it’s just social media

Will Patch

Manchester University

IACAC Congress 2017 @will_patch

It’s not that difficult, right?

If you think…

Managing is the same as having a personal account

Posts can be written on the fly

It’s easy to go viral

Brand standards don’t apply

I won’t need math

Who is this guy anyway?

Manager of 10 institutional accounts

6 years managing social media

Coordinate with 75+ other accounts

Work with Content Specialist

Team of 13 students

The team

Invest in people first, not tools

Students – Hire them, train them, empower them

Marketing – Show them that you want to learn

Photographer/videographer – Buy them coffee, learn how to work together

Faculty – Build relationships

Manchester’s social success

1,272 undergraduate, 32 graduate, and 294 PharmD students

Over 265,000 followers across 10 accounts

In 2016:

~12,000,000 impressions

~595,000 engagements

Average of 216 interactions/post

Social media hub with aggregator (www.manchester.edu/hub)

Survey of first year students – Fall 2016

2016 survey results

Followed us during their college search

Found it helpful during their search

Followed us prior to deciding to apply

2016 survey results

Most popular networks (asked for top 3):

83% 67% 57%

2016 survey results

Felt like they would

fit in on campus

Were influenced to

attend Manchester

Were influenced to get

involved on campus

MostEffective

LeastEffective

2016 survey results

OurViewofMU

Student run Instagram

Different host each week

Entirely up to them

2016 survey results

Followed account

Less impactful in driving involvement

on campus or deciding to enroll than

our primary account.

2016 survey results

What do students want to see more of?

Campus events

Study abroad

NCAA athletics

What do students want to see less of?

College tips/hacks

First year experiences

Think your content works?

Prove it!

First: Know your goal

Followers

How many people follow you?

Impressions

How many people view your content?

Engagement

How many people click, like, favorite, share, or screenshot your content?

Measuring Followers

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on Instagram

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on Twitter

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on Facebook

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on Facebook

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on YouTube

Measuring Impressions and Engagement on Snapchat

You should be asking “So what?”

Making sense of numbers

Engagement Rate, Conversions, ROI, and Natural Audience Ratio

Know what it is you want to know

Engagement Rate – Measures how engaging your content is

Engagements per impression

Conversions – Those who saw a post and took your call to action

Clicks per impression

ROI – Return on Investment, actions per post or call per action per $ spent

Varies by need

Natural Audience Ratio – Comparison between accounts, competitor analysis

Followers per enrollment

An example

You have an engagement campaign to drive people to a landing page. You

spend $5 to boost the post and drive more impressions. The post makes

2,500 impressions and engages 250 people including 70 link clicks.

Engagement Rate: 10%

Conversions: 2.8%

ROI: 14 web hits/$1

Another Example

Your school starts a new Instagram account and it has 1,000 followers

already. Your boss wants to know if that is good or not.

What information could you collect?

Your school enrolls 10,000 students. Your rival, Overrated University,

enrolls 7,500 students and has 1,200 followers. A school with the same

enrollment, Lookalike College, has 800 followers.

Your NAR – 0.1

Overrated NAR – 0.16

Lookalike NAR – 0.08

Content with your content?

Keep track of content type and timing

Quality over quantity

We decreased posting by 42%

Increased engagements by 177%

Good content takes time

The answer to all of these goals is…

Get creative and original

Share and interact

Reuse content

Crowdsource content

Go multichannel

182,000 impressions and

7,000 engagements

Most importantly: Tell a story

How do you know what is killer content?

Know your audience

Insights and analytics on each account

It doesn’t matter what you want to say and how, it matters what they

want/need to hear and how

Differentiate your messages, imagery, and even content

Test, test, test

Audiences

Twitter – Students, media, schools

Instagram – Students

Snapchat – College students

Facebook – Parents, alumni, community

YouTube – Students, mostly male

Pinterest – Women, skews parents

LinkedIn – Alumni and parents, professional

Where to invest your time

1. Videos (80% of students watch college videos)

2. Authentic student content

3. Student blogs (40% of students look for student blogs)

Focus group your content – only 28% of students find content relevant

Testing content

Determine parameters, text or visuals

A:B testing – run two different samples with randomized groups

Testing matrix – run a set of text samples with visual variations

Testing content

Engagement Rate

So

ft Lan

gu

ag

e

Dire

ct C

TA

Ind

irect C

TA

Offsite photo 2.9% 1.4% 0.7% 2.0%

Equipment 2.0% 1.6% 2.7% 2.2%

On site photo 1.4% 3.2% 1.0% 2.5%

2.3% 2.5% 1.6%

New developments

Facebook Live

Start the video from the page – but advertise in advance

Have a good connection and a power cord

Well viewed and interactions can be time coded

Facebook 360 photos

Take a panorama or use a special 360 photo app

Uses scrolling or phone accelerometer

Post as a normal photo and it will be recognized

Tip – Make sure that you complete the circle

360 video

YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook

Easiest is using a 360 video camera

Snapchat and Instagram stories

Find creative ways to share content in a coherent story

Use students

Events, FAQs, or even original stories

Keep learning

LinkedIn groups

HigherEdLive

CASE

Chegg/TargetX/NRCCUA – Social Admissions Report

Follow other schools

Ask questions!

Session F6