THE U

NIVERSITY

OF

FLORIDA

S O C I AL M

E D I A S

T R AT E G Y

B Y : HA L E Y F

I SH E R

TABLE OF CONTENTS1. Executive Summary2. Social Media Audit3. Social Media Objectives4. Online Brand Persona and Voice5. Strategies and Tools6. Timing and Key Dates7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities 8. Social Media Policy9. Critical Response Plan10.Measurement and Reporting Result

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY• Our main social media strategy is to continue to increase

our online community within the University of Florida. • The primary focus will be to drive more students to our

social media accounts. • The University of Florida currently connects with its

students through Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. The handlers of these accounts continue to post and interact with it’s followers frequently.

• Although the University of Florida has over 30,000 undergraduate students, our social media accounts will allow students to feel connected and important.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDITSocial Network

URL Follower Count

Average Weekly Activity

Average Engagement Rate#interactions/rates

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/uflorida

654,460 likes

10 posts per week

14%

Twitter https://twitter.com/uf

132,000 followers

12 posts per week

8%

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uflorida/

98,300 followers

5 posts per week

6%

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/edu/university-of-florida-18120

3,098 second degree connections

2 posts per week

4%

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT ASSESSMENTCompared to the other social media accounts, Facebook has the strongest engagement rate with students. Instagram has a high engagement, but does not have a lot of followers. Twitter is the closest to Facebooks’s engagement, so I think the University should focus on improving the Twitter. LinkedIn has the least engagement and is mostly used by alumni.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT: WEBSITE TRAFFIC

Source Volume Percentage of Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Facebook 5000 unique visits

14% 4%

Twitter 3000 unique visits

10% 3.1%

Instagram 6000 data No data No dataLinkedIn 1000 unique

visits3% .90%

Traffic Summary: Currently, Instagram takes up a lot of data but there is no conversion rate. Facebook has a lot of visits due to how many likes their page has. Twitter is close behind Facebook. LinkedIn has the least amount of traffic when compared to Facebook and Twitter.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT: DEMOGRAPHICSAge Distribution

Gender Distribution

Primary Social Network

SecondarySocial Network

Primary Needs

Secondary Needs

65% 18-2420% 25-3010% 31-405% 41-50

Female 60%Male: 40%Male: 28%N/A

70% of FB

30% of Twitter

25% Instagram

5% LinkedIn

Educating students on events happening on campus.

Student organizations to get involved in.

Demographic Summary: Based on the audit, it is clear that most people who use social media are between the ages of 18-24. This is great, because this age group is our target audience.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT: COMPETITORS Competitor Name

Social Media Profile

Strengths Weaknesses

Florida State University

https://www.facebook.com/floridastate

The profile photo and cover photo go well together and accurately represent the school. Has a lot of posts and shares articles and photos daily.

There are not many shares or likes on the posts, considering how big of a university they are.

University of Central Florida

https://www.facebook.com/UCF/?fref=ts

Has a lot of posts daily. Has a profile picture that displays school colors, which shows school spirit.

Doesn’t have a lot of likes and shares on posts. Could have a better cover photo to go better with the profile picture.

SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT COMPETITORS ASSESSMENT

Both of UF’s competitors have presentable profiles, but could increase the interaction on social media with their students. Both profiles do not receive many likes or comment. In order to gain more activity, they should promote their social media accounts.

SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES• The primary focus for the University of Florida’s 2016 social

media strategy is to increase brand awareness on social media platforms and engaging in online socializations with its students.

• Specific Objectvies: • Content on Twitter and Facebook should be increased to keep

students engaged and interested. By growing our online community we will be better connected with our students.

• Make more traffic to Twitter and Facebook. Include images, hashtags, and tags in all posts.

• The University of Florida should have a Facebook Live Discussion and/or Twitter discussion per week to increase the interaction between the students and the university.

SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES CONTINUED• KPIS

• Number of followers/likes on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn

• Number of unique visitors to the Facebook page• Number of retweets, likes, and comments/mentions on Facebook,

Twitter, and Instagram

SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES CONTINUED • Key Message: The University of Florida will increase the

traffic and engage students on their social media accounts in order to maintain a connected, tight-knit community between faculty and students. Our goal is to have as many students involved as possible, and for their voice and questions to not go unheard.

ONLINE BRAND PERSONA AND VOICE• Adjectives that describe UF’s band: interactive, friendly,

encouraging, dedicated, informative, student-oriented, creative, happy.

• The University of Florida can use the adjectives listed above to their advantage. UF is able to expand/grow their social media platforms, which will make students more connected and involved.

• We communicate with our students in a loving, friendly, and encouraging manner. We want our students to feel informed and succeed.

STRATEGIES AND TOOLS• Paid: Increase traffic on Facebook by boosting every post that

includes a video or image. Make a filter on Snapchat to promote an event on campus. Twitter and Instagram can have ads supporting football season and why it’s great to be a Florida Gator.

• Earned: Depending on the season, whether it’s basketball or football season, posts should include hashtags and tags to promote school spirit and excitement about school sports. Instagram and Twitter can also have hashtags in every post such as, #It’sgreatUF #GatorNation.

• Owned: Different social media account handlers should communicate. Hashtags should be uniform. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram should all advertise same event/ and or campaign.

• Tools: We will be utilizing applications such as Buffer and Hootsuite. We will schedule all of our posts at the beginning of the week and make sure they are posted at the most popular times to ensure a lot of views.

TIMING AND KEY DATESHOLIDAYS: SCHOOL EVENTS:Thanksgiving Admission dayChristmas GraduationsChanukah First day of classNew Year’s Eve/Day Drop/Add

weekSpring Break Sporting EventsValentine’s Day Application

deadlines St. Patrick’s Day

SOCIAL MEDIA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Nicole Yucht- Assistant Vice President of UF Communications. (Develops UF marketing strategies)

• Todd Sanders- Director of Digital Communications and Social Media

• Ryan Morejon- Social Media Specialist • Donna Winchester- Strategic Communications Director• Michael McAleer- Graphic Designer• Kay Howell- Administrative Support Assistant. (Monitors

UF’s social media and addresses any problems or issues)

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY• According to the General Social Media Policy Statement at the University of

Florida, “Posts and other content specifically added by administrators of the University of Florida social media account are official University of Florida content. Opinions expressed by other users do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the University of Florida. User provided content is not screened or evaluated during the submission process.”

• “All content is bound by the UF Acceptable Use Policy. Further, users are expected to abide by applicable laws, regulations, rules and policies including the University Student Code of Conduct, the University’s Sexual Harassment Policy, and other regulations and policies concerning public communications.”

• “We encourage users to report content that violates the platform’s Code of Conduct by using their official reporting procedure.”

• “We reserve the rights to remove content.” • http://www.urel.ufl.edu/social-media/general-social-media-policy-

statement/

CRITICAL RESPONSE PLANScenario 1: UF Twitter is hacked by someone who posted an inappropriate photo. The photo is considered profanity.

1. When someone comes across the post, he/or she should contact either Todd Sanders and Ryan Morejon.

2. Todd Sanders or Ryan Morejon will have the post deleted ASAP. 3. Sanders or Morejon will change the password immediately, following an

appropriate post apologizing for the previous post. 4. Sanders or Morejon will contact Nicole Yucht on how to proceed further. 5. Yucht will send out an email on a private server asking if anyone has any info.

On the hacker. 6. There will be an investigation. 7. Security will be improved on the Twitter account to ensure no one will be able

to hack the account in the future. 8. UF’s media team will reach out to the faculty and students who might have

been offended by the post.

MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTS: SOCIAL NETWORK DATA

Quantitative KPIS: This data is as a result of increasing traffic to UF’s social media accounts by increasing hashtags, mentions, tags, and images in all posts.

Social Network

URL Followers Average Weekly Activity

Engagement Rate

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/uflorida

900,000 likes 20 posts per week 35%

Twitter https://twitter.com/uf

300,000 followers 16 posts per week 24%

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/uflorida/

150,000 followers 10 posts per week 14%

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/edu/university-of-florida-18120

4,000 second degree connections

8 posts per week 10%

MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTS: WEBSITE TRAFFIC SOURCE

ASSESSMENTSource Volume Percentage

of Overall Traffic

Conversion Rate

Facebook 10000 unique visits

48% 11%

Twitter 8000 unique visits 39% 9%

Instagram 5000 unique visits 25% 7%

LinkedIn 1500 unique visits 10% 3.8%

Our strategy to increase traffic on every social media platform was a success. By implementing hashtags and media on every post we were able to engage more students and increase the traffic to our social media sites. We plan on continuing to use these strategies to increase our traffic and engagement even more!