The explosion of social media has drastically changed the way that prospective undergraduates and their parents (as well as the rest of the world) see your school. While you think you're controlling the message through your "official" communications, people are out there uploading not-so-flattering videos, commenting on "gossip boards," and swapping stories on sites like Facebook and MySpace. It's easy to feel that your school's brand is out of your control.
What do you do? How do you manage your institution's brand and reputation when you can't control the conversation? This presentation examines where prospects are going to find out about your institution, what they're saying, and how memes get made and spread. Along the way you'll get some practical advice and case studies about what others are doing to join in the conversation and leverage social media for recruitment and retention.
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Cheap, Fast, and
Out of Control
Social Media, Recruitment, and Reputation Management
PRSA CHE Summit 2009 April 16, 2009
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
August 15, 1971
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The 6 big trends that are
changing everything
ŕš The consumer is in control
ŕš The move from atoms to bits
ŕš Moving from real time to MY time
ŕš The end of centralization
ŕš The future is always on
ŕš The end of the desktop
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âMommy, why canât I pause the TV?â
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Broadcast
Media
Web
Mobile
Email
Social Media
Prospect
Direct
Mail
Telemarketing
Print
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Social Media & Recruitment
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source: http://belanger.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/the-ebb-and-flow-of-social-networking/
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
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studentPOLL study of social
media and college choice
ď˝Joint study with studentPOLL and CollegeBoard.
ď˝Online survey administered to senior registrants for the SAT
ď˝Email invitation in third week of October to a random sample sample
of about 34,000 registrants
ď˝960 surveys completed
ď˝Findings weighted to represent socioeconomic, racial, income of
registrant population
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Demographics of sample
Gender
ď˝ Male 44.5%
ď˝ Female 55.5
Race
ď˝ Asian/Indian 10.2%
ď˝ African American 12.3%
ď˝ Hispanic/Latino 15.2%
ď˝ Caucasian/Middle Eastern 55.7%
ď˝ Other/No Answer 6.5%
Income
ď˝ < $50,000 19.8%
ď˝ 50,000 - < 100,000 22.5%
ď˝ >= 100,000 21.3%
ď˝ DK/NA/REF 36.3%
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Use of SNS nearly universal
ď˝Nine out of every ten college-bound students visits social networking
sites
ď§ African Americans are more likely (97%) than Hispanics (86%) or Whites (88%)
to visit SNS
ď˝84 percent have a personal page or profile on a social networking
site
ď§ African Americans are more likely (93%) than whites (84%) to have SNS profile
page
ď˝Lack of time (46 percent) and parental veto (28 percent) chief
obstacle to those without profiles on sites
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Facebook and MySpace
dominate SNS world
ď˝Facebook and MySpace are by far the most used sites.
ď§ 79 percent have profile on Facebook, 69 percent on MySpace
ď§ Profiles lower than 10 percent on all other sites
ď§ Asians (87%), Whites (86%) and African Americans (73%) are more likely to have a
Facebook page than are Hispanics (55%). Hispanics (88%) are more likely than Asians
(60%) or Whites (65%) to have a MySpace page.
ď˝Facebook the most often visited site (60 percent) with MySpace far behind (38
percent)
ď§ Asians (69%) and Whites (also 69%) were more likely than African Americans (46%) and
Hispanics (31%) to visit Facebook. Hispanics (68%) and African Americans (52%) are
more likely than Asians (24%) or Whites (29%) to visit MySpace.
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source: Annenberg School Digital Futures Report 2007
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Example: UMBC Prospects 2008
sample: 4,970 prospect email addresses
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UMBC Prospects: Demographics
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Teens and social networking
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Teens and Communication
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But...
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The point:
ŕš Theyâre connected all the time
ŕš They like to talk
ŕš News spreads faster than ever
ŕš They consume and create
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
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Where are they talking about you?
(and what are they saying?)
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Itâs not just Facebook/Myspace
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QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Video
QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
âCornell Drunkâ
âUniversity of Arizona Pool Partyâ
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Comments
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Ratings
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Flickr
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Out of control
ŕš You canât control this. Period. Get over it.
ŕš Itâs about what you say about yourself and what they say about you.
ŕš Cognitive Dissonance is bad...unless youâre doing it on purpose.
ŕš The good news/bad news: more media = less attention
ŕš Donât think âcampaign,â think âplayâ (or, if you have to talk to your
boss, call it âtestingâ or âexperimentingâ)
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+ =
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How trends get made
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Memes
ŕš units of cultural information
ŕš cultural evolution or cultural diffusion
ŕš subject to natural selection
ŕš variation
ŕš competition
ŕš mutation
ŕš itâs not survival of the fittest, itâs survival of fastest (those best able
to spread)
Richard Dawki
The Selfish Gene
1976
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Virus Host
Virus
Virus
Virus
Viral Transmission
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TB Transmission
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High School Dating
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Graph of The Internet
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âThe Tipping Pointâ
ŕš âHubsâ
ŕš âSuperconnectorsâ
ŕš âInfluentialsâ
ŕš Viral media based on the theory that a few important people in a
network can accelerate transmission and acceptance of an idea.
Malcolm Gladwell
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One-to-one
ŕš Memes take hold because culture is ready
ŕš Six degrees of separation true, but connectors not important
ŕš People influence others around them
ŕš Anybody is just as likely to launch a trend as anyone else
Duncan Watts
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
vs.
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Online Brand Management
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fries!
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Institution Constituentsbrand
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Doing it right
QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Viral Media
QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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(but recent research indicates only 15% of
âviralâ media passed on)
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
QuickTime⢠and a
Apple Pixlet Video decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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Doing it wrong...
QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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...then again...
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Thereâs nowhere to hide
ŕš Memes travel...or not
ŕš Honesty will out
ŕš Your brand is your experience....like it or not
ŕš Forget about âcraftingâ anything
ŕš Embrace your detractors
ŕš BE HONEST
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Reputation = Brand
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
The brand doesnât make the institution,
the institution makes the brand.
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âBrandâ is a collaboration
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Dealing With It
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Lessons of Generation TXT
ŕš Things have changed. Drastically.
ŕš New technology, new mindset.
ŕš Show, donât tell.
ŕš More information is better...theyâre going to find it out anyway.
ŕš Print still matters...for different reasons than you think
ŕš Accountability is a must.
ŕš Authenticity is a given. âThree Under a Treeâ ainât gonna work anymore.
ŕš Itâs about the experience.
ŕš Think individuals, not audiences
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
QuickTime⢠and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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225 e. redwood street baltimore, md 21202 410.837.5555 www.idfive.com
Letâs Talk!
sean.carton@idfive.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
This is the day that the US went off the Gold Standard. Itâs essentially the day that the world became an information economy, an economy based on data rather than stuff. All of a sudden money went from representing a physical-world commodity to representing what we said (and/or agreed) it represented. Everything thatâs happening right now-- from the economy to the internet-- is a direct line on the vector of this change.