How to promote your college using social media

Prateek Chaudhuri

Agenda• Introduction• What is Social media• Popular Social Media Platforms• The story of evolution• Social Media Scenario• Benefits of social media in business• Social Media in education• Our objective• Our purpose• Whom are we targeting?• Hygiene Factors• Action plan• How do “we” do?• The never ending cycle

Introduction

Social Media is not MediaSocial Media is Social

• “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”-Oscar Wilde

• “You can’t just say it,you have to get the people to say it to each other”-Ford Motors

What is Social Media?

Popular Social media platformsCrowd Sourcing Blogs

Content Communities

Social Networking

Social Media: The story of Evolution

Social Media Scenario

• Number of Internet users has touched 2.10 billion• Facebook currently has 901 million active users• Number of e-mail accounts worldwide has crossed 3.20

billion*• Wikipedia has more than 75,000 active contributors• Number of active English language Blogs is about 450

million• 77% of active internet users read Blogs• 59% of bloggers have been blogging for more than 2 years*An user can have multiple e-mail accounts

Benefits of Social media in Business

• Reach : Anywhere ,Everywhere• Cost : Virtually “0”, except Time and effort• Feedback : Understanding the consumer needs• Collaboration and connection• Goodwill : Openness+ compassion=Honest

organization

Brand Awareness

Lead generation

Customer Acquisition

Retention and Loyalty

Social Media in EducationPrimary benefits :

• Today’s youth spends most of their web-time in social networking(once in every 6 mins. of the total time spent in web)

• The Web is the first stop for students looking for information on career ,colleges etc

• Wisdom of the crowd weeds out phony claims from colleges

Secondary benefits :

• Live, up-to-the-minute notices of commencement programs, homecoming events, class reunions through Twitter

• Podcasts, video blogs, student blogs and webcasts to share the work of students, faculty, visiting scholars and alumni, leading to recruitment opportunities

• Blogs and podcasts as pedagogical tools

Our Objectives

• Creating a social media promotional plan for a college

• Assumptions:It is a post graduate management collegeWe already have our own website We already have our ready student base

Our Purpose

• Creating awareness about the Institute

• Generating interest , engagement and participation

• Promoting the Institute through enriched content (articles, presentations etc.)

• Building trust ,credibility ,Relationships

• Conversion!!!

Whom are we targeting?

• Fresh graduates (Any Discipline)• Students in the final year of graduation• Graduates with work experience• Teachers (Decision Influencers)

Hygiene Factors

• Apt content• Quality of content– Relevance– Grammar/Form

• Authenticity of content– Honesty – Integrity

Action Plan

Plan of action

• Phase-1 : Internal Preparation!!Creating platformsCreating a dedicated teamDecide content,seggregate into sectionsDecide posting schedulesShowcase ContentAsk students to take it viral!!

Plan of Action

• Phase-2: Unleash & Measure !!“Reselling” the content: Re-engagingMonitoring the traffic generatedEvaluating the content

• Phase-3 : Pace up & EvaluateGather MomentumEvaluate results

How do “we” do ?

Phase-1 (1-3weeks) • Platforms : Students Blog, Facebook Page, LinkedIn group Blog to be hosted on the main site of the institution Tabbed layout for easy navigation• Team : I Chief editor, 2 assistant editors, Content Writers,2 for

each section. Content writers to “take ownership” of assigned sections I faculty member to supervise the entire effort

How do “we” do? (contd.)

• Content: Crisp ,relevant, authentic, to the point. Must be “in line of interest” of our targets Subdivided into 2 sections : I. News about the Institute : eg-Placement updates, Events etcII. News and Information w.r.t. the “Bigger world” : Articles on

economic situation, politics, marketing strategies and trends , sports, environment, upcoming technologies ,music, book reviews, movie reviews ,travelogue etc.

A tinge of “Fun” too: crosswords, sudoku, business quiz Showcase the “quality work” of students done as a part of

course curriculum e.g.: presentations, advertisements etc Final Mission : Make the viewers “Addicted”!!!

How do “we” do? (contd.)

• Posting Schedules : We needn’t be a “content” junkie First 3 months

Post one article each, every week, for the content creators Promote each on Facebook and Pagalguy as an effort of the

individual. Sharing and promoting to be done by individual Keep doing this till visitors to the blog start jumping articles Reduce the number of articles posted in a staggered

manner Subsequent schedules to be decided based on

evaluation of outcomes from Phase2 and 3

How do “we” do? (contd.)

• Take it Viral : Posting the links of the blog posts in individual facebook

status, linkedin id,3rd party forums like “pagalguy” to generate interest and to reach out

Ensuring that every “reader” of the post is redirected to our blog only

Remember : A “Story” published by a student has more chances of a hit than to one published by the institution itself.

How do “we” do? (contd.)

Phase-2: (Simultaneously & 3rd week onward) “Reselling” : Ensure healthy & engaging discussion through

regular comments Tone of the conversation should be humane, eager to listen,

open-minded towards any sort of feedback Empathetic Attitude is a must The team has to be active for 365 days,24X7. Intermittent

commenting and replying is a strict no-no• Monitoring the traffic generated: Popular topics Popular authors Popular forms of content Major contributors Build database of possible targets

How do “we” do? (contd.)

• Evaluation Involvement(no. of persons taking part, frequency etc) True reach (likes and shares) Level of influence (comments) Other parameters (Google Analytics) Weekly meeting of the “ student team” to discuss

results and performance with the Faculty member Back to the drawing board if results are not

satisfactory

How do “we” do? (contd.)

Phase 3 (6-8th week onwards)• Gathering momentum Ads on different mediums, banners and web-fettis Ads on conventional media-Preferably through promotional

articles in English magazines• Evaluating the overall performance Increase in number of hits and visits Increase in time spent in the blog Whether they are browsing the other sections of the main

website Increase in number of leads generated thereafter Measure Conversion ratio

‘The never ending cycle’

Social media strategy

Thank You