SocialMediaPresentation_2017

BU
Travis Drageset: travis@studyusa.com
BUILDING YOUR BRAND AND
ENGAGING WITH
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

TODAY’S STUDENTS ARE ENGAGING WITH THE WORLD  
VIA SMARTPHONES, APPS AND SOCIAL MEDIA
This session will help
demystify and illustrate
best practices for leveraging
popular social media platforms,
such as Facebook, Instagram
and Twitter, to boost engagement and strengthen recruiting.

Platforms I manage for Study in the USA:

Platforms discussed in this presentation
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter

Focus of this talk:
• Platform breakdown
• Making sense of a varied landscape
• Creating post content for maximum engagement,
reach and impact
• Building and executing effective campaigns
• Streamlining strategy, tracking and analytics

1. Why Social Media?
2. Trending in 2017
3. Mobile First Marketing
3. The Mechanics of Social Media
4. Students as Brand Advocates
5. Social Platforms
6. Paid Social
2. Performance & Analytics
7. Top Tips and Take-Aways

It’s us at our best.
Social media… allows us to get a little closer, a little more
empathetic, a little nearer to who we truly want to be.
Courtney Seiter
The Psychology of Social Media
blog.bufferapp.com
photo courtesy of
New York Institute of Technology
Why Social Media

Why Social Media
International students seek out the following via  
social platforms:
• brands & public figures
• trends and technology
• social influencers
• thought leaders
• new opportunities, including education
Why Social Media

Chat Apps v. Social Media
• As chat apps rise in popularity as a place to get away from
the grown-ups, students are using platforms like Facebook
for more serious pursuits
• Education is at the forefront of many of these students’ minds
Why Social Media

Social Media as Personal Branding
• Students are now using social media as a place to put their
best foot forward
• In turn, programs should let social platforms be the place you
present your school not just as a means to get an ESL
education, but as a place to connect with U.S. cultures and
the cultures of other international students
Why Social Media

Facebook as a place to seek out new opportunities
• Business networking
• Education networking
• Public profile (Linkedin for students)
• Groups & forums
• Livestreams
• Facebook Live
Why Social Media

Why Facebook
The data implies that Facebook remains the default hub for
traditional networking activities and that WhatsApp is a major
go-to for simple messaging.
Stephanie Weise
WhatsApp and Facebook Have Highest Usage Frequency
WeAreSocial.com
Dec 8, 2016
Why Social Media

(In 2017) marketers will be placing more
importance on metrics like engagement over
follower count.
Denise Chan
Senior Content & Community Marketing Manager at Bitly.com
Dec 3, 2016
Trending in 2017

In 2017, we’ll see more of a trend toward refinement;
rather than spending equal effort on five different
platforms, more businesses will find one platform that
works especially well for them, and narrow their focus.
Jayson DeMers
Forbes.com
Nov 10, 2016
Trending in 2017

The Latest in Social
• live social
• virtual reality
• message apps
• bots 
Trending in 2017

What can they do for you?
• live social - student spontaneity
• virtual reality - campus tours
• message apps - one-on-one communication
• bots - application assistance 
Trending in 2017

Livestream
• the average viewer watches livestream content
for 3x longer than regular video
• and it generates 10x as many comments 
Facebook.com
Nov. 2016
Trending in 2017

Messenger Apps
4 out of 5 top social platforms (globally) are
messenger apps 
Trending in 2017
19

SnapChat a.k.a Snap Inc.
• fastest growing platform, globally
• video views grew by 8 billion in 2016
• gen z & millennial dominant
• not yet competing with global chat apps
 
Trending in 2017

SnapChat
Millennials would rather delete their main calling
app than SnapChat.
Avery Hartmans
Sept 27, 2016
BusinessInsider.com
 
Trending in 2017

Student population by country
Based on data extracted from SEVIS on November 7
2016, one day before the US presidential election, the
international student population in the US increased 2.9%
compared to November 2015.
YoY Increase
• India 14.1%
• China 5.2%
• Viet Nam 4.5% 
Mark Ashwill
CEO, Capstone Vietnam
Dec 9, 2016
Trending in 2017

Internationals Studying in the U.S.
Top Ten Countries
1. China: 378,987 
2. India: 206,584 
3. South Korea: 74,818 
4. Saudi Arabia: 62,075 
5. Canada: 31,151
6. Viet Nam: 30,180
7. Japan: 26,502 
8. Taiwan: 24,096 
9. Brazil: 20,989 
10. Mexico: 18,896
* according to Nov 2016 Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) data 
Trending in 2017

Facebook v. other social networks
The next slide shows a global representation of
social network and messenger app popularity.
Subsequent slides will show you platform-specific
breakdowns by country, as well as age
demographics by country specific to Facebook
usage.
Note: students will generally have both a chat app
and a Facebook account.
 
Trending in 2017

Facebook
“This journey is 1% finished.”
~on the walls of Facebook’s offices 
Trending in 2017

39
All of these stats, and the graphs, were borrowed from
WeAreSocial.com, our go-to site for social media updates. The
website features wonderful articles on strategy and is always up-
to-date on the latest trends.
We Are Social partnered with Global Web Index for their stat
information in this series.
To view the slide series’ Digital in 2016 and APAC in 2016, go to:
wearesocial.com
Trending in 2017

Now let’s start simplifying
The media, information and multi-platform blitz that is
today’s social landscape is bringing us full-circle, 2017-
style. 
Trending in 2017
40

forward thinking
=
back to basics 
Trending in 2017
41

Transition
content conversation
reach relationships
advertising interaction 
Trending in 2017
42

Create
• affinity
• dialogue
• influence 
Trending in 2017
433737

Mobile first marketing
Designing your campaign to appear clearly and responsively
on a mobile device
Mobile First Marketing

Mobile Social Users
• 2.4 billion, globally
• Sharing is more frequent on mobile, and it’s not always
done within the platform

Mobile first marketing
Look at your posts and your website on a mobile device
to make sure they’re clear, clickable, and well-formatted.

How to leverage social media:  
• create a simple content calendar
• focus on 1 or 2 social media platforms
• utilize Facebook’s scheduling service
• seek out student participation
The Mechanics of Social Media

Social Media Calendar 
• Include key dates from your annual calendar
• Plan week-to-week
• Allow for a lot of spontaneity

Post quality:
• clear, concise & consistent messaging
• keywords to front of text
• stack sentences
• engaging visuals
• thorough comment interaction

Account set-up:
• fill out profile information as completely as possible
• you’ll be rewarded with increased reach
Photos & images:
• use image guidelines specific to platform
• accurate image specs can be found in a Google search
• 800 - 1200 pixels wide is a good rule of thumb

URL shortening
• Bit.ly
• Goo.gl
• Tr.im
• TinyURL
• Hootesuite’s ow.ly

Customize shortened URLS
Step 1
http://studyusa.com/en/blog/1001/gre-vs-gmat-what-s-the-
difference-and-which-one-you-should-take
Step 2
http://bit.ly/GREvGMAT
Step 3
bit.ly/GREvGMAT

Hashtags
Bandwagon
• #TOEFL
• #ESL
• #learnEnglish
 
Topic organizer
• #TOEFLtips - TOEFL Tips
• #WTD2016 - World Teacher’s Day
• #eduday2016 - Education Day 2016

Hashtags
• Instagram: 11+ hashtags = highest interaction
• Twitter: Tweets w/ Hashtags get 2 x more engagement

Hashtags
Facebook posts without hashtags fare better than those with a
hashtag.
Kevan Lee
blog.bufferapp.com
July 7, 2015

On Instagram, pictures with human faces are 38
percent more likely to receive likes than photos
with no faces.
Pictures of Human Faces on Social Media
upi.com

Students as brand advocates
• current students
• alumni
• student followers
Students as Brand Advocates

Current students & recent alumni
International students have social media expertise, they know
what their peers like to see, and they have personal experiences
to draw on and share

Students can fill the following positions:
• main account managers
• niche blog/Tumblr page managers
• student bloggers
• Facebook sharing
• Instagram hashtag campaigns

StudyUSA’s student blogger, Indira
Green River College introduced us to international student Indira
Pranabudi in early 2013.
Indira contributed articles, video blogs, student films and
travelogues from 2013 thru 2015.
During this time, Indira transferred to Brown University.
She contributed posts to the StudyUSA blog until just after she
graduated from Brown.
Indira now contributes articles about education to USNews.com.

International student blogger Indira’s video log:
Cooking on a Sunday

Student followers
a.k.a micro-influencers
• share posts, blog articles and photos
• comment on posts and ask questions, increasing
post reach
• can become brand advocates

Social Platforms:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Social Platforms

Twitter
• 313 million active users
• 79% outside the USA
• 82% active users on mobile
Social Platforms

Twitter
Next is an example of how I like to construct my Tweets
It employs hashtags, a link to an article, and a photo.
This is a good formula for optimal reach and clicks to your
website or blog.
Social Platforms

The most effective Tweet features across all
verified accounts
• Photos average a 35% boost in Retweets
• Videos get a 28% boost
• Quotes get a 19% boost in Retweets
• Including a number receives a 17% bump in Retweets
• Hashtags receive a 16% boost
Simon Rogers
blog.twitter.com
Social Platforms

Twitter Cards
• Create in Twitter Ads
• Can be utilized for free once a Twitter Ads account has been
set up
• Add visual pop, and therefore differentiate a post within the
newsfeed
• Allow increased character count (200 characters), built in call-
to-action options and a scheduling feature
Social Platforms

Twitter Cards
Social Platforms

Instagram
• 600 million active users (up from 400 million in Jan 2016)
• 90% are under the age of 35
• 80% are outside the US (up from 75% in Jan 2016)
*according to Instagram, most new users are from Brazil, Japan and Indonesia
Social Platforms

Instagram best practices
• Mix place photos & student photos with graphics
• Convey a similar tone and quality
• Use unbranded photos that don’t look like stock images
• Try adding short blog articles w/ photo posts
• Add hashtags & emojis
Social Platforms

Instagram best practices
Following are examples of photos and graphics that have
performed well on StudyUSA’s Instagram page
Social Platforms

Facebook
• 1.18 billion daily active users
• 1.09 billion mobile daily active users
• 84.9% are outside the US and Canada
Social Platforms

Facebook
• 50% of 18-24 year olds go on Facebook when they wake up
• Average time spent per Facebook visit - 20 minutes
Social Platforms

With live video, the Presidential election, and the
fake news scandal that followed, Facebook's impact
was more evident in 2016 than ever before.
Nicole Lee
December 24, 2016
engadget.com
Social Platforms

Facebook best practices
• Quality messaging
• Clear & concise copy
• Regular posting
• Fun photo album posts
• Upload video posts
Social Platforms

Photo album posts
• show smiling students
• post your best photos for each event
• keep album mood & visual quality consistent
• add the top 4 images first, with the best image  
in place no. 1
Social Platforms

1) Clear & concise
messaging
If shortened to: 
‘Applying to grad
schools,’ this post may
perform better than
with the longer text.
Social Platforms

2) Engaging visuals
Represent your
program’s diversity in
as many ways as
possible.
Social Platforms

3.) Comment
interaction
If a post is
receiving a lot of
engagement,
keep an eye on
comments for
several days.
Social Platforms

Use App / Newsletter Sign-up Feature
Social Platforms
Facebook makes it easy to a create button for website clicks,
program contact, newsletter sign-up or app promotion

Facebook Insights
• Stats are good indicators of overall campaign
performance
• Graphs and key data are well-organized
• Follower behavior and demographics can be easily
referenced
• Low-maintenance post search and post comparison
Social Platforms

Social Platforms
Be sure to post when your followers are online

Publishing Tools - Published posts
Social Platforms
Use Publishing Tools (right next door to Facebook Insights)
to compare post performance and to schedule posts

Social Platforms
Link and Photo posts should be achieving comparable reach

Facebook’s biggest addition to 2016
Facebook Live
• Livestreaming for all verified Facebook pages
• Similar to Google+ Hangouts
• Reach controlled by Facebook’s newsfeed algorithm
• Comments and viewership can be seen in real time
• Subscribe button available for future broadcast
notifications
• Edit capabilities after video has been posted
• Video embed available for repurposing
Social Platforms

Facebook
In five years, Facebook will ‘probably’ be
‘all video.’
Nicola Mendelsohn
VP Facebook - Europe, Middle East, Africa
June 14, 2016
Social Platforms

Promoted & boosted posts
1. amplify important content
2. extend high quality brand campaigns
Paid Social

Promoted & boosted posts
• admissions deadlines and announcements
• scholarships
• instructional articles
• how-to graphics
Paid Social

Using reach to measure your marketing success
is like counting the number of bank accounts you
open as a measure of your wealth.
Simon Kemp
10 Key Trends in Social Media
WeAreSocial.com
Sept 7, 2016
Performance & Analytics

Google Analytics for Social
• create a backend analytics report
• keep an eye on which platforms, posts and article
shares are performing best

Dark Social Traffic
The social sharing of content that occurs outside of what
can be measured by Web analytics programs.
Alexis C. Madrigal
Senior Editor, The Atlantic

Dark Social Traffic
Primarily originates in messaging apps & emails

Dark Social Traffic
Globally, 70% of all online referrals come from dark social.
Denise Chan
Senior Content & Community Marketing Manager, Bitly
June 7, 2016

What Dark Social Means for Marketers
URLs shared via the following do not pass referrers when
someone clicks on the link:
• text messaging and native messaging apps (WhatsApp,
Facebook Messenger)
• email
• native mobile apps (Facebook’s Instant Articles,
SnapChat)
• private & secure browsing

What Dark Social Means for Marketers
Solutions:
• use Bitly links to track clicks that would otherwise
become dark traffic
• measure direct traffic, even though it’s dark
• add share buttons to your site
113100

Platform performance
Use different channels for different purposes and
measure accordingly.
114101101

Platform performance
• engage one-on-one in messaging apps
• build your brand on Facebook
• tell stories on Instagram
• post news & deadlines on Twitter

social = dialogue
Successful social media marketing uses original content
people want to see, hear, and engage with - content that
creates conversation.
Top Tips and Take-Aways

Build your program’s
brand
• storytelling via social media is
a perfect avenue for brand
building
• let students get to know your
school’s diversity, character
and personality through
authentic content

Enrollment
Student value
Community value
Social marketing

Only post when you have something meaningful to add to the
conversation.
Simon Kemp
10 Trends You Need to Know
WeAreSocial.com
Oct 5, 2016
Social marketing

Always keep these 2 things in mind:
1) the amount of questions international students have
2) that the Gen Z and Millennial set LOVE seeing photos of
smiling students doing what they aspire to do
Social marketing

DO’s
• create brief, well-crafted text to accompany posts
• link to articles on high-ranking sites
• post your best photos and adhere to a high standard
• utilize student experience, ideas and platform savvy
• include social media buttons in marketing materials
• add share buttons to all pages of your website

DO’s
• make your Facebook
‘About’ page as complete
as possible
• cross-platform promote
• answer comments
• keep an eye on popular
posts
• use photos in all posts,
even on Twitter

DON’Ts
• don’t employ more platforms than you can manage
• don’t only post information that’s irrelevant to students
not yet living in the US
• don’t post branded images on Instagram
(unbranded images do better on Facebook, too)
• don’t use too many advertorial graphics
• don’t always link to your school’s website

Takeaways
• create conversation
• keep it simple
• think mobile first
• choose content based
on int’l student needs

Takeaways
• tell your school’s story via student experiences
• leverage your program’s community for social media  
content and management
• use photos of smiling or engaged students
Photo courtesy of: Boston University,
Center for English Language and
Orientation Programs

Useful websites
Site ranking:
http://www.alexa.com/
http://www.similarweb.com/
http://www.ranking.com/
URL shortening and tracking:
https://bitly.com
https://goo.gl/
Social media dashboards:
https://hootsuite.com/
http://www.cyfe.com/
http://sendible.com/
http://sproutsocial.com/
https://buffer.com/
Social media news &
management sites:
http://wearesocial.com/
http://www.socialbakers.com/
http://www.hubspot.com/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
https://moz.com/
http://www.unifiedsocial.com/

Travis Drageset: travis@studyusa.com
Our client-facing blog: studyusaforschools.tumblr.com

SocialMediaPresentation_2017

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