50 education marketing and communication experts to follow on Twitter

Written By Rosie Wowk

Twitter saw an unexpected rise of 9m users in its last quarter, with monthly active users now totalling at 328m. Although the popularity of the channel has recently been questioned, many marketing and communications professionals in the education sector can be found on the channel, sharing their thoughts and insights on the sector, as well as their own personal anecdotes. So if you’re new to the network, or just looking for some more relevant communicators to follow, check out our list of some of the best in business.

Digital First

1. Jackie Vetrano / @JackieVetrano – Jackie implemented Skidmore College’s social media strategy and is also a co-host of the higher ed social podcast. Also collects beer badges on Untappd!

2. Jess Turner / @jessiicaturner – Amongst Instagram pictures of delicious looking vegan food, you can find hand-picked articles relating to using social media in higher ed. 

3. Tom Wright / @TomRight – Director of Digital Student Life at The University of Lincoln. Shares interesting insights into digital/social media that would be useful to those working at universities.

4. Dave Musson / @davemusson – Dave tweets about all things HE and social media and, as a regular on the education marcomms speaker circuit, you’ll get some good insights from like-minded professionals. Likes live music.

5. Eric Stoller / @EricStoller – An education consultant with expertise in student affairs, social media and technology. Originally from the US, Eric is an adopted Brit and also tweets about UK culture.

6. Alistair Beech / @alistairbeech – Part of the team that helped win Best Digital Marketing Campaign – Public Sector at the Northern Digital Awards. Tweets about digital marketing in HE and shares examples from his place of work, UCLan. The Smiths listener.

7. Matt Horne / @thematthorne – One of the first to introduce Snapchat to a UK university and is not afraid to experiment with social media (and share the results on his personal blog).

Not Strictly Marcomms

8. Paul Greatrix / @registrarism – As a registrar, Paul tweets about issues that affect the running of HE institutions, and not just in the UK.

9. Sue Cunningham /@CunninghamCASE –  As CASE President, Sue documents her role through Twitter and as well as sharing some of the best content from CASE.

10. Tricia King / @TriciaKing1 – Like Sue, Tricia has a lead role at CASE and we get an insight into the world of global education through her Twitter feed. 

11. Cathy Ellis / @CathyEllis121 – Cathy is highly knowledgeable on education technology in the FE sector and shares a lot of the great work she does at Highbury College. 

Higher Ed Web

12. Mark Greenfield / @markgr – A look at higher education in the States from the perspective of web professional. Good tweets from relevant conferences too.

13. Sven Aas / @SvenAas – Head to Sven’s feed for all your higher education web needs. He also tells funny jokes and drinks beer too.

14. Amy Grace Wells / @amygracewells  – Also part of the HE web crew. You should follow Amy if you’re interested in content tools, UX, IA and interaction design. Loves cats.

15. Jeff Stevens / @kuratowa – Could follow him just for his strong GIF game, but also tweets about all thing web in higher ed. Always up for a round of karaoke. 

16. Colleen Brennan-Barry / @ColB – Social media and the web are high priorities for this digital strategy expert. Shares Buffy articles. Say no more.

17. Aaron Rester / @aaronrester – If you’re interested in crafting good content for the web and what beer to drink in your spare time, then Aaron’s your man.

Across the Pond

18. Karine Joly / @karinejoly – Karine’s Twitter will lead you to a large pool of insights from sector specialists across the globe. Look out for her fab HigherEdExperts blog posts.

19. Mallory Wood / @MalloryWood – Useful links to webinars and content to help you understand education marketing techniques can be found on Mallory’s feed. 

20. Liz Gross / @lizgross144 – She’s a firm believer in strategy, so head to Liz’s feed for articles and her own thoughts on sector market research, social listening, and alumni affairs just to name a few. Good use of GIFs.

21. Tim Nekritz / @TimNekritz – The brains behind digital at SUNY Oswego. Take a glance of his own views on social media, HE in the States and cool stuff he’s been working on.

22. Rick Allen / @epublishmedia – Shares personal insights on website navigation, findability and content. Regular Confab attendee.

23. Ravi Jain / @ravidjain – Great examples of content that often coincide with Ravi’s speaker appointments can be discovered amongst tweets on food consumed and places visited.

24. Theresa Walker / @editorwalker – Senior Editor at CASE’s Currents magazine. Handy reminders for CASE chats, the best selection from Currents mag and insights on social media. Chicago Cubs fan.

25. Robin Smail / @Robin2go – Interested in UX, design and people. Keep up to date with her thoughts through imagery.

26. Chris D’Orso / @cdorso – Shares links about social media in higher education. Funny commentary on American politics. I think he may like baseball. Not sure though. #GoMETS

27. Todd Sanders / @tsand – Apart from wearing a ridiculous (-ly good) suit in his profile picture, Todd has great knowledge of social media in HE. 

28. Joel Goodman / @joelgoodman – Another digital pro who likes beer. Fear not, he also has an interest in great design. Bakes a decent loaf of bread. 

29. JP Rains / @jp_rains – This Canadian doesn’t mess about when it comes to digital strategy. Social media, the web and examples of the work JP is doing at Laurentian University fill up his feed.

30. Dr Karen Stout / @drkastout – Her feed has a focus on community colleges – the latest news, statistics and research can be found on Karen’s feed.

31. Nikki Sunstrum / @nikkisunstrum – As Director of Social Media at the University of Michigan, Nikki’s feed gives you insight into the hectic life of a higher ed communicator and a mother.

32. Ryan Maguire / @ryjmag – See what Ryan and his team at Princeton University are doing to communicate with their audiences through social media.

Going Down Under

33. Sally Bagshaw / @snappysentences – Sally has great insight into the content strategy world and frequently shares interesting opportunities and events and her knowledge on UX and content. 

34. Cameron Pegg / @campegg – Okay, so he’s recently moved to NYC, but he’s still an Aussie. Apart from stunning shots of his new home city,  you’ll find tweets about storytelling, digital stats, design, running and Star Wars.

35. Tania Rhodes-Taylor / @TRhodesTaylor – A newly adopted Aussie, Tania is now VP of External Relations at the University of Sydney. Find out about her new life in education down under. 

36. Helen Nolan / @HelenQN – Helen Retweets lots of useful nuggets on tech, digital channels, marketing and youth trends from experts across the globe. Executive Director of Marketing at the University of Southern Queensland.

ContentEd Speakers

37. Mike Petroff /@mikepetroff – Bursting with links and views on the social and digital landscape, Mike’s Twitter is a treasure trove of useful articles for those working in education marcomms.

38. Tracy Playle /@tracyplayle – When she is not excitedly tweeting about ContentEd, you’ll find her personal insights on emerging trends in education and digital, user-generated content, website design and user journeys, to name a few. You can also try and keep track of her world travels.

39. Mike Atherton / @MikeAtherton – As a Content Strategist at Facebook, you won’t be surprised to find tweets on the topics of IA, content strategy (shock) and UX. Bonus: His profile picture is a weird mole (?) creature.

40. Janell Sims / @janellsims – There is a stack of useful links to content on the latest trends in social media, UX, content strategy, SEO and web design to be found on Janell’s feed.

41. Minna Lehtinen / @minnaleaflet – Take a look at the awesome work she does for the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester, as well signposting to content on social media, tech and comms. Interested in politics, equality and activism.

42. Andy Blair / @AndyBlairUK – Andy’s feed has a great mix of the arts, his role at University of the Creative Arts, politics and Newcastle United. What’s not to like?

43. Ellie Lovell / @ellielovell – A resident Pickle, Ellie’s specialities lie in social media, content marketing and digital in the education sector. Also found reporting on her twitching at @HelloHoopoe.

44. Robyn Bateman / @robynbateman – See inside the life of a multitasker – digital expert, mother, wife and student (she’s currently studying an MA too!) aka Superwoman. See cool content from the OU and articles on social media in HE. 

45. Ashley Budd / @ashley_budd – This feed is full articles that will help you improve the way you work with content, with a special look at university giving. Also shares her #workfromhomeprobs.

46. Georgy Cohen / @radiofreegeorgy – Content marketing, social media trends and brand are just a few of the topics you’ll find info about over on Georgy’s feed. Tweets hilarious comments from her offspring.

47. Richard Prowse / @RichProwse – This digital dude tweets about tech, design, higher ed, cats, politics and pride, and not necessarily in that order. What. A. Guy.

48. Robert Mills / @RobertMills – If you want to know about content, then Robert is your guy. He shares lots of useful articles from GatherContent where he works as a Content Strategist.

Bonus Pickles

49. Robert Perry / @pez_sez – Hilarious and honest commentary on current affairs across the globe, TV shows (Sherlock, University Challenge, GBBO etc.) and superheroes. Often digs out diamond articles on education marcomms. Avoids the London commute.

50. Rosie Wowk / @rosiewowk – When not complaining about noise in the quiet coach, Rosie shares links to the latest trends in social media and education news. Snapchat lover.

You can also follow us on Twitter, and the account for our content strategy conference, ContentEd.

Rosie Wowk
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