Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters Social Media Strategy

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY | College of Arts & Letters

Social Media Marketing Strategy CLAIM A Version 1.2

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A L E T T E R F ro m D e an Ka r in Wu r st As we move forward on campus and in the community, it becomes imperative to develop communication strategies that are robust and agile enough to connect with a variety of audiences in multiple of mediums, and in a multiple ways. At the College of Arts & Letters (CAL), we use an integrated marketing approach employing a wide variety of marketing/communications tools that help students, faculty, and staff engage in best practices that align with the universities brand, marketing, and communication initiatives. This approach brings greater awareness and understanding of the arts and humanities to a wide array of audiences.

This Social Media Strategy is a guide that walks you through the “who, what, when, where, why, and how� to use social media in your communication strategies with alumni, students, donors, staff, faculty, and the community. We have validated the guide using primary and secondary research. We have provided you with real examples on what works and what doesn’t. In addition, we provide you with a variety of social media platforms available today. As technology changes and the way people communicate change, we will be sure to update the guide accordingly and share additional best practices that you can use going forward.

Now, more than ever, it is important to continue to drive home our success stories, research, student/alumni experiences, and the impact we make in our world today. We must continue to grow our awareness with prospective students, current students, alumni/donors, and the community at large to showcase our power within the arts and humanities through social media.

I hope you use this strategy on a go-forward basis in your communication strategies within your departments and organizations.

Thank you,

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OUR IMAGE The College of Arts & Letters (CAL) is a vital force that puts the arts & humanities into action to create meaningful impact in our world. We are bridging tradition with present and future concerns. We are strongly future-oriented and leverage new opportunities and technologies in pursuit of humanities concerns while infusing arts and humanities thinking into the campus community and creating a culturally vibrant environment that enhances the students’ learning experience. We strive to create synergy by connecting the passion for the life of the mind and the transferable skills that our majors offer.

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G O A L S for social media Our goals for social media are to: 1. Engage our “followers� with rich and meaningful content 2. Tell success stories about the work of students, alumni, donors, and faculty 3. Promote CAL-related events 4. Share job, internship, and networking opportunities 5. Share recognition we receive 6. Share arts and humanities news

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Our overall strategy is to connect with the College’s community and help our students claim a better future. By sharing opportunities, success stories, job openings, and content related to their field, our goal is to inspire students to take an active role of engaging with the College of Arts & Letters.

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A U D Ie nEg aN C E gement Our audience consists of current and prospective students, students, alumni, donors, and community and groups.

With such a wide range of followers, it is important that we craft our messages in ways that appeal to our student target audience, students, while also staying relevant to other audience types. Our primary following is also dependent on the platform we use.

our followers and engagers via Twitter are student and community organizations.1 Though our tweets should be written with those organizations in mind, the ultimate goal is that they retweet or reply to our tweets, helping us to reach beyond our Twitter following.

Because 57% of our likes on Facebook are 18-24 year olds, we know that our primary audience is current or prospective students, whereas the majority of

To understand the specific needs of each type of audience, we can start by answering one question for each target group:

Current Students: Why should I engage?

C o n n e c t w i t h oth er C AL stu dents, le a rn a bout inte rnship/job opport u n i t i e s

• • • •

Ins p ir e s tu d e n t s w i t h o t h e r stu de nt su cce ss sto ri e s Po s t r elev a n t j ob a n d i n te rnsh i p o ppo rtu ni ti e s Sh ar e p r o fe s s i o n a l de v e l o pme nt l e c tu re s & e ve n ts A c kn o wle d ge a c c om pl i s hme n ts o f stu de nt gro ups

Prospective Stude nts: Why should I enroll?

Jo i n a c ommu n ity dedicated to a rts a nd hum a nitie s e duc a tion a nd fo c u se d o n te a c h i n g stu den ts skills in pr oble m solving, c re a tivity , a nd innova t i o n

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• Sh o w wh a t c u r r e n t s t u de nts are do i n g as a pre vi e w o f l ife in th e C o lleg e of A r t s & L e t te rs • Ref er en c e t h e m a n y fe a ture s o f CAL i n cl u di n g havi ng the mo s t s t u d y a br o a d p r o grams, 30+ CAL- af f i l i ate gro ups, a nd ded ic a t ed c a r e e r c on s u l t an t • G iv e p r o s pe c t i v e s t u d e n ts a “sn e ak pe ak ” i n to w h at i t’s like to b e a C A L s t u de n t w i t h e ve nt po sts, sto ri e s, and pho tos

Alumni: Why should I stay connected?

K eep u p - t o- date with th e su cce sse s of fe llow a lum ni a nd curre nt stu d e n t s

• Remin d C A L a l u m s w h y t he y l o ve d be i n g part o f the Co llege of A r t s & L e t t e r s a n d w h y th e y sho ul d c o me bac k to vi sit • Sh o w alu m s w h a t c u r r e n t stude nts are up to an d ho w the C o lleg e c o n t i n u e s t o p r o spe r • Sh ar e c o l l e ge e v e n t s t h a t are re l e van t to al ums; cal l f o r them to c o me ba c k for t h e e v ent

Student and Community Organizations: How can we work together?

C o o r d i n at e e ven ts, con n ect w ith othe rs in diffe re nt de pa rtm e nts a nd g ro u p s

• Sh o w s t u de n t a n d c om m u ni ty o rgan i zati o ns h o w C AL st uden t s an d fa c u l t y e n ga g e w i th the co mmuni ty ( stude nt stories , f ac u l t y r e s e a r c h , e t c ) • Sh ar e c o m m u n i t y a n d s t ude nt o rgan i zati o n e ve nts as a wa y to en g a g e w i t h t h os e gr o ups

Keeping these questions in mind, each post, tweet, or video should answer at least two of these audience questions.

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SUC C E S S measurement Using Facebook Insights and HootSuite we will create weekly social media reports including: • • • •

Increases in likes and followers Measures of reach and engagement Ways driven to our website Analysis of why posts/tweets were successful or unsuccessful • Goals for the upcoming week • Recommendations for future posts

These weekly reports will be combined into monthly reports and presented to the Marketing and Communication Directors. *Attached to the weekly report will be an exported Excel spreadsheet with page-level and post-level data. (See Appendix B). Also attached will be a HootSuite analytics report including all major platforms.

P O S fTr e Iq uNe nG cy Best practice research says that organizations should post on: • Facebook 3-4 times weekly2 • Twitter at least once a day (with the exception of live tweeted events)3 • YouTube at least once a month4 Keeping our primary target audience in mind, we will base our posting schedule around the University’s class schedule, which will also cater to working professionals and high school students.

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Best times to post: Morning: Between 8 and 9 a.m.

Checking social media when waking up and before 9:10 classes Afternoon: Between 11:40 a.m. and 12:40 p.m.

Class break and lunch break Evening: Between 9 and 11 p.m.

Settling down for the night, free time, homework breaks

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PURPOSE by platform

Twitter Twitter is a news platform, primarily used to share the most recent content, news, and opinions. The purpose of our Twitter page is to keep our audience current with the College.

Because the life span of a tweet is on average only about 3 hours, it’s important to only post the most current information.

YouTube As we grow and develop our YouTube channel, we use it as a “hub” for our short, engaging videos that we share on Facebook, Twitter, and our website. Since many of our videos will be embedded on a different platform, our YouTube channel is used as an archive for video activity, where our audience’s can experience CAL visually.

Our videos will cover three main topics:

@CALMSU Our main uses of Twitter should be: • Live tweeting College events • Sharing job, internship, and professional development opportunities and articles • “Day-of” reminders for College events • College-related articles and news as it happens

collegeofartsletters The majority of the videos will be created through outside sources. Our responsibility is to post these videos to our channel.

Our goal is to create video more frequently and feed our channel with content on our events, students, and accomplishments. We will aim to post one new YouTube video a month.

• Event updates and livestreams • Student, faculty, or alumni features • Important spaces within CAL

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Facebook

MSU College of Arts and Letters

The purpose of our Facebook page is to emphasize CAL’s unique place within the larger MSU community. What does it mean to be part of the College of Arts & Letters? How are other students engaging with CAL? As a prospective student, why would I want to join CAL? By focusing our posts and conversations on the faces of our students and alumni, we tell the story of the creative, innovative, driven CAL student.

Related posts include: • Links to the Student Stories series on our website • News articles about our students or organizations • Images of individual students or groups of students

-Example: “What is your favorite

part about summer on campus?”

with photo of students at the

Summer Circle Theatre While the focus is primarily on stories of students and alumni, we also will strive to share snapshots of campus life.

Campus-focused posts might include:

without the events, news, and sporting events that MSU and CAL has to offer. The final purpose of our Facebook page will be to share the buzz around campus with students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community members. Relating to our audience on a broader level will give our page a more human, approachable feel.

Examples of social media content that situates CAL within the larger MSU community and appeals to a wider audience include: • Live tweeting and/or posting from university events (example: Allegra Smith speaking at commencement) • “Go State! Beat the Hoosiers! Stop by our homecoming tent before the game!” posts on homecoming gameday • Retweeting and/or sharing big stories the official MSU social media pages post (example: New York Times article about the Broad Art Museum, Logan Stark documentary, features on important university figures) • Trivia and posts related to CAL traditions

• ‘Throwback Thursday posts’ of iconic campus locations • Pictures taken by students • Photos of students engaging in CAL activities on campus The student experience is not complete

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Instagram @CALMSU

Instagram’s casual image-based platform will make the College’s web presence more human and appealing to students.6 Instagram also has a 15-second video feature.7 Here is how we use Instagram to connect with our audience:

How we use Instagram video: • • • •

Behind-the-scene videos of events Testimonial videos after events Tours of CAL spaces Beginning to end recap of events

• Filtered photos of campus: “Can you guess where this is?”

• Behind-the-scene photos of events such as the ATD Fashion Show or Signature Lecture Series • Photos of our event flyers hanging up throughout campus • Hashtag creation for our followers to use for photo contest

M A oN A G I N G ur social media CAL’s social media and communication interns will coordinate the social media platforms. One of the interns will take on the lead management role. The interns will meet at the end of each week to construct the analytics report and make a plan for the upcoming week.

Interns will report to the

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Communication and Marketing Directors and submit weekly reports to them. At the end of the month, the interns will collaborate to create a summary report of that month’s social media, which will include recommendations for the following month.

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TWITTER

best practices

Why these work: • They tell the story of iconic MSU features, such as the Spartan statue and Morrill Hall.

• Tweets mention the official MSU Twitter account.

• They use common hashtags to increase the tweet’s visibility and reach.

• The MSU official Twitter account retweeted the Spartan statue tweet to 21,000 followers.

• The reply to our follower shows engagement with our audience.

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F A C bEe sB O O K t practices

Why these work: • Real-time posts relate to students at the event.

• Images make the audience feel like they are at the event.

• Images of iconic buildings and landmarks show connection with campus.

• Mentioning students and faculty makes posts more human.8 • Student-submitted Instagram photos show our awareness of social media trends and connection with students.

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Why these don’t work: • They don’t include visuals • There aren’t clear calls to action • The tweets don’t include hashtags, mentions, or links • The events don’t give a clear reason to attend

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W bRe sIt Tp r Ia cN G tices Social media writing is about telling a story in a way that encourages engagement.

Implementing visuals, links, mentions, and hashtags can help tell the story in a concise manner and hold audience member’s attention longer.

Facebook

Twitter

Posts should include at least three of the following five:

Posts should include at least three of the following five:

o Photo o Video o Link o Question o Call to action (“like” or “share” this)

o o o o o

Mention Hashtag Link Photo Video

C O NwN E C T ith others The most important social media tool is engagement. We should respond to every comment, answer every question, and engage with groups and individuals even more than they engage with us.

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Facebook Ways to engage with others: • Answer all direct messages • Use Google Alerts for “Michigan State University” and “Michigan State University College of Arts and Letters” to find relevant articles and information to share (interns will monitor)

Interactions on Facebook Interactions on Facebook can help build connections, broaden audience, and start conversations. Tagging, sharing, and replying to comments are tools we can use to interact with our audience.

Tag if: • We are mentioning a specific organization/page • A specific page may take interest to the post • We are crediting a news source (example: posting an article by the Lansing State Journal) Share if: • An article is posted by another page that is directly related to CAL Reply if: • A follower comments on a status and we can add to the conversation • A relevant question is asked on a status and a reply will benefit our audience

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Twitter Ways to engage with others: • Check our “connect” tab on Twitter and favorite, reply to, or

retweet relevant mentions • Answer all direct messages.

• Stay up to date with specific groups using Twitter Lists

Interactions on Twitter There are several situations in which retweeting, replying, and/or favoriting is beneficial to our social media purposes.

Retweet if: • CAL student is featured • Tweet’s message applies to all MSU students/alumni (example: tweets involving MSU traditions, sporting events) • Reliable sources mention us in a tweet • Internships@State or another student organization posts an internship/job that is relevant to CAL students Favorite if: • An alum/current student or faculty member mentions us • An organization recognizes CAL for an achievement/award Reply to: • Congratulate someone on their award or achievement • Answer a question • Add to a conversation

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E Vm aEr kN T eting Before the Event:

During the Event:

It is important for us to give an initial push and announcement for each event. Depending on the scope of the event, this should come at least two weeks prior. The goal is to build excitement and urgency for our audience to sign up or add the event to their calendar. This is when we first answer the question: Why should you go to the event?

Big events should be live tweeted and posted about once on Facebook during the event. Depending on the type of event, we should aim for around 4-5 tweets during the event. The Facebook post should be either a video or photo and the live tweets should include some visual appeal. Our audience who cannot attend the event should feel like they are there and/or wish that they were.

After the initial push, we post and/or tweet about the event one week ahead and the day before. This post should tell a story about the event. This could mean coverage from the State News, a quote from a student involved in the event, status of ticket sales, or a review of last year’s similar event.

After the Event: The day after an event is when we keep our audience engaged and reflective. This is when we post a follow-up article from our website, an image from the event, and continue the conversation by asking: “What was your favorite part of last night?” or “We loved this quote by the speaker: ‘....’” or “(Student name) said, “...” about the event.

See appendix for a sample event social media schedule.

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RESOURCES for more info

General information: •

www.business.twitter.com/marketing-twitter

•

www.facebook.com/marketing

•

www.hubspot.com

•

www.socialmediaexaminer.com

•

www.mashable.com/category/social-media/

About when to post: •

http://socialtimes.com/infographic-revealsthe-best-times-to-post-to-twitter-facebook_ b67570

•

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220678 (sample social media schedule)

•

http://www.toprankblog.com/2012/01/optimize-your-social-media-schedule/ (productivity and social media)

•

•

http://socialmediachimps.com/wp-content/ uploads/2013/02/social-media-strategy-template.jpg (rough plan of how to boost social presence over the course of a year – very general, but could be helpful in the long-term) http://socialmediatoday.com/bradfriedman/424216/build-your-social-media-schedule-2012 (another example of posting certain items on certain days)

•

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/besttime-to-post_b32507 (when to post on Twitter)

•

http://mashable.com/2012/09/28/marketersfacebook-wrong/ (when to post on Facebook)

•

http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/marketers-

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failing-twitter-study/ (when to post on Twitter) •

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/01/ getting-more-clicks-on-twitter-infographic. html

•

http://dashburst.com/social-media-flowchartwhere-should-you-post/ (where should you post certain items?)

Social media for higher education: •

http://www.slideshare.net/marketingcloud/ social-media-strategy-for-higher-education-15938339

•

http://scope1.com/8-steps-to-create-the-definitive-higher-education-social-media-strategy.htm

•

http://www.slideshare.net/hatchsteph/ social-media-strategy-for-higher-education-16028088

•

http://doteduguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/social-media-in-higher-education.pdf

•

http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/communications/brand/social-media/

•

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-educationnetwork/blog/2013/apr/17/university-studentrecruitment-social-media

•

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/ files/2012/10/social-media-goals.png

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CITATIONS 1. https://www.facebook.com/CALMSU/page_insights_likes?ref=hl 2. http://snapshotsocialmedia.com/content-marketing/top-challenges-in-content-marketing/ 3. http://www.slideshare.net/youtubemarketing01/youtube-strategy-top-five-tips-to-creating-youtube-video-as-part-of-your-marketing-strategy http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/12/01-youtube-marketing.php 4. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/06/07/3-ways-colleges-use-instagram 5. http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/tech/social-media/instagram-video 6. https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-media/12-pages-best-practices-for-mediacompanies/518053828230111 7. http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/marketers-failing-twitter-study/ 8. http://www.hashtags.org/business/management/why-social-media-engagement-is-abig-deal/

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SAMPLE EVEN FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

15 min

*Post a guest w

Two weeks before: Announce event *Link to the event page and tell audience why they should attend

One day before: Reminder

*Remind audience why they don’t want to

One week before: Tell a story *Write a re-cap of last year, with photo

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15 minu

*Tweet a special f

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Appendix A

NT SCHEDULE

nutes before: Instagram

an Instagram picture of the special with a group of students

During event: Live tweet

o miss the event

*Tweet 3-4 important quotes of the speaker/presentation

utes before: Last call!

After event: Reection

a picture of the venue or features of the event

*Share link to YouTube video on Facebook and Twitter

During event: Video coverage *Post an Instagram video of audience ďŹ ling in, speaker talking, and audience reaction

*Example of appropriate post

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

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Appendix D

Social Media Marketing Cheat Sheet Goals

Purpose by platform

1. To engage our “followers” with rich and meaningful content 2. To tell success stories about the work of students, faculty, alumni, and donors.

3. To promote CAL-related events 4. To share job, internship, and networking opportunities 5. To share recognition we receive 6. To share arts and humanities news

Share recent content and news as it happens Tell stories about our students and alumni, share the buzz around campus Share event re-caps and livestreams, tell stories of students, faculty, and alumni

Audience engagement

Visually share information in a trendy, audience-friendly way

Current Students: Why should I engage?

Prospective Students: Why should I join?

Alumni: Why should I stay connected?

Student and Community Organizations: How can we work together?

Posting checklists Facebook Posts should include at least three of the following:

Posting frequency & timing Frequency • Facebook: 3-4 times per week • Twitter: at least once a day (with the exception of live-tweeted events) • YouTube: at least once a month

Timing • Morning: 8-9 a.m.

Checking social media when waking up, before 8:30 and 9:10 classes • Afternoon: 11:40 a.m.-12:40 p.m.

Class and lunch break • Evening: 9-11 p.m.

Settling down for the night, free time,

homework breaks

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o Photo o Video o Link o Question o Call to action (“like” or “share” this)

Twitter Posts should include at least three of the following: o o o o o

Mention Hashtag Link Photo Video

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Appendix E

Social Media Strategy Glossary Twitter

Facebook

connect tab

insights

Located in the top toolbar, this tab displays interactions and mentions. Interactions include favorites, retweets, and replies.

Facebook offers an insights feature for page owners. This page can be accessed via the page’s dashboard, located directly above the cover photo. This page allows page owners to track the demographics of people who like the page, the reach of certain posts, and other aspects of the page’s success.

favorite Use the favorite button to show that you like a tweet. This lets the orginal poster know that you liked their tweet and allows you to save the tweet for later.

follow Follow Twitter users to suscribe to their tweets in your timeline.

unfollow Unfollowing a user removes the user’s tweets from your timeline.

reply to To respond to a user’s tweet, click the reply button located below the original poster’s tweet.

retweet

To share a user’s post with your followers, click the retweet button located below the original poster’s tweet.

mention Any Twitter update that contains @username” within the Tweet.

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like

Use the like button under a post to show support for statuses, pictures, and fan pages.

share Use the share button located under a post to repost material from other users on your wall, on a friend’s wall, on your page’s wall, or in a private message.

Both platforms hashtag Use the # symbol to identify keywords and categorize your tweets. For example, if you add #arts to your tweet, your tweet will come up when users search “arts.” NOTE: Facebook has recently integrated this feature into their interface as well.

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CLAIM A

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