Social Media at SIUC - CAC Talk

Social MediaDonnie Laur

what is social media?• Definitions vary. But, they focus on user

participation using user-generated content. Connecting, sharing, user interaction.

• Social interaction that transform brodcast media (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). * Wikipedia.

• Examples? facebook, Linked In, Del.icio.us, Digg, Wikipedia, blogs, blogs, Twitter (micro-blog), Flickr, youtube

• Sharing and talking with each other. You select who to listen to, friends, accounts, or groups.

What Social Media is Best Used for?

• Connecting and interacting with people that you would not normally reach. Build social relationships and allow people to decide how much they would like to connect or interact with you. Rather than driving people to a website, just show up where the people are.

• Rather than building a new way to connect, use the technology and hot website of the time. Bind yourself to connecting and ideas and if the technology shifts, so will the people that you connected with.

• Keeping people up to date. Get bytes of news a little bit at a time, rather than a large update. For those that only check in from time to time, social media is a great resource.

• Media Assets Toolbox. Your photos, videos, news, all in one place or every place. Rather than host off a server and struggle to get people to the page, just place it on social media websites, usually free, that forward or suggest people to you. These sites have great search features, very large search engine results and people are already there using it. They will find you, or their friends will recommend you.

Why Universities are quick to adopt social media.

• Audience is already there.

• Ease of Use. Can show Creativity.

• Inevitability: We are already a part of it. Students and alumni are already a part of it as well.

• However, it is often without a plan or policies. We have a social media site, now what? Add friends? Then What?

How universities are engaging alumni using social media

• Helping alumni find jobs: LinkedIn and Twitter.

• Collaboration and connecting with students using facebook and twitter.

• Meeting alumni where they are at. Mini Mobile Reunions. Connecting your fans to each other.

a few ways to use social media now

Sharing University good news

Let others know about events

Promoting student activities and achievements

Notifying students and staff if ever there were an emergency

But...I don’t understand this social media stuff

• It is similar to a cocktail party, but without constraints of time and space.

• Meet people and start conversation. Listen and answer questions.

• Ask questions, trust other’s advice.

• Add value to the community.

• It is about the conversation, not the technology. For more on that read Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies by Forrester Research Group.

facebook nation

People’s Republic of China - 1.3B

India - 1.17BUnited States - 307.8MFacebook Nation - 300M - Nov

09Indonesia - 229M

if facebook was a country?

Countries by Population numbers based on July 1, 2009 estimateVia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

facebook numbers are estimated... but they are growing by 750K users a day.

How are people using facebook?More than 300 million active users.

50% of active users log to facebook in any given day

The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older.

More than 2 billion photos uploaded each month.

More than 5 billion minutes are spent of facebook each day (worldwide)

More than 2 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week.

More than 3 million events created each month.

More than 65 million active users currently accessing facebook through their mobile devices. Those that use mobile devices on facebook are

almost 50% more active on facebook than non-mobile users. Blackberries, Droids, iPhones, or just with text messaging fbook.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Years it took to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years),

TV (13 Years),

Internet (4 Years),

iPod (3 Years),…Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months

…iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.

Twitter growth is up, but still small

Myspace has flatlinedFa

cebook S

till G

rowing

What about higher education?

IllinoisUniv of Illinois - 13,589

University of Chicago – 8,305Northwestern – 8,082

* SIU Carbondale - 7,311NIU – 6,137

Western - 5,687ISU - 4,857

Eastern - 4,263U of IL at Chicago – 2,550SIU Edwardsville – 2,155

Bradley – 3,121

•Note - Most Univ have only increased by ~1K in two months.•SIUC doubled from 3,563 to 6,987 in one week (Homecoming)

The Most FansTexas A&M - 147, 266

LSU – 124,239U of Oklahoma – 65,344

Kansas - 60,948Mizzou – 57,411

as of Nov 12th, 2009

listed as number of fans subscribed to facebook “page”

Dept or College Pages @ SIUC

SIUC MCMA – 1,061 fansSIU Alumni Assoc - 722 fans – Was at 100, a direct message bumped them up

Aviation at SIUC - 362 fansWSIU Public Radio - 295 fans

SIUC Student Center - 286 fans – Was at 77, direct message bumped up

Saluki First Year - 280 fansSIUC Writing Center - 204 fans

WSIU Raising Readers - 184 fansSIU School of Journalism - 138 fans

SIUC Housing - 100 fansUndergraduate Admissions at SIUC - 125 fans

WSIU Public Television - 94 fans

as of Nov 12th, 2009

SIUC MCMA facebook pagefacebook.com/siucmcma

varsityoutreach.com/pagedirectory.aspx

What MCMA doesI used a user account, mcma web, as the

MCMA Webmaster, to find users.

If people want to add mcma web as a friend,I suggest them to “fan” the SIUC MCMA Page.

Page found at http://facebook.com/siucmcma/

Why the siucmcma name?

Branding, searching, visual display, quick to type

How do I know to do this?Research, trial and error, presentations, expos,

conventions.

SIUC MCMA

No matter the Real Name, any admin who posts on a “Page”, the Page name gets credited.

logged in as

gets posted as

This really confuses new admins!

users account and facebook a pages

Why a facebook page and a normal user account?

Normal user accounts are for real people and facebook can and will remove users who are not real people.

Reggie the Redbird - ISU MascotOver 3,200 friends

Pulled from facebook Nov 2008.Lost access to all friends, photos, and comments.

Pulled profile resulted in people asking why Reggie just de-friended me.

No way to contact people and let them know.

SIUC Exampleanything stand out?

any guesses why?

homecoming?

Long names are not nearly asreadable, searchable, or usable.

A short two word name, looks more like a person’s name.

It allows you to brand it and use it elsewhere.

facebook usernames can not be changed!

OK, why Pages and not Groups?

Insights!Favorite Pages and connect a community

Shortened username

Posts can come from any admin but look likeit is coming from one person.

facebook “Page” InsightsInsights can show several interesting things

including fan interaction over time, userdemographics, breakdowns by

age and/or sex, by country, mediaconsumption (audio, photo, video plays),

facebook user layout

facebook Fan Page layout

Add facebook Events to Pages

Each event can have its own wall, discussion board, photos/video, or conversation. Even if you are not

able to add multimedia for an event, another user might.

Ask others for content. Parents, friends, and other family take hundreds of photos and

video of events like graduation. Ask on your social media networks for this media.

facebook page features• Wall. Turn off filter for more interaction.

• Notes. Import via RSS.

• Favorite Pages

• Events

• Links

• Photos and Videos

• Insights

• Fans that work like friends.

What else?

• Twitter (Short Txt Messages)

• Flickr (Photos)

• Youtube EDU or iTunes U (Videos)

• LinkedIn – Alumni Professional Network

Twitter Basics

•140 character status updates, called Tweets.

•Follow others and be followed.

•Conversations via @siucmcma

•Trends using #hashtag

The Twitterverse

• of course, twitter.com

• via txt message. Simply txt to 40404.

• Most use is via mobile devices.

• Tweets can be sent automatically from a blog or RSS service using twitterfeed.com

• Third-party software like tweetdeck.

Where can you “tweet” from?

Benefits of Twitter

• Alert followers to events, news, deadlines, etc.

• Establish relationships

• A digital ‘short’ conversation, you usually follow people in a field of study.

What to Tweet About

• An observation - Tweet about what you are doing.

• What you’re reading or watching

• Events. If at a popular event, you might post a #hashtag

• Promote your content.

• Promote someone else’s content

• Chat with someone by sending a message with the @ sign before the username.

• Retweet what others have said. RT @siuc Retweeted Message.

Twitter Potential Audiences

• Current Students

• Prospective Students (Growing but Small)

• Alumni

• Media

• General Public

Best use of Twitter at SIUC

Not fancy, but useful

Followers can set phone to

get text updates and

be alerted via a mobile

phone text message.

The New ROIReturn On Interaction

Recurring Online Interaction

Who interacts with your org and how often?

What do they think of you?

Are you connected to them?

Are they talking about you to others?

• It is no longer about sending a message out, it is about the conversation.

• Good interaction leads to good feedback, good word of mouth. It isn’t about what you tells others, it is what they are saying about you.

• You are putting a face to a ORG or name. People trust people. While using social media, when possible, add your name or personal comments. TGI used Woody and the promise of a free burger, to build fan base. The fact that it is a person, although, not real, makes it more personable. Think Gus Bode!

• People prefer to know who they are communicating with, which is why social media is so heavily used, talking to someone without identification seems impersonal.

Using Time Wisely• Setup automatic tasks. Automatically pull from

other social media applications or RSS feeds. Facebook -> Twitter or Flickr - > Facebook. Pull newly uploaded youtube videos directly to facebook.

• Automatic feeds allow for one entry to be posted everywhere.

• WARNING - This has to be balanced. Too much PR (too frequently) or only news stories (ratio of automatic posts to personalized entries) can turn off people and even get you negative response. You are wanting to keep people up to date and engage them, not annoy them.

Encourage Interaction

• Ask open questions that solicit a response. (These can usually be measured). Such as, what project are you working on? Open questions like this will usually get a positive response from alumni or students.

• Highlight achievements or good news. This will usually result in a “like” or comments such as “Way to Go”, “Congrats”. When people offer interaction, it posts on the Page and also on their home and others can see it. You might then be suggested as a friend or a page to them without any direction interaction with them. You can track interaction with insights.

• Post media content such as photos, videos, links, and even events. These all encourage interaction and often someone else will share your link with others. People love to look at photos and video content and comment or “like” and item.

• Even if it might not relate to the page or account, you can often get good feedback and interaction by talking about news or events. If you see something interesting and relevant, let others know. If you only talk about yourself, it isn’t very fun for someone to be your friend in a social network. Therefore, pass on other stories, links, or events from the community or field of study.

• Be a good “friend”. Share and comment on updates that others have made. If using Twitter, Retweet others Tweets.

Use Multimedia (It’s now easy to share)

flickr

facebook

youtube EDU

Share and tag videos, photos, notes, updates, etc. Multimedia often generates the most response from fans. If possible, try to

post multimedia from events such as ceremonies, gatherings, and meetings.

Put them in as many places as you can.

This is often appreciated by people who can not be at an event or those would just want to be kept in the loop as to what is goin’

on.

CrowdSource with a student contest

Have a student contest. Provide guidelines and if possible provide stock photos or videos and the message that you want conveyed. Offer a prize

reward.

Have public judging that allows for feedback and comments.

Something can be as simple as a video contest that people have to upload the video to Youtube and include “Why I like Southern IL University”.

From there people will comment, view, and rate. The videos can be used as promotional materials and as a means to direct people to your social media

websites.

Pay for promotion (best used for events)

facebook has social media ads that that target audiences and demographics, say students ages 14-17

in the Chicago area who are interested in Radio, Television, Journalism, or Photography.

You can pay per click or per impression. SIUC MCMA used facebook advertising to target students in Chicago

for our recent MCMA Chicago Expo.

Google’s advertising system also works well. Compare that method to say billboards or newspaper ads in an

area.

TELL YOUR FRIENDSThis seems common sense but many highered colleges or departments have areas on social media networks

but do not have a link on the main .edu website. They don’t send emails letting people know about it. No

flyers in the hallway. No mention in alumni newsletter, no talk about it on alumni visits.

Usually the thinking here is that lets start a big user base then tell others about it. Let them know, build it, then go from

there.Truth is, tell people and they

will tell each other.

Be Social TogetherUniversities should have a Social Media Working Group that

meets regularly. Best practices and how different social media websites work, change very often.

This group can propose social media best practices using templates from others. They can also create social media policies.

Help out new departments or groups that know that they need to do this, but are not sure what to do, or how to do it.

Working together helps to make sure that the voice and message is consistent.

When changes and shifts in social media come, working together helps to let everyone know about new technologies and functionalities.

Some standard social media guidelines

• Be respectful

• Be transparent

• Add value

• Reconsider before you post

• Be responsive to feedback

Grand Valley State Universityhttp://gvsu.edu/socialmediaguidelines.htm

• Every connection and interaction is important. Speak with alumni, students (future and current) and interested community members as they connect with you and ask a question.

• Try to speak as a person would, when possible. However, remember that you are speaking as an representative of the University and you are held to higher standards.

• Use your common sense. While you want to speak like a person, you don’t want to be too personal. Don’t get private, no reason to.

• Shy away from commenting those posts or comments that use bad language or judgement. Even if you agree with the statement.

• If a student or alumni win an award or accomplishment and we run a story about it, post that story to their SM wall or account.

• Be a good friend by posting others news and links to your wall and click the like or rate link if others have good news.

• Don’t overdo it. Spread out posts and comments. If you are doing too much, take a break. However, don’t look overly inactive.

Seven Mass Media• Print

• Audio Recordings

• Cinema

• Radio

• TV

• Internet

• Mobile

The eight mass media?

YOU.* You. Already won the

person of the year.

WE are the distribution,WE are the content,

WE are the ‘user journey’,WE are how messages are transmitted.

WE are the medium and the media carriedby it

We are the connections and how theconnections are made.

Marketing isn’t done to them,it is done by them.

8th media idea by Brando-Digital http://www.brandosocial.com/

Moving Forward

What other highereds are doing?

University BloggingUse students to build brand impression.

Some University pay students for monthlyblog entries. Usually journalism or creative writing

students but they could be of any major.

If you can blog in different languages, do it!

Student Bloggers• University student blogs show an insight into student life.

• Blogs use students to create brand impressions.

• Word of mouth has become Word of Mouse.

• Student stories are a key marketing and recruitment element, blogs, videos, social networks.

• American colleges have been out-blogging the business world. In 2008 Colleges and Universities were blogging 41% while Fortune 500 Companies were only blogging at a rate of 13%.

Student bloggers tell stories of student lifenot given by official university websites.

Expand your reach with internationalblogging and student blogging in different

languages.

Who is using SMS (Social Media Sites)

• Webmasters

• Faculty/Staff+

• Admissions

• Public Relations

• Advisors

• General (Catch All)

• Student Workers

But, do they all have the same message, experience, time, best practices, or knowledge? Are they on their own?

Who Else?• Students (Without letting anyone know) ...

yes, in some ways, the students are in charge of the social media... and you might not know it.

• The Parents.

• The Alumni

They are already talking, is anyone listening?

Publicly available on Twitter,

Search for SIUC

Have a Plan!

Create a college, department and schoolsocial media policy.

Build a campus social media working group

• One way we can improve is by building a campus social media working group.

• Things change so fast, it helps to talk to others about changes and keep all up to speed. Facebook, for example, changes something major every six months.

• Only strong as the weakest link. Social media done wrong by others at SIUC could affect an overall effort.

• Set in place Best Practices and guidelines for existing and social media efforts. Colors, logos, general recommendations, best practices of how to communicate.

• Sharing. Connecting a local network of a campus community. Link to each other, talk to each other, share each others news to expand reach.

Good Examples• DePaul Social Media Working Group

http://brandresources.depaul.edu/vendor_guidelines/g_socialmedia.aspx DePaul has a group that meets monthly and is working on “best practices” guidelines and general recommendations.

• SEMO, Social Media Information. http://semo.edu/wds/social

• Colorado State Univ, Social Media Policy. http://www.socialmedia.colostate.edu/page/Social-Media-Policy.aspx

• Social Media Best Practices for Law Schools http://smbpls.ning.com

• Washington State University at Vancouver Social Networking Guidelines http://vancouver.wsu.edu/marcomm/social-networking-guidelines/

Thank You!

Donnie LaurDigital Media Systems Specialist

College of Mass Communication and Media ArtsSouthern Illinois University Carbondale