Millennials / Generation Z & Social MediaMeeting Students Where They Are

Ashley Houston (Chair) - GoAbroad.com

Mandy Reinig - St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Jeramy Johnson - Academic Programs International

Presenters

Outline● Current state of social

media

● Emerging trends

● Examples & Best Practices

● Q&A

Current State of Social Media in IE

▣ Why do we use social media in IE?

▣ What are people currently using□ Professionals□ Students

▣ Based on what students are using, what channels might you need to start using or change your use of?

Why do we use social media?

Recruit/Promote

Engage

Create/Build Community

Monitor

Why do you use social media?

Potential Survey Conclusions

● Is Facebook really dying?

● Do you need to start engaging on more channels?

Question:What trends are driving social media

today?

Emerging Trends: Visual Media“This massive, technology-driven shift in communication is changing the way brands and consumers interact with one another, and has heralded the rise of what people in the ad world are calling the Visual Web.” - Ari Lewine, WSJ

Emerging Trends: Visual Media

● The emerging social networks are ones that focus on the visual mediumo A picture is worth 1000 words!

● Prevalence of camera-enabled mobile devices driving move to visual media sharing

● Information can be communicated easier, faster visually than through text (or audio)

● We’ve made the shift from “tell” to “show”...

Meerkat & Periscope

Stickers, Emojis, & Videos, Oh My!

Time for some stats!

Emerging Trends: Engagement

● Posts with photos receive 2x more likes than those with text on Facebook

● Video sharing on Facebook increased 50% in 2014Sources: Hootsuite Blog; VFM Leonardo, Social Media Examiner

Emerging Trends: Engagement

● Instagram engagement up 416% in the past two years, and posts generated 58x more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120x more than Twitter

● Roughly 1/2 (53%) of adults 18-19 use Instagram; 1/4 of all adults do (26%)

● 49% of Instagram users visit on a daily basis; 60% of Snapchat users are active on a daily basis

Sources: Adweek, Brandwatch, Emarsys, Socially Sorted, Pew Internet Research

Emerging Trends: Engagement

● Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram each gained more than 100 million users in 2014

● 80% of pins are repins

Sources: Adweek, Brandwatch, Emarsys, Socially Sorted, Pew Internet Research

Emerging Trends: Messaging Apps

Private/Group messaging apps (which heavily feature photos / videos / stickers) were the biggest boom of 2014

o 67% increase in Snapchat user baseo 30% increase in WhatsApp user baseo 14% increase in WeChat user baseo 700 million photos; 100 million video messages sent PER

DAY on these networks aloneSource: Jacqueline Woerner, Emarsys

Emerging Trends: Visual Search

● Tumblr and Pinterest platforms now growing even faster than Instagram

● Snapchat is the fastest growing mobile app. It’s also the youngest social network (60% of users are in 18-24 demographic)

Sources: TechCrunch, Socially Sorted, Business Insider, iMediaConnection

Emerging Trends: Trending Networks

Best Practices - Moving Forward

● Understand & know your audience

● How to find success with different platforms

● Examples: What are your colleagues doing that’s effective

● Actionable next steps

Millennials & Gen Z: Who are they?

● Most educated generation in history

● Most racially diverse, tolerant of LGBTQ community, open-minded

● Utilitarian, idealistic, concerned about putting the good of society in front of self, want to make a positive impact

● They value: authenticity and transparency

Millennials & Gen Z: How does this play in?

● Tech savvy group

● 80% use social several times a day

● Use it to make decisions: social shoppers

● Less trusting & more skeptical of institutions (matters in what they pay attention to)

● 99% of our target market, & an increasingly growing % of IE staff

Is it Effective

or Positive?

What catches student interest?

● “We need your help”● Infographics● Videos● Adventurous or odd

cultural photos● Travel quotes● Useful tools or

resources● Student reviews,

interviews, testimonials● Pictures from site

locations ● Contests, discounts,

travel deals● U.S. News updates● Buzzfeed posts ● Alumni blogs● Teach/Jobs Abroad

Mobile platforms shine!

Source: Mashable

Examples of Success: Instagram

Reposts Tag a friend!

Student photos

Share tips & tricks!

How to Find Success: Snapchat● Program discount or app fee waiver● Announcing new programs● Behind the scenes look at sites● Example: WWF’s #LastSelfie Campaign

Source: TechCrunch

Examples of Success: Tumblr

Source: Instagram Tumblr

Source: Matador Network Tumblr Source: API Tumblr

Source: HuffPostTaste Tumblr

Source: Dr. Who Tumblr

Examples of Success: LinkedIn

Share updates, events, jobs

Communicate deadlines Share alumni

programming

Examples of Success: Twitter

Alumni tips!

Deadlines

Engage! Get their attention!

Use existing content on a new platform

Create specific boards

Optimize your description

Create visual, shareable content

Provide what your audience wants

Examples of Success: Pinterest

Make playlists

Create program specific categories

Promote vlogging!

Optimize your description/tags

Examples of

Success: YouTube

Examples of

Success: Facebook

Actionable Next Steps

How can you connect with students on your existing platforms (or new platforms) to more effectively meet your organizational and/or marketing goals?

#Hashtag Contest

Challenge: Using the #NAFSA15 hashtag & #GenZMedia on Instagram, Meerkat, or Periscope, document behind the scenes life at NAFSA through an image or video

Deadline: Saturday, May 30th (winner chosen the following week)

Prize: Social media swag bag from GoAbroad/GoMedia, API, & St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Thanks!Any questions?

Ashley HoustonOutreach Manager, GoAbroadashley.houston@goabroad.com@midwestash

Jeramy JohnsonVice President of Marketing & Developmentjeramy.johnson@apiabroad.com@jeramyutgw

Mandy ReinigDirector of International Education, St. Mary’s College of Marylandarreinig@smcm.edu@MandysMashups

‘’● “Are You Prepared for Visual Social Media Marketing?” Krista Neher -

ClickZ● “Outside Voices: The Visual Web is Changing Everything in Media and

Advertising” Ari Lewine, WSJ● “The 7 Social Media Trends Dominating 2015” Jacqueline Woerner,

Emarsys● “7 Takeaways from Social Media Marketing World 2015” Donna Moritz,

SME● “The Shift to Visual Social Media - 6 tips for Business [Infographic]” -

Donna Mortiz - Socially Sorted● “Top 9 Social Media Trends for 2015” - Ruxandra Mindruta, Brandwatch● “Social Media and Storytelling, Part 4: The Growth of Visual Storytelling”

Cameron Uganec, Hootsuite● “Social Media Update 2014” - Maeve Duggan, Nicole B. Ellison, Cliff

Lampe, Amanda Lenhart, Mary Madden, Pew Research Center● “The Top Demographic Trends for Every Major Social Network” - Thiago

Guimarães, Business Insider● “Tumblr Overtakes Instagram as Fastest-Growing Social Platform,

Snapchat is the Fastest-Growing App” - Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch● “28 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2015 From the Pros” - Cindy

King, Social Media Examiner● “Visual Storytelling Using Social Media” - Sarah Eva Monroe -

SlideShare● “Why Your Brand will Love Snapchat in 2015” - Tom Edwards,

iMediaConnection

References