Today was very exciting for me. One of my goals when I arrived at Coastal Carolina University was to establish a student group focused on social media. Right before the start of this academic year, I received approval to form the #CCUSocialMedia Student Advisory Group. I had students apply by writing an essay on why they wanted to take part in it. After I had selected the members I worked with everyone to find a day of the week and time that would work for all (not an easy task when you are working with busy college students). Almost 16 months since I arrived at this university, we held our inaugural meeting at noon today.

The goals of the #CCUSocialMedia Student Advisory Group are to take the members behind the scenes of what I do, paint an accurate picture of the social media industry, diligently listen to/act on all feedback they provide regarding our social media program, and provide them with opportunities to gain experience. Today we pretty much did that all. After playing social media trivia I presented to the group and told them about what I do. I also scraped the surface of the job outlook for social media positions. We then engaged in a great conversation that dealt with the strengths and weaknesses of our social media program.

I was very happy that I got to meet with our #CCUSocialMedia Student Advisory Group today. This has been 16 months in the making.

But what about the “experience opportunities” part? Oh, they got that too.

About 30 minutes before making the announcement to the general public, I revealed the next big #CCUSocialMedia event to this special group of students. I enthusiastically told them that this Friday we would host the #CCU Periscope Marathon. Going from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 25, our Periscope channel (@ccuchanticleers) will broadcast live for nine straight hours.

Our #CCU Periscope Marathon is a first of its kind.

The best part about the #CCU Periscope Marathon isn’t that it will provide our audience with 540 straight minutes of our beautiful campus. It isn’t that it will educate the masses about the magic of Periscope. It isn’t that no college in the country has never come close to doing something like this. Rather, the best part about the #CCU Periscope Marathon is that it will be largely driven by students.

Yep, I am depending on the #CCUSocialMedia Student Advisory Group to provide most of the content and facilitate the majority of the Periscope broadcasts come Friday. At today’s meeting I flashed a slide that broke down 30 minute shifts for the students to claim. Upon volunteering for a half hour block and signing a contract, it will be all them during that specified time on Friday. Although I have improved my less-than-stellar Periscope narrating skills, our Periscope audience will be so overjoyed to have the fresh voices of college students guiding them through the marathon.

I hope you will tune into our Periscope channel (@ccuchanticleers) on Friday. The allure of watching an original and challenging social media event play out will entice many but the real draw will be the students. Don’t miss out on the fun. Don’t Blink.