Great Social Media Idea: Celebrity Status

It's probably a but unfair to include this among ideas that provide inspiration (i.e. stealable), but there's an overarching lesson to be taken from it, so I'm going to go for it.

So what is this idea I'm talking about? This picture of Pope Francis posted on the Georgetown University Facebook page.

I mean, if you're a Catholic college (Jesuit, to boot!) and you can post a picture of the newly elected and incredibly popular Jesuit pope holding a scarf with your university's name on it, well... you are pretty much guaranteed to break the internet. Which is what Georgetown did, with several thousands "likes" and close to 1,000 shares on Facebook alone.

When it comes to celebrity stuff like this, there's not much of a takeaway, right? They were lucky enough to have some school staff meeting with the Pope, and that's that.

But if you stop for a moment, you'll realize that this image really only works because that scarf is included. Would it have been cool to post a photo of the Pope with a University staffer? Sure, though it wouldn't have gotten all that much traction. But the Pope holding a Georgetown scarf? Social media gold.

The lesson to be learned is that if and when you know that someone from your school will be meeting with a celebrity, make sure that they are prepared with something university-branded that is easy to carry (flag, pennant, scarf, etc.) and help turn a good photo into a great one that will resonate with followers on social media.

And it doesn't have to be a celebrity either... if you know of someone affiliated with your school who is doing some cool feat (e.g. climbing Mt. Everest), make sure they bring along something with your school logo on it.

In today's hyper-visual social media world, images like mean all the difference in the world.

So way to go, Georgetown... even though as a social media manager at a fellow Catholic school I am intensely, insanely jealous.  :)