DMEF - Viralheat Case Study
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CASE STUDY [email protected] www.viralheat.com Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF) Mission Statement: To attract, educate, and place college students in direct/interactive marketing careers. We are dedicated to engaging students in order to educate them about the direct and interactive marketing industry in addition to providing them with invaluable opportunities and funds to support their immersion in this industry. OVERALL GOALS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA USE The high school/college generation is often considered the age group to be most “digital- ly savvy”— they know how to use social me- dia and love doing it. Because the mission of our organization is to predominately engage with college students in order to educate them about the industry, we realize there is no bet- ter place to do this than social communities. By using social media as a medium to commu- nicate with this generation of future business leaders, it has been easier for them to access the information that is relevant to them, that we want them to see and thus engage with us. SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGES I was brought in to DMEF as its first-ever social media intern. Although DMEF was registered under various social media sites, the staff was so busy that it was hard for them to keep up with all of it that resulted in small fan bases on these sites. The greatest challenge I faced was starting from the beginning, because we had such a small fan base and it was my responsibility to both gain and engage followers. I couldn’t just put up any article and have a significant number of people “like” it. I had to make sure that the content I was posting was interesting and relevant. It was very challenging to learn about who my audience was and what it took (the types of questions and content to post) for them to engage. GOALS FOR USING VIRALHEAT I joined Viralheat based on the recommendation of Rand Schulman, who used to serve on the Viralheat board and is an incoming board member of DMEF. During an interview, he told me Viralheat was a must-have for our organization. After looking through the website, I decided that Viralheat was exactly what I was looking for — I wanted a way that I could monitor what I was doing over the Web and across social media sites. I was using Facebook Insights, TweetDeck, etc. but I didn’t know what conversations were going on outside of Facebook and Twitter, and Viralheat would be a much more effective and efficient way for me to monitor our social sites. This way I could get more done in the day, instead of going through 1,000+ websites trying to track our presence! RESULTS Viralheat has been invaluable to the success of DMEF’s social media engagement these past two months. Through Viralheat, I was able to track what type of content was popular and unpopular among my recent posts (love the “sentiment tool”), mostly through looking at the Twitter and real-time Web graphs and reports. I also found it very helpful in figuring out what content is popular in my industry. Along with creating a profile for my company, I created profiles for other non-profits similar to ours that have a large social media presence. I used Viralheat to track what type of content was successful for them – then was able to mimic that on our social media sites. I am proud to say that since the start of my internship, our fan base on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn has nearly doubled in size across all three communities.
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Transcript of DMEF - Viralheat Case Study
CASE STUDY
[email protected] www.viralheat.com
Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF)Mission Statement: To attract, educate, and place college students in direct/interactive marketing careers. We are dedicated to engaging students in order to educate them about the direct and interactive marketing industry in addition to providing them with invaluable opportunities and funds to support their immersion in this industry.
OvErall gOals FOr sOcial MEDia UsE
The high school/college generation is often considered the age group to be most “digital-ly savvy”— they know how to use social me-dia and love doing it. Because the mission of our organization is to predominately engage with college students in order to educate them about the industry, we realize there is no bet-ter place to do this than social communities. By using social media as a medium to commu-nicate with this generation of future business leaders, it has been easier for them to access the information that is relevant to them, that we want them to see and thus engage with us.
sOcial MEDia challEngEs
I was brought in to DMEF as its first-ever social media intern. Although DMEF was registered under various social media sites, the staff was so busy that it was hard for them to keep up with all of it that resulted in small fan bases on these sites. The greatest challenge I faced was starting from the beginning, because we had such a small fan base and it was my responsibility to both gain and engage followers. I couldn’t just put up any article and have a significant number of people “like” it. I had to make sure that the content I was posting was interesting and relevant. It was very challenging to learn about who my audience was and what it took (the types of questions and content to post) for them to engage. gOals FOr Using viralhEat
I joined Viralheat based on the recommendation of Rand Schulman, who used to serve on the Viralheat board and is an incoming board member of DMEF. During an interview, he told me Viralheat was a must-have for our organization. After looking through the website, I decided that Viralheat was exactly what I was looking for — I wanted a way that I could monitor what I was doing over the Web and across social media sites. I was using Facebook Insights, TweetDeck, etc.
but I didn’t know what conversations were going on outside of Facebook
and Twitter, and Viralheat would be a much more effective and efficient way for me to monitor
our social sites. This way I could get more done in the day, instead of going through
1,000+ websites trying to track our presence!
rEsUlts
Viralheat has been invaluable to the success of DMEF’s social media engagement these past two months. Through Viralheat, I was able to track what type of content was popular and unpopular among my recent posts (love the “sentiment tool”), mostly through looking at the Twitter and real-time Web graphs and reports. I also found it very helpful in figuring out what content is popular in my industry. Along with creating a profile for my company, I created profiles for other non-profits similar to ours that have a large social media presence. I used Viralheat to track what type of content was successful for them – then was able to mimic that on our social media sites. I am proud to say that since the start of my internship, our fan base on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn has nearly doubled in size across all three communities.
CASE STUDY
[email protected] www.viralheat.com
Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (DMEF)thOUghts On thE FUtUrE OF thE
sOcial WEb:WhErE DO yOU sEE it gOing anD hOW Will it aFFEct yOUr OrganizatiOn?
Social media is clearly the present and future of advertising/marketing. There is no easier and more direct way for our organization, along with all others, to connect with customers, followers and fans. The continued use of social media to connect with our key constituents will help ex-pand the size of our organization, thus helping to share its mission. With our organization’s con-tinued expansion, hopefully we will be able to connect with more college students that are in-terested in the marketing industry and set them on a path to achieving all their career goals.
FrOM DMEF...
“DMEF’s mission really resonated with me. Because I was so passionate about DMEF’s mission, I was determined to help the Foundation grow. Thanks largely to Viralheat, I was able to accomplish that goal and nearly double the size of DMEF’s social media fan base in the top three social communities.”
“It was definitely a challenge in the beginning, starting with such a small fan base. However, Viralheat made it easy for me to track what content was and was not working, making it easier for me to engage with and increase followers.”
MOrE inFOrMatiOn abOUt DMEF (http://www.directworks.org/)
Established in 1966 by members of the Direct Marketing Association who wanted to give something back to the commu-nity, the DMEF is a non-profit educational foundation supported by tax-deductible contributions. It’s the only national foundation of its kind solely committed to introducing – and in fact, engaging – academics and college students in the thriving business of direct/interactive marketing. The DMEF’s programs are designed to encourage participation, equip professors with the most up-to-date educational resources and prepare students for successful careers in this rapidly evolving field.
To bring direct/interactive marketing instruction to the college campus, attract new talent and help students learn about career opportunities, the Foundation publishes teaching resources, career information and the academic research journal, Journal of Interactive Marketing.
DMEF serves three key audiences through tailored programs to meet their specific needs. Here are just a few examples of how we do it:
1. college students • Financial support to meet the growing demands of college tuition is available through the DMEF Scholarship Program. In 2011 more than $80,000 was granted to students at schools nationwide. • A one-day event called the Student Career Forum gives students an introduction to direct/interactive marketing and its diverse and rewarding career opportunities, as well as valuable job-seeking strategies. 2. academics
• A Research Summit brings academics and professionals together to discuss and glean knowledge from leading research taking place at the academic level.
• A new program called the Professors Institute is a three-day boot camp to provide specialized training to academics that have demonstrated an interest in teaching direct, interactive, digital and new-media marketing. Content comes from leading practitioners presenting cutting-edge busi-ness cases from the front lines of today’s marketplace.
3. corporations • Ensuring the future of this field by supporting future generations of leaders as they enter the
marketplace is just one aspect that resonates among professionals in the field. • Getting access to top talent for intern and entry–level positions through the DMEF’s i-GoDirect job bank is yet another.
sUbMittED by:Erin Jennings
Direct Marketing Educational FoundationSummer Intern (2011)
