your data-driven social media strategy

Your Data-Driven

Social Media Strategy

Alaina Wiens

@alainawiens

Goals

Channels

ContentMeasure

Evaluate

Social Media Strategy

Goal-Setting

Measurable

goals set the

foundation for a

strong social

media strategy.

Image Source:

http://2wheelsdown.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/my-first-brick/

Goal-Setting

• What do you hope to accomplish?

• What audience to you hope to reach?

• What kind of community do you want to

build?

• What results can you hope to achieve?

• Can these results be quantified?

• How will you know when you’ve been

successful?

“ We want UM-Flint’s social networks

to be online communities, where not

only the content—but the experience

itself—reinforces our brand. At the

University of Michigan-Flint,

everyone matters.

UM-Flint’s Goals

1. Grow the university’s online communities

within in-use and new social networks.

2. Increase engagement and participation

within these communities.

Choosing

Channels

Choosing Channels

• Which social networks will best help you

reach your goals?

• Which is preferred or most-used among your

target audience?

• Which networks will best allow you to

connect with your potential community?

Concentrate your

efforts first where

your audience

already lives—

make the

relationship

barrier-free.

Image Source:

http://www.njpsfence.com/

Concentrate on

what you can

do well.

Image Source:

http://www.matsugov.us/planning/index.php

“ Because the university is already

engaged on Facebook, Twitter,

YouTube, Flickr, and Foursquare, we

are not in a position to choose

channels from scratch. Instead, our

choices concern the channels on

which to focus our energy.

Find Your Data

• Published research

• Your own research

• Your own experience

• Your established communities

• Your colleagues

Content

Content

• How will you communicate?

• What matters to your audience?

• What content is the most engaging?

• How can you best be part of your

community?

• What messaging will help you reach your

goals?

“ People like to know what’s

happening on campus, they want to

be able to provide feedback to the

university, and they like to see

themselves and their peers featured

in photos and videos.

Find Your Data

• Published research

• Your own research

• Your own experience

• Your established communities

• Your colleagues

Find Your Content

• Editorial meetings

• Contacts across your campus

• Content calendar

• Student newspaper

• Other social channels

Evaluation

Evaluation

• What metrics will measure your success?

• Is your content reaching your audience?

• Is your messaging effective?

• Is your community engaged?

• Have your goals been reached?

“ Our goal is to identify trends for what

works (or doesn’t) over time.

Comparative reports will be compiled

on a quarterly basis.

Some Examples

Facebook

• Percentage of growth per quarter in: total likes, people talking about this, and total reach

• Most and least successful content per quarter using post-level data categorized by content type

Twitter

• Percentage of growth per quarter in: total followers, interactions (mentions and retweets)

• Most consumed content per quarter using click-through and share rates

What does

success look

like?

Image Source: http://memeorama.com/exploitables/success-kid-meme-

template-blank/

Find Your Metrics

• Insights

• Reach

• Impressions

• Click-throughs

• Influencers

• Interactions

• Growth

• Followers

• Likes

• Conversation

• Trends

• Spikes

Adaptation

Adaptation

• What is most successful?

• Are you making progress toward your goal?

• Is your goal still relevant to your community?

• Is your community still the same?

• Where can/should you adjust your methods?

Your Communities

• Communities build themselves.

• Communities change over time.

• Demographics may change.

• Behavior may change.

Goals

Channels

ContentMeasure

Evaluate

Social Media Strategy

Resources

• Noel-Levitz

• Meet Content

• EDUniverse

• FollowEDU

• BlogHighEd

• Higher Ed Live

• Link: The Journal of

Higher Education Web Professionals

• uwebd

• .eduGuru

• “The community <3”

Questions?