How Social Networks are Changing College Marketing, PR, and Alumni Relations

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How Social Networks are Changing College
Marketing,PR, and Alumni Relations

• Dan Forbush
• NAICU Public Relations Academy
• February 1, 2009

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Evolution of Computers in Marketing Communications

• 1970s IBM Memory Typewriter
• Early 1980s Desktop Publishing
• Mid 1980s CompuServe
• Late1980s Email / Listservs
• Mid 1990s Static Web
• Late 1990s Dynamic Web
• Mid 2000s Social Web
• Late 2000s Mobile Web
• Mid 2020s Neural Web

Were Here
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2009 Our Expanding Digital World

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Basecamp
• Box.net
• Slideshare

• MySpace
• ITunes
• Flickr
• iGoogle
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• Wikis

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The 2008 Presidential Race
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Main Obama Facebook Page
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Obamas YouTube Channel
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Obamas LinkedIn Group
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Obama in Twitter
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Obama Everywhere
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OrganizingforAmerica.com
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Obamas Achievement

• Barack Obama won the presidency in a landslide
  victory by converting everyday people into
  engaged volunteers, donors and advocates through
  social networks, email advocacy, text messaging
  and online video.
• Michael Krempasky
• EVP, Digital Public Affairs
• Edelman

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Why Our Use of Social Networks is Exploding

• They enable us to manage large extended networks
  more effectively
• They provide information about others that serves
  as a social lubricant, making it easy to
  interact
• They give us new ways to connect with one another
  over shared interests, problems, or experiences,
  and to mobilize coordinated actions

Nicole Ellison, Michigan State University ECAR
Study of Undergraduate Students and Information
Technology, 2008
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In Higher Education

• Social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook
  and MySpace
• now constitute an integral part of the daily
  communications
• practices for many students. For those of us in
  higher education,
• it is particularly important to understand SNS
  practices, outcomes
• and motivations for use because these sites are
  fundamentally
• changing the social fabric of the university
• Nicole Ellison
• Michigan State University
• ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and
  Information Technology, 2008

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Social Networks Are Transforming PR, Marketing
and Alumni Relations Because

• Theyre interactive, engaging and viral
• They powerfully support word of mouth
• Theyre merging with conventional Web sites
• Theyre the future

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Inauguration Day
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• Whats Your
• Social Networking
• Strategy?

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At Skidmore

• We see the introduction of a Skidmore-managed
  social network as our best hope for strengthening
  our connections with young alumni

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Why Do We Need to?

• Caller ID Screening Annual fund callers now must
  make 16 calls for every live connection
• Revenues from Calls are Declining From 260,000
  in 2005 to 110,000 in 2008
• Renewed Focus on Volunteers Personal contacts by
  peers are key

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New Capabilities the New Skidmore Network Must
Offer

• Enable alumni to easily network by professional
  groups
• Enable alumni to easily network by affinity
  groups
• Enable alumni to post electronic class notes
• And

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Alumni must be able to access the new Skidmore
Network using their Facebook user name and
password
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Why Facebook?
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By Surveying Our Alumni, We Learned

• Twice as many Skidmore alumni use Facebook
• as MySpace
• 79 percent of alumni who use Facebook say
• they use it daily
• The more experienced with Facebook a Skidmore
• alumnus/a is, the less likely he or she is to
  join
• a Skidmore-managed network

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Heres What Theyre Telling Us

• Why reinvent the wheel? Facebook and Linkedin
  are sophisticated sites with lots of resources.
  Skidmore won't be able to duplicate their
  service.
• Who needs to remember another password?
• You need to go where people are, not expect them
  to come to you.

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What Makes Facebook So Sticky ?
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Friending
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Content-Sharing
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Content-Sharing
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Content-Sharing
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Content-Sharing
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News Feed (mine)
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News Feed (all friends)
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Interactions Galore (50,000 Applications)
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Facebook Pages
Ideal for creating niche communities

• Institutional voice
• No ads
• Visible to all no login needed
• Link Event pages to it
• Listserv function
• - Blog function
• - Discussion topics
• - Share photos and videos
• Pull in videos from YouTube
• Fans can connect with each
• other
• And more

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Measurement

• Facebooks Insight tool enables you to analyze
  traffic to your Page by any of the following

Page Views Discussion Topics
Unique Views Photo Views
Fans Audio Plays
New Fans Video Plays
Wall Posts
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Page Views
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Fans
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Creating a Niche Community in Facebook
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Creating a Niche Community
A QA

• An Alumnus QA
• YouTube video

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Creating a Niche Community
Notes is like a blog
Notes is like a blog
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Creating a Niche Community
Alumni profiles
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Creating a Niche Community
Alumnus MySpace Page
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Key Goals in Skidmore Network

• Create an application that enables alums in any
  profession to create and maintain profiles of
  themselves in a Facebook community directly
  relevant to their interests
• Link these profiles to their profiles in
  Skidmores alumni database so they can easily
  update key information

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Would You Like to Partner with Us ?

• Lets develop the architecture for an ideal
  alumni community in Facebook and share the
  development costs!
• Write or call me
• dforbush_at_skidmore.edu
• 518-580-5746

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• Facebook Connect
• will be in key in this

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Facebook Connect

• We believe the next evolution of data
  portability is about much more than data. It's
  about giving users the ability to take their
  identity and friends with them around the Web,
  while being able to trust that their information
  is always up to date and always protected by
  their privacy settings.
• Facebook
• May 9, 2008

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How It Works

• Developers may add Facebooks rich social
  context to their own websites
• Users may connect their Facebook account to any
  partner website for single sign-on
• Users may take their profile information with
  them wherever they go on the Web
• Users may take their friends with them wherever
  they go on the Web

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• New Forms of
• Facebook-enabled
• Public Dialog
• Two Examples

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Facebook Connect With CNN.com
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Facebook Connect With CNN Forum
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An Example from Higher Ed
Ithaca College Facebook Connect With iModules
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Facebook Connect with iModules Encompass

• Connects member identity and content in their
  Ithaca College alumni community directly to
  Facebook.
• Event registrations, class notes, and online
  donations can be published on a members Facebook
  News Feed.

Thanks to Ithacas Julie Doherty for the
screenshots that follow
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Single Sign-on

• Visitors to the alumni community with a Facebook
  account can associate their identity with a
  member record in the alumni site.
• Once successful, the accounts are connected and
  the member can choose to login with either their
  community or Facebook username and password in
  the future.

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Single Sign-on

• Login page includes the Connect with Facebook
  button

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Single Sign-on

• Clicking on the Facebook button invokes this
  login dialog box

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Single Sign-on
Page allowing member to link the two accounts
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Single Sign-on

• Successfully logged in, pulling picture and name
  from Facebook

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News Feed Propagation

• When visitors, logged in via Facebook Connect,
  interact with an enabled form, they are presented
  with a dialog box.
• Visitors may elect to propagate their activity
  into their Facebook News Feed or not.

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News Feed Propagation

• Confirmation step of an event with a Share on
  Facebook button

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News Feed Propagation

• Dialog box confirming publication to Facebook
  News Feed

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News Feed Propagation

• Facebook News Feed including alumni web site
  member activity

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Theres a Lot You Can DoTo Strengthen Your
Institutions Visibility in Facebook Itself
for Free!
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Weve Launched a Series of Facebook Pages and
Groups
Skidmore Alumni Class of 2013 Alumni in Digital
Media Skidmore Musicians Online Skidmore
Global Weve told alumni well help them create
their own
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Weve Created Skidmore Interactive To Bring It
All Together
This is our home page for Skidmores online
communities Its the core of our social
network
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We Embarked on a Graphic Identity Program in
Facebook.Heres our Main Alumni Group.
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Our Career Services Page
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Our Class of 2013 Page
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Our Online Musicians Group
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We Produced a Special Issue of Our Magazine
Digital Skidmore
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We Inserted a Four-Page Promotion Making
Friends with the Web
Our objective was to build alumni audiences in
Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube and to begin
a serious discussion about a Skidmore-managed soci
al network
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Plus

• Weve created a team of student Facebook
  contributors
• Weve brought our entire Alumni Board into an
  Alumni Board group in Facebook
• Weve created an alumni social networking
  advisory group

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Laddering Support through Tiers of Engagement
Advocate Recruit others to donate, host an event,
create a group
Social Post pictures or videos, write a blog
post, join a discussion or group, post a class
note
Personal Create a profile, post a comment, make
a donation, sign up for email, friend a
classmate
Edelman
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Challenges

• Resistance to Facebook among faculty and
  colleagues
• Mastering new technologies and genres
• Finding comfortable blend of ones personal and
  professional persona
• Figuring out how to play the role of community
  manager

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Role of Community Manager

• Establish goals, develop strategy and monitor
  progress
• Master the new tools and teach others
• Keep content fresh
• Generate and promote the conversation
• Serve as the institutions visible, interactive
  representative in social spaces
• Develop and extend online persona

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Aspects of Your Online Persona

• Your profile content photo, bio, photo
  collections, videos
• Your friends
• The nature of content you post
• The voice with which you post
• Your privacy settings

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My Facebook Profile
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Other Networks, Sites, and Smart Approaches
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Twitter.com
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Tinyurl.com
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Twitter feed
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Yammer
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Basecamp
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BigThink
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Google Maps Mashup at Colgate
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Box.net
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Slideshare
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The Vatican on YouTube
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To see these slides again

• http//www.slideshare.com/dforbush