Planbook final

Running head: OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY 1

OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY 2

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Secondary Research 7

Primary Research 18

Strategies and Tactics 27

Budget 33

Timeline 34

Evaluation 36

Appendices 37

References 37

Blank Survey 39

Moderator’s Guide 42

Press Release Sample 44

Tactic Sample #1 45

Tactic Sample #2 46

Survey Results 47

Backup URL of Planbook 52


Campaign Introduction

The client for this campaign is Yumi Jakobcic of the Office of Sustainability Practices at

Grand Valley State University. She has come to us with a problem regarding the awareness of

the sustainability efforts on Grand Valley’s Allendale campus. The client explained that students

don’t understand what the Office of Sustainability Practices is doing. They want to get more

press about what they are truly doing for Grand Valley as well as find a way to encourage more

students to actively participate in the program. They want students to also know that there are

many different ways to get involved. The client expressed that most students think sustainability

is, more or less, just recycling.

There were a few reasons given as to why this could be a current problem. The client told

us that the office recently changed their name to “The Office of Sustainability Practices”, so they

are struggling with the public recognizing the new name. They also currently have two separate

Facebook pages with the two separate names on them, which could be confusing for people.

There are presently only two people in the actual office running things. The client said she

thought this could maybe be an issue in terms of getting the word out onto campus.

Sustainability has become a big part of Grand Valley and its success as a University in

the last ten years or so. It is a factor that draws incoming students to the University, according to

the client. This project is becoming so important because of the fact that sustainability in one

certain location doesn’t go on forever. There comes a point when they can only do so much

more. They can’t save 100% energy or 100% water, but they can do their very best as a

University. At some point they will have to move on from conservation on campus. So this

project is extremely important while they still have the chance to make changes. The client stated

that she believes the biggest challenge going forward is that they established as a university that


they would be carbon neutral by 2040, and 2040 is approaching very quickly. It will take a lot to

become 100% carbon neutral, according to the client, so the Office of Sustainability needs the

students, faculty, staff, and community to be on board with this project and to want to assist in

sustainability measures (Y. Jakobcic, personal communication, September 23, 2014).

Background and History

In 2006, Grand Valley State University created the Sustainability Initiative within the

College of Interdisciplinary Studies. Before the initiative came to be, Grand Valley already had

two LEED certified buildings. Shortly after the initiative began, another building became LEED

certified and Campus Dining went “tray-less.” In 2007, the initiative changed its name to the

Sustainable Community and Development Initiative. One year later, another six Grand Valley

campus buildings received LEED certification and GVSU received the Sustainability Award and

had national recognition for Sustainability Innovation. Come 2009, Grand Valley received

further national recognition by receiving top rankings from the Princeton Review. Finally, in

2011, Grand Valley was ranked 15th in the world in sustainability and environmental-friendly

management by the UI GreenMetric (History, 2013). Today, the Office of Sustainability

Practices is doing everything from hosting a recycling competition called “RecycleMania” to

offering fair trade items, local produce, and cage-free eggs in the dining facilities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Office of Sustainability Practices has many strengths, but it also struggling due to a

few weaknesses. The strengths that really help this program are how well it is established, the

people that work for the office, the great partnerships that it has, its national recognition, and so

much more. On the other hand, there are a few things that are holding the project back. For one,

as stated previously, there are only two people working in the sustainability office. While these


two people are wonderful assets to the program, they are still only two people trying to tackle an

entire university. In terms of their strategies and tactics, they are on the right track, but they are

going about some things in the wrong way. To give an example, they created a “Sustainability

Guide.” For one, the old name is on the brochure. This guide is very informative and gives some

information to prospective students, but it mainly targets an older crowd made up of community

members and local businesses and partnerships, not students. The Office of Sustainability wants

to have an impact on the students, and unfortunately this tactic did not accomplish that.

The few tactics that they have used to reach students have only partially worked,

according to the client. For example, at Student Life Night, they did a Sustainability Pledge that

students could sign and they received a pin when they signed it. Most students just signed the

pledge solely for the pin without even knowing what they were signing for. The Office of

Sustainability Practices also hosts an energy competition every year and while students do

participate, they are still asking “What’s in it for me?” (Y. Jakobcic, personal communication,

September 23, 2014). Students need a reason to truly want to be involved and to want to save

energy.

Objectives

There are three objectives that have been established for this campaign. They are outlined

below:

To create a strong, visual presence on campus for the Office of Sustainability Practices

within the next year,

To increase Facebook and Twitter followers by at least 50% in the next six months,

And to promote the Liberal Studies major with an emphasis in Sustainability to incoming

students


With these three objectives in mind, they can hopefully grow awareness and involvement for the

Office of Sustainability Practices.

Overall Goal of this Campaign

The goal of this campaign is to raise campus-wide awareness regarding the Office of

Sustainability Practices at Grand Valley State University and to increase positive student

involvement in sustainability measures. With the objectives stated previously in mind, this

campaign is one hundred percent possible. Once the needed research, resources, and tactics to

make this happen is obtained, it will be a very successful and worthwhile project that will

drastically benefit the Office of Sustainability Practices.


Secondary Research for the Office of Sustainability Practices Campaign

Kelsey E. Stevenson

Grand Valley State University


Abstract

The Office of Sustainability Practices at Grand Valley State University is struggling with

general sustainability awareness and participation from students on campus. According to Yumi

Jakobcic, Grand Valley's Sustainability Coordinator, they have put a considerable effort into

increasing awareness, but their efforts have not been 100% effective. By exploring some

measurable options to help the Office of Sustainability Practices, research was found to support

increasing Facebook and Twitter followers, to promote the Liberal Studies major, and to create a

visual presence for the Office on campus.


Introduction

Sustainability as a practice plays a huge role on and around Grand Valley State

University’s campus. The mission of the Office of Sustainability Practices is “to provide Grand

Valley administration, faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders with the required

skills and capabilities to become better stewards and responsible global citizens in the workforce,

communities, and family life” (“Mission”, 2014). The Office of Sustainability Practices needs

the students, faculty, staff, and community to be on board with becoming more involved in

sustainability efforts on campus. Most students on campus are not fully aware of what

sustainability is or why Grand Valley is so actively involved in it. Students need to be made

more aware of the opportunities for involvement and participation that are available to them right

on campus.

Results

There are three objectives that have been put in place to help the Office of Sustainability

Practices achieve campus-wide awareness and to increase positive student involvement in

sustainability measures. The objectives are as follows:

To increase Facebook and Twitter “likes” by at least 50% in the next six months,

To promote the Liberal Studies major with an emphasis in Sustainability to incoming

students next fall,

And to create a strong, visual presence on campus for the Office of Sustainability

Practices within the next year.

Regarding the first objective, the Office of Sustainability’s current number of Twitter followers

is just over 1,000. There are currently approximately 25,000 students that attend Grand Valley.

The amount of Twitter followers is just a fraction compared to what it could be. And that’s


nothing compared to their Facebook page. There are only 32 followers on the GVSU Office of

Sustainability Practices Facebook page. The office did recently change their name so this

particular Facebook page is new, but there is also confusion because the old Facebook page is

still out there and some people think that the old page is the current one (Y. Jakobcic, personal

communication, September 23, 2104). Regardless, the plan is to bring the Twitter followers up to

at least 1,500 and the Facebook “likes” up to at least 500 if not more. Fortunately there are many

feasible ways that the Office of Sustainability Practices can accomplish this.

The current generation of college students constantly wants to “get something out of it.”

People usually follow or “like” a page on Facebook solely because they get something out of it.

A simple “Like us on Facebook!” doesn’t give a student a reason to want to like the Facebook

page. In this situation, college students can potentially be the perfect target audience for

Facebook likes, it just has to be approached in the right way. Depending on the overall purpose

of the Facebook page, it can be used to give great deals on products or services, to share industry

insights, to share tips and tricks that apply to your expertise, or to even entertain with fun or

interesting content (Hamberg, 2012). A person can “get something out of” all of those things and

that is precisely what the Office of Sustainability Practices needs to embrace with their Facebook

page.

Increasing Twitter followers proves to be an even more important task for the Office of

Sustainability Practices. Twitter is central to many businesses’ communication plans. Since the

start of 2011 Twitter has had an 82% increase in its users (“The Ownership”, 2012). Twitter has

become a vital tool in the business workplace. Companies are talking directly to consumers and

using it as a breaking-news resource and as a place to just share general knowledge on their

expertise. While almost every businessman and entrepreneur has a Twitter account, it is tweeting


effectively that counts. According to Carolyn Brown of Black Enterprise, “Tweeting can increase

brand awareness, build customer loyalty, and attract new business” (2012, para 1). This is

precisely what the Office of Sustainability practices is in dire need of.

There are many ways that a Twitter or Facebook page can be successful. Carolyn Brown

also gives some useful tips on how to “tweet your way to the top.” First, she says that tweeting is

about building relationships. The time has to be taken to give considerable thought to your

followers’ tweets, posts, or questions. Secondly, Brown says to “mix it up”. Use variation in your

methods of tweeting. Bounce between links, status updates, breaking news, industry facts and

tips, replies, announcements, services, events, etc. Thirdly, use hashtags to promote events. The

Office of Sustainability Practices would surely benefit in having their own hashtag or hashtags

that they can use at it’s dispense. Finally, Brown says that tagging tweets can be very useful. If

someone from marketing or sales says something in a tweet and they are tagged, then the

followers will feel like they have more of a personal connection with what their reading (Brown,

2012). There are just a few potential benefits that come from the growth of Twitter and Facebook

pages that the Office of Sustainability Practices could certainly profit from.

Regarding the second objective for this campaign, promoting the Liberal Studies major to

incoming students would likely benefit the Office of Sustainability Practices. Grand Valley has a

great Liberal Studies program and it’s currently growing which is largely due to its success with

sustainability. The Liberal Studies program at Grand Valley is significantly different from most

other departments because students are actually allowed to design their own study plans. These

study plans can be specific to the students’ interests and career aspirations. The program has a

core of required courses and with the help of faculty the student can decide on a major area of

study based on a theme, issue, or problem (“About the Program”, 2014). College students


typically love to be able to make their own decisions and decide how their own future plays out

so promoting this different type of major to them could potentially be very appealing if executed

correctly.

A Liberal Studies degree has a lot of benefits that many people aren’t aware of.

According to Chad Brose, a former Liberal Studies Graduate Assistant at the University of

Illinois Springfield, there are a lot of options for a person who gets a Liberal Studies degree. He

said you can find jobs in things like business, government, social service, criminal justice, and

health and welfare. Brose said the thing that attracts most students to the Liberal Studies Major is

the many options that it gives a student to organize their own study program so that it can be

personally interesting and relevant (Brose, n.d.). While the Liberal Studies major seems very

appealing and is probably especially appealing to many prospective college students, the

emphasis in sustainability paired with this major is what truly needs to be promoted.

The interest in environmental studies programs in many American universities has been

growing significantly in the last decade. “Students in these programs are challenging their faculty

to develop creative solutions to the world’s crisis in environmental sustainability” says Steven

Cohen, executive director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute (2012, para 3). The liberal

arts are “re-emphasizing” sciences like earth science, ecology and environmental biology.

Regarding Columbia University, Cohen said:

More and more students are coming into our colleges with an intuitive and profound

understanding of the changing nature of the planet. They know that these challenges are

not going to be wished away and will soon belong to them. This is fueling the growth of

environmental and sustainability education in the United States (2012, para 9).


For a long time a college’s sustainability efforts were not very important to prospective college

students. More recently many campuses have reported that high school graduates and their

parents were inquiring about the campus’s sustainability efforts. According to Julian

Dautremont-Smith of The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher

Education, almost two thirds of the over 10,000 respondents to The Princeton Review’s 2008

“College Hopes and Worries Survey” said that they value having information about a college’s

commitment to the environment and that it could potentially impact their decision to apply or to

even attend the school. He also said that “…a significant, and likely growing, proportion of

prospective students are making decisions about where to apply and attend based on campus

sustainability performance” (Dautremont-Smith, 2009, para 6). This is essential news for the

Office of Sustainability Practices. The fact that students are actively looking at a campus’s

sustainability efforts is a great start for this objective. Getting students to want to have

sustainability as an emphasis in their college career will be the real challenge for this campaign.

The third objective of this campaign is, “To create a strong, visual presence for the Office

of Sustainability Practices within the next year.” This would likely be one of the most effective

things that the Office of Sustainability could do to improve their student involvement. Some

colleges are doing similar things today and some are working quite well. Nathan Engstrom, the

Regional Sustainability Coordinator at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, said that their

Office of Sustainability Practices just so happens to be in a high profile area on campus. It is near

their main student center and all day, every day, students pass by. Engstrom says the location

definitely helps. People stop by and drop in with questions or comments quite frequently and he

believes this truly helps their sustainability efforts on campus. He said there is also some signage

on the door outside and around the building that helps draw students inside (N. Engstrom,


personal communication, October 10, 2014). While it might not be within budget, it could be

very beneficial for the Office of Sustainability Practices at Grand Valley to build some type of

office near the Kirkhof center or the library so that students are aware that the Office of

Sustainability Practices exists.

Another university that is doing something even more unique and, quite frankly, very

ingenious, is Western Washington University. Western Washington University is actually ranked

as the 19th most green college or university in the United States, according to the United States

Environmental Protection Agency (“Top 30 college”, 2014). Seth Vidana, the Campus

Sustainability Manager at Western Washington University, provided some information that

could be very useful to this campaign. Vidana said that Western Washington has a sustainability

kiosk in their library that students pass by daily. It has a water bottle refill station in it as well as

information on where that water is specifically coming from. The kiosk also provides a calendar

of sustainability events and information on programs and student groups that involve

sustainability. He said that, while there is no data to back this up, he personally believes that this

kiosk impacts student involvement because they are more aware of what the Office of

Sustainability is doing on campus. There is a lot of student sustainability involvement in general

at Western Washington and most of their seventeen staff members at the Office of Sustainability

are students (S. Vidana, personal communication, October, 10, 2014). Based on this research,

something similar to Western Washington’s sustainability kiosk would likely be extremely

beneficial for Grand Valley’s Office of sustainability practices.

Methodology

Secondary research for this article was conducted via Google, Grand Valley’s library

databases, and the General OneFile database. The library’s section of databases specifically


geared towards the Liberal Studies department was used to access the General OneFile database

and multiple articles were found there. Most were found using key words such as: increase,

followers, Facebook, and Twitter. Majority of the research found on the General OneFile

database was for research on the first objective: “to increase Twitter and Facebook “likes” by at

least 50% in the next six months”. Most research for other objectives was found using Google

and Grand Valley’s library databases.

Phrases used to find relevant research articles, journals, and blogs for a portion of the

research are as follows: “Liberal Studies Major,” “What can you do with a liberal studies major,”

“liberal studies at grand valley state university,” “how to increase Facebook followers,” “how to

increase twitter followers,” “prospective students and sustainability,” “sustainability and college

admissions,” and “sustainability studies.”

Some research was found via personal communications with other colleges and

universities. The sustainability offices at the University of Vermont, Western Washington

University, Tufts University, Connecticut College, Yale University, Northland College, Harvard

University and the University of California were all contacted by telephone call. Questions were

asked to sustainability managers, coordinators, and supervisors at said offices. Questions asked

to previously mentioned universities and colleges were as follows:

Is there any type of sustainability office, stand, kiosk, etc. anywhere on your campus that

students pass by/frequent on a regular basis?

If yes, where is it located at?

Do you think that this visual presence of your Office of Sustainability affects student

awareness or involvement?


Have you noticed a major change in student sustainability participation since

building/adding this?

How involved in sustainability practices are the students that are on your campus?

Any further information on these colleges and universities was found on their official webpages.

Target Audience

With sustainability in mind, “college students” as the target audience makes a lot of

sense. The college students for this particular campaign will all be from Grand Valley State

University’s Allendale campus. They will be between the ages of 17 and 23. They will also be all

undergraduate students or incoming freshmen that live on or off campus. Today’s college student

is typically very busy, has little money, and has little time. Sustainability does not have to

involve donations or major amounts of time. Things as simple as recycling or turning the lights

off in your house to save energy are sustainability efforts. That is why college students can

potentially be a great target audience for this campaign and with proper execution will be the

perfect target audience for this campaign.

Audience Analysis

Young adults, college students in particular, have very different and specific priorities

compared to people in other stages of life. Each generation of young adults also has very

different and specific priorities. College students no longer choose a college solely on the quality

of the sports teams or the different programs available. This particular generation of college

students cares more and more each day about campus energy efficiency and sustainability. There

is now a rising demand for “green” colleges and universities. A survey conducted by the College

of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia of 1,700 students from multiple different

campuses showed that the 2014 freshmen are more than twice as likely to choose a college based


on sustainability factors than the freshman class from 2011 (Micucci, 2014). Some of these

college student characteristics also apply when it comes to social media.

According to Stephanie Shkolnik of the San Diego Business Journal, “Posting content

that resonates with your target audience members is crucial. It’s especially important to speak

‘their language’” (2012). University students in particular can be a very difficult audience. They

are usually short on money and time which is why it is very difficult for most businesses to target

them. Teens like to know “What’s in it for me?” or “Why do it?” Shkolnik says you have to put

yourself in your audiences’ shoes—would you be interested in the message you’re giving them?

She also says to post current things that follow the current trends of your audience. They should

want to like your page (Shkolnik, 2012).

In this day and age, based on considerable research, college students do care about

sustainability. They make it a point to check a college or university’s sustainability rankings and

they actively want to participate in sustainable practices. A college campus is actually the perfect

place for sustainability practices to be taking place, provided efforts are executed efficiently and

with the college student “mindset”. If the Office of Sustainability Practices can successfully

affect this target audience, this campaign will be extremely valuable to them.


Primary Research for the Office of Sustainability Practices

Kelsey E. Stevenson



Methodology

For primary research for the Office of Sustainability Practices, two different methods

were utilized: a survey and a focus group (Refer to Appendix B and C for sample). The focus

group was performed first. Five different students that are currently attending Grand Valley State

University took part in the focus group. All the participants were between the ages of 18-21. The

focus group took place at the Mary Idema Pew Library located on Grand Valley State

University’s Allendale campus. One moderator led the focus group while three other researchers

took notes and recorded the data that was received. The focus group lasted approximately 45

minutes and there were 15-18 different questions asked to the participants to obtain the research

results that were needed.

The other main method of primary research used was a survey. The survey was

comprised of nine different questions and was created on the website, Survey Monkey. The nine

different questions pertained to the three objectives that are being researched for this campaign.

They were composed of multiple choice and different ranking type questions. The participants

for this survey were all Grand Valley State University students from the ages of 17-23. They

were obtained via email, Facebook, Blackboard, and personal communication and were generally

all friends, roommates, or peers. There were 100 participants for the survey in total.

Results

There was a significant amount of data acquired from both the focus group and the

survey for this campaign. The survey gave us a lot of quantitative data because of the number of

participants. With that being said, a substantial amount of qualitative data was attained from both

the survey and the focus group. From the questions asked in the focus group, we got a lot of

answers that were expected and others that weren’t, but either way the data is useful to our


current campaign. Out of the five participants, three of them have heard of the Office of

Sustainability Practices, though they all had a general idea of what sustainability actually was.

Even though they knew what it was, all five of them claimed to not be very educated on

sustainability and sustainability practices.

When we originally spoke to the client for this campaign, she said that the Office of

Sustainability Practices had set up a stand at Freshman Orientation and spoke to some of the

freshman about what they were doing. Unfortunately, all five of the participants in this focus

group did not recall ever being educated on sustainability as an incoming freshman. Even though

they didn’t get much from freshman orientation, three of the five participants claimed that their

living centers encouraged sustainability efforts such as recycling. The focus group results yielded

lots of useful information for this campaign’s efforts.

The results from the survey gave us even more detailed information for our research. Out

of the most popular social media sites, most Grand Valley students use Facebook the most and

they claim to use it “very often” or even “all the time.” This is visually displayed in the graphs

on the following page:


The survey also showed that most students at Grand Valley State University either know

very little about sustainability or are only somewhat educated on the subject. Despite this, almost

all the survey participants said they had potential interest in learning more about sustainability.

The survey, along with the focus group as stated previously, showed that over 75% of the

participants did not believe they were educated on sustainability as an incoming freshman at

Grand Valley State University. All of the above information is shown in the following graphs:


According to the survey results, most students at Grand Valley visit Kirkhof, the Mary

Idema Pew Library and Mackinac Hall the most when on campus. Out of the group of students

that said they do visit Kirkhof, most stated that they believe that the stands in Kirkhof that


support sororities, clubs, sports teams, and organizations do not impact student involvement.

Majority of the participants also said that they almost never engage with the people running the

stands in Kirkhof. This information is very valuable to our campaign and can help us make more

sound decisions for the Office of Sustainability Practices.

Discussion and Analysis

Both the survey and the focus group used for this campaign were successful and proved

to have useful information to help drive this project. The survey gave us quantitative results that

covered a wide span of Grand Valley State University students, so we have a better idea of what

some of their opinions are regarding our campaign objectives. The focus group allowed us to

have more of a discussion with some Grand Valley student’s, allowing us to go more in depth on

some of the topics and get even more useful information.

One of the objectives for this campaign is to increase Facebook and Twitter “likes”. The

survey results showed that Grand Valley students use Facebook the most, but they use Twitter

and Instagram almost as much. This shows that Facebook should be the social media that the

Office of Sustainability Practices puts most of their efforts in. The survey also showed that over

60% of the participants had a Pinterest account as well. While these people did not say that they

use Pinterest the most out of all the social media that does not mean that they don’t use it very

often. Based off that information, Pinterest is another social media that the Office of

Sustainability should consider reaching out to. Overall the results from the survey and focus

group regarding social media were what was expected and will be very beneficial for the Office

of Sustainability Practices.

Another objective for this campaign is to create a strong, visual presence on campus for

the Office of Sustainability Practices. The participants in both the survey and the focus group


said that they visit Kirkhof and the library the most, so it makes the most sense to create this

visual presence in one of those two places. The survey and focus group participants also said

that, overall, they do not see the stands in Kirkhof as a very effective way of getting word out.

One participant in the focus group said that they believed the “white board messages” that are

staked in the ground around campus that display facts about certain organizations are very

effective. All the other focus group participants agreed, so that is something to consider. Since

many students visit the Mary Idema Pew Library as well, and since there is not a lot of

advertising in this library currently, putting a visual presence for the Office of Sustainability

there could be very beneficial.

The third and final objective for this campaign is to promote the Liberal Studies major

with an emphasis in sustainability. According to the participants in the survey and focus group,

they are not very educated on sustainability and they do not recall ever being told about the

Office of Sustainability Practices as an incoming freshman. This is very unfortunate for the

Office of Sustainability Practices. On the plus side, majority of the participants in the survey and

focus group said that they would be interested in learning about sustainability as long as the

resources to do so were there. The participants in the focus group said they would also be

interested in learning more about sustainability if they also were able to learn how it pertained to

Grand Valley and their individual selves. They also said they would take a class in sustainability

if it involved actually going out and being sustainable. With this in mind, promoting an

interactive sustainability class could potentially drive students to be more interested in the

subject. That is something for the Office of Sustainability Practices to consider.


Conclusion

Overall, the results of the primary research for this campaign generated a lot of

information that will be very beneficial for the Office of Sustainability Practices. Based on the

results from the survey and focus group regarding social media, the Office of Sustainability

Practices should focus most of its energy on Facebook. Posting on Facebook and getting more

likes on Facebook will likely be more valuable than Twitter, according to Grand Valley students.

The results regarding the creation of a visual presence for the office on campus show that this

visual presence should either be displayed in the library or in Kirkhof, depending on how it’s

executed. The results regarding the studying of sustainability at Grand Valley showed that most

students have at least a little interest in it as long as it is an interactive type of learning.

Based on this research, the Office of Sustainability Practices has a lot of information to

work with in order to move forward with this campaign. Both the survey and the focus group

produced an insight into the feelings of Grand Valley students on the subject of sustainability.

The Office of Sustainability Practices has great potential to increase student involvement and

campus awareness for themselves within the next year or so.


Strategies and Tactics

Kelsey E. Stevenson



Strategies and Tactics

First Objective

Based on primary and secondary research, there are a multiple strategies and tactics that

have been put together to implement the three objectives for this campaign. The first of the three

objectives is to increase Facebook and Twitter “likes” by at least 50% in the next six months.

The first strategy would be to create a social media team made up of Grand Valley State

University students to post on social media regularly on behalf of the Office of Sustainability

Practices. The tactic that could be used to implement this strategy would be to send out a notice

or an email to all Grand Valley students asking for people who are interested in social media

experience. A good target audience for this tactic would be Public Relations or Advertising

students because both of these professions are so heavily involved in social media. This would be

a great opportunity for these students to get experience in something they will very likely use in

their future.

A second strategy for this objective would be to develop a schedule for how often and

what will be posted on social media. The tactic for this strategy is a weekly calendar that

someone in the Office of Sustainability Practices puts together. The calendar would, for example,

say that there should be a post on social media five times per week. It would also specify what

type of post it would be each time. For instance, one type of post could be just promoting the

Office of Sustainability Practices and another type of post could be talking about sustainability

efforts that directly affect Grand Valley.

A third strategy for this objective would be to visually show—via social media—the

students at Grand Valley what the Office of Sustainability Practices is doing. The target audience

for this strategy would be current Grand Valley student’s that are following the office’s Twitter


and Facebook pages. The tactic used for this strategy would be actual pictures of sustainability

efforts posted on Twitter or Facebook with captions that explain what each picture is and how it

is relevant to the students. They could post pictures of all the LEED certified buildings or of the

different foods in the GVSU dining halls that promote sustainability or that come from our on-

campus and local gardens.

Second Objective

The second objective created for this campaign is to promote the Liberal Studies major

with an emphasis in sustainability. The first strategy that could be executed for this objective is

to actively involve Grand Valley students in sustainability through the classroom. The target

audience for this strategy would be current and incoming Grand Valley students, especially

Liberal Studies students. All students need a certain number of electives to graduate. With that in

mind, a tactic for this strategy would be a class that is an elective and doesn’t require a pre-

requisite that is a hands-on sustainability class. The class would educate students on

sustainability while in the classroom, and at other times students could potentially go out into the

community or even just on Grand Valley’s campus and actually practice sustainability. They

could do things like plant trees or help with recycling. This would help students to become more

aware of what sustainability really is and what they can do to help.

A second strategy for this objective would be to educate students on a Liberal Studies

major with an emphasis in sustainability before they come to Grand Valley. The target audience

for this strategy would be incoming freshman at Grand Valley or incoming transfer students. A

tactic to execute this strategy would be a brochure or pamphlet that is sent out along with all the

other information a new student receives that explains the benefits of a Liberal Studies major. It


can also explain sustainability and what Grand Valley specifically is doing to become more

sustainable.

A third strategy for this objective would be to educate Grand Valley students on

sustainability in person. This would target mostly current Grand Valley students. A tactic for this

strategy would be to have an event that was appealing to students so they could learn more about

sustainability as well as have fun in the process. An approach that has a fun and inviting

appearance would motivate students to go and to hopefully learn even more.

Third Objective

The third and final objective for this campaign is to create a strong, visual presence for

the Office of Sustainability Practices within the next year. One strategy to support this objective

is to put information about sustainability where students are most likely to see it. It is typically

easiest for students if you put the information directly in front of them. This would target all

current Grand Valley State University students as well as faculty and staff. A tactic for this

strategy would be to put “whiteboard signs” all over campus that display interesting facts about

sustainability as well as Grand Valley’s sustainability efforts. They would be strategically placed

in spots that the students pass by the most often, and they would have facts that really catch your

attention. The focus group results showed that these signs are effective for other organizations,

so there is no reason that they couldn’t be effective for the Office of Sustainability Practices.

A second strategy to put this objective to work is to create a permanent stand of sorts on

campus to represent the Office of Sustainability Practices. The target audience for this strategy

would also be current Grand Valley students as well as some faculty and staff. Through

secondary research, it was found that another university had a “Sustainability Kiosk” set up on

their campus that had information about sustainability. As a tactic for this strategy, the Office of


Sustainability Practices could mimic this idea with a kiosk of sorts in either Kirkhof or the

Library (the two most visited places on campus based on primary research). The kiosk would

have information about sustainability and the Office of Sustainability Practices. It would

hopefully be interactive and have a calendar of upcoming sustainability events. It could also

explain what Grand Valley is currently doing that is sustainable on campus and show examples

of these efforts.

A third strategy for this objective would be to simply multiply the presence of

sustainability information that is currently on campus. Similar to the first two strategies for this

objective, this would target current Grand Valley students as well as faculty and staff. The tactic

for this strategy would be to create signage that would be posted in the most frequented places on

campus. The signage would promote the Office of Sustainability Practices and upcoming events

involving sustainability.

Three Tactics to Be Implemented

Listed and displayed below are three tactics that are found to hopefully be the most

effective out of the nine tactics explained previously. The first of the three tactics is a press

release promoting a sample event on sustainability education (Refer to Appendix D). The second

of the three tactics displayed are whiteboard signs (Refer to Appendix E). Nine different possible

whiteboard sign messages were created to promote sustainability at Grand Valley. They display

fun facts or messages that explain what Grand Valley is doing to become more sustainable and

what students can do to help Grand Valley in these efforts. The third tactic represented below is a

“social media posting schedule” for the person in charge of social media in the Office of

Sustainability Practices (Refer to Appendix F). This shows how often and what should be posted

on both Twitter and Facebook in order to increase followers.


Budget, Timeline, and Evaluation of the Campaign

Kelsey E. Stevenson



Budget

The predicted budget has been split up into the three objectives, as well as combined for

the total budget of the campaign. For the first objective, regarding social media, the budget

would be $0. It consists of posts on social media, and calendars and timelines for social media

posting purposes thus no budget is needed.

For the second objective, regarding sustainability in the classroom, the budget is

predicted to be around $3,000. The first tactic (to create a hands-on sustainability course) would

likely be created by the Office of Sustainability Practices, but paid for by Grand Valley State

University. The budget for the second tactic (to send brochures or flyers to incoming freshman)

was based off of an educated estimate. There were approximately 5,000 freshmen at Grand

Valley this year, and it would be approximately $50 for 100 simple brochures. That puts the

budget for this tactic at about $2,500. For the third tactic (to plan a sustainability event) it has

been estimated that about $500 would hopefully cover the event. That puts the second

objective’s budget at $3,000.

For the third objective, regarding a visual presence on campus, the budget is predicted to

be around $5,200. The first tactic (to create whiteboard signs) would cost approximately $10 per

sign and if about 10 signs were scattered throughout campus then that would add up to $100. The

second tactic (to create a sustainability kiosk) would likely cost around $5,000, based on some

research. The third tactic (to put signage on campus) would likely cost around $100, depending

on how many signs were put up and how detailed they were. So the total budget for this

objective comes to $5,200.


The total budget for this campaign is visually displayed in the chart below:

Cost

1. Social Media Objective $0

2. Classroom Objective $3,000

3. Visual Presence Objective $5,200

Total Campaign Budget $8,200

Timeline

The timeline for this campaign is broken down by each objective and then by each tactic.

The red represents the planning time, the purple represents the execution time, and the green

represents the evaluation time. This is all visually displayed in the Gantt chart on the following

page.


Evaluation

In order for this to be a successful campaign for the Office of Sustainability Practices, it

must be properly evaluated. There are a few different ways to evaluate each objective for this

campaign. For the first objective, to increase Facebook and Twitter “likes”, the campaign is

successful and the tactics have worked when there is at least 500 Facebook “likes” and at least

2,000 Twitter “followers.” For the second objective, to promote the Liberal Studies major with

an emphasis in sustainability, the objective is successful when there is an overall increase in

interest in sustainability. This can be measured by the amount of students that enroll as Liberal

Studies majors and the amount of students that have sustainability as their emphasis. It can also

be measured through a sustainability event based on the number of participants. For the third

objective, to create a strong, visual presence for the Office of Sustainability Practices within the

next year, the measuring will be based on how much of a presence the office creates. If at least

one of the three tactics for this objective is completed, than the objectives can be considered

successful.


Appendix A

References

About the program. (2014). Liberal Studies Department. Retrieved from

http://www.gvsu.edu/liberalstudies/.

Brose, C. (n.d.). What you can do with this degree. Department of Liberal Studies: University of

Illinois Springfield. Retrieved from http://www.uis.edu/liberalstudies/about/degree/.

Brown, C. M. (2012). 6 Twitter tips for entrepreneurs: Tweet your way to more customers and

better business. Black Enterprise. 30.

Cohen, S. (2012). The growing field of sustainability studies. Huff Post Green. Retrieved from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/the-growing-field-of-sust_b_1272831.html.

Dautremont-Smith, J. (2009). How do campus sustainability initiatives affect college

admissions?. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Retrieved from http://www.aashe.org/blog/how-do-campus-sustainability-initiatives-

affect-college-admissions.

Hamberg, S. (2012, September 17). Why should people follow me on Facebook? [Web log post].

Retrieved from http://www.qwaya.com/blog/2012-09-17/why-should-people-follow-me-

on-facebook/

Micucci, E. (2014). Colleges: More prospective students checking schools’ energy efficiency.

Worcester Business Journal Online. Retrieved from

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20140414/PRINTEDITION/304119980.

History. (2013). In Office of sustainability practices. Retrieved from

http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainability/history-205.htm.

http://www.gvsu.edu/liberalstudies/

http://www.uis.edu/liberalstudies/about/degree/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/the-growing-field-of-sust_b_1272831.html

http://www.aashe.org/blog/how-do-campus-sustainability-initiatives-%09affect-college-admissions

http://www.aashe.org/blog/how-do-campus-sustainability-initiatives-%09affect-college-admissions

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20140414/PRINTEDITION/304119980

http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainability/history-205.htm


Mission. (2014). Office of Sustainability Practices. Retrieved from

http://www.gvsu.edu/sustainability/

Shkolnik, S. (2012). Online fluency says a lot about your brand. San Diego Business Journal. 43.

The ownership of followers. (2012). Marketing. 12.

Top 30 college & university. (2014). United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved

from http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top30ed.htm#content.

http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/toplists/top30ed.htm#content


Appendix B

Blank Survey

1. Which social media do you personally use the most?

Which social media do you personally use the most? Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Tumblr

Other (please specify)

2. How often do you use social media sites/apps?

Never Very little Sometimes Often All the time

I use social

media...

3. Would you be interested in learning more about sustainability/how you can be more

sustainable?

Yes

Maybe

No

4. Do you believe you were educated on sustainability as an incoming freshman at GVSU?

Yes

No


5. Which place do you personally visit the most on campus?

Which place do you personally visit the most on campus? Kirkhof

The Mary Idema Pew Library

The rec center

The connection

Fresh/Fuel

Mackinac Hall

6. Do you think the "stands" in Kirkhof (for sororities, sports teams, organizations, etc.) impact

student involvement?

Yes

No

7. How often do you engage with the people that are running the "stands" in Kirkhof? (Asking

them questions, getting more info, etc.)

Never Very little Sometimes Often Always

I engage with

them...

8. Which social media do you have an account with? Check all that apply.

Which social media do you have an account with? Check all that apply. Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Tumblr


9. How educated do you feel you are on sustainability and what it can do for Grand Valley?

Not educated at

all.

I understand very

little.

I am somewhat

educated.

I am extremely

educated.

Regarding

sustainability, I

am...


Appendix C

Focus Group Moderator’s Guide

The purpose for this focus group is to talk about the Office of Sustainability Practices

located on Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus.

We’ll be asking your opinions and experiences regarding the Office of Sustainability

Practices, it’s affiliation with Grand Valley, and your personal sustainability efforts.

This discussion will last about one hour and will be audio taped. We will also be taking

notes based on your responses.

There are no wrong answers in this discussion; we just want to hear what your opinions

are regarding the topic. We would appreciate if everyone spoke at some point, and if

everyone tried their best to give an input on all the questions, but not everyone is required

to answer every question. Please exchange points of view with one another and don’t just

direct your answers and opinions to the moderator.

Does anyone have any questions?

We’ll start by going around and if you could please tell us your name, how old you are,

and what year you are at Grand Valley.

Background/Basic Questions:

1. Have you ever heard of the Office of Sustainability Practices? If yes, how did you

know about it?

2. When you think of/hear about sustainability, what is the first thing that comes to

mind/what are your thoughts on it?

3. By what means do you practice sustainability, if you practice it at all?

4. Do you recycle? If so, how often? Mostly at home or on campus?

5. Do you recall being educated on sustainability practices at GVSU during your

freshman orientation or as an incoming freshman?

Does your living center, whether on or off campus, encourage or participate in

any form of sustainability such as recycling, encouraging shorter showers, etc.?

More in depth questions:

1. What makes you stop at the different stands in Kirkhof to talk to on campus

organizations providing information? What makes you not want to stop?

2. Where do you spend most of your time when on campus, besides the classrooms,

and why do you spend most of your time there? What do you like about that

place?

3. How educated do you feel on sustainability and would you want to learn more

about sustainability?

4. Which social media do you use the most and why? How often do you use that

social media?

5. Do you follow any on campus organization’s social media page? If so, what do

you find about their posts that’s useful or that catches your eye?


6. If Grand Valley promoted a class about the importance of sustainability, would it

perk your interest? Why or why not?

7. How important is it for you to attend a “green” school? Please elaborate.

8. If someone would trying to inform you on a topic, such as sustainability, that you

weren’t very familiar with, how do think they could go about informing you in the

best possible way?

Thank you all so much for your time and for your helpful comments and opinions. This

has been a very beneficial focus group that we can put towards our research. Have a great

day!


Appendix D

Press Release Example

February 26, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Yumi Jakobcic: [email protected]

Plant a Tree for GVSU

Grand Valley State University’s Office of Sustainability Practices invites Grand Valley

students to join them in planting a tree to raise sustainability awareness.

The Office of Sustainability Practices at Grand Valley State University wants to

provide students with the necessary skills, analytical tools, and resources to address

global, national, regional, and local sustainability issues. They offer activities that

promote awareness about sustainable development and how sustainability practices can

be applied right on GVSU’s campus.

This year on Earth Day, appropriately, the Office of Sustainability Practices will

be sponsoring “Plant a Tree for GVSU.” The event will take place on Wednesday, April

22, 2015. Students can sign up at the Sustainability Offices, at the 20/20 desk in

Kirkhof, or on the Office of Sustainability Practices’ Facebook page. Students will meet

at Kirkhof at 10 am on the 22nd to gather and then go out into the community and plant a

tree for GVSU! Students who participate will receive a t-shirt that says “I planted a tree

for GVSU!” as well as the satisfaction of helping GVSU in its sustainability efforts.

Any further questions about the event, contact the Office of Sustainability

Practices or visit the 20/20 desk in Kirkhof.

mailto:[email protected]


Appendix E

Whiteboard Message Examples

1. Did you know GVSU was the Grand Champion at RecyleMania in 2012?

2. Did you know that GVSU has 11 LEED certified buildings? LEED buildings use 30%

less energy, 40% less water, and 75% less materials.

3. Grand Valley is the first university in Michigan to commit to using cage-free eggs

exclusively.

4. Campus Dining at GVSU purchases more than 30% of its produce locally. We even grow

some of our produce on campus!

5. GVSU’s composting efforts so far have reduced the amount of trash sent to a landfill by

10,000 pounds every week!

6. The transition to double sided paper printing at GVSU saved more than 9 million sheets

of paper in just the first year.

7. GVSU plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2037.

8. Did you know GVSU has a retention pond that uses storm water to irrigate the athletic

fields?

9. Over the last five years, GVSU has doubled its recycling rate.


Appendix F

Social Media Weekly Calendar Sample

Monday: Post a fun fact about sustainability.

Tuesday: Post a picture of something sustainable on Grand Valley’s campus and explain it in the

caption.

Wednesday: Give students a sustainability challenge.

Thursday: Post about something sustainable that’s happening in the community.

Friday: Post a picture or fun fact of something sustainable relating to Grand Valley.

Every other Friday: Do a contest with a possible giveaway.

Saturday: Wish students a good weekend and tell them something they can do that weekend to be

more sustainable.


Appendix G

Survey Results


Appendix H

Direct URL of Digital Backup

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3h0L3fVOhgsUTVhaGRtQ05GN3M/view?usp=sharing

Planbook final

Environment

Transcript of Planbook final