THE NITTY GRITTYsocial media strategy

development for university residential education

@barb_leung

TODAY’S����������� ������������������  GOALS1. Understand our demographic

2. Know the “playing field”

3. Assess ResEd’s current social media presence and strategy

4. Brainstorm new ideas for implementation

but first...

WHY����������� ������������������  BE����������� ������������������  ONLINE?• Better connect with our students

• Make sure that we are the “go-to” source

• Engage students and encourage more participation

• Stay in touch with other NYU brands

• Extension of community building

so, who are they?

millennialsaged 18 to 33

7����������� ������������������  HIGHLY����������� ������������������  NEW����������� ������������������  HABITS• Computers are not technology*

• Internet is better than TV

• Reality is not real

• Learning resembles Nintendo

• Multitasking is the norm

• Always connected, therefore no delays

• Typing trumps handwritten/verbal* The following seven points are in reference to the following article. Oblinger, Diana. "Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials: Understanding The "New Students"." EDUCAUSE Review 38 4 (2003): 37-47.

NUMBER����������� ������������������  CRUNCH• 83% of millennials are on social

networking sites (SNSs)*

• 57% of those aged 18 to 29 maintain more than one online identity

• 96% of students say that have Facebook

• 43% of those surveyed are on Twitter

• 18% of millennials admit to having a blog* Based on statistics presented at the UCDA Design Conference. Candito, Lauren. How Students Use Social Media. Rec March 25, 2011.

and us?

WE’RE����������� ������������������  ON����������� ������������������  PAR• 95% of 177 NYU students surveyed* have

a Facebook account**

• 57% have a Twitter account

• Only 9% of students use FourSquare

• 43% have a LinkedIn account

• Above average, 31% of students say “yes” to having a blog

*Leung, Barbara. "Student Social Media Engagement at New York University." New York, 2011.** Students included range of undergraduate and graduate levels

NYU����������� ������������������  LOVE?• 71% of students surveyed “like” at least

one NYU-branded Facebook page*

• 49% of students with accounts follow NYU on Twitter**

• Students that use the groups function on LinkedIn are more likely to engage

• 66% of those that use FourSquare check in on campus**

*Leung, Barbara. "Student Social Media Engagement at New York University." New York, 2011.** Keep in mind that some accounts are created but remain inactive

get to know the playing field

SO����������� ������������������  MANY!• Over 200 active and popular SNSs on a

global scale*

• No one-size-fits-all strategy

• Key networks: Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, LinkedIn, Google+, StumbleUpon, Youtube, Flickr, Tumblr

* The list is not exhaustive, examining only the most popular networks without necessarily following the clear definition posited by boyd & Ellison (2007). "List of Social Networking Websites". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. January 7 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites>.

THAT����������� ������������������  SAID...• All universities make use of social media

to some degree,* but are not necessarily successful

• Only two schools leverage social media for the residential life and education division**

* Barnes, Nora Ganim, and Ava M. Lescault. "Social Media Adoption Soars as Higher-Ed Experiments and Reevaluates Its Use of New Communications Tools." UMass Dartmouth, 2011.** This is after evaluating Mashable’s evaluation of the top ten national colleges and USATODAY’s top twenty schools making use of social media; do note that there is also overlap between the two lists

harvard’s not

one of’em

WINNERS����������� ������������������  (KIND����������� ������������������  OF)• University of Texas

• @uthousing; 1095 followers, 34 listed

• fb.com/UTHousingandFood; 1491 fans

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• @univhousing; 479 followers, 35 listed

• fb.com/illinoishousing; 2191 fans

* The list is not exhaustive, examining only the most popular networks without necessarily following the clear definition posited by boyd & Ellison (2007). "List of Social Networking Websites". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. January 7 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites>.

neither blow competition out of

the water...

so here’s our chance!

Image via http://chemistry.as.nyu.edu/page/contactus

(re)evaluation

HOW����������� ������������������  WE����������� ������������������  DOIN’?• Official ResEd Facebook page is inactive

• Official Twitter account doing well with over 1200 followers and listed 56 times

• Lack of connection between main website and residence halls’ blogs/online identities

• Consistent blog updates from four halls - Broome, Second Street, 80 Laf, Founders

• Few have Twitter handles that are active

• Facebook pages are not used/updated, have few fans, or do not exist

WE����������� ������������������  OUGHT����������� ������������������  TO...• Take advantage of FourSquare; there are

active residents that are users - reward’em

• Post on a regular schedule for all social media platforms

• Be more active on Facebook and Twitter because they are the most popular SNSs

• Involve RAs with attributive tweets (e.g. “tweet” ^BL) - put a face to the message!

• Better understand the different platforms

CHEAT����������� ������������������  SHEET• Facebook messages shouldn’t be longer

than three lines

• Take advantage of Facebook OpenGraph

• Twitter messages are short and concise

• Tumblr is for image-based/short posts

• Always include a photo with your blog post - people love pictures

• Flickr can be a great repository for photos and can be a community for all of ResEd

ONE����������� ������������������  LAST����������� ������������������  THING!• Cross-branding is great for you and your

partners at the university

• Consider brand cohesion (eg. should all residence halls have the similarity of the “nyu” prefix on Twitter handles?)

• Think about what you’re sharing; positive and high-emotion messages are more likely re-circulated in networks*

*Berger, Jonah, and Katherine L. Milkman. "Social Transmission, Emotion, and the Virality of Online Content." Philadephia: University of Pennsylvania, 2009.

remember, it may be trial and error

KEEP����������� ������������������  TRACK• Get to know what works and what doesn’t

for your individual brand

• Facebook Insights is great for pages

• Keep an eye on your clickthrus with bit.ly

• Check your Twitter growth and patterns via tweetstats.com and twitercounter.com

• Take a look at blog stats with the built-in Wordpress stats, and Google Analytics

that was a lot to digest!

TO����������� ������������������  SUM����������� ������������������  UP• New media is an extension of the NYU

community

• Your target demographic - the millennial - is into social media, but is not that different from yourselves

• Be like one of’em: trial and error is the way to build a great social media strategy

• No school has been able to well capture students in the ResEd/ResLife sphere via social media

we’ve taken baby steps, let’s now make leaps

THANKS!

web: www.hirebarb.comemail: byleung@nyu.edu

twitter: @barb_leung