such institutions such as Laurentian University, Southern New Hampshire University, Olds College, and the University of Cincinnati (as well as the now maligned University of Missouri), Zaointz also outlines the steps required build a social media presence and the strategy undergird it for a higher educational leader testing the social media waters and looking for guidance.Zaointz argues that benefits of an active social media presence, such as improved metrics on student satisfaction, ameliorated reputational perceptions, favourable legislative change, and renewed funding, need outweigh the potential risks personal, professional and institutional reputations. He suggests that when higher education leaders seek build and cultivate a social media presence, they should align their messaging with that of their institution's interests and values, be transparent, model someone they find effective, identify interests and provide metrics, design a success matrix and work with strategic advisors or communication specialists. Zaointz diagnoses three models of social media content creation: the ghostwriter, the hybrid and the independent. …