CUTTING THROUGHTHE CONTENT CLUTTEROR … HOW TO STAND OUT IN THE CROWD

Dr. Kay O’Donnell, North Central College, Naperville, Ill.

THE GOOD NEWS … Social media offers

channels for reaching a larger audience than ever before.

Social media transcends age, race, culture, socio-economic status, etc. unlike traditional media.

AUDIENCE + BRAND LOYALTY

For student media this means: current students, prospective students, alum, extended family and more.

CREATING THAT LOYALTY … Takes time, patience

and dedicated effort (and sometimes money) to grow and maintain an audience – these can be in short supply for student media.

WHERE’S THE AUDIENCE? – PEW ’15

72% of online U.S. adults 82% between 18-29 31% of online U.S. adults 37% between 18-29

28% of online U.S. adults 55% between 18-29

GETTING STARTED: Know your audience How do they get information? Pick the most relevant social

media forms for your audience: Twitter vs. Instagram

The 80% to 20% rule

80/20 RULE AT WORK

80%

20%

MAKE A PLAN ~ THE BIG 3

Designated person or, preferably, team

What’s your voice? what type of messages matter? tone/style of the content

Schedule posts: routine/consistency is important

CASE STUDY: NCClinked.com

NCClinked.com The website is the product Maintains 3 primary channels (FB, Twitter,

Instagram) and 2 secondary (YouTube, Pinterest)

Social media serves two functions: drive traffic to the site offer original “social-only” content

content serves to heighten NCClinked brand

DRIVING TRAFFIC …

DRIVING TRAFFIC …

2½ year period

‘ORGANIC’ CONNECTION:

‘BOOSTED’ CONNECTION:

INSTAGRAM ~ ALL ABOUT IMAGE

RAISING THE BAR

DATA TELL STORIES: lessons?

DATA TELL STORIES: lessons?

WHAT’S YOUR STORY?