using social media to effectively market your wake forest event
DESCRIPTION
By Gretchen Edwards and Stephanie Skordas. Whether you're a social media aficionado or don't have a clue why people use Twitter, join us to learn how to promote your Wake Forest events via social media. We'll focus on how to strategically identify and reach your event's target audience, utilize existing Wake Forest social media channels and communities, and track results. You'll at least leave knowing what a hashtag is and how to convey your message in no more than 140 characters.TRANSCRIPT
Using Social Media to Effectively Market your
Wake Forest Event
Gretchen Edwards (’10), Alumni Office Stephanie Skordas, WF News Center
Warm-up
• What’s your favorite ice cream? • Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Strawberry
Let’s get to know each other
• Who’s already using social media for work?
• What social media channels do you use?
• Are you considering starting your own channel? • Have you thought about the reason “why”?
Today we’ll learn how to…
• Identify & reach your event’s target audience
• Utilize existing Wake Forest social media channels and communities
• Track results
• and…what is a # ?
• and…how do I say something in 140 characters or less?
Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Do • Represent yourself and
your department well • Consider your social
channels as important as phone, email
• Create a content strategy and calendar
• Remember customer service best practices
• Be honest and transparent
• Show your personality • Develop your voice
Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Do
Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Don’t • Mindlessly connect your
accounts to each other • Ignore negative
comments • Use others’ content
without attribution • Be afraid to take a
chance
Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Don’t
Reach your target audience
• Identify your audience • Students?
• Faculty/staff/parents?
• Piedmont?
• What is your goal? • Attendance?
• Awareness?
• Which social media channel is right for you?
Use existing channels
• How long will your event last?
• Not every event, entity, subject matter needs its own social channel
• Take advantage of strong communities • Let others know about your event, ask them to talk
about it
• Create a #hashtag
• Create content for others to share
Use existing channels
Pre-write content
• Compose messages that can be shared by multiple accounts • #WordsAwake examples:
“Desperate Housewives” or “Law & Order” fan? WFU alum and screenwriter Paul Bullock will be at #WordsAwake Register now http://tinyurl.com/7wdtxv2 [tweeted by wfumagazine 03.20.12]
Pre-write content
• Pre-writing content allows you to: • Create higher quality material than if you wait until the last
minute #obviously
• Disseminate content to other social media managers
• Amplify your message
Pre-write content
• Consider new ways to present your message: • Don’t say when and
where, post a picture of the event sign
Create shareable content
• Tweets • Why are 120 characters better than 140?
• Facebook • Photo + link
• Short videos
• Storify • Use this to create an easily shared story with social
media or web elements
Track results
• Set aside a reasonable, regular amount of time to figure out if what you are doing, is working
• Decide how to measure your goals – correlate efforts spent on social initiatives to tangible results • Increased event attendance
• Increased campus awareness about an office
• Higher level of customer service
Track results
• What to count? • Friend/follower numbers • Link clickthroughs (use bit.ly, tinyurl)
• How to view engagement • Use analytics to measure sharing • Be sure to make your channel a two-way conversation, not
just a broadcast
• How to prove it works to your supervisor • Take screenshots of valuable interactions • Share the good and the bad – this makes the good that much
more credible
Track results
• Share the good
• And the bad
Track results
Review
• Target • Tweet • Track
Thanks for coming!
Gretchen Edwards
x4607
@gretchEdwards
@WakeForest1834
Stephanie Skordas
x3826
@stephskordas
@WFNewsCenter