1. 1
Social Media for CBDC:
Monetization and Strategy
By Alicia Gootherts
June 11, 2016

2. 2
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Research and Analysis
1. Twitter 3
2. Facebook 4
3. Instagram 5
3. Monetization
1. Pay As You Go 6
2. Grant Award 6
3. Sponsor Benefits 6
4. Social Media Strategy
1. Twitter 7
2. Facebook 8
3. Instagram 9
5. Appendix
1. Figures and Tables 10
2. Daily Hashtags 12
6. References 13

3. 3
1. Introduction
Over the course of a quarter, I curated and maintained content for the University
of Washington Consulting and Business Development Center’s social media. This
included taking and editing photos, conducting interviews, interacting with partnering
organization’s social media, and drafting posts. I used Twitter Analytics and Facebook
Insights to collect and record data in order to make conclusions for a workable strategy
that the center may use for the future. The goal of this project is to monetize the center’s
social media platforms by offering its use to potential donors, and define what advantages
the center’s social media has for them that would otherwise be unattainable. After an
analysis of the trends from the Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram profiles, I present
strategies on how to exploit these trends to increase the social media presence, improve
the brand image, and monetize the platforms of the center.
2. Research & Analysis
2.1 Twitter
Before I begin breaking down the results from the data I recorded over the past
ten weeks from Twitter, there are two key terms that must be clarified: impressions and
engagement. Impressions are the number of times a user comes across one of your tweets.
Engagements are an accumulation of interactions from users by retweeting, liking,
clicking on a link or photo, and so forth. From week one through week seven, I increased
the frequency of tweets to observe the correlation between these data. As a result, the
number of impressions our tweets had multiplied by a factor of seven, from 1,600
impressions to 11,100 impressions. Interestingly, the engagement rate remained fairly
stable, increasing only slightly. This shows a direct correlation between the activity of
our profile and the number of users who interact with us. For as many tweets as we make,
the number of interactions per tweet remain relatively the same.
In this brief period of my observations, I identified tweets that were exceptionally
successful. Week seven, which produced 11,100 impressions from 24 tweets, had two of

4. 4
the most competitive engagement rates throughout the whole quarter. This was the week
of the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Conference in New York. The tweets, posted live during the
event, exploited the popularity of the topic as it happened, which resulted in having
almost a six-percent engagement rate, in comparison to the normal one-percent.
“Twitter… is centered around exchanging short messages that are mostly real-time status
updates” (Kietzmann, 2011). By strategically posting relevant information about the
conference in New York, we were able to draw attention to our profile and content.
Numbers aside, the center’s profile appearance and content have an impact on
how its audience perceives it. The most important factors users are looking at a profile’s
“relevance [to industry], personality, and community engagement” (Gonzalo, 2013). The
center’s relevance to the business and entrepreneurship industries are stable and at
desirable levels. On average, the center had a 71% connection with “Business News”
audiences and 66% connection with “Entrepreneurship” audiences. As I mentioned
earlier, the center’s community engagement is consistent and rewarding, specifically
during weeks of high activity. Lastly, the personality of the center’s profile is still
obscure. At the beginning of the quarter, I introduced daily hashtags, consistent content
of a specific genre produced daily. This predictability allows for users to know when and
where to look for content relevant to their interests. A list of these hashtags and their
descriptions can be found in the appendix.
2.2 Facebook
The Consulting and Business Development Center’s Facebook is primarily
catered to the young adult audiences, including college students and alumni. Figure 1 in
the appendix shows that our most popular audiences are 25-34 years old at 34%, and 18-
24 year olds at 27%. These age groups are primarily young professionals working in the
industry already. Therefore, when using Facebook as an outlet for the center, our content
is more appealing to the demographic when we include its relevancy to professional
industry. For example, when making a post about an undergraduate program, such as
Business Impact Group (BIG), it’s important to capitalize on the involvement of
volunteering advisors from sponsoring companies and alumni.

5. 5
In Figure 1, you may also see that there are 17% more women visiting our
Facebook page. This is not unusual for Facebook, considering that in 2009 when more
users were starting to use Facebook casually, women were joining at double the rate of
men (Kietzmann). The center will naturally always have more women viewers as a result.
Facebook operates through a series of algorithms that present its users with
information most relevant to them or posts that become popular through high engagement
and impression numbers. According to Figure 2, the most engaging posts are those that
contain photos, resulting in two and a half more reaches, or impressions, than posts with
links. Additionally, Figure 3 shows us that the center’s viewer traffic remains relatively
stable throughout the day after nine in the morning. Combining this data, making posts
with photos to Facebook at a regular pace during the late morning to afternoon would
accumulate traffic and engagement. By the early evening, the posts will have made an
impression to the majority of our audience.
2.3 Instagram
The center does not have an analytical tool to review the data incurred from
Instagram posts made throughout spring quarter. Analysis regarding the center’s success
on Instagram can be drawn from observations. Photos prior to spring quarter were
averaging around fifteen likes, with a standard deviation of two. The qualities of the
images were grainy, noisy, poorly lit, and had a variety of inconsistent edits. I uploaded
higher quality images with minimal noise, proper lighting, vibrant colors, and consistent
photo editing techniques. This resulted in an average of twenty likes per photo, but a
significantly higher standard deviation of ten. While before the center’s most popular
photo had only seventeen likes, the change of photo quality resulted in more than twice
the number of likes on photos.
On a platform such as Instagram, the fluidity of aesthetic of the photos is key in
holding the audience’s interest. Maintaining a consistent appearance throughout the
profile improves the quality of the center’s brand, incite people to want to follow the
center, and look at its content more frequently.

6. 6
3. Monetization
The Consulting and Business Development Center’s primary goal this quarter was
to discover a way to monetize its social media, offering its sponsors the opportunity to be
featured. When negotiating sponsorship opportunities, I propose offering two packages:
Pay As You Go, and a program specific donation.
3.1 Pay As You Go
The idea behind Pay As You Go is that the client selects their preferred form of
promotion, such as a video or tweet, for a fixed price. The variable is the number of
promotions they may choose for the center to publish. The client benefits from the
promotions, and the center can prioritize the money, distributing it to programs where it’s
needed most. Table 1 in the appendix lists prices to use for different forms of promotion.
3.2 Grant Award
If a sponsor decides to donate to a specific program or event, they will receive
different promotional benefits depending on the amount that they contribute. That
breakdown is as presented in Table 3 in the appendix. The package breakdown by level
allows the client to see what the purchasing power of their donation is, and therefore
make a selection based off of what services they would like to receive as an organization.
These packages are supplementary to the mission statement of the center, both acting as
an incentive for the sponsor to donate.
3.3 Sponsor Benefits
There are many benefits to being featured by the Consulting and Business
Development Center. First, the client will be recognized for “giving back” to small
business communities, which is a term heavily recognized for its charitable qualities.
Second, the client will gain access to our audiences, contributing to social media
presence. Third, by publicizing their involvement with the center, the client opens the
doors to partnerships with like-minded institutions. Fourth, the client will be associated
with the prestigious University of Washington. And finally, a bridge may be created for
internships and other programs sponsored by the center and University of Washington.

7. 7
4. Social Media Strategy
The audience of each social media platform has been clearly identified: Facebook
is for alumni and young professionals, Twitter for businesses, and Instagram for students.
Moving forward, the center can create a cohesive brand, generating and advertising
content geared towards targeted audiences based upon their respective platforms. The
data collected over the quarter has shown that, in order to draw traffic to our profiles,
frequently posting is necessary. To be efficient and minimize effort, it will be in the
center’s best interest to connect our social media platforms. There are three ways to
accomplish this:
1. Use the center’s Hootsuite (hootsuite.com) account to publish a post
across the media at once with 140 characters or less. You may upload a
picture or link with this mode. When publishing to Instagram, it requires
using the application on a smartphone as well.
2. When publishing to Instagram, activate the Twitter and Facebook buttons
so that it will update the other platforms simultaneously. Twitter will only
publish a blurb with a link to the picture, and not preview the picture itself.
Facebook will include the caption in its entirety and preview the photo.
3. The current setting on Facebook automatically updates the center’s
Twitter account with a tweet of a blurb and link when a post is published
to Facebook. This will, however, exclude Instagram.
These methods are good to use when identical posts will be made in the different
social media. I recommend updating each platform individually so that content can be
customized to the audiences who will be viewing it.
4.1 Twitter
The center’s primary audiences on Twitter are businesses. In order to engage
them, the center should post content relevant to business people, such as pictures from the
Business Certificate Program. Kietzmann says in his article that Twitter thrives on “real-
time status updates.” Unsurprisingly, some of the center’s most popular content on
Twitter has been live-tweets, or tweets that are made in real time as the event occurs.

8. 8
Affiliates of the center should become accustomed to live tweeting when participating in
events or projects in order to increase frequency of posts, impressions, and engagement.
Staff besides the social media coordinator can partake in the process of posting to
social media so long as the content they are posting conforms to the personality displayed
on the center’s profile. That is, photos that adopts a clean, professional aesthetic with a
brief description, providing context for the post. When taking a picture, there are three
simple rules to follow in order to maintain this appearance when either using a cellular
device or camera for photography:
1. Do not use the zoom function because it deteriorates the quality,
2. Clean the camera lens before taking the picture to ensure clarity,
3. Check that the light source is behind the camera, facing the point of
interest, for good lighting.
If the lighting appears poor, then minimal photo adjustments may be made, or the
photo may be sent to the social media coordinator to fix and publish.
The social coordinator is responsible for scheduling content for the daily hashtags
in advance. In Table 2, it shows that there is supposed to be at least one tweet every day
of the workweek containing the daily hashtag. This will maintain the personality of the
profile and encourage regular engagement with specific content. More than one tweet
with the daily hashtag is acceptable, although other content should be incorporated as
well, such as retweeting sponsors or affiliates.
4.2 Facebook
As mentioned in section 2.2, the center’s audience on Facebook remains stable
throughout the day. Post late in the morning to maximize the number of people who will
see it, accumulating “reaches,” or impressions, and engagement. More viewers pay
attention to content when it contains images; to complement the posting schedule, include
quality images that appeal to young professionals and college students. Lastly, although
Facebook has a nearly unlimited character limit, brevity is important. Facebook Insights
show that the more popular posts tend to be those with only three or four sentences and a

9. 9
picture. With the exception of the daily hashtag post, which sometimes requires
elaboration, keep the posts concise and professional.
Table 2 shows that the typical week of daily hashtags will include Alumni
Monday, OpportuniTuesday, TBT, and Highlight Friday. Explanations of these hashtags
can be found in the appendix. Occasionally, a partner, client, or sponsor will need to be
featured on Sponsorship Wednesday via Facebook, although it is not included in Table 2.
This is because their audience may primarily congregate on Facebook instead of Twitter.
For example, this is true of the Tri-Cities community in Washington; content directed
towards businesses in the Tri-Cities should be published to Facebook instead of Twitter.
2.3 Instagram
The personality of an Instagram profile is the easiest for an audience to make a
judgment; therefore, it’s critical that a proper aesthetic is maintained. The point of
interest of a photo should be appropriate for professional audiences, and the image must
meet quality, clarity, and color standards.
Because the center serves people and businesses, it must be represented as such,
while keeping in mind that the primary audience is students. A photo of students at events
sponsored by businesses is a typical image that could represent the center. Instagram has
a limit of 2,000 characters per post, but brevity is still an important characteristic. It may
be inevitable that there be a long post, especially for a daily hashtag like Student
Monday. Instagram is an application that focuses on the image; the text attached to it is
complimentary, so don’t make it the primary feature. Try to communicate the purpose of
the post in the photo instead.
The quality of the photo resembles the professionalism of the center. When taking
a photo, keep in mind the three simple rules listed in section 4.1. This will naturally
enhance the quality of images with minimal effort. The brighter the original image, the
easier it is to edit later.
Concerning the appearance of the image, Instagram filters without moderation are
tacky. Instead, use the editing tools to adjust the lighting, contrast, shadows, and colors.
These allow for more precise and unique appearances. Images on the profile should never

10. 10
deviate from each other too much: if you choose a cool palette because it is winter, then
continue with that trend for a while. This consistency unifies the Instagram profile and
displays an overall better aesthetic.
5. Appendix
5.1 Figures and Tables
Figure 1 The age group and gender ratio of the
Source: Facebook Insights center’s audience.
Figure 2 Photos on Facebook have more than
Source: Facebook Insights 2.5 times more impact on engagement.

11. 11
Figure 3 Time of they day the center’s viewers
Source: Facebook Insights check Facebook.
Table 1 Pay As You Go rates for
Source: Gonzalo, 2013 a variety of content.
Table 2 The schedule for daily hashtags.

12. 12
5.2 Daily Hashtags
StudentMonday: a student involved with the center or its various programs is
interviewed. The story is published to Instagram along with a photo taken at the
interview.
EntrepreneurMonday: a businessperson involved with the center or its various programs
is interviewed. The story is published to Twitter along with a photo taken at the
interview.
AlumniMonday: an alumnus currently or previously involved with the center or its
various programs is interviewed. The story is published to Facebook along with a photo
taken at the interview.
Table 3 The Grant Award packages, including
donation amounts.

13. 13
OpportuniTuesday: promoting opportunities at the center or partnering organizations on
the platforms appropriate for the relevant audiences, eg. An undergraduate internship at
Chase is posted to Instagram.
SponsorshipWednesday: an individual donor is highlighted on their preferred platform
(default platform is Twitter) with a customized post drafted by the center, unless
otherwise specified by the client.
ThrowbackThursday (TBT): pictures from previous events in which the center
participated or hosted are shared to their relevant platforms.
FeatureFriday (FF): multiple sponsors are featured in one tweet with a short thank you
note.
HighlightFriday: hot topics of the week related to the center or its partners are featured
on a platform with relevant audiences.
6. References
Gonzalo, Frederic. "How Much For A Sponsored Tweet, Pin or Post?" Social Media
Today. Social Media Today, 16 June 2013. Web. 01 June 2016.
<http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-much-sponsored-tweet-pin-or-
post>.
Kietzmann, Jan H., Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy, and Bruno S. Silvestre.
"Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of
Social Media." Science Direct. Elsevier, 5 Feb. 2011. Web. 08 June 2016.
<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681311000061>.