Social media at mc combs

摸着石头过河

Social Media Strategy and Approaches

Crossing the river by feeling the stones.

David WengerDirector of Communications, McCombs School of BusinessCell 512-471-3314 Office 512-471-3314david.wenger@mccombs.utexas.edu @davidwengerMy Blog

1. What is a brand?2. Preparing the foundation.3. Selecting an audience and a purpose.4. Identifying our channels and voices.5. Experimenting and learning.6. Adding measurement and process.

1. What is a brand?

A name?

A logo?

A tagline?

A product quality?

A sales channel?

A location?

A customer experience?

An organization culture?

A communication style?

Yes, that is a brand.

A brand is not created or delivered by any one

individual or group in the organization.

A brand strategy accounts for the total brand

experience.

Values

Objectives

Operations

Policies/Constraints

Vision ProductsStakeholders

Customers, Employees, Investors, Public

Culture

Resources

Reputation

2. Preparing the foundation.

“You can’t change that.”

“Don’t bother, it’s a small thing.”

McCombs Website 2004

Blue everywhere, even in the logo.

Program names different:

Texas MBAMcCombs MBA

Option II

EMBA

Logo doesn’t have anything to do with university brand.

Tiny photos. Current events and news small.

No easy way to share ideas between faculty, staff and visitors to the site.

Brand Strategy Questions

•What communication problem are we trying to solve?•What perceptions and promises set us apart from our competitors in significant ways?•How is the competition positioning themselves?•What insight do we have into our target audience?•How will we speak with our target audiences?

The McCombs Brand StandardsCreating a consistent appearance and message across all communication channels.

GOAL

Move away from the solid blue

Move away from the star

Suggest university tie-in

Clean up text

M

How We Talk and Write About the School

We developed five categories of brand characteristics.

The University of Texas at Austin, a global community united in creating a new vision of leadership in higher education for the next generation of leaders, will have more impact on changing the world than any institution of its kind. With a depth and diversity of assets unmatched by other universities, it drives economic, social and cultural progress as one of the world's most powerful centers of learning, research and creativity.

Developing Message Strategies for Each Degree/Audience

Sample Page from 4-Page List of Features-Advantages-Benefits

McCombs Website 2011

Rotating stories with focus on relevant current topics—updated twice a week.

Easier view of latest school news and events open to public.

Social media and interactive blog sites.

3. Selecting an audience and a purpose.

(One example.)

University marketing and public relations is generally focused in three areas:

Athletics—strong appeal to alumni, but

not directly related to academic teaching or

learning

Alumni Pride—focuses on narrow frame of reference;

school memories and traditions

School “Brag”—self-centered with little

long-term engagement in lives of audience

Business Law Engineer-ing Science Arts Commun-

icationsPublic Policy

School messages are often heavy on “marketing language” and narrowly focused topics.

Business, Technology and Public Policy

Health, Fitness & Wellness Science & Discovery Arts, Culture &

Entertainment

But our alumni have varied lives and interests that bridge the narrow disciplines of the university. They have curiosity and interest in many areas, such as:

Family, Childcare & Investment

Housing & Urban Planning

Religion & Philosophy

This is how our alumni consume information about their life and career.

Varied interests, topical subjects.

But this is how a school talks to them. Always the same topic, always with a

focus on the school and the academic field.

We wanted to break the pattern of always talking about ourselves—and invite our alumni to turn back to the university to learn and discuss things that interest them.

We Received Direction from Two Sections of the Dean’s Strategic Plan:

1. Leadership in Business Education Accessibility and Influence of Our Intellectual Capital: In addition to increasing the scope of our intellectual capital and efforts, more will be done to promote and disseminate their output beyond the academic community. Therefore, we will modify our communications efforts to make our academic research more accessible and consequential in the realms of management practice and public policy. By harnessing our substantial communication talents and resources in this way, we can extend the influence of our intellectual capital. 2. Engaged and Purposeful Community Purposeful Relationship: The goals of the McCombs School of Business can only be achieved with the broad support of engaged and purposeful alumni and benefactors. To ensure a high level of engagement, we will strive to develop life-long relationships of value to all our alumni and friends.

Governing Council

Faculty Research & Expertise

Center Activities

relationship channel

faculty incentives and support to engage

Editorial Infrastructure

communication channel

“We realized we had a gold mine of intellectual capital, but no one was mining, minting or circulating it.” Mukul Pandya Executive Director Knowledge@Wharton

influence

Business Policy

BusinessPractice

Business Opinion

We looked to the example of Knowledge@Wharton, an online publication produced by the Wharton School.

• Research overviews drafted by freelance writers

• Subscription model

• Sponsors

• Rich-media content

• Major topic categories

• Social media channels (Facebook, iTunes, etc.)

Knowledge @Wharton has a 10 Year History. Claims Over 1-million Subscribers

We focused on a specific type of audience.

Our Core Purpose was to:Cultivate dialogue that benefits

lives and enhances careers.

DiscoverJoy of Learning

Continuing EducationCurating Knowledge

Shedding Light on Ideas and Topics

1Connect

Expertise SharingMutual Respect

Create a CommunityIndividualized Insights

2Popularize

Improve Accessibility of Information

Give Real-World Context

Translating to Understandable Terms

Applying to Human Experience

3

Drawing on Expertise from Across Campus, Not Just at McCombs

School of Architecture

McCombs School of Business

College of Communication

Cockrell School of Engineering

Jackson School of Geosciences

School of Law

LBJ School of Public Affairs

IC2 Institute

College of Liberal Arts

ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY

INNOVATION & CREATIVITY

ECONOMIC & PUBLIC POLICY

TECHNOLOGY & PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

BUSINESS PRACTICE

BUSINESS LAW & OVERSIGHT

College of Fine ArtsSchool of Information

College of Natural Sciences

College of Pharmacy

School of Social WorkTexas Materials Institute

Texas Enterprise Audiences

1. McCombs Alumni 2. UT Alumni3. Texas-BasedOnline Business Newsand Opinion Consumers

4. Global Online Business News and Opinion Consumers(includes business press)

4. Prospective Students

McCombsTODAY.orgSchool SpiritCommunity

OPEN MagazineAlumni NewsEvents, Insights

TEXAS ENTERPRISEKnowledge SharingProfessional EventsExpertise Community

Academia

Journalism Business World

Another Way to Look at Audiences

Social Momentum

p=mv

m=mass of member basev=amount of interaction

“I was excited about getting people to interact online, and that was the LAST thing to happen. First, they got involved in other things.”

Matt Genovese door64

Invitations to participate in professional networking

events.

Invitations to discover other kinds of school information.

Invitations to engage in various forms of social media.

Invitations to blog and share expertise and opinion.

“The value can’t just be the chance to get together. You have to answer the question what is the reason to participate.”Matt launched a 5,000 member online community in Austin

A network of professional experts from a variety of fields and disciplines (primarily UT alumni) who regularly contribute content to Texas Enterprise on topics of the practical application of business knowledge in the real world. They blog, participate in surveys, give webinars, comment on faculty-research articles, etc.

Opinion Business Bloggers

Spurring cross-talk and dialogue on topics raised by faculty,

Aha!

Aha!

Aha!

Aha!

plus additional expert insights on relevant business topics.

We send regular email updates to the blogger community, with hints on topics, blogging techniques and invitations to participate with us in events.

We want them to feel valued and special…because they are!

4. Identifying our channels and voices.

Social media engagement requires

coordinated staff time.

We don’t have dedicated social media staff

members.

Staff members often handle several different social media channels, posting comments and links under their own name or under official school branded accounts. These samples are all managed by Tracy Mueller, who also edits OPEN magazine for alumni.

5. Experimenting and Learning.

Organic Google Searches

Facebook Ad Campaign

Links from McCombs TODAY

Direct Links (Including Tweets)

6. Adding measurement and process.

摸着石头过河

Social Media Strategy and Approaches

Questions?