We've been monitoring and tracking how Swiss schools have been using social media for the past two years (2011-2012). I this presentation we show the before and after pictures, challenges, and opportunities.

1. Use of
Social Media
by Swiss
Higher Ed
November 13, 2012
Initiative of the State Secretariat for Education and Research SER Annex of the Consulate General.
Swiss Knowledge Network with outposts in Boston . San Francisco . Shanghai and Singapore

2. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and
Now
• Social Media Metrics
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
2

3. Technical Note
• All 12 universities in Switzerland, including both Federal
Institutes of Technology, and the University of Liechtenstein
• The majority of Universities of Applied Sciences (14 total)
• Total: 27 institutions
HWZ
FHNW PHZH
ZHAW
HSLU
ZHdK
FHS
HESSO BFH
EHL
ELS
HEIG-VD SUPSI
FFHS
3

4. We’ve Come a Long Way
January 1, 2011
4

5. Early Presence on Twitter
Mar 31
Date equals the day of the first tweet
5

6. 6
Aug 25
2009
2010
2009
Mar 18 Mar 11
Apr 15
Jun 8
Jun 17
Jun 30
Aug 12
Sept 17
Date equals the day of the first post on Facebook
Sept 21
Nov 18 Nov 17
Jan 20
Feb 15
2011
Feb 28
Mar 4
Mar 30
May 4 May 5
May 18
May 29
Critical Mass on Facebook
Sept 12
Sept 17
Nov 17
Dec 19
Dec 22
May 14
2012
Sept 13

7. Now Part of Digital Identity
• 2011: 50% of the institutions included icons
on homepage
• 2012: 77%
7

8. CONGRATULATIONS
8

9. BUILDING PRESENCE IS JUST
THE BEGINNING…
THERE ARE STILL LOT OF
OPPORTUNITIES &
CHALLENGES AHEAD
9

10. 10

11. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
11

12. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
12

13. Facebook | Likes
HSG has most likes
Lots of fan growth with the new semester this Fall
9000!
8000!
7000!
6000!
5000!
4000!
3000!
2000!
1000!
0!
!
L!
U !
U I!
E!
H !
ZH !
!
U U!
ZB !
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EI !
H D!
SU !
ZH I!
PH !
FF !
S!
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FH !
!
DO !
S!
!
E!
E!
AW
FL
SI
U
AS
ZH
ZH
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SO
ZH
H
SL
S
dK
IL
PS
SG
R
W
EH
IB
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EL
DI
IN
V
SL
IL
BF
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EP
W
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IB
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ES
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U
U
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U
Q1/2011! Q2/2011! Q3/2011! Q4/2011! Q1/2012! Q2/2012! Q3/2012!
13

14. Facebook | Post Frequency
24 out of 25 of institutions had at least 2 Facebook posts last week
Average number of posts per week: 4.5
42% of institutions post more than 6 times a week
Universities like Princeton or Stanford have more posts
But: US universities all have posts on weekends
Princeton University 21 HWZ 6 HSLU 4
UC Berkeley 12 UNINE 6 FHS 3
MIT 11 ZHAW 6 FFHS 3
Sciences Po 10 UNIGE 6 ELS 3
Oxford 10 UNIBE 6 HESSO 3
University of Cambridge 10 EPFL 6 UNILU 3
UNILI 10 ZHdK 6 HSG 3
Stanford University 8 UNIBAS 4 UNIFR 3
Harvard University 7 UZH 4 SUPSI 1
HEIG-VD 7 USI 4 EHL 1
BFH 6 PHZH 4 FHNW 0
!"#$#%&'(%)''*%+,"-.%/0%12314
14

15. 15
@
EP
0!
300!
600!
900!
1200!
1500!
1800!
2100!
2400!
2700!
FL
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Twitter | Followers
s!
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Most followed are EPFL, ETHZ, and UNIGE
he
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Q3 2012!
Q2 2012!
Q1 2012!
Q4 2011!
Q3 2011!
Q2 2011!
Q1 2011!
S!

16. Twitter | Reach
Federal institutes had the highest reach in September &
October 2012
Reach = number of Twitter
users who see tweets,
retweets, and mentions
16

17. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
17

18. Facebook | Content
70% Link or visual 16% Pictures
information (flyer etc)
9% Video 3% Question/Quiz 1% Text
only
18

19. Facebook | Engagement
19

20. Twitter | Content Analysis
Each institution uses Twitter in a different way
20

21. Twitter | Content Analysis: News or Conversation?
@uni_li!
@heigvd!
@ZHAW!
@unil!
@FHNW!
@unibern!
@hslu!
@EPFL!
@UniLuzern!
@USInews!
@FFHS! News about the university: 85%!
@phzuerich!
@EPFL_en!
@bfh_hesb! Other news/Information sharing: 4%!
@unifr!
@HSGStGallen!
Random Thought: 1%!
@UNIGEnews!
@UniBasel!
@EHLNews! Quiz or Question: 1%!
@fhhwz!
@uzh_news!
@hes_so!
Conversation: 7%!
@UniNeuchatel!
@uzh_news_en! Appreciation (ffs, thank you for retweets): 2%!
@ETH_en!
@ETH!
!"# $!"# %!"# &!"# '!"# (!"# )!"# *!"# +!"# ,!"# $!!"#
21

22. Twitter | Content Analysis: Tweets vs. Retweets
@HSGStGallen!
@uni_li!
@heigvd!
@ZHAW!
@hslu!
@FHNW!
@UniLuzern!
@unibern!
@USInews!
@EPFL!
@EPFL_en!
@unifr!
@bfh_hesb!
@UNIGEnews!
@unil!
@FFHS! Tweets: 79%!
@EHLNews!
@UniBasel!
@phzuerich! Retweets: 16%!
@uzh_news_en!
@ETH!
@hes_so!
@uzh_news!
Retweets of other university
@UniNeuchatel! accounts: 6%!
@fhhwz!
@ETH_en!
0%! 10%! 20%! 30%! 40%! 50%! 60%! 70%! 80%! 90%! 100%!
22

23. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
23

24. Social Media Transparency: Who is Posting?
Only HSG is transparent about the authors of their posts on
Facebook
On Twitter it is more common to identify authors: UNIL, UNIGE,
HSLU mention the people behind the tweets
24

25. Twitter | Voice
Formal vs. conversational communication on Twitter
5 institution only communicate formally on Twitter
5 institutions communicate mostly formally, but have some
conversational tweets (85% of tweets are formal)
16 institution are quite conversational (More than 15% of
tweets are conversational)
25

26. Language
• Most Institutions tweet and post in their local languages
• UZH, EPFL, and ETH have second Twitter accounts in
English
• USI, HSG, UNIFR, UNILI, EHL use a “language hybrid” on
Twitter
• Facebook: local language is trend, but some hybrids (EPFL,
USI, HSG, BFH, UNIFR).
26

27. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
27

28. Klout Scores
Nov. 1, 2012 6pm
( )
@EPFL 56
@ETH 55
How Klout measures
@EPFL_en 54 Twitter
@unil 51 Retweets: Retweets increase your
@UNIGEnews 50 influence by exposing your content to
@USInews 49 extended follower networks.
@HSGStGallen 48 Mentions: People seeking your
@ETH_en 48 attention by mentioning you is a strong
@fhhwz 47
signal of influence. We also take into
@uzh_news 46
@UniBasel 45 account the differences in types of
@unibern 45 mentions, including “via” and “cc.”
@ZHAW 44 List Memberships: Being included on
@UniNeuchatel 44 lists curated by other users
@hslu 44 demonstrates your areas of influence.
@unifr 43 Followers: Follower count is one
@uni_li 42
factor in your Score, but we heavily
@heigvd 42
@FHNW 42
favor engagement over size of
@EHLNews 42 audience.
@uzh_news_en 40 Replies: Replies show that you are
@bfh_hesb 40 consistently engaging your network
@phzuerich 39 with quality content.
@hes_so 38
@UniLuzern 36
@FFHS 26
28

29. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using
Social Media
• Outlook
29

30. Is Social Media a Priority?
2010: 21%
2011: 42%
2012: 62%
 67% say that social media is an integral part of their
communications strategy
30

31. What Goals is Social Media Supporting?
Social media technologies are an important tool for….
95% ...Create, sustain, and improve brand image
95% ...Distribute content/news
86% …Increase awareness about institution
72% ...Engage students
71% ...Connect with alumni
71% ...Listen to what is going on
67% ...Recruit students
48% ...Promote research
31

32. Working Hard on Policies and Guidelines
95% either have policies and/or guidelines or are working on it
52% have a social media strategy
No, we have no plans to 5%! Policy/Guidelines!
develop any! 14%! Stratey!
48%!
No, but we working on it!
33%!
Yes, we developed them 33%!
after we set up social
media accounts! 33%!
Yes, we had to set them 14%!
up before we set up social
media accounts! 19%!
32

33. Universities are Getting More Familiar with Social Media
2011: 17% “My organization is very familiar with
social media and we use it extensively for
2012: 26% communications.”
Do You Have a Social Media Manager?
2011: 27%
2012: 42%
33

34. Acceptance is Growing
67% say that acceptance for social media internally is
increasing
57% are encouraged by their supervisors to use social
media, versus 46% in 2011
34

35. But There Are Still Challenges
What are the greatest barriers to your organization having a formal presence on
social media or putting more effort into it? (choose all that apply)!
100%!
90%!
90%! 86%!
80%! 2011!
70%! 2012!
60%! 53%!
50%! 43%!
40%!
32%!
30%! 24%! 26%!
20%! 16%! 14%!
10%!
10%!
0%!
Lack of resources! Lack of knowledge/ Concerns about loss of Privacy issues! Lack of support from
awareness! control over content! my superiors!
Greatest challenge is lack of resources, despite the fact
that 43% have shifted budget to social media
35

36. Which Social Media Tools Are Used The Most?
Most important tools are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
What are the greatest barriers to your organization having a formal presence on social media or
Google+ and podcasts have(choose all that apply)! the most
puting mor effort into it? increased
100%! 95%!
89%!
90%!
83%!
79%! 79%!
80%!
70%! 67%!
63%!
60%! 56%!
53%!
50%!
50%!
42%!
40%!
32%! 32%!
30%!
22%!
20%! 16%! 17%!
16%! 16%!
11%! 11%!
10%! 6%!
0%!
0%!
Facebook! YouTube! Twitter! LinkedIn! Blog! Xing! Google+! Podcasts! Flickr! Foursquare!Videoblog!
2011! 2012!
36

37. Use of Social Media by Swiss Higher Ed
• Social Media Presence: Then and Now
• Social Media Metrics
• Presence & activity
• Content
• Tone & language
• Influence
• How Swiss universities are Using Social
Media
• Outlook
37

38. What Are Your Goals for 2013?
“Get the followers to
“Involve the community interact more on our
more and get more channels.”
engagement.”
“Implement the new
“Professionalize our social media strategy.”
services.”
“Create more videos for
“Spread the knowhow
online
and policy within the
communications.”
university”
“Hire a social media
manager and a student
assistant.”
38

39. QUESTIONS?
39