Communication Strategy at Swiss Universities:Embracing New Media

Communication Strategy at Swiss Universities:Embracing New Media

Initiative of the State Secretariat for Education and Research SER Annex of the Consulate General.

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Florencia PradaMegan Williams

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Goals

To be known internationally for excellence

To get positive attention in the international and N. American press

To attract best professors and doctoral candidates/researchers

To have research published in high profile journals

To attain high rankings

Social media must be part of an overall strategy.

A means to an end.

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A CHANGE IN THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE

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Shift in communications from print to online

Newspaper industry in decline Content increasingly consumed online

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Define social media

Web 2.0User generated content

Interactive

DemocraticTwo-way conversation

Engaging

Viral

Social bookmarkingBlogging

Micro blogging

Wiki

Live streaming

Sharing

Networking

SEO/SEM

AggregatorsRSS

Tag CloudParticipation

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Define social media

Web 2.0User generated content

Interactive

DemocraticTwo-way conversation

Engaging

Viral

Social bookmarkingBlogging

Micro blogging

Wiki

Live streaming

Sharing

Networking

SEO/SEM

AggregatorsRSS

Tag CloudParticipation

Social media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques

Social media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques

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Twitter – Facebook – LinkedIn – YouTube

22M users

Real-time

Spreads news easily & fast

140 characters

400+M users worldwide

Shares content, video, photos

Personalizes experience

Engages a professional audience (65+M users)

Tracks current and past staff/students

Engages alumni

Third most visited website after FB & Google

Shares video content easily

Leverages video content on other outlets

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54% of all Internet users in the US are on Facebook

(compete.com study, Dec., 2009)

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How US universities leverage new media

Use Twitter to gather information and share it (Minnesota)

Use YouTube to share student/faculty work (Stanford)

Use Twitter to communicate during emergency (Minnesota)

Use blogs to share student/university experience to attract new students/faculty (Texas)

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Why is it important to leverage web 2.0?

Find out what is important and relevant to your audience

Follow relevant journalists & publications

Participate in conversation happening online (may be talking about you already)

Engage audience in more meaningful ways

Efficient, transparent, and cheap

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Twitter and your institution

Find out what’s happening now

Disseminate real-time news

Claim your account name before somebody else does

Create an intelligent feed of information by following the right people

Develop relationships with your followers

Give it a voice, make it personal

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Facebook: the possibilities

Claim your facebook url

Distribute content on the most visited site on the planet

Tap into peoples’ networks and leverage the viral effect

Engage your audience, make them participate

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Facebook: the possibilities

Claim your facebook url

Distribute content on the most visited site on the planet

Tap into peoples’ networks and leverage the viral effect

Engage your audience, make them participate

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YouTube: use content you already have, gain audience

Upload your videos to the most visited video site (1B views/day)

Share courses/events to promote your faculty/students/school

Excellent way to augment press releases & present new ideas

Easy to swap/share videos for “viral” effect

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LinkedIn: the professional connection

Biggest professional networking site in the world

Find and engage your alumni

Promote your events/monitor your brand/spread the word

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Status update: universities & social media

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Status update: Swiss universities & social media

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Comparison of social media presence

Select U.S., UK, German and French Universities (10)Swiss Universities (12)

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Challenges for Swiss universities

Small country, world-class universities, but less known by North Americans than big US universities

Global audience—including journalists—overwhelmed with news and increasingly online

Need to reach audiences where—and how—they expect for maximum exposure and promotion

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Solutions

Social Media

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, iTunesU, etc.

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Solutions

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Solutions

Communicate in English when possible to reach English-speaking journalists and larger audiences

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Solutions

Present yourself in a way that is familiar to your targeted audience

The viruses within—and what keeps them there:Biologists wake dormant viruses and uncover mechanism for survival (Jan. 13, 2010, EPFL)

NOT

KAP1 protein inhibits endogenous retroviral genetic material

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Solutions

Consider “satellite” offices or representatives and advocates in the areas you want to reach

Targeted press outreach in North America or other important audiences

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How swissnex San Francisco can help right now

Help connect as many dots as possible by immediately, and at no cost:

Assist you in setting up social media accounts and reclaim lost accounts

Establish contacts in your media office who can provide swissnex with steady source of news

Promote your institution via our website, Twitter and Facebook pages and in–person synergies from hosting faculty and staff

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How swissnex can help going forward

swissnex’s communications team can offer intensive training and an array of services:

Manage your social media accounts or train your staff in best practices (in person or remotely)

Assist in adapting and re-writing press materials for an English-speaking audience, with journalists in mind

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Targeted media outreach on your behalf to important and relevant journalists, bloggers, publications


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Advise you on what’s next in new/social media and which ones are important (Foursquare)

Recommend conferences and new, emerging publications to watch (Futurity, Climatewire)

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Advise you on what’s next in new/social media and which ones are important (Foursquare)


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• Advise you on what’s next in new/social media and which ones are important (Foursquare)

• Recommend conferences and new, emerging publications to watch (Futurity, Climatewire)

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More ways swissnex can help

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Event + exhibit planned

Press preview

Event at swissnex

Media team documents event (FLIP)

Push products through social media

Build social media/web buzz

Targeted media outreach

Stories + videos published

• Examples of swissnex press success from in-person appearances and visits:

• Give Me More (EPFL+ECAL Lab exhibit)

How swissnex San Francisco can help

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• Press success:

• Meeting the Energy Challenge: Konstantinos Boulouchos (ETH Zurich) & Stephen Schneider (Stanford University)

Stories, videos, podcast published

Event + exhibit planned



Build social media/web buzz

Promotion + targeted invites

Event at swissnex

FORA.tv films

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• Press success:

• Swiss science illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger


Stories + videos published


Use social media to promote Swiss excellence in sci, ed, art, & innovation

Journalists trust us as news source; tweets and announcements picked up by press

Event at swissnex

FORA.tv films

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Next Steps

• Help us identify questions & potential barriers to embracing social media

• We will do a study/survey to answer your questions

• Join the LinkedIn Group to submit and discuss questions: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=3075378

• View this presentation on SlideShare

• Become of fan of swissnex San Francisco on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and follow us on Twitter!

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To consider

• swissnex proposes a study tour to the Bay Area (October, 2010):

• Gain first-hand experience in social media

• Explore how other universities and businesses are using social media to promote their institutions

• Meet leaders in industry (Silicon Valley) and learn what’s next in communication and how you can leverage this technology

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A look ahead

“A year ago, Twitter wasn't on the radar screen for most Indians, let alone their PC screens. In the last few months, though, that's changed, and more than 2.3 million people on the Subcontinent tweet and Twitter away their time. That's nothing compared with the United States, where some 22 million use the microblogging site…

Twitter page views in India jumped to 45 million in March, up from 26 million in December, a 73 percent increase.”

• —San Francisco Chronicle (May, 2010)

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THANK YOU

Florencia Prada

[email protected]

Megan Mansell Williams

[email protected]