Cassie Tebo & Charlotte Steckart
COMM 317-0800
Executive Summary
We first look at what the Client’s current approach is when it comes to their social media marketing strategy. Later we talk about the different analytical methods we can use to evaluate their strategy, and then talk about our observations and evaluation. Lastly, we provide the client with recommendations and suggestions on where we believe they can focus their efforts to improve upon in the dynamic realm of social media in today’s modern world.
Introduction (Purpose & Background)
In this paper we will be analyzing the University of Wisconsin Green Bay’s social media presence by looking at what they are currently doing online. We will analyze how they go about conducting their posts, as well as combing through and identifying what they do well, and evaluating this for our recommendation of what they could do better. In order to find this out we are focusing not just on what they post but their actual intention and marketing strategy is behind their decisions.
Review of the Client’s Current SM Approach
The Client said UWGB has a social media presence that she described as “tenacious, attentive, and forward thinking.” They are using these three words to inspire their choices as the voice and tone they intend to project online. They exhibit this by choosing the type of content they post on each social media platform based on the demographics using it, and the demographics they want to receive the information. Sometimes they use students to create content so that it speaks to prospective students, their peers. This type of content is focused on a day in the life of a UWGB student, favorite activities on campus, clubs to join, and how to get more involved in campus life. By showcasing this in their social media they are trying to engage prospective students by telling them why UWGB is a good school to go to. One of the social media teams larger goals are to attract and retain students, serve the community, and connect with folks who are looking to financially support the university. They are intentional about their content. They know who their audience is and how they want to reach them. They know their target market is not just students but also parents. They are aware of the changing faucets of social media and are attempting to stay ahead of the curve by pivoting when they need to and adapting to change. They are doing a very good job and have the best of intentions, but there is always room for improvement.
Analytical Methods
When it comes to analytical methods we will be sending out a survey to all students on campus using qualtrics. We will have questions regarding which accounts they follow, what platforms they use, and the type of content they want to see more of. Asking the source directly is one way to do this. For prospective students we would use a different method. On Instagram you can hold Q&As on Instagram stories where people can reply with their questions or answers. This is one way that we could communicate with prospective students that is relatively easy. We understand that the Social Media Marketing department has to plan where their resources and time go, so the methods we bring up will help. Lastly, they focus on engagement rate over views when it comes to evaluating their influence.
Observations and Evaluation
We observed that a simple search in the Facebook search bar of “UWGB” yields well over 100 different UWGB related pages. That is concerning to us, as we want our Client to be #1 and be the main source of content and information given to students, staff and families.
We observe that their current Facebook page is well done. It has 25 thousand likes and 26 thousand followers. They are posting usually once a day and have a good variety of photos, video and very aesthetically pleasing graphics that look professional. Their content is organized and intentional. You can tell upon landing on their page that their online voice represents their goals: to be “tenacious, attentive, and forward thinking.”
Recommendations
We recommend scheduled content that is posted across various social media platforms multiple times a day.
We recommend studying social media analytics regularly to see where improvements could be made and reflect upon what is working and what isn't.
We recommend the client branch out of their comfort zones and be prepared to try things, like frequenting trendier social media sites like TikTok and X, as long as the content is professionally created and intentional.
Conclusion
With so many competitive Facebook pages it is imperative that the official UWGB Facebook page and all social media marketing pages be of utmost professional standards. They should reflect the leading industry standards and set the bar. They should be modern, current, trendy, but classy, they should capture the attention of past, present, and current students, staff and family. They should maintain a presence that is captivating and inspiring and that should be posting multiple times a day.
References
Phill’s interview
Appendix 1 – 100 Facts
UWGB 100 Facts:
Typing UWGB in the Facebook search bar yields well over a hundred results. Here are a list of the first 100 pages, in order as shown:
1. UW-Green Bay
2. Theatre on the Bay at UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus
3. UWGB-Marinette Men’s Basketball
4. UWGB Alums
5. UWGB Housing and Residential Education
6. Pride Center at UWGB Marinette Campus
7. UWGB Career Planning
8. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
9. UWGB
10. UWGB Arboretum Trail
11. UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus Art Department
12. UWGB Graduate Studies
13. UWGB Student Engagement Center
14. UWGB Bursing & Health Studies
15. UWGB History
16. UWGB Pride Center
17. UWGB Austin E. Cofrin School of Business
18. UWGB Toms Shoes Campaign
19. UWGB Camps
20. UWGB Theatre and Dance
21. UW-Green Bay Police Department
22. Zeta Omega Tau Sorority
23. University Theatre, UWGB
24. Fraternity and Sorority Life at UWGB
25. Green Bay Dining & Catering
26. UW-Green Bay Disc Gold Course
27. Life at UWGB
28. UWGB Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs-MESA office (Multicultural Resource Center
29. Kress Center at UWGB
30. UWGB Psychology
31. UWGB- Liebl Hall
32. Aspiring Educators
33. UWGB Sustainability
34. UWGB Social Work Professional Programs
35. Democracy and Justice Studies at UWGB
36. DECA or UWGB
37. UWBG Music
38. UWGB Child’s Lab
39. RCMS at UW-Green Bay
40. UWGB University Union
41. UW-Green Bay Army ROTC
42. The UWGB Phoenix Bookstore
43. Cofrin Library UWGB
44. Studio Arts UWGB
45. UWGB BIPOC RISE
46. Common Grounds Coffeehouse UWGB
47. UWGB English
48. UWGB Union Student Employment
49. UWGB Human Development
50. UWGB NAS Heirloom Plant Sale
51. Black Student Union at UWGB
52. Campus Cupboard and Clothing Closet of UWGB
53. Josephine Lenfesty Hall UWGB
54. UWGB Human Biology
55. UWGB Student Accessibility Services
56. UWGB Student Government Association
57. Phoenix Park, UWGB
58. UWGB WITonCampus
59. UWGB Jazz
60. UWGB Center for Games and Interactive Media
61. UWGB Sheboygan & Manitowoc Campus Continuing Education
62. After Thoughts at UW-Green Bay
63. UW-Green Bay Chapter of Ducks Unlimited
64. The Kress Event Center – UWGB
65. UWGB University Union Student Employment
66. UWGB Human Resources
67. UWGB Philanthropy
68. The Phoenix Post
69. UW-Green Bay Future Alumni Association
70. UWGB Academic Advising
71. UWGB Center for First Nations Education
72. UWGB Feminists 4 Action
73. UWGB Tech and Design Program
74. UW-Green Bay Fourth Estate
75. Continuing Professional Education, UW-Green Bay
76. Uwgb Gps Spring project 2022
77. UWGB Diversity Task Force
78. UWGB
79. UWGB Game Studies
80. UWGB Political Science
81. UWGB Student Employment
82. UWGB-United
83. UWGB Intertribal Student Council
84. UWGB Flax Project
85. UWGB PRSSA
86. UWGB Phoenix Club
87. UWGB Sociology and Anthropology
88. UW-Green Bay Academic Staff
89. UWGB PEAC: Public and Environmental Affairs Council
90. UW-Green Bay SHRM
91. UWGB Costume Shop
92. UWGB Photography Alumni
93. Global Studies at UW-Green Bay
94. Colleges Against Cancer of UWGB
95. UWGB Design Lounge
96. UW-Green Bay Professional Program in Education
97. UWGB Teaching Press
98. Camp Lloyd
99. UWGB Women of Color
100. UWGB Multicultural Recruitment
Appendix 2 – Interview Guide
When interviewing it is important to give the interviewee open ended questions or else you will get one word answers. Ask the interviewee to tell you more about it if they are not giving you a long enough/in depth answer. Always ask at the end of the interview if there is something else they would like to add, you might get a piece of information you may not have been expecting. Come up with fun questions too to lighten the mood e.i. If your social media strategy was a color what would it be?
Appendix 3 – Other analytical tools
Interview notes:
You asked her what she does not her job
What social media do you use in your job and what are you most active on?
Leading her with perhaps
Asking her about her brand and what type of personality to use for each platform
People using some platforms are different audiences
Based on demographics using audience analysis
If you had to say what are the 3 words to capture your presence
Attentive tenacious forward thinking
Goals – attract and retain students, serving our community, looking to connect with folks who are looking to financially support the university
Been in the role for 9 years
Open ended questions
She has seen it become part of businesses strategy go from spray and pray to shifting to engage into a conversation shifting to people creating their own content with strategy
How well does the uni support the social media strategy? Relying on mass communication, people just do not have the knowledge. Strategic impact is not being understood by the people who are in the organization.
Lots of different facets
Students' job is not making content for the uni. Challenge is getting incentives for people to tell their stories
How do you go about managing the firehose
Looking at business goals and audience interests, looking at analytics and how people are engaging marry that with trends on platforms.
Strategy guides the firehose
Often leadership do not understand social media because they do not have the contacts – this is where they meet the critique. She gives them benchmarks on how we judge effectiveness and how we see engagement rate
Lots of trust a portion of my job is educating higher ups on social media
It is a profession
Not everyone can do it and not everyone can understand it
You can either trust them or educate them
Often people cut people in social media first if they do not understand how vital it is
He is conversing
People have less understanding and more trust. If people knew more about social media goals that would be ideal.
All students need to know about the trust vs education dynamic.
How do you approach content on different platforms
Personality at the core will stay the same however language may change based on the audience
Subtle nuances
Does not want to drop any platforms but invest less in some applications. We are not getting a return on investment on twitter. Threads do not have analytics yet
Content ideas – looking at the industry. Seeing what bigger players are using. What do the students put out right now.
She is part of the marketing team, and she makes sure that nothing goes to waste. Social media ambassador team. She creates content and works with an industry.
I want to be respectful of your time
Metrics you pay the most attention to
Engagement rate
Views vs engagement
Informs the algorithm and influences what we put more energy into in the future
Rules of thumb this works better than that based on analytics
Comments, shares, like, read more, swipe through, clicks on links, length of time spent on post
Finishes asking about anything else she wants to share
When you see things that perform well, no one knows your content better then you.
If Taylor Swift can rerelease content so can we.
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