Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes
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Your social media work should not be solely focused on followers, likes, engagement rate, and reach. Learn how to connect your social media efforts to outcomes like admissions inquiries, alumni engagement, better media pitches, and effective marketing campaigns. Presented at the 2019 Oklahoma College Public Relations Association conference.
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Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes
- 1. Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes Dr. Liz Gross OCPRA 2019 Slides and resources at info.campussonar.com/ocpra
- 2. What comes to mind when you hear measurement or metrics?
- 9. “Metrics should drive what you do...so important...but misunderstood. In digital you can get concrete numbers. But leaders don’t want “meaty metrics.” WE should have a greater understanding of metrics and what they mean. We need to teach others [including leaders]. Often what we report to HIPPOs isn’t right.” -Executive Director of University Communications and Marketing
- 10. “We need to get more academic about what we do. We’re not just the new shiny. Metrics that matter aren’t always as easy to report quickly or understand as something like page views. You need to dig in, so you can make decisions related to program marketing, course development, faculty hiring, and resource allocation.” -Executive Director of University Communications and Marketing
- 12. Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes
- 13. Get inspired by Erin Supinka, Associate Director of Digital Engagement, Dartmouth
- 14. Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes 1. Know what you’re trying to achieve
- 15. social media goalssocial media goals How you use social media to contribute to department or institutional goals • Increase inquiries, applications, or enrolled students • Increase retention or graduation rates • Improve awareness of your campus • Increase earned media placements • Increase event attendance • Increase number of alumni donors, number of gifts, or total donations
- 16. Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes 1. Know what you’re trying to achieve 2. Put your social media strategies and tactics in context with departmental and institutional objectives Determine your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- 17. Admissions Goal Strategy/Tacti cs KPI Increase enrollment confirmations Accepted student campaign + hashtag Social visits to campus.edu/confirm Increase campus visit registrations Paid social media campaign Visit registrations referred from social media Increase new student applications Student ambassador Instagram campaign App starts and finishes referred by Instagram
- 18. Marketing Goal Strategy/Tacti cs KPI Increase brand awareness Highlight news and human interest web stories on social media Visits to campus.edu/news from social media Increase ticket sales for guest lecture series Paid social media campaign Tickets purchased online from social media ads
- 19. Alumni Goal Strategy/Tacti cs KPI Increase participation in the Annual Giving Day Paid social, alumni social ambassadors, social challenges New donors referred by social media Increase signups for the alumni association credit card Card benefit promotions on Facebook App completions referred from Facebook Increase alumni volunteer signups Instagram alumni ambassadors Signups referred by Instagram
- 20. What are your goals? (seriously, tell me)
- 22. 6 Categories of Marketing Metrics Activities What you published Viewership Who saw your content Efficiency How far you stretched your dollars or resources Financial The cost of activities or return on investment Attention Who interacted with your content Outcomes What people did because of your content
- 25. Efficiency CPC (cost per click) CPM (cost per thousand) Cost per inquiry
- 28. Connecting Social Media Efforts to Offline Outcomes 1. Know what you’re trying to achieve 2. Put your social media strategies and tactics in context with departmental and institutional objectives Determine your KPIs 3. Connect the dots between online activity and offline outcomes
- 31. UTM Parameters Paramete r Purpose Example utm_source The site that referred the traffic utm_source=facebook utm_medium The type of link utm_medium=social utm_medium=display utm_campaign The promotion or campaign utm_campaign=GivingDa y utm_campaign=2019Yiel d
- 32. UTM Parameters Say What? • How many people applied, signed up, donated, etc. from social media • What posts/messages are most effective at provoking the desired offline action • The results of paid promotion on social media • The aggregate outcome of a series of related social media content (campaign)
- 33. Put UTM Parameters In Action• Create URLs with parameters using Google’s URL builder • Automatically populate in some CRMS (e.g., HubSpot, Salesforce) and some social media management software • Manage manually (if necessary) using a spreadsheet with common parameters • Analyze results in Google Analytics or similarRead more: What Are UTM Codes and How Can Higher Ed Leverage Them?
- 34. Data Drives Decisions Kayla Lewis, Seneca College (Toronto) • Tracks social referrals to Apply page • After launching Instagram with a focus on 16-18 year-olds, saw an increase in application referrals from Insta. • Increased Instagram advertising spend, seeing increased results
- 35. “Don't just go for vanity metrics. What's most important is bums in seats. Show your bosses how you put people in the classroom.” Rema Tavares Seneca College (Toronto)
- 36. I practice what I preach
- 37. Spreadsheets are not where you start
- 38. • It’s time to nerd out • Feed someone’s spreadsheet addiction • Uncover trends and insights to inform strategy • Identify patterns and outliers in order to improve, innovate, and iterate • NEVER to build an executive report Start With The Metrics Rather Than Goals When…
- 39. Reporting You Results • Who: Match your metrics to the appropriate audience • What: Get to the metrics that matter—your KPI • When: How often can/should the information be used to make decisions? • So What: Ask this repeatedly to get to the data that matters. Support strategic decision making.
- 40. Reporting You Results, continued • Simplify and explain; avoid jargon • Connect to your goals • Consider visuals – Canva or Google Slides are great if you don’t have design skills
- 41. You do so much more than attract followers and collect likes and retweets
- 42. Don’t Stop Learning CampusSonar.com has: • Newsletter all about social media & social listening in higher education • I think you’ll like Measuring Social Media Content Buckets and Types • Blogs from Sonarians and other higher ed industry experts • Free eBook – The Higher Ed Social Listening
- 43. Don’t Stop Learning Also: • TeamHESM on slack: https://launchpass.com/teamhesm • #HESM and #CASESMC on Twitter • ConnectEDU.network – higher ed podcasts (lots about social) • Higher Ed Experts (blog, classes, online conferences)
- 44. Don’t Be A Stranger @LizGross144 (Twitter + Instagram) Linkedin.com/in/lizgross
Editor's Notes
- This is a conference about the changing social media landscape. I think the biggest change is that social media has woven itself into the daily fabric of most Americans—and most organizations. It’s no longer enough to “just be there.” Because the internet—and social media—is real life, social media managers (and their bosses, and their grand bosses) should be able to articulate how their work contributes to key institutional priorities. If you haven’t been asked about this already, you will be. And mumbling something about your followers, retweets, and story views will not be enough. I know you can do it, and today I want to make sure you’re equipped to do so.
- Because the internet—and social media—is real life, social media managers (and their bosses, and their grand bosses) should be able to articulate how their work contributes to key institutional priorities. If you haven’t been asked about this already, you will be. And mumbling something about your followers, retweets, and story views will not be enough. I know you can do it, and today I want to make sure you’re equipped to do so.
- I used to teach an online professional development course called Social Media Measurement in Higher Education. Between 3 and 10 students would work through 4 weeks of reading, discussion, and assignments so they felt confident and competent measuring and reporting on their social media efforts. I taught almost 100 students in this course, so I’ve glimpsed behind the curtain of social media strategy at both the campus and department level at all types of institutions. The first question in the first discussion was, “What goals are you using social media to achieve?” For some students, this was the hardest question in the course. And not just because I’m a tough instructor who refused to accept “Increase followers” as a goal. Some of them had literally never been told what objectives they were supposed to work towards. - I’ve experienced this too. When I was hired as a social media strategist, I asked my interviewer how my success would be evaluated. I give him points for honesty, because he said, “We’re hoping you can tell us that.” That might seem like a chance for me to coast, but when I was called in front of the board three years later to explain the purpose and outcome of our social media program in 15 minutes, I was glad I chose goals that corresponded with business goals and designed my strategy and measurement accordingly.
- As you think about what it is you’re trying to achieve, I’d like to encourage you to strike the phrase “Social media goals” from your vocabulary. Instead, consider how you use social media to contribute to departmental or institutional goals. Depending on the role you play on campus, those goals may include one or more of the following. [list] Is this resonating? Are there department or institutional goals you support that aren’t included here? - These are goals that resonate in executive offices and the board room. In most cases, “social media goals” like followers, shares, views, comments, and reach are easy and maybe fun to report, but they do not demonstrate impact.
- They’re not always on social media platforms
- Fill in with notes about each one.
- Activities = what you published Published a magazine every quarter Placed 3 major news articles each month 25 press clippings each month Posted to Facebook 7 times per week We sent a monthly newsletter as required to keep our grant
- Viewership = who saw your content This is what you often see for TV, display, and now social media advertising. Our campaign reached 50,000 people! Our display ads reached 13,000 parents of prospective college students
- Efficiency = how far you stretched your dollars or human resources Well, Facebook is better for advertising than LinkedIn because our it’s only 15 cents per click compared to $5.
- Financial = the cost of activities, or the return on investment Let’s talk about ROI….
- Outcomes = what people did because of your content. This might just be the ISTJ in me, but this is the type of metric I want to be able to report along with my marketing and communications efforts. Did people donate, apply, attend, subscribe, or purchase?
- A lot of offline outcomes, like applications, donations, or awareness, include online conversations like inquiries/application submissions, gifts, and website views. The key to tying these conversation to social media likely lies in your web analytics software.
- A lot of offline outcomes, like applications, donations, or awareness, include online conversations like inquiries/application submissions, gifts, and website views. The key to tying these conversation to social media likely lies in your web analytics software….not in any kind of social media metrics.
- Otherwise known as the gobbledygook shown after the question mark in a URL. Who knows what they are?
- Don’t stop at social! This same structure could/should be built into all of your digital marketing – including emails, display and mobile ads, and search engine marketing or other CPC ads.
- Don’t ask me how many followers my company, Campus Sonar, has on social media. I don’t know. And we don’t have a goal for that. What I do know is how many leads came from social media, our blog, and our newsletter. And soon I’ll be able to tell you what type of content converts to leads at the highest rate. You can do this to! I’m going to walk through this conceptually, and at the end of my talk I’ll share some supporting resources in case you want to go back to the office and study up, or preach to your colleagues the gospel of outcomes-based measurement.
- Social media is an important part of campus life. What happens there can contribute to real-world outcomes like enrollment, retention, press coverage, brand awareness, alumni engagement, and fund-raising. The people managing social media—likely many of you in this room—do so much more than attract followers and collect likes and retweets. My hope is that you’re able to adequately capture the impact you have on campus outcomes, so your work is taken as seriously as it deserves to be.