Social Media:What does it meme?

About Us

• Alabama’s oldest public institution

– Founded in 1831

– Located in Tuscaloosa, AL• City population- 96,000

• County population- 206,000

– 38,563 student enrollment• 7,407 freshman class

• 56% out-of-state

• 41% in-state

• UA ranked 51st among public universities in the 2018 rankings.

• 500+ National Merit Scholars, 51 Goldwater Scholars,15 Rhodes Scholars, 16 Truman Scholars, 32 Hollings Scholars, and 11 Boren Scholars.

• 17 football National Championships

• Established 1995

• Campus Enterprise Level System

• Employees: 10 FTE’s, 3 Students

• Campus Category: Service Center

• Technical Support: Information Technology

• 8.4 million annual card swipes

• $22 million annual debit card sales transactions

• 70,000 active cardholders

• 100 off campus merchants

• 13 campus systems integrations

Getting to Know Generation Z

• Born mid 1990’s or later

– Currently at your institutions

• Also known as the iGen, iGeneration, Homeland Generation, Post-Millennials

Generation Z vs. Millennials

• Millennials

– Confident and achieving

– Team-Oriented

– Pressured

– Conventional

– Saw rise of technology

• Gen Z– Financially sensible

– Entrepreneurship is engrained

– Digitally native

– Master of personal branding

– Multi-tasker but less focused

– Individuality

Social Media Platforms

• Facebook

– May not see responses to your posts from the students but they see them

• Gen Z often retain a Facebook account but geared more towards family

• Connect with their parents on Facebook

– 1-2 times a day

– Algorithms weed out graphics and multiple posts

Social Media Platforms

• Instagram– Photo and video sharing app

– Very popular with Gen Z to communicate with friends and peers

– Boomerang- an app that makes short video clips used primarily for Instagram

– 1-2 posts per day recommended

– Instagram stories for events, use hashtags and locations

– Put information in caption because graphics will not do well

Social Media Platforms

Social Media Platforms

• Twitter

– Recently doubled the amount of characters from 140 to 280

– Great analytics• Impressions, media views, demographics

– More students and younger crowd using this

– Tweet up to 6-8 times a day

Social Media Platforms

Social Media Platforms

Social Media Platforms

• Snapchat

– Privately share photos and videos between users and create public Snapchat stories

– UA encouraging departments not to create accounts, but to use UA account

– Difficult to gain followers

Social Media Platforms• Filters and geotags are an inexpensive way to

promote brand awareness

Social Media Platforms

Name Cost Start Time End Time Swipes Uses Views

Bonfire - Quad $62.26 10/13/2017 17:00 10/13/2017 21:00 1,693 942 75,714

Homecoming - Corner $229.87 10/14/2017 9:00 10/14/2017 22:00 1,923 374 17,060

Homecoming - Ferg $65.93 10/14/2017 9:00 10/14/2017 22:00 544 171 26,316

Homecoming - Quad $285.15 10/14/2017 9:00 10/14/2017 22:00 3,617 898 98,956

Homecoming - TownCenter $169.77 10/14/2017 9:00 10/14/2017 22:00 2,341 477 25,798

Beat Ole Miss - TC $56.80 9/30/2017 10:00 9/30/2017 19:00 1,818 303 20,071

Beat Ole Miss - Quad $188.61 9/30/2017 10:00 9/30/2017 19:00 3,745 771 69,049

Beat Ole Miss - Ferg $58.19 9/30/2017 10:00 9/30/2017 19:00 367 94 3,666

Beat Ole Miss - Corner $26.92 9/30/2017 10:00 9/30/2017 20:00 1,443 365 17,419

Total $1,143.50 17,491 4,395 354,049

General Tips• Try not to share to all social media at the same time• Try out using emojis in all platforms (not too many)• GIFs and Boomerangs• Hashtags

– Searchable or funny

• Check for parody accounts when tagging• Casual, brief communication style• Use natural photos

– Students love to see themselves!

• Educate with humor• Limit use of graphics• Photos should reflect diversity on campus

Social Media Culture

• TXTspeak

– DYK

– ICYMI

– GOAT

– LOL

– IDK

– IDC

• Translation

– Did You Know?

– In Case You Missed It

– Greatest Of All Time

– Laugh Out Loud

– I Don't Know

– I Don't Care

Social Media Culture

Social Media Culture

• TXTspeak you probably don’t want to use but will see

– LMAO

– AF

– WTF

– STFU

• When in doubt…Google

Social Media Culture• Slang

– Savage– Dead– Shade– At me (@ me)– On point– Fleek– Slay– Yasss or Yaaas– Bae– Clap back– Lit– Oh snap– Salty

Know what these mean before using them on social media!

On point, savage, and lit are most often used throughout university-run accounts.

Social Media Culture

• Emojis

– Also combined with slang ,

– Used to express idea/words without taking up space

Memes: The Internet Defines Humor

Meme: an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one

individual to another by non genetic means, especially imitation.

● a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc., that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread

rapidly by Internet users.

Memes: The Internet Defines Humor

Get the Conversation Started

Get the Conversation Started

Embrace What They Like

Interaction with Other Departments• Show cohesion

between departments

• Can extend reach to students not yet following your accounts

• Gives individual personalities to each department

Interaction with Other Departments

Gaining Followers

• Promotion, promotion, promotion

-Who doesn’t love free stuff?

- Exciting news

• Utilize other university accounts (especially

the “main” one)

• Orientation is prime time for freshman

(#UA22)

• Get verified

Responding to Negativity

• Follow institution's protocol regarding negative comments

• Offer to speak privately via direct message, e-mail or phone

What’s the point?

• Social media gives your department the opportunity to share vital information to your students directly

– and it’s FREE

• Drives up off-campus vendor interest

• Shows that your office is staying up to date

• Makes your office part of the university family and its online presence

The Most Important Thing:

Remember that it’s your university, your campus, your card office. You have the upper hand in

running social media because you have these three things in common with your audience.

And just have fun!

Contact: HMU (Hit Me Up)

Courtney Gilley

205-348-3440

cgilley@fa.ua.edu

@ActionCard on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!