Developing a Social Media & Digital strategy in HE

Session agenda

• An overview of the social student• Building a social media/digital strategy– 4Ps of content• Plan: plan your content strategy to reach your audience

at the right place, right time, right moment • Produce: internal vs. external • Publish: What content on what platform? • Promote: Integrating social media in your overall

marketing mix

Meet the social student

Which platforms do students use?

User demographics

How students use social media in the context of their studies

Sample 20 MSc students sampled at random

• Ask questions to peers (45%)

• Connect with other student with similar academic interests (33%)

• Share research/information with peers (26%)

• Collaborate in a workspace (14%)

• Use research recommended by peers (10%)

Building your Social Media/Digital Strategy

What is the theme of your content?

Who will create it?

When and where will it be shared?

In-house content creation vs. third party content?

Which platforms?

Strategic considerations

Social Media Strategy: setting your objectives and measurement metrics

Brand awareness

Traffic

Word of mouth

Likes, Retweets (= engagement)

Mentions in social media (blogs, forum, Twitter)

Click through rate, conversions

Objectives Measurement

The 4Ps of content strategy

Step 1: Plan

Choose your key platforms

Plan: the content marketing matrix

ENTERTAIN EMOTIONAL

RATIONAL

EDUCATE

INSPIRE

CONVINCE

• Events • Webinars (e.g. Google Hangouts) • Newsletters (current/prospect students) • Testimonials

• Articles/blog posts • Guides / whitepapers• Infographics • Press releases

• Events • Webinars (e.g. Google Hangouts) • Newsletters (current/prospect students) • Testimonials

• Videos/virals • Infographics • Photos /visual content

Populate your content calendar

Free template

Planning your content around ‘personas’

• Understand students’ information search process; When are they searching for and when – Undergrads – Postgrads – how are they searching and when (Google trends, analytics)

• Create content tailored to their needs – Social content – Newsletters (look for data-capture opportunities; e.g.

findamasters.com) – Web content (user journeys using Google analytics)

Creating personas: Meet Laurence• Works full-time but wants to do a part-time masters February-April: Information search • Search starts at findamasters.com and shortlists two

universities – Goes to university ranking sites – Goes to student forums for reviews/testimonials – Talks to friends for advice – Follows universities on Twitter/Facebook

May: Evaluation of alternatives • Final shortlist of universities and applications June: • Application successful; attends a seminar about going back

to university • Checklist of thing to do over the summer July-September:• Miscellaneous research/reading

Step 2: Produce

Internal content production vs. external

Step 3: Publish

Set clear objectives for each platform

Core platforms: Facebook and Twitter

What students interact with on Facebook

• 30% interact with content about events: Students use Facebook as a way to stay in touch with friends and make plans, so it makes sense that they’d want to read posts about events happening on campus.

• 27% interact with photos: Whether part of an event post, news item, or standalone content, photos instantly catch people’s attention and can often prompt an emotional reaction faster than text on a screen. Students enjoy clicking through photos related to campus events. You could even try an image-centered campaign to raise awareness about a particular cause or campus service.

• 15% interact with campus news: Students use social media sites to get the latest updates on what’s going on right now. Posts centered on campus news will bring students back to your school’s Facebook page again and again when they realise it’s a source of dynamic content and breaking news.

• 10% interact with academic-related content: Although Facebook was only open to college students at its inception, it's more about fun than academics. If you choose to post academic-related content, be sure to jazz up the content with photos, related events, and anything that might be considered newsworthy. Leave the academic details on department websites.

Source

What students interact with on Twitter

• 28% interact with content about events: Event status updates, promotional hooks, and event details are the makings of perfect tweets.

• 22% interact with campus news: Twitter is a social media platform designed to feature dynamic content. It’s all about up-to-the-minute news. Students go to Twitter for quick 140 character updates or bits of information they can consume quickly, whereas Facebook is better suited for more robust content.

• 21% interact with photos: Facebook has a better interface for viewing photos, but Twitter still offers a way to share interesting images. Since Twitter is a more text-based platform, keep the main focus on those 140 characters, and supplement with a photo. Interestingly, photos were the number one type of content for prospective students visiting a college’s twitter feed. Could be that soon-to-be college students are looking for visual content since they can’t see what’s happening on campus in person.

• well with students.

Source

Thought leadership: Soundcloud and Google+

Engagement platform: Instagram

Step 4: Promote

The paid, owned and earned framework

Paid Owned Earned

• PPC• Social advertising

• Website, newsletter • Social media

• WoM• Forums, blogs

Measure

• Set clear objectives: – What do we want to achieve? – How do we measure success?

• Social media is about trial and error • Keep what works, and tweak what doesn’t

Questions?