social media: do we or don't we?

Social Networking

Based on UW Marketing Roundtable | 3/18/09Revised by Sophia Agtarap 9/23/09

Why we’re talking about this

•To help us determine how, or whether, we want to pursue these outlets

•To demonstrate that e-mail and print are not the only means to communicate.

Facebook Facts

•Launched in Feb. 2004 as a site for university students and faculty; in 2007 opened to all

•Active users▫March 2008: 68 million▫Today: Over 300 million

•Fastest growing demographic▫March 2008: 25 and older▫Today: 35 and older

Facebook ProsYou may be ready for Facebook if:

• Your target audience is primarily students or young alumni.

• You have the resources to monitor the page at least 3x a week,

answer fan questions, and update it frequently (ideally weekly).

• You have content that is specific to your unit and doesn’t

duplicate content on the UW page.

• You have Facebook Friends who will become fans of the page

and help promote it.

• You have a strategy for addressing controversies or crises

related to your unit that might lead to increased activity on

your page.

Facebook ConsYou’re not ready for Facebook if:

• Your unit has “control issues”

• You are unwilling to become part of the Facebook

community yourself

• You think you can just let your student interns

manage it

• You think you can manage it without some student

involvement

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Examples: UW on FacebookSome of the UW Schools and Departments on Facebook:

• UW page launched: April 2008; 7,000+ fans• GO-MAP: 187• Evans School of Public Affairs: 588• UW School of Law: 224• UWAA: 2,330• Undergraduate Research Program: 144

Some of the UW leaders on Facebook:

• Mark Emmert• Phyllis Wise• Jim Jiambalvo• Ana Mari Cauce• Harry the Husky!

What the heck is Twitter?!•Interactive, personalized news feed & knowledge share

•A place to post text-based status updates—they’re called Tweets!

•They have to be 140 characters or fewer

•They show up on your profile page and are delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them

Why should I care about Twitter?•It grew by 1,382% year-over-year in Feb.•Estimated 12.1 million users in April 2009

60% quit within first month•Driver of news; traffic to sites•Fast and easy way to build relationships•You don’t need to know people’s e-mail addresses to connect with them!

2 http://mashable.com/2009/04/28/twitter-quitters/

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1 http://mashable.com/2009/04/28/twitter-active-users/

Twitter Pros• Doesn’t require any technical skills!

• Your org can have an ongoing presence in a Twitter

“follower’s” routine

• Typical Twitterers use the site at least daily, often

hourly

• Gain insight into the interests of your most engaged

constituents

• Your followers can consume your information more

easily, unlike a newsletter or a website/blog that

requires a user to actively visit it or subscribe.

Twitter Cons

•Requires very regular maintenance—at

least 3x a week; daily, if possible

•140-character limit

•As Twitter usage increases, so does the

number of tweets you have to compete

with

Best Uses for Twitter

• News & event updates

• Emergency announcements

• Play-by-play reporting from conferences,

lectures, sporting events, etc.

• To encourage conversation with and input

from followers

• Eyewitness accounts (i.e. breaking news)

Examples: UW on Twitter• UWNews: http://twitter.com/uwnews

• GO-MAP: http://twitter.com/UWgomap

• UWTV: http://twitter.com/UWTV

• The Daily: http://twitter.com/thedaily

• The Henry: http://twitter.com/henryartgallery

• UW Career Center:

http://twitter.com/uwcareercenter

• School of Public Health: http://twitter.com/uwsph

• Cliff Mass: http://twitter.com/cliffmass

How Athletics Uses Twitter

• Started using it in Jan. 2009

• To push news, including insider news

• To encourage fan engagement

• Accounts include:

▫ General UW Athletics

▫ Football Coach Steve Sarkisian

▫ Volleyball

▫ Crew

▫ Softball

What is LinkedIn

• A site for professional networking

• Users post resumes, recommend colleagues’

job skills; knowledge share

• Users: May 2009: 11M in US; 19.6M globally

• Traffic: 50M in US; 87M globally

• Organizations create groups to bring together

people who want to be associated with their

brand

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Examples: Uses of LinkedIn

• For Q&A opportunities

• Monitor the competition

• Facilitate networking

• Provide profile information, like

statistics, demographics, key links

Examples: UW on LinkedIn

• University of Washington (Seattle, Bothell)

• Foster School

• UW Medicine

• School of Law

• iSchool

• Libraries

• Alumni Group (not run by UWAA)

Social Networking Resources

•See post on our intranet team site for higher education and non profit resources

•Sophia Agtarap’s higher education/social media blog: sophiakristina.wordpress.com