Using a case study to show how to make social media work for small news organizations.

1. CUTTING
THROUGH
THE CONTENT
CLUTTER
OR … HOW TO STAND OUT IN THE
CROWD
Dr. Kay O’Donnell, North Central College, Napervill

2. THE GOOD NEWS …
 Social media offers
channels for
reaching a larger
audience than ever
before.
 Social media
transcends age,
race, culture, socio-
economic status,
etc. unlike
traditional media.

3. AUDIENCE + BRAND
LOYALTY
 For student media this means: current
students, prospective students, alum,
extended family and more.

4. CREATING THAT LOYALTY …
 Takes time, patience
and dedicated effort
(and sometimes
money) to grow and
maintain an audience –
these can be in short
supply for student
media.

5. WHERE’S THE AUDIENCE? –
PEW ’15
 72% of online U.S. adults
 82% between 18-29
 31% of online U.S. adults
 37% between 18-29
 28% of online U.S. adults
 55% between 18-29

6. GETTING STARTED:
 Know your audience
 How do they get information?
 Pick the most relevant social media
forms for your audience: Twitter vs.
Instagram
 The 80% to 20% rule

7. 80/20 RULE AT WORK
80% 20%

8. MAKE A PLAN ~ THE BIG 3
 Designated person or, preferably,
team
 What’s your voice?
 what type of messages matter?
 tone/style of the content
 Schedule posts:
 routine/consistency is important

9. CASE STUDY: NCClinked.com

10. NCClinked.com
 The website is the product
 Maintains 3 primary channels (FB, Twitter,
Instagram) and 2 secondary (YouTube,
Pinterest)
 Social media serves two functions:
 drive traffic to the site
 offer original “social-only” content
 content serves to heighten NCClinked
brand

11. DRIVING TRAFFIC …

12. DRIVING TRAFFIC …
2½ year period

13. ‘ORGANIC’ CONNECTION:

14. ‘BOOSTED’ CONNECTION:

15. INSTAGRAM ~ ALL ABOUT
IMAGE

16. RAISING THE BAR

17. DATA TELL STORIES: lessons?

18. DATA TELL STORIES: lessons?

19. WHAT’S YOUR STORY?