This document discusses strategies for improving internet and social media strategies for Erasmus LLP projects. It provides an overview of a training session that will familiarize project managers with developing a digital dissemination strategy using social media. The training will cover the basics of social media, tips for using different tools in dissemination plans, and addressing common problems projects face. It also summarizes findings from research on how LLP projects currently use the internet and social media, identifying a need to focus on engagement over just information sharing. The document provides examples of various social media tools and networking strategies projects can implement in their plans.

1. Improving Internet strategies and maximizing the social media presence of LLP projects
Dissemination: Short training
session on social media based
web strategies
Katerina Zourou, Ph.D
Sør-Trøndelag University College, Norway
EACEA meeting for Erasmus project leaders, Brussels, January 23-24, 2014

2. The power of engagement!
• Campaign Emptyplate on
Instagram
• Campaign ≠ malnutrition
• For every picture of an
empty plate on Instagram
followed by #donatuplato a
meal was offered
• Using social networks for a
social cause: 3500 meals
offered by Caritas
#Donatuplato
Article and Video
(Example taken from Gary Shochat,’s presentation as Web2LLP keynote talk, Coventry, Nov. 2013)

3. What is the presentation about?
–Familiarize Erasmus project managers with the basics of a
digital valorisation strategy
–Share some tips on social media components of a
dissemination strategy
–Offer insights into commonly encountered problems
–Help in building sustainable and up-to-date dissemination
plans

4. Once upon a time..
In 2012: launch of the Web2LLP project (« Improving
web strategies and maximizing the social media
presence of LLP projects »)- a KA4 project.
Scope: upgrade skills of LLP project teams in building upto-date and sustainable dissemination strategies for
their project.
More than 450 beneficiaries (LLP project members)
attended courses.
Some 11k views on Slideshare

5. Extended desktop research and an
online survey: some findings
• Diversified training needs, ranging from novice to experienced users
• Need to focus on the appropriateness of tools in a given dissemination
strategy of an LLP project, beyond their mere use
• Need to see web and social media as means to create opportunities for
engagement with the public
• Need to consider viability of Internet and social media presence after
the life cycle of the LLP project
Zourou, K., Song, J. 2014, under publication. «How LLP projects use Internet and social media for communication purposes: a
needs analysis». INNOQUAL Journal.
Song, J. & Zourou, K. 2012. «How LLP projects use Internet and social media for communication purposes: a desktop
research». In C. Stracke (Ed.) The future of Learning Innovations and Learning quality: how do they fit together? Proceedings of
the LINQ conference, p. 114-123.

6. What is feasible?

7. Typology of tools (Conole & Alevizou,
2010)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
social networking sites; (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning)
blogs
microblogging tools; (e.g. Twitter)
Slide repositories (e.g. Slideshare)
video sharing tools; (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo)
social bookmarking applications; (e.g. Diigo, del.ici.ous)
web 2.0 picture repositories (e.g. Picasa, Flickr)
RSS feeds
One extra application considered useful to LLP projects:
9. shared web 2.0 public libraries (e.g. Mendeley).
10. Networking widgets (e.g. the “Add this” button)
7

8. A Social networking site: Facebook
http://www.crean-home.net/

9. A Social networking site: Ning

10. A video repository
http://patient-project.eu/

11. An online curation
space
http://www.scoop.it/t
/intent-project-news

12. A LinkedIn group

13. A Twitter account

14. A slide
repository

15. A monitoring tool:Google
Analytics

17. Beyond the tools, the networking culture
Social grooming
The power of the visual
“visually empowered
social connectivity”

18. Starting from somewhere…

19. 3, 2, 1: action plan!
•Specify the target audience(s).
•Identify the main goals you want to achieve with Internet and
social media tools.
•Specify the task in relation to the audience and the goal.
•Identify the resources needed (human & material resources)
•Determine the timeline of the activity and the frequency of
investment in the project.
•Set the monitoring mechanisms upfront.
Target
audience
Teachers
Goal
Task
Resources
Human:
partner(s)
Gathering
feedback on a
recently
finished study
Enhance
conversation
on the
project’s
Facebook
Material:
channels
All partners
Facebook wall
(or partner A
and B)
Timeline and
frequency
2 months
starting from…
Two times a
week
Monitoring
mechanisms
Facebook
Insights

20. Plan your strategy
Social media is about engagement, this is not another
tool for posting news from your website
Christel Vacelet, EUN
It is important to be present in the social media but at
the same time social reputation is also an issue: don’t
get involved in a Facebook page if you won’t be able to
spread it around. There is little need for a page with just
10 likes
Erica Delucchi, MENON

21. Monitoring your social media activity
• Some social networks offer monitoring
facilities themselves: Facebook,
LinkedIn, Slideshare, Flickr
• Some free monitoring tools (or
dashboards) are very effective for an
LLP project: Tweetdeck and HootSuite
• Google Analytics seems to be #1
solution to monitor traffic of your
website and associated social networks

22. Some tips

23. 1.Communicat
e with your
audience!

24. 2. If you choose social media, make them
work

25. 2. If you choose social media, make them
work
First set up your social networks, then embed them into your website

27. 3.Attract your audience!
PERL project
http://www.perlprojects.org/Projectsites/PERL/News-Events/News/PERL-2013Media-Competition-Launched

29. 4. Bring
your social
networks to
the forefront
• http://intluni.eu/

30. Bring
your
social
networks
to the
forefront

31. 5. Make it fly!
(make it viral)

32. 6. Make
others benefit
from your
project
http://groups.diigo.com/group/web2llp

33. “Feel” your target group
From own channels to active engagement in existing channels
• Go and meet your target group: do not just wait for your audience to
come
• Engage with your target audience through existing social media
channels
• Identify niches where your audience “meets” online
• Choose the appropriate social media tool to fit the culture of
connectivity of your target group (enterprise, students, academia)
• Identify experts in your area active on social networks and
connect/engage/learn together with them
• Understand how “others” deal with it (peers, competitors, etc.)

34. Frequently occurring problems

35. 1. “We have no extra days to allocate to dissemination
through social media”
2. “We don’t have the skills to cope with a WS containing
social media”
3. “The project operates in many languages and we don’t
know how to cope with the multilingual aspect of social
media”
4. “Although we want to use social media, we don’t know
how to make users interested in our project”

36. Situation #1: Few human resources to
deal with dissemination through social
networks
• Create an RSS feed
• Embed an AddThis
plugin/ share buttons in
your page
• Set up a slide repository
(Slideshare) or a picture
repository (Flickr)-both
offer free tools to
monitor activity
https://www.addthis.com/
=> Making project activity visible, sharable, transferable to other contexts

37. Situation #2: Lack of skills
Get your project partners to see the added value of
social media in their own context

38. Situation #3: multilingual dimension
Situation #4: increasing
interactivity/attractiveness

39. 3 free downloadable
handbooks in EN, FR
& IT
http://www.web2llp.eu/

40. A video showcase
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Alessia Rogai
Armin Hottmann
Christel Vacelet
Eleonora Pantò
Erica Delucchi
Graham Attwell
Joel Josephson
Karel Van Isacker
Mazar Ildiko
Petra Newrly
Shona Whyte
Wendy Newman
Simon Heid
Sally Reynolds
Katerina Zourou
http://www.web2llp.eu/videos

41. Recordings of webinars
• Session 1: Setting up a web strategy and communication action plan
• Session 2: Selecting and choosing social media tools
• Session 3: Managing and measuring your social media presence
• Session 4: Sharing online content
• Session 5: Round-table with experienced managers and
troubleshooting
[link]

42. Video tutorials for the needs of LLP
projects
Video tutorials in EN, FR and IT
on 10 topics (web analytics,
online curation tools, SNS, social
media editors, media sharing,
microblogging, etc.)
http://www.web2llp.eu/tutorials

43. Thank you!
@web2LLP
@web2learn_eu
http://www.web2llp.eu/