Social Media Goes to College:Building Your Campus Community

Jen Riehle (@ncsumarit)John Martin (@nematome)

NC State University, Office of Information Technology (@ncsu_oit)

Welcome!

What are we doing here?

Dealing with Policy

Making Your Plan

The Implementation

The Reckoning

Discussion & Questions

Disclaimers

This is not Social Media 101

We are not going to call it “Web 2.0”

We WILL tell you how to figure out if you should be using social media; what to use; how to implement it; how to make it work in a campus communityWe’re going to talk about integrating social media into your business plan and workflow and using it to improve your relationship with your constituency.

What is social media?

so●cial me●di●an.Def: Blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value

Wikipedia has several definitions but at its core says “blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value”With a definition like that, social media can include buying a latte at your local internet cafe. VERY broad.

We’re going to break it down a little into TYPES of social media TOOLS

Conversation Services

Facilitate conversation between users

Ex. Facebook, Twitter, Ning

Information Services

Serve as a (primarily) one-way communication

resource to users

Ex. Wikimedia, Blogger, WordPress

LinkedIn

Photo-sharing Services

Share photos

Ex. Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug

Video-sharing Services

Share video

Ex. YouTube, Vimeo

Could mention iTunesU here briefly

Location-based Services

Check-in at locations and events

Ex. FourSquare, TriOut, Yelp

The Tools

Twitter

Facebook

FourSquare

YouTube

Flickr

LinkedIn

WordPress

Wikimedia

Ning

Poll ‘em?Look around at who is using what!

Dealing with Policy

First, do no harm

Look for your University Communication Plan and/or Social Media Policy

Review the State “Social Media Best Practices” (12/09)

Be aware of Records Retention issues

State of NC has - Social Media Best Practices and tutorial (12/09) - No retention requirements specific to social media at this time (have them for e-mail and websites)NCSU has - communications plan- no social media plan YET - comm plan being redone

Do You Need a Policy?

Yes

Why You Need a Policy

Ensures you’re following policies and guidelines at university and state level

Gets buy-in from management

Helps lay groundwork for your Social Media Plan

Legitimizes the effort

Key Elements in a Policy...

Authenticity and Transparency

Protecting confidential Information (FERPA)

Copyright Concerns

Respecting Your Audience

Obeying Terms of Service

Brand and Naming Guidelines

Coke’s Policy:

1. Be Certified in the Social Media Certification Program. 2. Follow our Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies.3. Be mindful that you are representing the Company. 4. Fully disclose your affiliation with the Company.5. Keep records. 6. When in doubt, do not post. 7. Give credit where credit is due and don’t violate others’ rights.8. Be responsible to your work. 9. Remember that your local posts can have global significance. 10. Know that the Internet is permanent.

Making Your Plan

Your Plan, Your Rules

o So we talked about the policies and plans above you and they are importanto But if you want to use social media you have to decide for yourself WHAT to use, HOW and WHEN to use it, etc.o It’s your turn

1. What are your goals?

Determine your objectives:

Why are you here? What do you hope to achieve?

Find a niche and be an expert

Too many objectives? Consider multiple accounts

Want to offer customer service? Provide information?Be a resource when people need help? SME? Build a brand?

Ex: ncsu_oit, sysnews, ncsu_help

2. What tools should you use?

Conversation Tools (Twitter, Facebook)

Information Tools (blogs, wikis)

Photo-sharing (Flickr, Picasa)

Video-sharing (YouTube, Vimeo)

Location-based (Foursquare, TriOut)

DON’T USE EVERYTHING. No one needs all these.Evaluate each category and determine the categories and tools that best serve your purpose.

2. What tools should you use?

Who is your audience and what are they using?

What is the purpose of your message?

How many channels of communication can you commit to?

What channels are best for your message?

Audience: young, old, net users? One-way communication vs. two-way communication

3. Create/amend your business model

What outreach is already being done and how does this fit in?

Who/how many people will be doing this?

What will the workflow look like?

Will they be trained?

Will this be in the job description/work plan?

Try to find people who are passionate about this; that will make it easier to succeedIt takes a TEAM of peopleTraining in writing for the web; communicationsThis is not “goofing off”! This takes time and skill and needs to be considered a real responsibility

The Employee Factor

Other people in your organization are going to be using social mediaThe story of “Rick”

3.5. The Employee Factor

Educate employees about the communication plan and social media guidelines

Encourage them to participate in the community, when appropriate

Have guidelines for employees social media behavior

Opportunity to coach management

HOW TO: Handle an Employee's Controversial Online Behavior (Mashable Article)

Triage approach: 1) Assess the message, 2) Do you want to respond? 3) Evaluate the purpose of the post (Unhappy customer/Dedicated complainer/comedian want-to-be.

Create good habits: For every post: audience, context, purpose

4. Set Expectations

Consider your assets:

Do you already have some processes in place?

Do you have any in-house expertise?

How are your peers doing?

How much time and money are you investing in this endeavor?

Be realistic

If you plan to assess your success make sure you have some metrics in mind and that you do some work to track your success - later ROI slide

Warning: Preparedness

In case of emergency, have a plan

In case of negative interactions, have a plan

Warning: Security

Some scams, phishing attacks, hackers going after social media toolsFiresheep, Koobface,Keep computers secureKeep employees informed on the latest bad stuff

Koobface: Worm spread on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux to get sensitive information such as credit card numbers. Spread by sending e-mail to a friend to look at something that purportedly requires flash to up updated. When click on button to update flash, worm downloaded.

Remember...

You are not just making a plan to share information; you are making a plan to

build a community

You are making a social contract between you and your followers

Expectations about what you tweet, how often, your level of expertise in your niche, etc. There will be some expectation that if they direct something at you, you will respondYou must be able to meet and exceed their expectations or they will stop following you and, even worse, they’ll tell others to as well

The Implementation

Create Your Profile

And I don’t just mean ID and password...

CREATE YOUR IDENTITY / PERSONAFind a voice/tone and stick with it. Can be funny, cool, have a gimmick, whatever but goes with your social contract (audience expectations) so make it work

Crafting Your Post

Know your AUDIENCE

In what CONTEXT will your audience be reading?

What is the PURPOSE of your readers visit?

Audience

Student, Faculty, Staff (careful when mixed)Knowledge domain of your topic (IT)Don't bury the lead (“All faculty and staff will be attending an off-campus DE continuing education session on Thursday”)

Context

Electric sign or desktop or smartphone or iPadOperating systemIn a place where sound isn't appropriate?First time site visitor or repeat visitor?Potential "unique" context (Student Health Services website)

Purpose

- know what you’re trying to convey- know what they’re trying to accomplish (make it task-oriented)

Communicative Purpose

“That post is from NC State OIT!”

Example: NC State OIT Goal is for reader to say this. Short of that, "Oh that makes sense."

You are what you tweet

Advertising (workshops, seminars, services, events)

Announcements (outages, change management, security issues)

News (technology, education, technology in education)

Customer Engagement

Introduction to Excel 2007 Part 3 (formulas, macros, drop down lists) 04/22, 1:30-4:00, 6 seats left, More info/sign-up: http://idek.net/7U8

ncsu_oit

Advertising

Tiny URLs can be big security risk! (And you know Twitter uses them extensively.) http://oit.ncsu.edu/news-releases/tiny-urls-can-be-big-security-risks

ncsu_oit

Announcements

RT: @hfrankm3 NCSU's library lends all kinds of cool equipment... Including iPods & Kindles. [ & MUCH MORE! see http://idek.net/6F1 ]

RT: @higheredu STATS: U.S.A. Social Networking Rankings: http://tinyurl.com/9bply5 (Twitter in 17th [Hitwise] & 9th [Nielson] place resptvly)

ncsu_oit

News

Thanks for the follow. Welcome to NC State! Hope you enjoyed our IT presentation. :)

Yeah, first presentation I've stayed awake for the whole time haha

Ha! We're flattered! Best of luck in your time here, & don't hesitate to call on us if you have technology needs/problems while you're here.

Customer Engagement

More Engagement

Hashtags and Searches

Hashtags tie content into larger community themes#ncsu_oit, #orientation, #gopack

Makes tweets easier to find and aggregate

Proactive Customer Engagement story (matt woodward: “Taking action proactively.”)

Tools like Tweetdeck and Tweetgrid to follow multiple users and hashtags

Where did my tweets go?Twitter doesn’t save everything, so if you want to you need to 1. actively make that effort with a text file or 2. sign up for The Archivisit, TweetDumpr

Building Community

Make sure there is always someone listening (and responding!)

Reward contributions

Promote and encourage UGC

Use screen names and connect names with faces

Welcome n00bs, orient them

Connect with other local communities

Rules for Success1. Be authentic2. Have funYour audience will know if you’re not being yourself, if you’re not having fun; you won’t post because you’re frustrated.

The Reckoning

Reputation

Get into good habits

Pay attention to what’s being said about you

Deal with negative feedback

Find good resources and share your knowledgeEventually you will become the resource and you’ll get more followers

Tools like Tweetdeck and Tweetgrid to follow multiple users and hashtags

DON’T IGNORE IT. Take the high road; ask for feedback; move on

Return on Investment

First, have a goal (see: The Plan)

Use tools to monitor success:

Google analytics

URL shorteners that track usage (bit.ly, goo.gl)

Facebook pages monitor usage

Many new tools for monitoring social media usage

Tools: Omniture, ViralHeat (built with SAS analytics), ShareThis- Argyle Social downstairs

But what does “success” mean? Subjective AND objective

You are not in control

ANYONE can say ANYTHING at ANYTIMEPay attention

Try to take the high road. When it becomes abusive, you should deal with that.

When to Bail

It will take time

This is an enhancement, not a replacement

Don’t look at the number of people, look at the quality of connections

You’re using it whether you like it or not

Just because you haven’t posted in ages, does’t mean you should stop; DOES mean you should re-evaluate

Questions & Discussion

BIG PHOTO THANKS!

STÉFAN

Thank you!Jen Riehle (@ncsumarit)

John Martin (@nematome)NC State University Office of Information Technology (@ncsu_oit)

Please review this session!http://joind.in/talk/view/2014