continuing the conversation: social media for comms & pr at the university of melbourne
DESCRIPTION
A presentation I gave recently at an internal University of Melbourne marketing conference. I was keen to get people thinking about how the PR and comms practices and strategies we've used for years don't need to be thrown out just because social media is here. Sure, they need refining, and SM presents unique challenges (particularly when it comes to content selection and engagement), but good PR practices are still relevant and necessary.TRANSCRIPT
Continuing the Conversation
Using social media for PR & communications at
the University of Melbourne
David Scott (@dascottonline)Wednesday 27 October 2010
INTRODUCTION: who am I & why am I here?BRAINSTORM: what is best practice public relations & communications online and why?TACKLE PROBLEMS: what are the key points of conflict & concern when operating in media/PR/comms online?
HOW WE DO IT: what is the University doing at the moment?
OPPORTUNITIES: in what areas can the University do better?
THE END: what can we take away?
TODAY
“The old view of online as a separate space, cyberspace, apart from the real world, was an accident of history…Our
social media tools aren’t an alternative to real life, they are part of it.”
Clay Shirky in Cognitive Surplus
BUT FIRST……a little audience participation
ME!It’s all about
What makes for good PR (and customer service)?
What elements make for agood communications
strategy?
? !
Which of these attributes are most relevant to social
media?
"Ideal conversation should be a matter of equal give and take, but too often it is all 'take.' The voluble
talker - or chatterer - rides his own hobby straight
through the hours without giving anyone else, who
might also like to say something, a chance to do
other than exhaustedly await the turn that never
comes.“ Emily Post (1922)
Can you RELATE?
AND NOWFOR A FEW EXAMPLES
The GOOD:
The BAD…
…and the UGLY:
NOT ONCE… …BUT TWICE
SEEMS SIMPLETO DO IT RIGHT, RIGHT?
Pointsof
concern Numbers v Quality
Training
Time
Monitoring
WHAT WE DOAND HOW. AND WHY.
Official Facebook Fan Page (6700 fans), 15+ associated sites
@unimelb 3973 followers, growing at 200/week, plus @uommedia and 22 others
Official YouTube channel: 90 subscribers, 30000+ channel views,
No official ‘central’ presence, Eng/Alumni have accounts, 8000+ photos
Specific MBS, Management & Marketing accounts. Alumni has more?
WE KILLED
WHAT WE GETAND HOW WE CURRENTLY ANSWER
WHAT WORKSAND WHAT WE’VE FOUND DOESN’T REALLY WORK AT ALL
Links
Questions
Surprise!
Doing things in isolation
Broadcasting
TwitPitch
Unimelb Q&A (no shoes)
SUCCESSREALLY CAN BE ACHIEVED
“Why Murdoch was happy”• @Tealou had 1,258 followers – all Murdoch’s
target audience• If 10% of followers considering Murdoch = 125
If 10% negatively influenced = 12 students• 12 students = loss of $450,000 over 3 years, in
addition to damage to their reputation• Cost to save: $15,000 per year
ROI: 2,900%
THE MURDOCH EXAMPLELEARNING FROM OTHERS, VIA THE ‘MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2010’
THE CONTEXT: Murdoch University had a similar enquiry to previous examples – negative and wanting help. They picked it up via monitoring and responded
accordingly. This is what that they calculated it was worth…
Other Industry COMPARISON
MACQUARIE UNI VC IS ON TWITTER USYD HAVE NEARLY 18 000 FACEBOOK FANS
…AND RMIT POST NEARLY 40 TIMES/MONTH TO THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE
WE HAVE OPPORTUNITIES…AND ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
CAN WE BE MORE TARGETED OR DO WE NEED TO BE MORE GENERAL?
IS SOCIAL MEDIA ESSENTIAL FOR
EVERY COMMUNICATIONS
CAMPAIGN?
HOW DO WE EXCITE AND ENGAGE OUR STAKEHOLDERS?
WE ARE NOT SUPERHEROE
SBUT NO ONE EXPECTS US TO BE!
CONCLUSIONS