“MEETING THEM WHERE THEY’RE AT”

UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA

IN STUDENT AFFAIRS

The University of Rhode Island, College Student Personnel Program

Team Leader: Stephanie GrejtakTeam Members: John Crisafulli

Megan Kielty

Daniel Trapani

LET’S TALK ABOUT…

• Institution & Department @ a Glance• Social Media @ a Glance• The BIG Picture: Linking the strategic plan to social media• Dining Services Goal & Social Media• Social Media Action Plan• The Current State of Affairs• Action Plan: Utilizing Facebook• Action Plan: Utilizing Twitter• Face the Challenges • Conclusion

Institution & department @ a glance

• The University of Rhode Island - Kingston, R.I.– Rural New England campus– 16,000 students

• Dining Services (Division of Student Affairs)– 2 main dining halls – Butterfield & Mainfare– 7 additional retail outlets– Approximately 4,500 resident students on board

plans– Customer = students, faculty, & staff

“At URI Dining Services, excellence is our mission.”

Social Media @ a Glance

• 500+ million active users

• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

• 70 translations available

• 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events & community pages)

CONNECTIONS

• 175 million registered users

• 95 million tweets are written per day

• Available in 6 different languages

• A tweet is 140 characters in length

• Hashtag = #; the conversations

CONVERSATIONS

• The National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS)

– 2009-2014 Strategic Plan Goal #2:

• “By 2014, assist institutional members with repositioning and/or elevating dining services on campus. A. Provide resources, such as materials, services, information, referrals and education on key issues and trends (wellness, sustainability, cost control, food, nutrition, et cetera). B. Increase use of technology to deliver products, services, information and education to members” (The National Association of College & University Food Services, 2011)

• The University of Rhode Island (URI) Student Affairs

– 2010-2015 Strategic Plan Goal #6:

• “Students utilize technology and are well informed of programs, services and events through the Divisions advanced use of technology” (Office of the Provost, 2011)

• Students want us to meet them on social media platforms

– “The final characteristic of the millennial students which guides the discussion on technology use centers around their high expectations and demand for customer service, both of which impact the delivery of traditional student affairs services” (Oblinger, 2003 in Coleman, Little, and Lester, 2006, p. 221)

Linking social media technology to NACUFS, URI Student Affairs’ strategic plan, & our students

The big picture

Dining Services goals

• Enriching the experiences of the customers in a positive & attentive way

- Engage & maintain an open dialogue with customer in “their space”

- Provide customers with valuable information in a fast-paced & friendly form

- Make the changes elicited by feedback to enrich customer experience

- Personal way to connect customer with important operational information

- e.g., menu, special events, hours of operation/closings

• Service-Oriented Team

- Platform to elicit customer service feedback

- Opportunity for the department to respond to such feedback- Create a fun, dynamic, & creative means to serve customers

  

Meeting the department’s major goals through the use of social media

• As of 2/2011 only 43 people “Like”

• Little/no user-generated content

• Latest photo album is 4 months old

• No conversation happening

• Menus & events are out of date

• Not utilizing full graphic space on the left-hand side

Current Facebook Status:

Dining Services

•As of 2/2011 only 61 followers

•Little/no user-generated content

ˉNo “retweets”

ˉNo “hashtags”

•Only 58 tweets

•Currently not following any other users

Current Twitter Status:

Dining Services

Social Media Action Plan

• Branded, unified, & committed social media plan• Can be implemented across any URI Student Affairs

Department• Facebook

– Educate staff on all of the Facebook tools– Marketing/Branding– Drive user-generated content– Engage students in “their space”

• Twitter– Partner with URI Branded twitter– Utilize Twitter

− Use Places Function− Link to Students Mobile Devices− Make the experience personal− Monitor but avoid censoring

− Start the conversation− Participate in the conversation

• Educate staff on all of the Facebook tools– Analytics: track interactions with your page– Lists: use lists to organize all department connections– Fan page: open to all users – parents, students, staff & faculty

• Group pages are not as effective at reaching the audience

• Marketing/Branding– Make social media a part of your brand– Include Facebook “button” on all Dining Services collateral– Advertise Facebook in dining halls & retail outlets

• Marketing with QR codes– Allows students to access Facebook page instantly with mobile devices

Try it! It works!

Action Plan: Utilizing facebook

Scan the QR code with your smartphone & instantly connect to the URI Dining Services Facebook Page!

• Drive user-generated content

– Use status updates to ask questions & poll students

• Poll about services, new products, menu changes, specials, & events

– Start a conversation – avoid replicating existing departmental website

• Engage students in “their space”

– Create photo albums where students can tag themselves & their friends

– Host competitions & events that encourage student engagement

• Potential competitions: URI Iron Chef, Creative Concoctions

Action Plan: utilizing facebook

• Encourage users to check-in to dining halls using “Places” function

– Students can utilize the check in tool to:

• Notify friends which dining hall there are

• Notify students of lines at specific locations

• Provide up-to-date menu information so students can access quickly from mobile device

• Make the Facebook experience personal

– Respond to student questions, concerns & complaints

– Make a public show of customer service

• Monitor for misinformation but avoid censoring

Action Plan: utilizing facebook

• High number of “Likes”• User generated content• Conversation & customer service

This is great!

Case Study

Action Plan: Utilizing Twitter

• Partner with URI Branded twitter accounts to drive followers– @URINews (2,359 followers), @Rhodytweets (769 followers), &

@gorhodyrams (1,334 Followers) – Follow all the people following the above users to maximize

exposure

• Utilize twitter’s capabilities– Lists – strategic way to organize who you are following &

maximize ease of use – e.g. competitors, partners, etc.– Search & follow #hashtags & “hot topics” – Each morning search Twitter for each retail outlet - “listen” &

join the conversation!

Action Plan: Utilizing Twitter

• Start the conversation! – Utilize the success of the other URI twitter accounts

• Example: If @URINews has 2,359 followers join their conversation!

– Create hashtags (e.g. #Dinnerathope, #dinneratthebutt)

• Participate in the conversation! – Retweet all user generated content centered around dining

experience, nutrition, & food – make information accessible– Respond to any customer questions or concern

• Personalize the Twitter experience

Try it! It works!

Scan the QR code with your smartphone & instantly connect to the URI Dining Services Facebook Page!

• There is a “conversation” happening via Retweets & Hashtags

• User-generated content

• Clear branding

• Following others

Case Study

POTENTIAL DIFFICULTIES

• Anxiety around starting social media campaign?– Be inventive – find unique ways to get customer’s attention– Be patient – real engagement won’t happen instantly & without effort– Be proactive – find & start the conversations, talk with the customers, &

continue to stay educated on tools– Be a part of the conversation – do not fear negative talk, respond to it

• Perceived lack of resources? – Be realistic – it does not have to be a full time position, staff in a way that

makes sense for your department– Be resourceful – utilize the social media gurus that you have (e.g., student

workers)

• Lack of education around social media tools?– Be committed – educate your staff on the unique tools associated with

each platform– Be your own teacher – take the time to use the tools before you write

them off

Conclusion

“Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we think.” (Social nomics09)

• Participate

– Social Media is changing the way we communicate & higher education must be a part of the conversation

• Adapt

– There have been shifts & developments in technology & communication throughout history & higher education has been able to adapt to those changes

• Commit

– Higher education must commit to both understanding the trends & the proper use of the technology

• Involvement

– Increased involvement equals increased learning (Astin, 1984)

– Utilizing social media platforms creates a new opportunity for student affairs departments to involve students & increase learning

References

Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.

 BU Dining Services (n.d.). In Twitter. [Profile]. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://twitter.com/#!/BUDiningService

Cabellon, E. (2010, February, 22) The power of Facebook and Twitter Lists (Blog Posts). Retrieved from http://edcabellon.com/tech/lists

Coleman, J. K., Little, S. D., & Lester, A. (2006). Connecting services to students: New technology and implications for student affairs. The College Student Affairs journal, 25(2), 220-227.

 Facebook. (2011). Press room. Retrieved from

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics Office of the Provost. (2011). URI strategic plans. Retrieved from

http://www.uri.edu/provost/planning/planningadditionalinfo.html 

 Pomerantz, N. E. (2006). Student engagement: A new paradigm for student affairs.

College Student Affairs Journal, 25(2), 176-185.

University of Rhode Island Dining Services (n.d.). In Facebook. [Facebook]. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.facebook.com/pages/University-of-Rhode-Island-Dining-Services/155772934444613

UNH Dining (n.d.). In Facebook. [Fan Page]. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.facebook.com/unhdining

URI Dining Services (n.d.) In Twitter. [Profile]. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://twitter.com/#!/uridining

The National Association of College & University Food Services. (2011). Strategic plan. Retrieved from http://www.nacufs.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3312%00

 Twitter. (2011). About twitter. Retrieved from htatp://twitter.com/about

References