Crafting A Social Media Strategy�Liz Gross �November 9, 2015 �Penn State Social Media Summit �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

What is your social media program trying to

accomplish?�

Social media goals should support already existing goals �

• Furthering the brand�• Providing customer service�• Recruiting students�• Selling tickets�

If you struggle to relate your goal to your

institution, just keep asking “WHY?” �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

Do you have written voice guidelines?�Are they helpful?�

Four Components of Voice�

• Tone�• Intention�• Formality�• Identity�

“Ohio State is an institution, but should not feel ‘institutional’ on social media; we are friendly, conversational and down to earth, just like Ohio State itself.” �

Source: http://ucom.osu.edu/resources/social-media.html �

“We maintain a conversational and polite tone, and only comment on topics we can confidently discuss with complete accuracy.” �

Source: Internal Documents�

“Inspired goofiness.” �

Source: Social Media Breakfast Madison, March 2011 �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

Who has a social media policy?�

Why do you have it?�

Why have policies & guidelines �

• Provide consistent service/presence�• Ensure adherence to other

communication policies that apply to social�• Ease in staffing transitions�

4 Documents I Recommend�

• Social media strategic overview �• Content planning and publishing�• Performing social media monitoring�• Performing social media administrator

tasks �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

How do you approach content development?�

If you struggle to relate your goal to your

institution, just keep asking “WHY?” �

Curation�

Creation�

Why curate? �

•  It’s how the internet works�• Establishes you as an authority/

thought leader �• Provide the best possible content at all

times to your community�

Curation Considerations �

•  Is it on message?�•  Is it appropriate?�• Are there concerns with affiliation?�• Can you attribute authorship?�•  Is the source credible?�

Content Creation Considerations �

• Resources �• Framework�

Topic� Examples � Percent of Content �

Leadership Education� Articles about how to become a better leader, campus events that develop leadership skills �

20%�

Leadership Opportunities� Announcements of paid and unpaid opportunities on campus and in the community �

20%�

Inspiration� Stories about campus and community leaders, quotes related to leadership �

20%�

Engaging Future Leaders� Posts that encourage discussion amongst students and staff about topics related to leadership �

20%�

Campus Life� Inside look into campus leadership (profiles of staff members, photos from events and meetings, videos about student experiences) �

10%�

Promotion� General promotion of campus events ��

10%�

Content Creation Considerations �

• Resources �• Framework�• Editorial Calendar �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

What type of social listening are you doing?�

If you choose not to actively listen, you are

guaranteed to miss opportunities �

You MUST listen on Twitter �

• Tweetdeck�• Hootsuite�• search.twitter.com�– Use the advanced search�

More Complex Listening �

• Paid Solutions�– Brandwatch, Crimson Hexagon,

Synthesio, Sysomos, Cision �• Boolean Searches�– “Penn State” NOT football NOT athletics

NOT lions�

Boolean Overload�

(“great lakes educational loan” OR “great lakes higher education” OR “mygreatlakes”) OR (“great lakes” AND “borrow*” OR “servicer” OR “student loan*” OR “defer*” OR “forbearance” OR “repay*” or #studentloan*”) �

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�

What do your measurement plans look

like?�

Does measurement impact how you do your

work?�

Do senior administrators understand what you are

measuring?�

Why Measure �

• Gauge progress toward your goal �•  Identify opportunities for improvement �• Make the case for needed resources�

You will NOT get everything you need

from in-platform analytics�

Add Website Analytics to Social Media Measurement Plans �

•  Identify social sources of traffic�• Connect a click on social to subsequent

website activity�• Measure assisted conversions�• Add value to goal completions�

If you struggle to determine what to measure, just keep

asking “HOW?” �

Shameless Plug �

www.higheredexperts.com/smmhe�

Goals �Voice �Guidelines & Policies �Content �Listening �Measurement �

Six Pillars of Social Strategy�