Social media plan project for Eastern Michigan University

1. Universities & Social Media
John Rice, Emily Vontom & Pamela Young Setla

2. Why?
• Eastern Michigan University needs to step up
it up in the game of social media
• We want to create a social media plan for EMU
that brings the social media program under the
direction of a social media team
• We also need to increase awareness of EMU’s
social media presence on campus

3. Who We Followed
In order to get a better • Baylor University
understanding of how • College of St. Rose
social media can work in a • University of Michigan
university environment, we
followed 13 different • University of Wisconsin
universities and their social • University of Oregon
media efforts. These • Howard University
universities came from all • Bowling Green State University
over the country from very
different regions. We also
• San Diego State University
studied EMU’s social media • University of Mississippi
in order to see how we • University of Nebraska
compared. • University of Kansas
• University of Florida
• Marquette University

4. What We Followed
• All of these universities had at least a Twitter,
Facebook and YouTube account
• A little over half had a university blog (some
used Tumblr or WordPress as their blogging
platform!)
• Most of the universities used other social
media platforms, including: Flickr, Pinterest,
iTunes U, LinkedIn, G+, FourSquare and
Tumblr

5. Tweet, tweet!
• @umich: University of Michigan Social Media presentation slides available
now! slidesha.re/L1Weyi via @slideshare #UMSocial
• @CollegeofStRose: Political Science alum reflects on the Saint Rose
Difference: wp.me/p1USHw-5N via @SaintRoseGrad
• @marquetteu: Almost forgot about #TuesdayTrivia! Let’s do this in 10
minutes. Follow @FatherMarquette for your question of the day.
• @uwmadison: @SconnieP14 @uwnewstudent is using #uwsoar to promote
SOAR! Thanks for your help.
• @OleMissRebels: Sunny Day on campus instagr.am/p/Lf1sm5q2ao/

6. YouTube
• Bowling Green State University:
Student Money Management Services
• Marquette University:
Alumni share words of wisdom for Class of 2012
• San Diego State University:
From Students to CEOs
• University of Kansas:
KU Traditions – The Cheer
• University of Florida:
A Better Tasting Tomato – Research Spotlight

7. Blogs
• St. Rose
• San Diego State University
• Marquette University
• Eastern Michigan University

8. Interview with Kayla at St. Rose
• The overall goal is to emphasize is recruitment
• “I see tweets and specific questions. It’s a more personalized
experience. Students have more trust in social media when they
connect with current students.”
• “I personally don’t include the website in the category of social
media. Social media is two-way communication.”
• “The major difference now is getting everyone to understand social
media and making sure all are working together. while social media
is largely free, you need someone to run it.”

9. Kayla at St. Rose, cont.
• “With Facebook, you need someone to monitor it so people can post.
I did a lot of research about social media policy and that was
approved. It is a two-three page document. It has to be appropriate
on the channel or we’ll take stuff down.
• At the moment, we have enough resources to do what we are doing.
We have work study students; online ambassadors are blogging for
the college – three are paid students. This is sustainable. Editing the
video, getting footage – we use students.”

10. Kayla at St. Rose, cont.
• If someone wants to start a social media program at a University:
– Pick a few things to focus on
– Before I started, I laid out a 30-day plan because it is easy to get lost!
– At least on a simple basis, track what is happening.
– Before starting or revamping, review what is successful and what isn’t successful.
– Meet with different officers: admissions, alumni, etc.
– Alumni are tricky! Older alumni push back, but you must remember it is
important to connect with people.
– Social media can be used with traditional media, too.

11. What We Learned
• We aren’t the only University with social
media “issues.”
• There is a lot more we can do with our
social media channels.
• We know how to make Eastern’s social
media presence one of the best in the
country.

13. Social Media Plan
Eastern Michigan University
John Rice, Emily Vontom & Pamela Young Setla

14. Situation Statement
• Enhance Eastern Michigan University’s social
media presence in order to reach potential and
current students, alumni, faculty and staff
more effectively and build a stronger dialogue.
• Build a strong unified social media presence
that will enable us to be a leader amongst
universities in a competitive social media
environment.

15. Challenges & Opportunities
• Challenges
– Our audience is not being engaged with in a way that will make them want to
come back.
– Lack of cohesiveness in social media throughout the University.
– Social media channels are not updated often enough or at all.
– We don’t have a social media strategy or team in place to ensure the University’s
social media is correctly utilized.
– Great content gets buried by filler posts.
• Opportunities
– Social media channels are already in place and ready to be used.
– We have large following waiting to be engaged and interacted with.
– We have the resources (a great videographer, photographer, and knowledge) that
can produce solid content.
– There is expertise on campus that can be utilized.

16. Objectives
• Create a more socially engaged and online campus community.
• Make our social media platforms more attractive and thus more
engaging and effective.
• Enhance Eastern’s reputation through social media to get people
excited to come here, be here and be apart of the community.
• Bring together social and academic experiences.

17. Tactics
• Use already established social media platforms to reach out and
engage campus community, alumni, prospective students and
outside community – and use these resources correctly.
• Make quick fixes – quickly!
• Create a social media dashboard on emich.edu website.
• Create and hand-out social media cards.
• Use of all the social media listed on the following slides…

18. Facebook
• Facebook
– Facebook should be updated at least once daily in addition to engaging with
followers who post comments and questions as often as possible.
• Short Term Objectives
– Create a more engaged following on Facebook to better represent the University.
– Create engaging and useful content for followers.
– Update cover photo.
– Add social media policy.
• Ex: University of Michigan
• Key Metrics
– Followers
– Likes, shares and comments
– Interactions
– Use Facebook metrics
• Overview, likes, reach, talking about this, check-ins.

19. Twitter
• Tweets
– Tweeting should happen daily, at least once an hour with original content and as
often as possible when engaging with followers.
• Short Term Objectives
– Our Twitter handle shouldn’t be @EMU_Swoop – it should be something like:
@emich, @easternmichiganu, @emu, etc.
– Promotion of other Eastern social media outlets through Twitter.
– Follow all Eastern related Twitter accounts – departments, schools, athletic
teams, coaches, etc.
– Engage with current followers on a consistent basis with original content
– Update profile, background picture, colors, etc.
• Key Metrics
– Number of followers
– Daily comments, mentions and RTs

20. Blogging
• Blogging:
– Blogs should be posted at least three times weekly or once daily.
– Blogs should be mostly written by students, but alumni, faculty and staff “guest
blogs” would be good to incorporate every now and then.
• Short Term Objectives:
– Create an editorial calendar & blog publication schedule.
– Add an RSS button.
– Use real pictures in blog posts not clip art. And give credit for pictures.
– Add a blog roll with EMU related blogs and other blogs that relate.
– Update links on blog and update blog layout.
• Key Metrics:
– Subscribers
– Audience growth
– Number of posts and comments
– Directory listings

21. YouTube
• Video Posting
• Update with a new video at least once weekly with material from the Eastern
videographer and other University channels (athletics, campus life, etc.).
• Short Term Objectives
• Maintain consistent posting schedule.
• Link to other Eastern YouTube channels.
• Encourage students to contribute.
• Link to YouTube on Eastern video page and/or possibly embed videos instead of
hosting them.
• Always post YouTube video links to Facebook.
• Key Metrics
• Subscribers
• Video comments
• Video views

22. Flickr
• Picture Posting
– New pictures should be posted at least once weekly.
– Currently, our Flickr account has not been updated since 2010! If we see that
Flickr still isn’t getting hits after a “makeover,” then we should consider getting
rid of it.
– We have a great photographer who takes amazing photographs.
• Short Term Objectives
– Update Flickr account on a regular basis.
– Encourage student contributions to the Flickr page.
– Always post pictures to Facebook as well – either links to Flickr albums, or
“teaser” albums.
• Key Metrics
– Comments
– Views
– Contacts

23. Pinterest
• Pinning
– Pinning should be done at least two to three times weekly.
– Ex: Michigan and Ole Miss
• Short Term Objectives
– Create pin boards that engage the University community.
• Ex: athletics, academics, history, alumni, clothing, game day, Ypsilanti, etc.
– Encourage students to contribute.
• Key Metrics
– Followers
– Repins
– Comments

24. Recommendations
• Create a social media position in the Division of Communications.
– Establishing the position would allow Eastern to really see how important social
media is and how much more important it is for social media to done.
• Create a social media team with a director and staff.
– Creating a social media team gives full direction and responsibility of social
media to the University instead of an outside team that isn’t fully connected to
the campus community.
• Create social media policy for the University.
– Ex: University of Michigan, University of Florida, College of Saint Rose

25. Recommendations
• Create a social media card!
– Ex: College of Saint Rose
• Social media dashboard or landing page.
– Ex: Marquette, San Diego State University, University of Michigan
• Get rid of MySpace!
• While MySpace users do exist, it is rare that they are on it these days for anything but music and friends.

26. Timeline & Budget
• Timeline
– Implement plan with current staff, but have an eye towards what we really need.
– After a 30-day evaluation and implementation period, a 90-day evaluation period
should be completed to monitor changes to social media and social media policy.
– Once the 90-day evaluation is done, a recommendation can be made for creating
a new position and hiring a social media manager or director.
• Budget
– We estimate that we spend on social media agencies what we could spend on one
(maybe two) staff member(s) (to work directly with social media) plus social
media tools.
– It only costs $10/month to purchase the pro version of HootSuite.

27. Evaluation
• Increases, increases, increases!
– Monitor everything!
– Monitor Facebook likes, comments, shares, etc.
– Monitor YouTube views.
– Monitor Twitter followers, tweets, retweets, etc
• We already have the resources, they just need to be used more
effectively!
• Moving forward, we need to evaluate the results of the impact of a
more focused social media effort on existing resources, looking
toward the possibility of adding a dedicated manager or director of
social media.

28. Conclusion
• Eastern Michigan’s social media platforms are in rough shape (but,
they aren’t the only university that needs a bit of help!).
• Some improvements could be done quickly that would yield quick
and obvious results.
• Social media is here to stay. The big ones (Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, blogs) must be given immediate focus.
• Must keep an eye on social media trends.
• We must take steps forward and utilize our social media correctly
and effectively! We can’t just let it sit and hope for results.