Social Media Strategy UCI Weekwise Objectives and Assignments 7 weeks

1. Learning Objectives for Week One

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Describe the Social Media landscape Explain the benefits, uses, and common fears of Social Media Explain the purpose and importance of developing a strategic vs. tactical approach for

implementation of social media 

Forum Discussion :Traditional “outbound” marketing is all about aiming carefully crafted one-way messages into the marketplace with the hope

that consumers will respond.  As most of us know, “hope is not a strategy.”  For the most part, these messages are believed

to be intrusive and interruptive.   Outbound marketing is giving way to inbound marketing.  Research these terms:  Paid

media, owned media and earned media then discuss this question:   In a world rapidly changing from outbound to inbound

marketing, discuss the key benefits of inbound marketing. 

Lesson #1 Assignment

Based on your review of this week's recorded lecture materials, I would like you to discuss the benefits, uses and common fears of social media. Also, discuss the importance of taking a strategic approach.  Feel free to add your favorite social media network and why you use it.  Please post your response by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, April 13th

2. Learning Objectives for Week Two

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Determine the questions needed to identify executive and team buy-in and cultural changes, if needed

Determine how to set strategic goals and measurable objectives Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of a business Describe the power of a social culture Clearly identify how social media will be used in the organization

Forum Discussion: Please tell us about the company you work for by answering some of the following questions and adding your own thoughts:

- Do you have executive buy-in?  In general, how do your executives feel about social media?

- Have your executives or management team established a digital/social mindset?  Do they create openness?  Are they ready for change?  Have they made any cultural changes within the organization to adapt to the new world of digital?

Feel free to select another company to discuss if you like. 

Assignment 2 - SWOT Analysis

Will be discussed in Lesson 2.  Please complete the SWOT analysis template for the company you are doing your final project on.

3. Learning Objectives for Week Three

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Identify target audience, brand evangelists, and online influencers Understand the difference between customer demographics, psychographics and technographics Explain the importance of the research and analysis phase of developing a social media strategy Identify relevant keywords or phrases for industry Determine proper monitoring tools to establish social media listening skills

Forum discussion:

Tell us how your company learns about its target audience.  

- Does your company conduct market research?  How?  Polls? Surveys? Focus groups?

- Has your company started using social media for marketing research? Listening to and monitoring conversations online? If they have, please explain?

Prof

Assigment 3 - Keywords due Apr 27

Please upload Keyword assignment here.

4. Learning Objectives for Week Four

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Determine importance and best practices of branding Apply online community engagement best practices to strategy How to select the right organizational voice(s)

Forum Discussion

Please choose Q) 1 or 2 to respond to in this discussion forum.  

Q) 1 --  Has your organization selected a social media voice?  Who is it?  How were they selected?  Was it someone from within the oraganization or was the position posted externally? Describe your organization's voice online.  

Q) 2  --  Or, if you prefer, you can speak about the learning in the Lesson 4 videos regarding the importance of establishing a social media voice.  

Week 4 - Branding & Social media Voice assignment

Branding and Social Media Voice assignment

See the separate Brand template to be completed for this assignment.

5. Learning Objectives for Week Five

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Select appropriate channels, tools, platforms, and applications for effective use of social media Identify appropriate tactics of social media Develop a content micro-strategy and schedule for each category and tool selected

Forum Discussion

This week we are focusing primarily on content strategy. So, here are a few questions for discussion.  Please respond for the organization you work for our another example. Your choice.

Does your organization have a content strategy? What type of content do they post online?  Do they integrate the four elements of engagement:  communication, collaboration, education, and entertainment?  How do they do this?  Please tell us what your organization is currently doing/not doing?

Week 5 - Content Strategy

Content Strategy

6. Learning Objectives for Week Six

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Integrate social media strategies with other marketing strategies Determine elements of the social media policy

Forum Discussion

Does your company have a social media policy or was a policy discussed?  Is it a strict policy or simple guidelines?  Who (people/departments) was involved in creating the policy?  Did employees have a say in the elements of the policy?

Please tell us all about!

Week 6 - Social Media Strategy Brand Assessment

Social media strategy brand assessment

In this assignment, refer to the Social Media Activation Plan template from Lesson 1 that you are working on for your final course project.  

Provide a summary of your social engagement strategy -- how do you plan to engage your target audience(s)?  And, summarize 2 - 3 of the tactics you will use to engage your audience.  

7. Learning Objectives for Week Seven

By the end of this week, you should be able to:

Determine importance of converting online community into customers Describe effective measures of success and metrics for a strategic social media plan Explain difference between quantitative and qualitative measurement Selective appropriate measuring, monitoring, and sentiment tools Identify implementation steps Establish and present a 12-month social media strategy for an organization Be well prepared to introduce the social media strategy to an organization and lead the

implementation.

Forum Discussion:

- What are one or two things you learned about the Social Web that you did not know before taking this class?

- What is the biggest takeaway you received from this class?

Week 7 Assignment

Final Assignment

Please upload your assignment here.

The final project will be a PowerPoint presentation to summarize the 12 month social media strategy plan. You can summarize the monthly activity or provide more detail -- that is up to you.  But, essentially, I am looking for a snapshot of the overall strategy.  Create a sufficient numer of PPT slides to tell your story in a presentation.  If you want to include the 12 month social media strategy template, you can do so as an attachment.  Make sure to include an executive summary up front.