Building Collaboration City: Empowering Teams, Not Policing Channels

This blog post has been interpreted from a 2022 #PSEWEB presentation with colleagues Dayan Boyce an Cadie DeKelver.

If you’re managing social media across a large institution — especially one where every department has its own account, voice, and agenda — you know the feeling. It’s part inspiration, part chaos.

At the college where I lead social media for ten years, we faced the same challenge: more than 100 social media representatives (SMRs), most managing social media as 5% of their job, all trying to represent the same brand.

This post shares how I shifted from coordination to collaboration (with the help of some colleagues and co-op students). These lessons apply to anyone trying to bring structure, consistency, and confidence to a decentralized team.

1. Stop Managing, Start Empowering

When your team is stretched thin, the answer isn’t more control — it’s more support.

We learned early that our social media representatives didn’t need policing; they needed empowerment. Instead of dictating content, we focused on removing barriers.

That meant giving them access to ready-to-use materials (logos, templates, pre-approved content) and letting them focus on what they know best: authentic storytelling from their areas.

👉 Ask yourself:

• What parts of social media can you take off their plate?

• How can you simplify the process so they can spend time creating meaningful content instead of fighting with logistics?

2. Teach Strategy in Simple, Practical Terms

“Be strategic” sounds great — but what does it really mean to someone managing a Facebook page between classes or client meetings?

We broke down strategy into something tangible:

• Goals are your big dreams.

• Objectives are the measurable ways you’ll get there.

• Strategy is the plan that connects the two.

Then we ran workshops to help our team build their own strategies that ladder up to the institution’s goals.

👉 Tip: Strategy isn’t a document — it’s a bridge. Help your team define audiences, content pillars, timing, and tone, but make it feel achievable.

3. Build a Toolkit That Scales

When in doubt, create a home base for everything.

Our Social Media Toolkit became that hub — first in Google Drive, then in OneDrive. It included:

• A SMR starters kit including strategy and policy documents

• Platform guides

• Brand resources (logos, fonts, colors, patterns)

• Workshop recordings and templates

• “Active Content” — pre-approved institution-wide posts

It was not fancy — but it was powerful. Every new social media manager knew exactly where to start and where to find help.

👉 Tip: Don’t over-engineer it. A well-organized shared drive is often better than a complicated software you can’t maintain.

4. Use Tools That Make Collaboration Natural

You don’t need the flashiest tech — just systems that fit how your team works.

Here’s what worked for us:

• Microsoft Planner (alt: Monday, Trello, Asana, AirTable etc): for organizing content calendars with visual task lists, tags, and filters so everyone can find what matters to them.

• Adobe Express (alt: Canva): for simple branded templates that let anyone create professional content without design training.

  

• Microsoft Teams (alt: Slack, Discord, Google Chat, Zoom Team Chat):  for daily communication, idea sharing, and community-building.

👉 Tip: The tool matters less than how it’s used. Choose platforms that lower friction and increase transparency.

5. Prioritize Connection Over Control

Community doesn’t come from policies — it comes from people.

We built connection through:

• Monthly round-up emails with content suggestions and awareness days

• “Coffee chats” where SMRs could drop in to share wins or frustrations

• A Teams space where they could ask questions, swap ideas, or vent safely

These informal spaces turned colleagues into collaborators. They learned from each other — not just from us.

👉 Tip: Make time for informal connection. A short weekly chat can do more for morale and alignment than another formal meeting.

6. Keep Learning (Together)

Social media changes daily — so our approach can’t stay static.

We invested in professional development through workshops, conferences, and new micro-credentials. We shared both our wins and our mistakes to normalize learning in public.

👉 Tip: Bring your team along for the journey. When you attend a conference or webinar, share the highlights, slides, or recordings. Make growth a shared experience.

7. Measure Culture, Not Just Content

The biggest success isn’t better posts — it’s a stronger team.

At the height of our team's success, our social media representatives were confident creators. They produced branded, on-voice content that felt authentic, collaborated across departments, and supported each other.

The key? We stopped trying to “fix” their content and started investing in their confidence.

👉 Remember: Strategy builds consistency. Collaboration builds culture.