The University of Florida social media strategy for 2016 aims to increase enrollment in UF Online programs and improve the school's image. The strategy focuses on growing followers on Twitter and Instagram and increasing traffic to the website. Key performance indicators include the number of visitors from social media, new followers, and amount of engaging content posted. The strategy outlines brand voice, content calendars, and a social media policy. Measurement of the #BEAGATOR campaign showed low usage and needs increased promotion across networks.

1. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
S O C I A L M E D I A S T R A T E G Y
F E B R U A R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
L E S L I E S M I T H

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary, February 2016
Social Media Audit
 Social Media Assessment, February 2016
 Customer Demographics Assessment
 Competitor Assessment
Social Media Objectives
Online Brand Persona and Voice
Strategies and Tools
Timing and Key Dates
Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
Social Media Policy
Critical Response Plan
Measurement and Reporting Results, January 2016 – February 2016

3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2016 our major priorities for social media will be to maintain and grow our online
following and community.
Our primary focus will be to support higher education through student enrollment.
Two major social strategies will help support this objective:
1. A plan to increase promotion of UF Online degrees.
2. A plan to decrease the media image of UF as the #1 party school.

4. SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT
Social Network URL Follower Count Average Weekly Activity
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/uflorida 631,956 11 posts per week
Twitter https://twitter.com/uf 113k 98 posts per week
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/UniversityofFlorida 4,563 2 posts per week
Google+ https://plus.google.com/+uflorida 148,625 1 post per month
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school?id=18120 212,615 1 post per month
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uflorida/ 81.2k 5 per week
Vyclone http://vyclone.com/profile/514b954343605d0b13001506 41 none
Social Media Assessment, February 2016
Assessment Summary: At the present time the highest number of
interactions are occurring on Twitter and Instagram. There is very little
interaction or followers on Vyclone and it is recommended that this account
be closed and efforts be focused on other channels.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT
Competitor Name Social Media Profile Strengths Weaknesses
Florida State University https://twitter.com/floridastate
Frequent visual and branded posts.
Retweets of users posts. Not much interaction on tweets.
University of Central Florida https://twitter.com/UCF Frequent visual and branded posts.
Not much interaction on tweets or
retweets.
Competitor Assessment, February 2016
Competitor Assessment Summary: The analysis focused on two major
competitors with similar strong social media presence. Both competitors
utilize visual content to increase interest and promote the use of unique
hashtags to increase mentions on Twitter. Both competitors could improve
their engagement with their followers.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES
In 2016, the primary focus of our social media strategy will be to support and
increase interest and enrollment in UF Online by increasing traffic to our website
through social media accounts. In order to accomplish this we will place priorities
in growing our online community with increased followers. To increase followers
we will share more content that will create stronger relationships with our
customers. Increased focus should be made on Twitter.

7. SOCIAL MEDIA OBJECTIVES
KPIs
1. Number of unique visitors from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn
2. Number of Twitter followers
3. Number of posts, photo and video, to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
4. Number of posts to LinkedIn
Key Messages
• UF Online is a great opportunity to join the UF family and be a part of the Gator
Nation
• “By transforming the state’s flagship university into a truly global university, we’re
showing the world that the Gator Good is the greater good.”
http://www.ufl.edu/

8. ONLINE BRAND PERSONA AND VOICE
Adjectives that describe our brand When interacting with customers we are:
Educational Encouraging
Caring Friendly
Fun Goal Oriented
Professional Dedicated

9. STRATEGIES AND TOOLS
Paid: Increase UF Online Facebook advertisements.
Owned: Increase the use of #BEAGATOR and encourage users to adopt the use of the
tag. Select at least one piece of user generated content each week to retweet or
like. Promote the hashtag on all social media channels.
Earned: Monitor Twitter for new freshman student tweets. Encourage excitement with
the use of #UF20 and #GatorNation
TOOLS
Approved Tools
• Hootsuite
• Tweetdeck

10. TIMING AND KEY DATES
Holidays
Spring Break – February 27-March 5
UF Online Application Deadlines
Summer 2016 – March 28, 2016
Fall 2016 – June 12, 2016
Spring 2017 – October 5, 2016
Campus Application Deadlines
November 1, 2016

11. SOCIAL MEDIA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Social Media Director – Recruit and manage the social media marketing team,
implement the social media strategy.
Social Media Manager – Monitor and engage with customers. Keep calendar full of
posts.
Subject Matter Expert – Provides responses to comments or complaints
Social Media Marketing Strategist – Determines overall goals and creates tactics to
accomplish them. Tracks progress through the use of analytics.
Customer Support Manager – Ensures that customer service cases are handled.

12. SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
“Social networks provide fun and exciting ways to connect with others who share
common interests. These guidelines are meant to permit appropriate use of
social media, while prohibiting conduct through social media that is illegal or
against University of Florida policy or professional standards. These guidelines
also provide suggestions for situations involving social media that could be
damaging to either participants or the university.”
“The guidelines apply to all forms of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter,
blogs, YouTube, Flickr, text messages, and other, less-popular platforms, as well
as those not in existence at the time of the adoption of these guidelines.”
• Be responsible for what you write
• Be considerate
• Exercise good judgment
• Protect confidential information
• Bring value
“Depictions of behavior that do not comply with professional and/or ethical
standards may result in disciplinary action by professional organizations or if
relevant to a University of Florida role, by the university. Please review the
regulations published by the university”
http://hr.ufl.edu/manager-resources/policies-2/social/

13. CRITICAL RESPONSE PLAN
http://socialmedia.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/social-media-response-guide-v1.0.pdf

14. MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING RESULTS
#BEAGATOR Hashtag Performance
• Between November 2015 and February 2016 the hashtag was only mentioned 3
times on Twitter.
• Between November 2015 and February 2016 the hashtag was only mentioned 2
times on Instagram.
Proposed Action Items
• Increase #BEAGATOR campaign
• Prepare a plan to begin use of LinkedIn publishing platform.