Post on 21-Dec-2015
How Social Networks are Changing College Marketing,PR, and Alumni Relations
Dan Forbush
NAICU Public Relations Academy
February 1, 2009
Evolution of Computers in Marketing Communications
1970s IBM Memory Typewriter
Early 1980s Desktop Publishing
Mid 1980s CompuServe
Late1980s Email / Listservs
Mid 1990s Static Web
Late 1990s Dynamic Web
Mid 2000s Social Web
Late 2000s Mobile Web
Mid 2020s Neural Web
We’re Here
2009: Our Expanding Digital World
YouTube
Basecamp
Box.net
Slideshare
MySpace
ITunes
Flickr
iGoogle
Blogs
Podcasts
Wikis
‘Barack Obama won the presidency in a landslide victory by converting everyday people into engaged volunteers, donors and advocates through social networks, email advocacy, text messaging and online video.’
Michael Krempasky
EVP, Digital Public Affairs
Edelman
Obama’s Achievement
Why Our Use of Social Networks is Exploding*
They enable us to manage large extended networks more effectively
They provide information about others that serves as a ‘social lubricant,’ making it easy to interact
They give us new ways to connect with one another over shared interests, problems, or experiences, and to mobilize coordinated actions
* Nicole Ellison, Michigan State UniversityECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008
In Higher Education
“Social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook and MySpace
now constitute an integral part of the daily communications
practices for many students. For those of us in higher education,
it is particularly important to understand SNS practices, outcomes
and motivations for use because these sites are fundamentally
changing the social fabric of the university … “
Nicole EllisonMichigan State UniversityECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2008
Social Networks Are Transforming PR, Marketing and Alumni Relations Because:
They’re interactive, engaging and ‘viral’
They powerfully support ‘word of mouth’
They’re merging with conventional Web sites
They’re the future
At Skidmore
We see the introduction of a
Skidmore-managed social network as
our best hope for strengthening our
connections with young alumni
Why Do We Need to?
Caller ID Screening: Annual fund callers now
must make 16 calls for every live connection
Revenues from Calls are Declining: From
$260,000 in 2005 to $110,000 in 2008
Renewed Focus on Volunteers: Personal contacts by peers are key
New Capabilities the New ‘Skidmore Network’ Must Offer
Enable alumni to easily network by professional groups
Enable alumni to easily network by affinity groups
Enable alumni to post electronic class notes
And…
By Surveying Our Alumni, We Learned:
• Twice as many Skidmore alumni use Facebook as MySpace
• 79 percent of alumni who use Facebook say they use it daily
• The more experienced with Facebook a Skidmore alumnus/a is, the less likely he or she is to join a Skidmore-managed network
Here’s What They’re Telling Us
‘Why reinvent the wheel? Facebook and
Linkedin are sophisticated sites with lots of
resources. Skidmore won't be able to
duplicate their service.’
‘Who needs to remember another password?’
‘You need to go where people are, not expect
them to come to you.’
FacebookPages
- Institutional voice - No ads- Visible to all – no login needed- Link Event pages to it - Listserv function- Blog function- Discussion topics- Share photos and videos- Pull in videos from YouTube- ‘Fans’ can connect with each other
And more …
Ideal for creatingniche communities
Measurement
Facebook’s ‘Insight’ tool enables you to analyze traffic to your Page by any of the following:
Page Views Discussion Topics
Unique Views Photo Views
Fans Audio Plays
New Fans Video Plays
Wall Posts
Key Goals in Skidmore Network
Create an application that enables alums in
any profession to create and maintain
profiles of themselves in a Facebook
community directly relevant to their
interests
Link these profiles to their profiles in
Skidmore’s alumni database so they can
easily update key information
Would You Like to Partner with Us ?
Let’s develop the architecture for an ideal alumni community in Facebook and share the development costs!
Write or call me: dforbush@skidmore.edu518-580-5746
Facebook Connect
‘We believe the next evolution of data portability is about much more than data. It's about giving users the ability to take their identity and friends with them around the Web, while being able to trust that their information is always up to date and always protected by their privacy settings.’
FacebookMay 9, 2008
How It Works
Developers may add Facebook’s ‘rich social
context’ to their own websites
Users may connect their Facebook account
to any partner website for ‘single sign-on’
Users may take their profile information
with them wherever they go on the Web
Users may take their friends with them
wherever they go on the Web
Facebook Connect with iModules’ ‘Encompass’*
Connects member identity and content in their Ithaca College alumni community directly to Facebook.
Event registrations, class notes, and online donations can be published on a member’s Facebook News Feed.
*Thanks to Ithaca’s Julie Doherty for the screenshots that follow
Single Sign-on
Visitors to the alumni community with a Facebook account can associate their identity with a member record in the alumni site.
Once successful, the accounts are “connected” and the member can choose to login with either their community or Facebook username and password in the future.
News Feed Propagation
When visitors, logged in via Facebook
Connect, interact with an enabled form,
they are presented with a dialog box.
Visitors may elect to propagate their
activity into their Facebook News Feed or
not.
We’ve Launched a Series of Facebook Pages and Groups
Skidmore AlumniClass of 2013Alumni in Digital MediaSkidmore Musicians OnlineSkidmore Global
We’ve told alumni we’ll helpthem create their own
We’ve Created ‘Skidmore Interactive’ To Bring It All Together
This is our ‘homepage for Skidmore’sonline communities’
It’s the core of our social network
We Inserted a Four-Page Promotion: ‘Making Friends with the Web’
Our objective was to build alumni audiences in Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube and to begin aserious discussion abouta Skidmore-managed
social network
Plus:
We’ve created a team of student Facebook
contributors
We’ve brought our entire Alumni Board into
an ‘Alumni Board’ group in Facebook
We’ve created an alumni social networking
advisory group
‘Laddering’ Support through Tiers of Engagement*
*Edelman
Personal Create a profile, post a comment, make a donation, sign up for email, ‘friend’ a classmate
SocialPost pictures or videos, write a blog post, join a discussion or group, post a class note
AdvocateRecruit others to donate, hostan event, create a group
Challenges
Resistance to Facebook among faculty and colleagues
Mastering new technologies and genres
Finding comfortable blend of one’s personal and professional persona
Figuring out how to play the role of ‘community manager’
Role of Community Manager
Establish goals, develop strategy and monitor progress
Master the new tools and teach others
Keep content fresh
Generate and promote the ‘conversation’
Serve as the institution’s visible, interactive representative
in social spaces
Develop and extend ‘online persona’
Aspects of Your ‘Online Persona’
Your profile content: photo, bio, photo
collections, videos
Your friends
The nature of content you post
The ‘voice’ with which you post
Your privacy settings