This document discusses creating an effective social media plan. It recommends determining goals like sharing information, attracting customers, and increasing visibility. The plan should identify the target audience and how to communicate with them using appropriate social media platforms. It also stresses the importance of consistent branding and driving traffic to social media pages through on-site links, email signatures, sharing content, and frequent posting.

1. Social Media
Why use it and how do we get started
strategically?

2. Why Use Social Media?
Social Media Revolution 2013
http://youtu.be/Q8pyNHz6Pr0
Jim Asaro – YouTube.com
January 2, 2013

3. What is Social Selling?
“Social selling is making a few tweaks to your daily
routine to align yourself with the new buyer’s
behavior. These tweaks will be like putting high-
octane fuel in your race car.”
Julio Viskovich
Social Media Today
November 16, 2013

4. Social Proximity
• Social Proximity refers to how close your social
connections are to that of your prospective
customer.
• On social media, you are always growing your
network of social connections
• More mutual connections = higher social
proximity = higher likelihood of getting a good
and quick introduction or referral.

5. Search Engine Influence
“Recent research suggests that social sharing has
now become the number one driver for SEO rank.
In other words, Google and Bing are monitoring the
social sharing activity for each site and are
assigning substantial weight on that activity to
determine the search rank.”
Social Media Today
November 27, 2013

6. Creating a Social Media Plan
• What are your goals? Some examples:
< Share news
< Get the word out about events
< Provide tips and expertise
< Attract prospective customers
< Increase your visibility on campus
< Serve your customers

7. Creating a Social Media Plan
• The goals of the University’s Social Media are:
1. To provide customer service
2. To get the word out about happenings on campus
3. To connect with current and prospective students
4. To raise brand awareness for the University
5. To promote campus services

8. Creating a Social Media Plan
• Who is your audience?
< You don’t have to appeal to everyone
< Targeting content to your niche audience makes your
content more relevant and interesting to them

9. Creating a Social Media Plan
• University’s Audience:
1. Current and Prospective Students
2. Current and Prospective Students Parents and Family
3. Alumni & Friends of the University
4. University Employees

10. Creating a Social Media Plan
• What are you trying to communicate and how
will you communicate it?
< Facebook: For casual interactions, sharing links,
sharing photos and videos. No character limit.
< Twitter: For short casual interactions, sharing links,
sharing photos and videos. Character limit 140, great
for specialized topics.
< YouTube: A video sharing site. Upload and share
videos, people can comment on them.

11. Creating a Social Media Plan
• What are you trying to communicate and how
will you communicate it?
< LinkedIn: For professional interactions – great for
creating professional groups for students.
< FourSquare: Allows customers to “check in” at your
location. You can also provide facts or coupons for
customers, and they can comment on your location.
< Instagram, Vine, or Tumbler: For short and visual
media, fun and very casual.

12. Creating a Social Media Plan
• How will you brand yourself?
< Using your department, office or organization’s
full name
< Creating a memorable username based off your name
< Using your department, office or organization’s
approved logo
< Using the University logo
< Using a vanity URL

13. Creating a Social Media Plan
• University’s Branding Strategy:
< Use University Logo
< Use University Full Name in profile
< Username MNStateMankato for handles and vanity
URLs

14. Drive Traffic
• A few easy ways to start promoting your page
without spending money:
< Add links and icons from your website to your social
media pages
< Include your social media URLs in your e-mail
signature
< Connect with other social media users on campus and
ask them to share your content
< Post frequently and respond to engaged customers