This document provides guidance on using social media to effectively market Wake Forest University events. It discusses identifying the target audience for an event, utilizing existing Wake Forest social media channels and communities, tracking results, and creating shareable content like tweets and Facebook posts. The document emphasizes setting goals for social media use, pre-writing content, measuring engagement and results, and sharing both positive and negative feedback to prove the effectiveness of social media marketing to supervisors.

1. Using Social Media to
Effectively Market your
Wake Forest Event
Gretchen Edwards (’10), Alumni Office
Stephanie Skordas, WF News Center

2. Warm-up
• What’s your favorite ice cream?
• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Strawberry

3. Let’s get to know each other
• Who’s already using social media for work?
• What social media channels do you use?
• Are you considering starting your own channel?
• Have you thought about the reason “why”?

4. Today we’ll learn how to…
• Identify & reach your event’s target audience
• Utilize existing Wake Forest social media channels
and communities
• Track results
• and…what is a # ?
• and…how do I say something in 140 characters or
less?

5. Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Do
• Represent yourself and
your department well
• Consider your social
channels as important as
phone, email
• Create a content strategy
and calendar
• Remember customer
service best practices
• Be honest and
transparent
• Show your personality
• Develop your voice

6. Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Do

7. Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Don’t
• Mindlessly connect your
accounts to each other
• Ignore negative
comments
• Use others’ content
without attribution
• Be afraid to take a
chance

8. Social Media Dos & Don’ts
Don’t

9. Reach your target audience
• Identify your audience
• Students?
• Faculty/staff/parents?
• Piedmont?
• What is your goal?
• Attendance?
• Awareness?
• Which social media
channel is right for you?

10. Use existing channels
• How long will your event last?
• Not every event, entity, subject matter needs its own
social channel
• Take advantage of strong communities
• Let others know about your event, ask them to talk
about it
• Create a #hashtag
• Create content for others to share

11. Use existing channels

12. Pre-write content
• Compose messages that can be shared by multiple accounts
• #WordsAwake examples:
“Desperate Housewives” or “Law & Order” fan? WFU alum and screenwriter
Paul Bullock will be at #WordsAwake Register now http://tinyurl.com/
7wdtxv2
[tweeted by wfumagazine 03.20.12]

13. Pre-write content
• Pre-writing content allows you to:
• Create higher quality material than if you wait until the last
minute #obviously
• Disseminate content to other social media managers
• Amplify your message

14. Pre-write content
• Consider new ways to
present your message:
• Don’t say when and
where, post a picture of
the event sign

15. Create shareable content
• Tweets
• Why are 120 characters better than 140?
• Facebook
• Photo + link
• Short videos
• Storify
• Use this to create an easily shared story with social
media or web elements

16. Track results
• Set aside a reasonable, regular amount of time to
figure out if what you are doing, is working
• Decide how to measure your goals – correlate efforts
spent on social initiatives to tangible results
• Increased event attendance
• Increased campus awareness about an office
• Higher level of customer service

17. Track results
• What to count?
• Friend/follower numbers
• Link clickthroughs (use bit.ly, tinyurl)
• How to view engagement
• Use analytics to measure sharing
• Be sure to make your channel a two-way conversation, not
just a broadcast
• How to prove it works to your supervisor
• Take screenshots of valuable interactions
• Share the good and the bad – this makes the good that much
more credible

18. Track results
• Share
the good
• And
the bad

19. Track results

20. Review
• Target
• Tweet
• Track

21. Thanks for coming!
Gretchen Edwards Stephanie Skordas
edwardee@wfu.edu skordas@wfu.edu
x4607 x3826
@gretchEdwards @stephskordas
@WakeForest1834 @WFNewsCenter