Office of Communications
Using data
to inform content
Disagree, ask, comment, heckle:
Pithy comments @mhames
Longer comments: linkedin.com/in/matthames
Join the Conversation: #heweb15

#beautiful
About me

#4seasons
Social media guy

Office of Communications
The average :60
#source:IDC
• 204 million email messages
• 2 million Google search queries
• 48 hours of new YouTube videos
• 684,000 bits of content on Facebook
• 100,000 tweets

Office of Communications
The problem
#wearealloversharers
Each day there is a new source of data.

Office of Communications
The opportunity
#seewhatIdidthere?
Each day there is a new source of data.

Office of Communications
Data
#thecyclesofhighered

Office of Communications
Data
#onegraphforonefacebookpage

Office of Communications
Data
#metadatatweets

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The admission
#okay-maybenotnightmares
I have nightmares about data.

Office of Communications
#firstruleofdata
Data is only as good as the questions we ask
The opinion

Office of Communications
#Theansweris42
But, Matt: I’m not sure what to ask.

Office of Communications
#colgateguy-shouldbe13
Ten things I think I know about data.

Office of Communications
#1 Analyzing data is a muscle
#thereisnorightway
There was a shot of Colgate’s data here.

Office of Communications
#2 Use data to ask questions
#theystartedonealready
Matt, I want to start a Facebook page.

Office of Communications
The pitch
#7yearoldskeptic
Why?

Office of Communications
#youhaveZEROlikes

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#marketiconfusion

#2 what is the goal?

#youcanseethesefrommyhouse

Colgate.edu
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
DeliciousGoogle+
Livestream
Pinterest
Flickr
#nottoscale

Colgate.edu
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
DeliciousGoogle+
Livestream
Pinterest
Flickr
##notalwaysthisgoal

Metrics
#increasethisby13%

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#3: what channels

Office of Communications
Students
.edu
Admissions funnel
Alumni engagement
Blog
Delicious
Email
#appsandlove
Twitter
YouTube
Flickr
Insta
Tumblr
LinkedIn
Groups
Google+
#PlusTheNextShinyThing
Facebook

Office of Communications
#4: less is more
#onepagetorulethemall

Office of Communications
#theyarealloneperson

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#already45tabs
Consolidation of reports

Office of Communications
#onceuponatime

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#5 using data to understand Google
#googleheartssupertroopers

Office of Communications
#googlelovesentertainers

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#6 using data to understand referrals
• Referrals to the .edu
• Freebase
#gottalearnwikidata

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#5 still using data to understand behavior
#findyournearestintlstudent

Office of Communications
#7 using data to correct content
…she is very beautiful campus scenery, spring and summer full
House green beautiful scenery; a pool of blue water of the lake
and fall foliage golden shining; snowy winter, large campus
quiet as at the child, so it is as one of the most beautiful US
universities.
#translationpoetry

Office of Communications
#8 use data to inform times
There is no right amount of times, or right time
to post stories.
#whenshouldIpost?

Office of Communications
#facebookwhale

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Twitter
Posts after 1:00pm EST have twice the impressions.
#studentsarenocturnal

Office of Communications
#9 use data to make strategic decisions
#whatwepostonFacebook

Office of Communications
Remember this?
#strategicfacebookposts
This was also a shot of Colgate’s data.

Office of Communications

Office of Communications
“…track who is initially engaging with us, how frequently
they’re engaging, and what they interact with. Matt Gullatta,
Director of Advancement Services, Ashland University
#coolestdataever

Office of Communications
#Istillmightaskthis

Office of Communications
#findactualpeople

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#10 Share and evangelize
#makepeoplecareaboutdata
Share your insights. Get people excited.

Office of Communications
Things I think I know
1. Facebook Posts with more than 50 words get 2x the engagement
2. The top Tweet at Colgate in fiscal 2014/15 was a repost from Delicious
3. Facebook doesn’t like pages.
4. Facebook rewards targetting.
5. Facebook rewards responding with pictures.
6. LinkedIn is actually more infuriating than Google’s current SERP
7. A Faculty bio page with an image will beat RMP in a Google search. All bets
are off if there’s no picture.
8. A LinkedIn profile with 100% completeness beats RMP.
9. Last month, 47 people took a virtual tour after coming to Colgate.edu via
Facebook. As we kick into the app season, I hope that number triples.
10. #hashtags increase tweet impressions. Exceptions include, but are not limited
to the hashtags in this presentation,
11. Asking questions like “how will we measure success?” gets you invited to more
meetings.
12. Campaign URLS are hard to get people to adopt
13. Eat more vegetables.
#usehashtagsatyourownrisk

#PhotosbyAndyDaddio
Questions?
@mhames
linkedin.com/in/matthames
Questions.