A Social Media Analysis

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Omicron Tau Chapter

April 24, 2016

By Anthony J. Grande

anthonyjosephgrande1@gmail.com

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Table of Contents

Upfront Analysis………………………………….3

Best Practices Report……………….............7

Recommendations Report.……………….10

Operations Report…………………………….12

Presentation……………………………………..14

Citations……………………………………………17

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Upfront Analysis

Phi Mu Alpha is a national music fraternity that was founded in 1898 in Boston,

Massachusetts, and its Omicron Tau(OT) chapter on the campus of MTSU, founded in 1966, is

one of the oldest organizations on this campus. Along with this reputation and history, Phi Mu

Alpha also prides itself in being socially relevant as a chapter. So just like any other

organization, it has social media accounts and a website to market themselves to the world.

However, just because you have these outlets and you post on them does not mean that

you are using them to the best of your ability. The Omicron Tau chapter has a lot of people

connected to it through alumni, current members and their parents, and the friends of those

people groups. That means that the impact this chapter this could make on those connected

through it on social media is endless.

To start, I interviewed you and asked you a few questions about the current state of

Omicron Tau’s social media accounts as well as some goals for the future.

1. What are some things OT does well on social media?

“Being honest, not very much. We do some things well like recognize our members and use it to

post things we have done, but we, as a group, do not use it well enough.”

2. What are things you do that don’t work?

“Promoting events and using it to engage other organizations. Very rarely does it work”

3. So ultimately, what do you want to accomplish with social media?

“Using our social media directly will allow us to keep people updated with what we are doing

and give them the opportunity to help. So, by engaging others in our service and giving them the

opportunity to help us, we can get more done and help more people. Likewise, it should always

be our goal to recruit more people in to our cause. Meaning the more men we interact with, the

more we can recruit.”

4. Who do you reach with social media?

“Anyone 18-24 associated with MTSU, I'm more interested in targeting people already here. I

feel like we garner a good amount of interest with incoming students just by our status as a

fraternity and band of blue. Alumni have specific forms of social media that are not accessible to

the public. So our target audience with our main accounts are students already here.”

5. Since you are focused on students, what type of students are you not engaging?

“Non-Greeks, which is a rather larger student population”

6. What are some goals you have for OT’s social media?

“To double our number of interactions online daily. The more we post more often we post, the

more likely we are to see interactions.”

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Keeping these answers in mind, the next step is to look at the current state of OT on

social media. After I was shown the statistics on some of their best posts on Facebook,

Instagram, and Twitter, it was clear that their most successful platform was definitely Facebook,

followed by Twitter and then Instagram. Here are the details of where they all stand!

Twitter:

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The most success the chapter has seen has come through FaceBook, by tagging and

showing the musical roots of the chapter. One example is this video that you posted just a few

weeks ago!

This post is a great example of what Phi Mu Alpha does well on social media. This is a

post that has been shared quite a few times, generating a lot of views for a video displaying them

singing to their waitress at a local restaurant. It is positive exposure for the organization and it

allows people to get an idea of what Phi Mu Alpha is all about. But looking through more of the

feed, there a lot of posts that are just there that seem to serve no purpose. Some of the posts are

there just for the sake of being there. There is a sense of disjointedness that doesn’t draw the

posts together to tell the overall story of the chapter.

These same themes transfer over to the Twitter and Instagram pages for the chapter, as

again, there are some consistency problems, more so on the Instagram, than any of the other

platforms. But more than anything, the lack of engagement on most of the content on these sites

are sad.

This tweet is about one the most popular events of the year for fraternities on campus,

homecoming, and about what organizations are paired for the competitions that surround

homecoming, but there is a very limited number of people that felt the need to interact with the

tweet. This is an example of what the president of the chapter was referring to, tweeting and

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interacting with other chapters on twitter is not effective. Instead, using Twitter as a tool in

different ways is more effective.

So in general, I believe that Phi Mu Alpha’s Omicron Tau Chapter is not in a bad place in

terms of social media presence. It is, by no means, as good as it could be, but it is definitely on

the right track. Using all the data I have collected and will continue to receive, I will begin to

create a plan to take their social media to a whole new level by trying to attain the goals set in

place.

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Best Practices

The biggest challenge that faces social media accounts for organizations is how do you

stand out among the crowd. MTSU has hundreds of organizations all trying to reach MTSU

students and tell them their story and what they are all about in hopes of recruiting those who

have the qualities they seek in members. In addition to recruitment, organizations want to reach

all students as they seek to promote and support their philanthropies and to also better the

community and the university. Omicron Tau is no different, as it looks to engage those

gentlemen of all majors who love music at MTSU, but also to engage the general MTSU student

population for “the Advancement of Music in American, and a Loyalty to the Alma Mater.”

So with the goal of standing out from the crowd and engaging MTSU students in place,

looking at the accounts of organizations that succeed, and seeing what they do to stand out give,

you get an idea of the things that Phi Mu Alpha should do to also stand out. I want to use three

different organizations that do each stand out on all social media platforms, but especially the

ones that I use as examples. They are all excellent at maximizing the functionality of the

platforms to tell an over arching story, and

creating content that people will enjoy

viewing.

MTSU Fraternity and Sorority

Life (Twitter) The MTSU FSL page is a great

example Omicron Tau can look for how to

stand out on Twitter. Though the account

already stands out because is represents so

many people, and is used to spread

information to the community, OT can learn

how FSL uses hashtags and campaigns.

Instead of just tweeting out able their cause,

FSL does a great job of using calls to action

and incentives to people involved and

engaged in conversation, which creates talk

about the cause they are trying to promote.

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Because they use Twitter to start conversation, FSL can then use the conversation created

through their hashtag to help tell the story. The example on the previous page of featuring

someone is the incentive to post on the hashtag, because the currency of the internet is likes, so

everyone wants their content to be

received well.

MTSU FSL also does a good job

of bringing to together positive Greek

Life content and building up the groups

it represents with #TrueBlueMove. As

you probably already know, Greek life

does not have a positive connotation in

today’s society, but I think this again is

another good example of how FSL uses

this hashtag to prove that connotation

wrong, and creates positive conversation

about MTSU Greeks, and features

someone every week who is doing good

things in the community.

But while these are all good

things, the problem with hashtags are the

fact that there is no restricting who or

what can be posted on the hashtag. This

means people can abuse it to cut down

other organizations and even spam accounts can get a hold of it and spam it. It is important to

keep those in mind and to always monitor them and report posts that are counter-productive.

Phi Kappa Tau MTSU (Instagram) When going to the Instagram page for Phi Kappa Tau, it is not just a bunch of pictures

posted just to fill up space. Instead, you look and see pictures that have meaning and draws you

in to see the frame by frame story that runs through their photos about one of the most successful

chapters on campus. Whether is is highlighting new initiated members, promoting a brother for

his involvement in other organizations, or just photos of brothers together having a good time.

There are less shots of single brothers and graphics but just pictures that look like they belong on

Instagram. This a great example of what Instagram offers that other platforms don’t, and how we

can use the example of Phi Kappa Tau to learn from.

Before adds and businesses became involved in Instagram, it was a tool that people used

to tell the story of their life, sharing good memories through the eyes of the user. Unlike

Facebook, it is not meant for you to post albums of photos, but rather highlights, like your own

personal highlight reel. Now, as it becomes more populated, people feel the need to post

everything they can, searching for likes from the masses that have populated the site.

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This is where Phi Kappa Tau is separating itself

from the crowd and finding success. Instead of taking

every excuse they can, they post very similar to how

just a person would. They hardly use graphics or

overuse filters, but rather let the pictures speak for

themselves. Again, the pictures they post don’t look out

of place together or in the middle of your timeline.

They fit together and draw the viewer in and make

them want to know more of the story. Also, they do a

good job of staying informed and posting what people

can relate to, whether they are Greek or not.

Of course, one possible problem that could result

from this type of style is losing sight of your goals

when marketing the chapter. You don’t want to post

things that could leave a possible bad impression on

someone, or post things that don’t add to the “highlight

reel” that you are trying to show everyone.

MTSU School of Music (Facebook) As the powerhouse in the Social Media industry, Facebook is a great to tool to really

make a huge impact. The School of Music page is a great example of using a public page as a

landing page for your organization, especially for students. It is

usually more up to date on the events happening in the School of

Music, and is more accessible and shareable than the MTSU website.

It sets itself apart from many of the other pages for other colleges in

the University, because it is up to date, and features the students and

engages students.

The best thing the page does is be very diligent about staying

connected with students and allowing students to use it to create

community among one another and show it off to others by sharing

and contributing to content on the page. The students that are in the

school are very active on the content of the page, and the page itself is

very interactive with those who visit it, making them feel welcome.

This page is very important to be aware of for Phi Mu Alpha,

as it does target music students, much like Phi Mu Alpha does, but

also, it shows what Phi Mu Alpha could be. Having brothers stay

active on the content of the page and interactive with the content

could create a very similar community. It is as simple as sharing or

commenting on posts, and is an under used tool that could drastically

boost page views and likes.

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Recommendations Report

Phi Mu Alpha is by no means a bad example of how to use social media as a tool. There are tools and strategies that you can see in other profiles that Omicron Tau can use to increase effectiveness of their internet presence. Because every social media platform is different, it is important to use different strategies on different platforms.

Overall: Before addressing recommendations for each individual social media

platform, consistency is a huge key to being successful in social. Posting on a regular basis and staying up to date is key for an organization, because if not, it reflects poorly upon your organization. Facebook pages look sloppy when they are not being used on a regular basis. When you aren’t posting regularly, people forget they like or follow your organization and therefore are less likely to get involved or pay attention to the content it posts. That is the one recommendation that I think is consequently key for Phi Mu Alpha’s success on social media.

Facebook: Facebook is by far Omicron Tau’s most successful social media platform as of

right now, even though it is a platform that students seem to be using less, it is still effective. Facebook does a good job of keeping friends and family, as well as alumni connected and up to date with chapter relations. Parents love seeing their photo albums of their young men involved and having fun in college, and sharing those pictures to show their friends how proud they are of their children. It is so important not to break that bond, because it does drive views on the Facebook page.

A strategy that OT should consider is making sure that brothers are sharing content from the page. Content that has performed well on Facebook is because brothers interacting with the posts so that then their friends also see it. Your overall target audience is all MTSU students, so getting brothers to share content is how OT is going to reach their intended audience. That way, you still reach parents and alumni of the chapter, while adapting your content sharing to also reach your target audience.

Twitter:

Twitter is a platform that has a lot of potential for Omicron Tau, and one that I believe could be very useful in reaching the target audience that was stated earlier. But instead, you try to use it to reach other organizations and groups of people. This is a problem that was stated earlier that I agree does not work. Because Twitter is so much more about bringing individuals together that may not know each other, why not use

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that to your advantage. One strategy that I pointed out earlier was the use of campaigns and hashtags.

One quote from the upfront analysis said “engaging others in our service and giving them the opportunity to help us” was a goal, and part of the object of the Fraternity includes the advancement of music. What better way to engage MTSU students and get them involved than to start a campaign about why people like music? Almost everyone on this earth listens to music at least once a day, for one reason or another, so why not build a campaign around that? The hashtag does not even have to incorporate the Phi Mu Alpha name at all, but the OT account can start the movement and get others involved and get MTSU students talking about music and mentioning Phi Mu Alpha because of the association to music and MTSU. This conversation will hopefully create a lot of good content that you can use to start featuring content that you as a brand can endorse and get behind. But more importantly, using hashtag campaigns can generate traffic on the page and possibly help with recruiting, which is another stated goal from the Upfront Analysis.

Instagram: The most exciting social media platform currently is Instagram, and it is the one

that I feel like Phi Mu Alpha has the biggest potential for growth. Currently, you have little to no presence when it comes to Instagram, and I think it has everything to do with the content being posted. There is nothing exciting or interesting that draws the consumer in, but rather, all they see is another post that is there just to be posted. It has no meaning or purpose other than hopefully someone seeing it and maybe liking it.

Instead just highlighting our community service and brothers, Instagram is another great tool to highlight what is Omicron Tau’s most unique commitment; music. I am not trying to say highlighting service and brotherhood is wrong, but rather that I think those are already highlighted. Video on Instagram is a great tool that isn’t used enough, but something that could be useful. Whether it is the chapter singing or a brother performing on a recital, it is a tool that doesn’t get used.

However, the most effective way to use Instagram is to just be “organic.” Though that term is vague and hard to explain, the best way I can think to describe it is just being real. If you wouldn’t post something like this on your personal Instagram, don’t post it on the official OT account. Instagram, like I said earlier, is basically a personal highlight reel, and on that, you want to post the best memories, and make them count. Consumers seeing what you are posting can’t relate or get interested in a graphic, but they can relate to a picture or video of an event, because in the end you let the photos do the talking. That is what Instagram started as and is intended to be, so it is important to keep that in mind as you post in the future.

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Operations Report

Attached is a posting calendar for the month of September, as it is your largest

recruiting month of the year. It is also a great example of both posting during recruitment

and then other times of the year. Reaching young men with your message during

recruitment a goal that you put in place at the beginning of this process, so I wanted to

show you what that would look like this coming year. Those weeks on this calendar are

the weeks of the 11th and the 18th. Obviously, you are going to be posting more during

those weeks, as you try to people with your message.

Other weeks, especially the last week of the month, on this calendar are examples

of what a normal week would be for Omicron Tau. Posting maybe once or twice a day, a

normal week would consist of continuing reach all people with the goals you have set

forth. Obviously, there will be posts that happen not very often, maybe once or twice a

year (founder’s day, initiation of new brothers, retreats, birthdays), that also will be

inserted with the scheduled posts.

Advancing music is another thing that I personally believe Omicron Tau can work

on, so for the month of September, and maybe onward, I want to start a hashtag campaign

called #musiceveryday. The goal is to introduce it as a way for people to express how

music has an effect on them in their everyday life. The goal is to create a conversation

about the importance of music for both MTSU students and beyond.

The last important factor that should be apart of every week’s plan is to take a day

to plan out and schedule every post on social media for the coming week. It does not have

to be on Sundays every week, but it is important to do it so that during a busy of classes

and other obligations, you do not miss a post. This is another way to create that

consistency that is a goal that you look to achieve.

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Presentation

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Citations

Facebook.com/SinfoniaOT

Facebook.com/MTSU-School-of-Music

Twitter.com/PhiMuAlpha_MTSU

Twitter.com/MTSUFSL

Instagram.com/phikappataumtsu

Instagram.com/phimualpha_mtsu