Hi there,
“Everyone is talking about it.”
This phrase doesn’t sit well with me anymore, yet I still hear it all the time—when a new trend hits the scene, a contentious issue emerges, or a splashy headline is published. After years of analyzing conversations about higher ed brands, audiences, and topics, I know that it’s exceedingly rare for “everyone” to be talking about something. Even when a common trait (e.g., age, alma mater, location) brings people together, interests and cultural identities—and social media algorithms—create a kaleidoscope of conversations that elevate the perceived proliferation of a story for some communities while leaving them unaware of issues that are “everywhere” for another community.
We’re more likely to think everyone is talking about something when it aligns with what we’re personally talking about or interested in. And we’re likely to miss entire swaths of conversation and cultural phenomena that aren’t aligned with our personal experience or identity. This bias creates an awareness gap. It can result in:
- Overreacting to issues surrounding your brand or underreacting to important issues for your community
- Missed opportunities for authentic engagement
- Incorrect assumptions about the experience of your target audiences
- Disconnection from, dismissal of, or undervaluing top-of-mind concerns for your students, employees, or alumni
Here are some recent issues and events that were well-known in online or niche communities well before they were recognized by the general population of our industry. In cases where media coverage occurred, it was days or weeks after the impact of the event. Dozens of examples crop up every month.
- The Asbury revival/outpouring was the talk of evangelical Christian social media within days, prompting discussion of doctrine, the inclusion or exclusion of queer students and students of color, and road trips for many students to Kentucky. Well-known national campus religious organizations sent representatives. The less religious heard about the event a week or more after it started, if at all.
- When anti-Black behavior occurs on campus, it’s widely discussed in Black social media and community organizing spaces immediately. There are far too many examples of this phenomena; one is the December filmed arrest of a Winston-Salem State University student after a disagreement with her professor. The experience of Black faculty and staff is described and discussed in great detail—in Black online spaces rarely frequented by the colleagues who contribute to poor experiences. Right now, the Black chemist community is mourning the tragic loss of two doctoral students—Sammy Mensah and Nic Watkins—while calling attention to the harmful climates many Black scientists work and study in at universities (and the community-led effort to support them).
- NCAA conference realignment is regularly one of the hottest topics for some of the campuses we work with, while non-affected institutions (or non-sports fans) may be unaware not only that it’s happening, but of its likely impact on college finances, brand awareness, student experience, and recruitment.
In your quest to connect authentically with your community and build trust in your brand, it’s important to develop awareness and appreciation for what matters to your priority audiences and your community. Not so you can jump on an opportunity to go viral (please, don’t), but so you can serve from a place of empathy and nurture belonging. One, two, or three people—with their individual identities and biases—with the charge to “watch social media” won’t accomplish this.
You need a human-centered, yet wide-reaching structured approach to understanding conversations and communities, with input and analysis from a diverse group of experts who will recognize opportunities, add industry and cultural context and nuance, and surface community issues. That’s what we’ve built at Campus Sonar.
The next time someone tells you “everybody is talking about this,” I want you to stop and reflect.
Who is everybody?
Who have I prioritized listening to? At the expense of who else?
Can I expect to be heard if I haven’t listened first?
What is everybody not talking about, yet should be?
