Case Study: Social Media makes the grade at Harvard Business School Presented by: Brian Kenny, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Harvard Business School

1. Social Media Makes the Grade at HBS
Brian Kenny, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
Harvard Business School
January 13, 2010
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.

2. “Harvard Business School reminds me of. . .”
“ . . .Mahogany and Taxidermy”
Harvard Club of New York

3. Harvard Business School
• 100 Years • 850 Staff • 13,000 Exec Ed
• 220 Faculty • 1,800 MBA • 70,000 Alumni

4. Communicating with multiple audiences
• Prospective and current students, faculty and staff
• HBS Alumni
• The academy
• The business community
• Harvard University
• Worldwide media

5. Challenge of integration in decentralized environment
Content
Traditional Social
Media Media
Communities

6. Perceptions of the HBS brand

7. Current climate for business schools
• Increased criticism — about business, MBAs, HBS and Harvard
• Increased competition — among top tier and everyone else
• Increased # of influences — perceptions being shaped by others

8. The shifting communications landscape
How people are learning about us

9. The Social Media Imperative
• Embrace behavioral shift
• Harness viral marketing opportunities
• Leverage third party advocates
• Build sustainable communities
• Enhance, monitor and protect the HBS brand

10. Guiding Principle – Technology is not social. People are.
SOCIOLOGY
What do people do online?
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
How do we execute? How do we engage them?
© 2009 Mikołaj Jan Piskorski

11. Strategy – Go where the people already are.

12. Harvard Business School Social Media Footprint

13. HBS blogging/microblogging

14. Ready-made blogging platform with tremendous reach

15. HBS on YouTube and (soon) I Tunes U.

16. HBS on Linked In – 3 Communities, 15,000+ members

17. HBS on Facebook – 40,000+ fans

18. HBS on Twitter – 6 Official feeds, 55,000+ followers

19. Leveraging social media to promote faculty work

20. Compelling outreach to prospective students

21. Relinquishing control of the brand

22. Relinquishing control of the brand

23. Losing control of the brand

24. Buzz versus Risk
high
student blogs
BUZZ
faculty blogs
www.hbs.edu
low
low RISK high

25. Key takeaways
1. Social Media is about engaging stakeholders in relevant
and meaningful ways.
2. Technology is not social. People are. Know what your stakeholders are
doing on line and let that drive your strategy and technology choices.
3. Go where the communities already exist rather than building your own.
4. Embrace the shift but pay attention to your brand in the social realm.