Social Media and the University of Michigan

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Social Media and the University of Michigan
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Did you know?

• A look at the future

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Why do you think you need a Facebook presence?
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Social Media is NOT a strategy

• Its a tactic!

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First steps

• Who do you want to reach?
• Students
• Press
• Faculty
• Administrators
• Professors
• Public

• Analyze your existing communications
• Website traffic
• Press releases
• Ctools
• Blogs
• Listserves

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Insights from Comm 478

• Positives

• Negatives

• The site for everything about the University of
  Michigan.
• A place for alumni, students, faculty to meet.
• One day Ill be an alumni and this will help me
  stay in touch with the university.

• Its not unusual for a person to fan a
  Facebook page and then never visit the page
  again.
• Go big, or go home.
• Not enough user-generated content i.e. photos,
  music, videos, etc.
• Set realistic goals for what a Facebook fan page
  can do for you.

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Connect Communicate Create Collaborate
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Connect
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Connect

• Use social media to listen
• Gather insights
• Measure
• Remember that students think about Facebook in
  very different ways than you do.
• It doesnt mean anything that someone fans your
  pageat least not to students.
• You have to create reasons for why fans will
  return to your page.

• Examples
• Comcast on Twitter for customer service
• Motrin Moms and worst-case scenario
• Lululemons Facebook site

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Communicate
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Communicate

• Participate in your online community. Are you
  going to add Twitter to your Facebook?
• No longer one to one
• No longer one to many
• Many to many with little or no control
• Helps break down barriers between those who need
  your information and you, the information
  providers.

• Engaging instead of transacting or lecturing
• Turning your fans into lifelong advocates
• What do you want to communicate?
• How often?
• Who controls the communication?
• Can anyone post on the fan page?

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Create
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Create

• Using your fans to help create products,
  information, communications via Facebook that
  would make it useable and effective.
• Photo and video contests
• Robust events page
• Giveaways
• Profile picture contest
• Promotions with other entities to raise
  awareness.

• Dove Facebook page
• Sun Valley Facebook page
• Jimmy Johns Facebook page

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Collaborate
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Collaborate

• To create trust versus transactions
• Relationships instead of communications
• Reaching high trust and high transaction to
  create a sustainable relationship

• You must think about actively managing the
  relationship.
• You use social media to prime the pump of
  collaboration and relationships.
• Not simply a one-time eventregistration, campus
  event, alumni meeting, crisisbut an ongoing
  conversation that can happen at 9 a.m. or at 3
  a.m.

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Suggestions and information

• Rethink your communications staff
• Do you need a chief blogger instead of someone
  who writes press releases that go to an
  increasingly small group of media.
• Do you need a chief tweeter?
• Do you need a social media expert?

• www.retweetist.com
• www.blogs.forester.com
• www.mashable.com

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Fara Warner

• fwarner_at_umich.edu
• Twitter Farawarner