The University of Florida developed a social media strategy to increase engagement on its social media pages. Key objectives included increasing engagement by 15% in six months through targeted posts, and ensuring 85% of graduates used LinkedIn within a year. A social media audit found Facebook had the largest following. The strategy involved paid, owned, and earned social media. Key roles and a critical response plan were outlined. After three months of implementation, follower counts and engagement rates increased across most platforms, indicating progress towards objectives.

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The
University of Florida
~Social Media Strategy

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Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary-October 2016
2. Social Media Audit
a. Social media assessment
b. Website Traffic Sources assessment
c. Audience demographics assessment
d. Competitor assessment
3. Social Media Objectives
4. Online Brand Persona
5. Strategies and Tools
6. Timing and Key Dates
7. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
8. Social Media Policy
9. Critical Response Plan
10. Measurement and Reporting Results

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Executive summary:
The main priority for the University of Florida is to foster the students’ current
network and engagement, and to continue that development long after they
graduate the University.
This can be facilitated through engaging posts on social media platforms, a
strong alumni network made up of professionals in their various industries, and
an understanding of the target audiences that apply to each of the different
channels and modes of communication.

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Given these, we will focus on current channels and ensuring the engagement is
consistent.

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Social Media Assessment Date: Oct. 4, 2016
Social
Network URL
Follower
Count
Average Weekly
Activity
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/uflorida/?fref=ts 654,564 7-10 posts per week
Twitter https://twitter.com/UF 132,000
About 40 tweets per
week
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uflorida/?hl=en 99,000 5 posts per week
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school
?id=18120&trk=vsrp_universities
_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId
%3A4308870321475465243341
%2CVSRPtargetId%3A18120%
2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary 272,000 3-5 posts per week
Assessment: From the table, one can see Facebook has the largest following,
followed by LinkedIn, then Twitter, and finally, Instagram. Facebook is the
largest social network in the world, so this makes sense. The most engagement
happens on Facebook and Twitter, with the least on LinkedIn. However, because
it is a professional organization, many people add the University to their profile.
Website Traffic Sources Assessment Date: April-
October 2016
Source Volume
% of
Overall
Traffic Conversion Rate
Facebook 3,800 visits 8.3 2.6
Twitter 2,500 5.2 1.9
Instagram 1,700 3.6 0.7
LinkedIn 650 1.2 0.4
Assessment summary: The biggest driver of traffic to the University of Florida’s
website is currently Facebook. That is where there is the most interaction and
clicks to the site. Twitter has also seen an increase, while LinkedIn still lags
behind in driving traffic.

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Audience Demographics Assessment Survey conducted April-June
2016 with 1,800 participants
Age
Distribution Gender distribution
Primary
network
Secondary
Network
Primary
need
Secondary
need
18-30 (38%)
31-40 (29%)
41-50 (25%)
51-85 (8%)
54% female
45% male
45% Facebook
34% Instagram
11% Twitter
30% Facebook
30% Instagram
40% Twitter
Showcasing
to friends,
family and
other
followers the
“happenings”
of daily life
Obtain
information
related to
interests
Assessment summary: The majority of participation, and therefore interaction
came from the 18-30-year-old-group, followed by those under 40. Facebook
and Instagram are the main networks and should be focus on light-hearted, fun
sharing and building the interaction on the network.
Competitor Assessment Date: October 7, 2016
Competitor
Name
Social Media
Profile Strengths Weaknesses
Florida State
University Facebook
Frequent, relevant posts, lots of student
comment and interaction. Topics are
diverse and cover a wide range of
audiences
The UF page has just under four
times as many likes as the FSU
page. UF doesn’t seem to interact
very much once content is posted.

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University of
Miami Twitter
Frequent posts, relevant to the people
who follow UM. Posts are interesting,
short, with pictures and graphics. RT’s
are often relevant to events on campus
Interaction varies dramatically on
posts based on content or media/no
media. Following isn’t as big as UF’s.
University of
South
Florida LinkedIn
Posts are in line with events and
happenings at USF, and have likes and
comments.
The following is a little more than half
of UF’s and some posts use the
same picture over and over.
Competitor Assessment: On all three platforms analyzed, there’s room for
growth for all the universities. It’s something that they all can develop in
separate ways with different audiences to stay engaged.
1. Social Media Objectives/Overall Business goals:
a. To increase engagement to social media pages by 15% in six
months through engaging posts targeted at primary and secondary
audiences
b. To ensure LinkedIn is a known and used as a platform for 60% of
current students and 85% of graduates in one year from start date.
c. KPI’s include:
i. Increasing number of visitors to each of the pages of
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn
ii. Developing a community of engaging interaction on each
post, which varies per platform and audience, but focuses on
keeping the target involved.
iii. To post as frequently as necessary to receive the most
interaction, and post at peak hours to allow the interaction to
follow through
iv. To ensure posts create a healthy environment of positive
discussion and productive, fun and informative engagement
d. Key messages:
i. It’s Great UF (already established as a hashtag and key
message)

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ii. The Best University in Florida
iii. Life’s better as a Gator
2. Online Brand Persona
a. Adjectives that describe our brand
i. Excellent
ii. Educational
iii. Engaging
iv. Fun
b. Examples of Interactions in social media interactions
i. When posting about games, we are highly motivated and fun;
we target game attendees who want information and are
excited about going.
ii. School information will have a more serious tone, but will
always be positive and uplifting.
iii. Other new and updates will differ depending on the nature of
the post, activity and platform.
3. Strategies and Tools
a. Paid
i. Select top two Facebook posts every week on Wednesday
(Wednesday starts the week), and Saturday (Saturday starts
the week). They will be the most popular posts, and then we
will use Facebook Ads to sponsor them to our target
audiences. Note* they must always be timely*
ii. Sponsor paid content on Snapchat; select one relevant topic
each week, and post it on Thursday evening – Saturday.
b. Owned

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i. Run Instagram “contests” monthly, encouraging a different
hashtag for each month. Participants take pictures and use
the hashtag to generate content.
ii. On Twitter, encourage use of hashtags during the game, and
emphasize tools already in place - Albert and Alberta, the
Swamp, etc, and use those to “hype” posts
c. Earned
i. When national events occur, especially relevant to UF,
monitor them on Twitter and use the hashtags to encourage
interaction
ii. Pitch to local news outlets to get coverage on events on or
surrounding campus, then link those stories online and share
d. Tools
i. Approved
1. Hootsuite
2. Buffer
ii. Rejected
1. None
iii. Current subscriptions/licenses
1. Canva
2. Adobe Creative Cloud
3. Hootsuite
4. Buffer
4. Timing and Key Dates
a. Key Dates
i. National Holidays (all)
ii. UF anniversary (of opening)
iii. Florida football games
iv. Application, acceptance and decision days for new students
b. Internal events

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i. Presidential inauguration
ii. Faculty/staff transitions or new hires
iii. Tragedies
c. Lead times
i. Usually a week or less, except in the case of big events which
may require more lead time
ii. Posts may go out several times a day, especially if they’re in
real time, they cannot be planned out much in advance
d. Reporting dates
i. Every month, the 15th of the month
5. Social Media Roles and Responsibilities
a. Jane Adams
i. VP of University Relations
b. Nicole Yucht
i. Assistant VP of UF Communications
c. Paul Bernard
i. PR Specialist
d. Donna Winchester
i. Strategic Communications Director
e. Steve Orlando
i. National Media Strategist
f. Ryan Morejon
i. Social Media Specialist
g. Responsibilities
i. Objectives must be in line with mission and goals of the
project, and UF’s
ii. All employees must have proper training before handling
social media

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iii. Engagement and interaction are key pillars in social media,
and a competent, suitable team is necessary to fulfill the
duties required
iv. The image of the university must always be upheld with pride
and honor
v. No illegal activity may be permitted; privacy must be kept
when required
6. Social Media Policy
The nature of the social media of the University of Florida and the goals
we have make it a priority for the people to execute the online platforms
with respect, prestige and excellence. Keeping in mind the following
policies will create a streamlined set of standards for whenever media
decisions are made.
a. Be respectful of others’ beliefs and positions
b. Be helpful and courteous to those who seek assistance
c. Understand that not everyone will have the same standards, but as
a representative of the university, you must hold yourself to the
highest standards
d. Never post out of anger, retaliation or vengeance
e. Never do anything illegal on the Internet
7. Critical Response Plan
a. If there is an inappropriate post on one of the UF accounts
i. Take a screenshot and save it
ii. Immediately delete it

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iii. Contact Ryan Morejon, social media specialist, and Donna
Winchester, Strategic Communications Director, if he’s not
available
1. Via email, send the post
iv. Work with Paul Bernard, PR Specialist, to create a post-flow
to correct the situation, particularly if the media saw the post
1. Contact all local channels to rectify the situation
2. Continue to maintain contact with Ryan and Donna
until the situation is amended
v. No one is to post anything without Ryan or Paul’s approval
vi. Pre-approved messaging is not applicable to this situation
because every post will be different. The most important
thing to remember is to not post without approval until the
situation is taken care of
b. If there is a tragedy, scandal or other incident
i. If it involves a UF student or staff member, contact Paul
Bernard, PR Specialist, and Nicole Yucht, VP of UF
Communications, immediately
1. Give as many details as possible, including time since
incident, involvement and direct effects
2. Begin to assemble press releases, contact local media
and post information on channels to inform those who
may not know of the incident
a. Approval is necessary for all posts and press
releases
3. Pre-approved messaging
a. For natural disasters and tragedies, inform
students of what is happening; this depends on
what the situation is

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b. For a scandal within the University, do not reveal
too much over social media, but rather, wait
until the newspapers ask for more information
from the press releases
c. Contact
i. Jane Adams
1. VP of University Relations
2. jane-adams@ufl.edu
3. 352-392-4574
ii. Nicole Yucht
1. Assistant VP of UF Communications
2. nyucht@ufl.edu
3. 352-846-3903
iii. Paul Bernard
1. PR Specialist
2. paulb@ufl.edu
3. 352-846-3903
iv. Donna Winchester
1. Strategic Communications Director
2. dwinchester@ufl.edu
3. 352-846-3903
v. Steve Orlando
1. National Media Strategist
2. sfo@ufl.edu
3. 352-392-0186
vi. Ryan Morejon
1. Social Media Specialist
2. rymorejo@ufl.edu

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3. 352-392-9092
4.
8. Measurement and Reporting Results
a. Quantitative KPIs
i. Reporting period: 3 months as of July 1, 2016
Social Network Data Date: October 8,
2016
Social
Network
UFL Follower
Count
Average
Weekly
Activity
Average
Engagement
Rate
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/uflorida/?fref=ts 655,987
8-9 posts
per week
3.5%
Twitter https://twitter.com/UF 152,000
About 60
tweets per
week
6.6%
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/uflorida/?hl=en 1000,988
5 posts
per week
3.1%
LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/edu/school
?id=18120&trk=vsrp_universities
_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId
%3A4308870321475465243341
%2CVSRPtargetId%3A18120%
2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary 292,223
3-5 posts
per week
2.0%
Website Traffic Data
Source Volume % of overall
traffic
Conversion
rate
Facebook 4,200
11%
increase
8.8% 2.7%
Twitter 3,000
20%
increase
5.6% 2.1%
Instagram 1,900 3.7% 0.9

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12%
increase
LinkedIn 680
5% increase
1.1% 0.5%
Assessment: In the three months, it was noted that posting 8-9
times on Facebook was the most efficient way to increase
engagement and followers, so we adjusted our posts. Twitter posts
increased in frequency by 50 percent, which has shown a dramatic
improvement in followers, interaction and retweets. On Instagram,
posts occur about five times a week, and the emphasis is on the
hashtags. There is a continued effort toward being more engaging
and interactive with our followers in every way, on every platform.
b. Qualitative KPIs: there is a community building every day that
engages with posts, reactions, asks questions and supports each
other around the University of Florida events and happenings.
c. Sentiment analysis: While there is occasionally a person who
complains or has a problem, it is overwhelmingly positive on our
channels. UF’s social media tries to pacify complaints and look for
solutions rather than start arguments, and has found social media
a very effective tool, especially through Twitter, to do this kind of
work. Otherwise, the channels are used to build excitement, inform
and share good news, which is then shared and distributed by our
followers.