SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN

Nailah Ali 2/8/2012

Table of Contents
ITEC SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY ...................................................................................................................................... 3 ITECS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN.................................................................................................................. 4 Summary: .............................................................................................................................................................. 4 Goals: .................................................................................................................................................................... 4 THE STRATEGY .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Four-Part Strategy: ............................................................................................................................................... 5 RESEARCH ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Facebook Likes Breakdown: .................................................................................................................................. 6 Twitter Followers Breakdown: .............................................................................................................................. 7 LinkedIn Group Member Breakdown: ................................................................................................................... 8 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................................. 9 Execution:.............................................................................................................................................................. 9 ITECs February Content Calendar: ..................................................................................................................... 10 Monitoring/ Analytics Report ................................................................................................................................. 11 LinkedIn: .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 Facebook: ............................................................................................................................................................ 13 Twitter:................................................................................................................................................................ 15 YouTube Best Practices........................................................................................................................................... 16 Blogging Best Practices ............................................................................................................................................... 17

ITEC SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

Purpose This social media policy sets forth guidelines that have been adopted by the Information Technology Empowerment Center in consideration of conduct performed by ITEC personnel when engaging in social media monitoring and maintenance as representatives of ITEC. This social media policy applies to all personnel who take part in the maintenance and monitoring of ITECs online presence. Policy The Information Technology Empowerment Center has established itself as a professional non-profit organization that focuses on extensive community engagement to move forward with the companys vision. Therefore, it is important to carry on that persona when engaging in online communication tactics as a method of keeping up with the advancement of technology and technologically based communication. Below are the policy guidelines for maintaining ITECs professional online presence. The Dos - Post content that is respectful and free of obscenities and negativity - Post relevant content that caters to ITECs expressed audience consistently - If one is unsure of the content that is to be posted, ask permission before it is posted, or just dont post - Maintain strong relationships with Twitter followers, individuals and/or businesses who like ITECs Facebook page, LinkedIn members and YouTube subscribers o When an individual or business decides to follow ITEC, like its Facebook page, subscribes to its YouTube channel or becomes a member of its LinkedIn group, return the favor if ITECs new followers are relevant to the advancement of the organization and mission - When posting content, be sure to post content that has visual appeal including pictures, videos and links. Furthermore, if the content one is posting is related to other organizations or businesses, be sure to tag them so that they are aware of the content being posted regarding them. Doing so increases engagement with ITECs audience and strengthens online relationships further - When posting content about ITEC on other online mediums, be sure to link back to ITECs social media networks and website where appropriate - Make sure to be respectful of opinions expressed via comments about ITECs whereabouts. People are entitled to their opinions and comments, and it is important that ITEC understands this and respects this. - If someone posts content that is disrespectful, contains obscenities or negative comments that are directed toward ITEC and its constituents, ITEC reserves the right to remove such content from its established online networks. - If the content being produced is a disagreement of some sorts, present it in an appropriate, polite manner - Have fun! The Donts - Do not post content that is disrespectful, includes obscenities or negatively refers to individuals or businesses ITEC is or is not associated with. Always portray a respectful image online - Do not produce false or misleading content. Remember, what is written on the internet, stays on the internet and can be easily found if necessary - If a problem arises with ITEC and it is expressed via ITECs online networks, do not ignore the comment. Respond respectfully and promptly. If necessary, consult the communications expert, or executive director of ITEC before proceeding with a response - Do not disclose of information regarding ITEC that is meant to be confidential

ITECS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PLAN

Summary: Developing a strong social media presence requires one to engage frequently and relevantly with their audiences on any given social media platform. This plan was developed around a four-part strategy that highlights the importance of engagement and understanding ones audience: 1. Engage current audience 2. Encourage that audience to engage their networks 3. Engage new followers 4. Be a source of information Through research, creating content, retweeting, facebook liking, and monitoring analytics, a great deal of knowledge was gained regarding who ITECs general audiences are among their networks. Additionally, there is now an understanding of how to appeal to the unique audience members within these networks. Goals:

The goals expressed for this plan include: Understand who ITECs current audience is in order to create content that directly appeals to them Generate more traffic on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube Increase following on all social media networks, specifically, from local businesses
Desired results of expressed goals:

The overall purpose of identifying ITECs audiences is to maintain and secure support for ITECs mission which is to prepare todays students to become equipped for tomorrows jobs in science, technology, engineering and math as well as to break down the digital divide by helping adults in the Lansing area gain critical computer skills; support includes financial, volunteers, access to shared resources including computer labs, classroom space and supplies. Support specifically from local businesses is necessary for maintaining ITECs reputation as being an active member in reaching Lansings overall goal to become a more high-tech city by promoting local access to resources including computer labs and high-speed internet in low-income neighborhoods. This support is also important when considering funding for ITECs programs as well as access to shared resources.

THE STRATEGY
Four-Part Strategy:

This plan was developed around a four-part strategy that highlights the importance of engagement:
1. Engage Current Audience Engaging ITECs current audience required a breakdown of participation among individuals as well as businesses. Understanding the level of participation from these groups provides an idea of why they are interested in following ITEC:

INDIVIDUALS BUSINESSES

FACEBOOK LIKES 277 13

TWITTER FOLLOWERS 139 173

LINKEDIN MEMBERS 58 N/A

These groups were broken down even further into six different categories based on the occupational fields of each individual and business. For those whose occupation was not readily available, a category named Other/General Support was created:

EDUCATION TECH/STEM Facebook 43 Ind. 4 Bus. 12 Ind. 16 Bus. 18

LOCAL/NONPROFIT 81 Ind. 126 Ind. 6 Bus. 6 Bus 8 Ind. 97 Bus 29

MSU 31 Ind. 3 Bus. 2 Ind. 13 Bus. 11

PR/MARKETING/MEDIA

OTHER/GENERAL SUPPORT 27 Ind. 92 Ind. 0 Bus. 2 Bus. 27 Ind. 41 Bus. 4

Twitter

20 Ind. 14 Bus. 16

33 Ind. 19 Bus. 9

LinkedIn

2. Encourage that audience to engage their networks Encouraging ITECs current audience to engage their networks involves the creation of content that is appealing enough to be shared with their networks. Now that there is an understanding of who follows ITEC and which fields they are in, content can be created to specifically appeal to interests of participants 3. Engage new followers Engaging new followers requires not only producing appealing content, but also posting that content frequently onto the networks. Posting frequently will increase ITECs visibility among these social media platforms 4. Be a source of information Being a source of information means producing content that informs ones audience about their practice as well as content that relates to their field of practice. Doing so further increases ones visibility, allows for the opportunity to directly communicate with followers, and if ITEC is able to produce their own content they will more likely be perceived as an expert in the field of STEM

RESEARCH ANALYSIS
Facebook Likes Breakdown: To further understand ITECs audience, a thorough analysis of its Facebook page likes, Twitter followers and LinkedIn group members was conducted. Lets jump into the results: When analyzing this data, it is important to note that ITECs primary goal is to increase the general number of page likes, specifically, those from local businesses. The data here shows that it is reaching one of those goals. The majority of likes come from individuals and businesses that are local, in the non-profit sector and in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M)

PERCENTAGE OF LIKES WITHIN FIELD

46%

45% 46%

31%

33% 29%
23%

15% 11% 10% 0%

15%

Individuals Businesses

OCCUPATIONAL FIELD
This data not only shows how close ITEC is to reaching its expressed goals, but also how far away it is. Increasing likes means increasing frequency and engagement with the occupational fields shown above Effective methods of engagement and increasing likes on Facebook: o Look through an established list of organizational contacts and if applicable, like their pages. o Focus on appealing to individuals and businesses that are frequently active on Facebook: This is done simply by scrolling through ones new feed o Posting about events being put on by non-profits and local businesses around Lansing. Doing so shows that ITEC supports the efforts of other local establishments which will increase visibility and help to increase Facebook likes o Frequently post content that appeals to each of the occupational fields listed above. This further increases visibility to current and new audiences as well as increases ITECs chances of receiving more likes o Facebook is a place where individuals and businesses seek personal connects, therefore make content personable rather than just professional and be sure to highlight ITECs culture o Make sure to provide links that take the audience to ITECs website, to other content related to their fields as well as yours, videos, pictures and the like. Engagement increases when the audience is led to appealing visual and text content

Twitter Followers Breakdown:

70%

29%

Individuals
9% 9% 10% 11% 5% 19% 14% 9% 1% 16%

Businesses

The data here shows that the majority of followers are individuals who work in the Lansing area. This shows that ITEC has done a good job thus far when connecting with individuals who work for businesses in Lansing, but have yet to connect with actual businesses in the community who are on Twitter For Twitter, the goal is to generally increase ITECs following, specifically local businesses that are on Twitter Twitter is a wonderful source for directly engaging and communicating with ones following Effective methods for increasing engagement and number of followers on Twitter: o Again, look through an established list of organizational as well as individual contacts and find those you are interested in following on Twitter o Learn which followers are frequently active by scrolling through the timeline o Tweet content related to activities, events, and more taking place within ones organization. Make sure to provide links that take the audience to your website, other content related to their fields as well as yours, videos, pictures and the like. Engagement increases when the audience is led to appealing visual and text content o Again, frequently post content that will appeal to the occupational fields listed in the graph above. Doing so will increase ITECs visibility to current and new audiences as well as increase the potential for more followers who are relevant to the organization o Retweet appealing content posted by followers. This increases engagement and allows for direct communication

LinkedIn Group Member Breakdown:

PERCENTAGE OF MEMBERS WITHIN FIELDS

LinkedIn Group Members Breakdown

50%

31% 27% 19% 15% 7% Individual

OCCUPATIONAL FIELD
LinkedIn only tracks individuals that follow groups or companies as represented in the graph above Again, the data shows that the majority of members are from the Lansing area The key to engagement on LinkedIn is through ones group page or company page Effective methods for increased engagement and group membership on LinkedIn o Contribute to group discussions started by your members in other groups they are a part of. This increases ITECs visibility and allows for direct communication with group members o Start intriguing discussions that not only include links, pictures and videos, but also open the floor for conversation among group members NOTE: Generating appealing content is mentioned frequently as an effective method of increasing engagement and following on all social media platforms. Appealing content refers to content that is visually appealing with videos and photos and almost always includes a link to other sources

STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
Execution: Now that there is an understanding of who is part of ITECs social media networks, it is time to execute: First step: o Execution of this plan began with creating general content that wasnt targeted to any specific audience and posting as frequently as possible Second step: o Post ITEC- created content and whats going on within the organization primarily. In addition to that, post content related to ITECs vision and mission that has been created by other people; some examples of this include articles, events going on in Lansing and highlighting what other organizations are working on within Lansing Third step: o After the research was conducted and analyzed, there was a clearer understanding of who is part of ITECs social media networks. This means content can be created to appeal to specific audiences within those networks. Below are examples of content that would be most appealing to each of the common occupational fields found during research

Occupational Field Education

Social Networks Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Content Examples
We love lego robotics! RT @SpaceArtAl How teachers use LEGOS to promote #STEM: (link) Adjust above post for Facebook Adjust above post for LinkedIn Teach for America granted $1 million in an effort to recruit teachers with STEM expertise. (link) Check out whats going on in the White House to further promote the importance of STEM! Adjust above post for LinkedIn Got any old tech gadgets layin around? Forget about the landfill, bring them to @MITN_Lansing e-waste event tonight! (link) Looking for hands-on experience in PR and Marketing? ITEC is hiring a grad-level PR & Marketing intern! To learn more visit: (link) Adjust above post for LinkedIn RT @msu_egr_news: To promote importance of STEM education RT@whitehouseostp Pres. Obama hosts White House Science Fair.. Adjust above post for Facebook Adjust above post for LinkedIn Advanced math skills are required in all job sectors, including advertising (link)

TECh/STEM

Local/Non-Profit

MSU

PR/Marketing/MEDIA

Adjust above post for Facebook Adjust above post for Linkedin Those who are general supporters of ITEC respond to a variety of content within these occupational fields.

Other/General Support

Fourth Step: o Post frequently, and communicate with your audience through retweets, likes, comments and replies to their content Fifth Step:

Make the frequent posting of appealing content easier with a content calendar. ITEC will be using HootSuite to schedule most of its content. A snippet of the calendar is presented below:

ITECs February Content Calendar: Sixth Step: o Now that the research is gathered, content has been developed and implemented, and engagement with audiences has begun, it is time for monitoring and analyzing the metrics of the effort being put into building a stronger social media presence

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Monitoring/ Analytics Report

LinkedIn:
ITECs engagement on LinkedIn was not as extensive as its increased engagement on Facebook and Twitter. There is not enough data to adequately measure its effectiveness on LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn provides basic measuring tools for groups. LinkedIn has gathered some general data on ITECs group which can be viewed below. Summary of ITECs Group

Demographics of ITECs Group

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ITECs Group Growth

ITECs Group Activity

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Facebook: When analysis of ITECs followers began, it had 279 likes on Facebook, 312 followers on Twitter, and 58 LinkedIn group members. Facebook insights were utilized extensively as well as HootSuite to measure the effectiveness of ITECs increased engagement on those platforms. Facebook Insights results o Insights showing where ITEC started are only available on Facebook:

Facebook insights send weekly performance updates via email. These updates were tracked, and showed that the frequency of posts has the largest impact on audience engagement, as well as the number of people being reached, and participation with content being posted. The next page displays the remaining results of ITECs increased engagement on Facebook:

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Dec. 28, 2011- Jan. 4, 2012

Jan. 4, 2012- Jan. 11, 2012

Jan. 11, 2012- Jan. 18, 2012

Jan 18, 2012- Jan. 23, 2012

Jan. 23, 2012- Jan. 31, 2012

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Twitter: HootSuite is an analytics tool that was primarily used for Twitter. Tracking with HootSuite began recently, therefore, analytics from ITECs Twitter engagement is limited. Since ITECs increased engagement with Twitter, its number of followers increased from 312 to 326. When developing ITECs social media presence on Twitter, it was found that the result of increased engagement fosters a quicker response from the audience than Facebook or Linkedin. It is easier to increase ones following on Twitter than it is to increase Facebook likes. This suggests that people are more active on Twitter. Below are the results gathered from tracking ITECs engagement on Twitter.

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YouTube Best Practices

Engagement on YouTube was not implemented during the creation of this plan. However, considering that there are plans in the works to become more engaged on the popular video sharing network, here are seven best practices for Nonprofits:

(Li, 2012)

While ITEC could consistently engage audiences using YouTube, it is recommended, considering ITECs mission, to use YouTube as more of a video-hosting site where the videos are promoted via ITECs more established social media networks including Facebook and Twitter.

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Blogging Best Practices

There are many types of blog formats to choose from including: Citizen Blogs: A blog that would be presented by supporters of ones organization who share their take on the mission of the organization. These blogs are generally used in correlation with the organizations established social media networks. The purpose behind this type of blog is to provide the audience with the opportunity to share their stories and ideas regarding ones organization. Expert Blogs: Expert blogs focus on a specific area of expertise presented by internal or external experts on any given subject. The purpose of this blog is to enhance the expert content on ones website. Internal Blog: An internal blog is one that is presented as part of an organizations website. The purpose of this type of blog is to enhance website content and provide an opportunity to create dialogue regarding the mission and vision of ones organization. External Blog: An external blog is similar to an internal blog, but is presented externally. Content shared on this blog will also highlight the mission, values, programs and the like related to ones organization. The purpose of this type of blog is to simply create an additional outlet for ones organization to share content and reach out to its audience and potentially attract additional supporters of the organization.

For ITEC, the most appropriate blog type to utilize would either be an internal blog or an external blog. The purpose of ITECs blog would be to create content related to its mission and provide an outlet for ITECs established audience to share and create content that is related to ITECs goals as well as the expressed goals of ITECs collaborators within the local community. Developing a blog whose content is relevant and remains consistent will help ITEC be perceived as an expert within its field. Some Blogging donts - Dont fake it - Dont sell/market - Dont be too corporate - Dont talk at your readers - Dont forget your employees - Dont stray from your objectives - Dont let the content go stale - Dont force login to comment Some blogging starter tips - Strategic Role o How does the blog fit in with ITECs online and general communication strategy? - Audience o Who is the target audience for ITECs blog? - Objectives o What does ITEC want to accomplish with pursuing a blog? - Persona o What will be the tone, personality, orientation and voice toward the issues of ITECs blog? - Branding o How will ITECs blog look and feel? - Content o What will ITECs editorial content calendar consist of? What topics or categories will be included? - Frequency

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o How often will ITEC post to its blog? Resourcing o Who will be authorized to conduct research, post, edit and approve posts? Moderating o Who will monitor comments and replies on blog posts? What will be the process for rising issues? Metrics o Who will measure ITECs blog success? What and how can ITECs blog be measured effectively? Reporting o Will blog reports be necessary? If so, what will be reported on? Who will create the reports? What will be the format of the reports and how frequently will reports be conducted? Marketing o How will ITECs blog be promoted? Legal o Legal guidelines regarding blog engagement should be established.

What to consider when starting blog Title (be creative) Keywords (for SEO purposes) Formatting (make things easy to navigate, easy to read) Writing (keep things concise, engaging and consistent) Images (images enhance content engagement) Links (links also enhance content engagement) Length (as long as the content being produced has value, length isnt a big factor) Scheduling (schedule items in a timely matter) Workflow (make time to keep consistent with the blog) Announcement (when a new post has been created, announce it on Twitter, Facebook, on the website, via email; be creative, and dont be afraid to announce the same blog post in a timely manner)

When blogging, remember to be engaging. Consider it another form of conversation when commenting and sharing thoughts on other blogs that relate to your own. Follow other blogs, and engage with their content.

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Social Media Engagement Analysis from January 1st, 2012 April 30, 2012
Since ITEC has increased its social media engagement, specifically on Twitter and Facebook, there has been a stark increase in engagement with ITEC from people who like ITECs Facebook page and those who follow ITEC on Twitter. An analysis of engagement among followers has been conducted to highlight what has worked for ITEC as well as what has not worked. NOTE: Comprehensive insights for Twitter were difficult to come across as there is not an extensive insight database that has been adequately set up for Twitter as it has been for Facebook. Therefore, the majority of the insights gathered reflect engagement from people who like ITECs Facebook page. Break Down of Insights Likes: A Facebook insight graph of people who have liked ITECs page is displayed for each month to showcase growth over time. This graph is important because an increase in Facebook page likes over time is one of the first indicators of effective social media engagement from ITEC. Talking About This: A graph of people talking about ITECs page is displayed for each month to showcase the level of engagement ITEC has received from its Facebook audience. People talk about ITEC through page likes, comments, mentions, shared posts and more. With increased engagement through posting articles, activities ITEC is involved with or coordinating, photos and videos increases the level of engagement from ITECs audience. This particular insight is one of the main reasons why it is important to post frequently. Posting relevant and appealing content frequently increases the chance for engagement not only from ITECs audience, but from audiences ITEC has yet to reach. The viral reach section of this graph indicates the number of unique people who saw a story published by a friend about your page. Reach and Frequency: Reach is simply the number of people who saw any content related to ITECs Facebook page. The frequency graph shows how many times people have seen ITECs content during a certain time period. These graphs are important because they provide insight into how many people are seeing the content that ITEC is putting out. The more people take the time out to look at what ITEC is posting, the higher the chance for page likes, comments, sharing of content and a general increase in people seeing ITECs content. Page Views: The page views graph displayed actually breaks down the exact number of page views ITECs Facebook page has received on a given day. A spike in page views indicates that a post is popular among ITECs audience. This section also provides a breakdown of which page tab is being clicked on the most, whether it is the general timeline, photos, information, or the like button. This information provides insight into the specifics of what is popular on ITECs timeline. The last of this section includes a breakdown of where the page views are coming from including places like ITECs website, google.com and more. This helps to see where ITECs audience is coming from.

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January LIKES:

TALKING ABOUT THIS:

REACH AND FREQUENCY:

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PAGE VIEWS:

TOP LINK FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY:

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February LIKES

TALKING ABOUT THIS:

REACH AND FREQUENCY

22

PAGE VIEWS:

TOP LINKS FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY:

23

March LIKES:

TALKING ABOUT THIS:

REACH AND FREQUENCY:

24

PAGE VIEWS:

TOP LINKS FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH:

25

April LIKES:

TALKING ABOUT THIS:

REACH AND FREQUENCY:

26

PAGE VIEWS:

TOP LINKS FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL:

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What Has Worked - Posting relevant content o Content that includes photos or videos receive the most traffic o ITECs audience also responds strongly to content related to activities and events it participates in. o Posting content that mentions other community organizations in a supportive manner receives a significant response from ITECs audience What Has Not Worked - The number one thing that wont work in maintaining a strong social media presence for ITEC is to post irrelevant content inconsistently.

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