Social Media Tactical Plan

Effective as of October 2013 This document is intended to cover the full range of topics associated with creating, managing, measuring, and otherwise evaluating a social media campaign. Starting with a listing of the software and platforms we intend to use, we then cover the short and longterm objectives of our campaign, who we intend to reach out to both inside the UNC community and out, an analysis of each social media platform we intend to use across multiple communication strategies, and a discussion on the management of our social media presence and effective methods to qualify our successes and failures in reaching our audiences. We have selected to use the social media dashboard HootSuite to centralize and streamline our content management to one platform. Starting at $9/mo., different pricing levels allow us to add multiple members, additional profiles, and access educational materials. Among its features are 30 analytic tools and custom reports, internal communication and chat options, and scheduled posts and messages. Purpose An effective social media strategy will allow the Institute to realize its mission statement by better educating, informing, and engaging key publics via a well-established, interconnected network within the UNC system as well as other universities and organizations across the country. Through a less segmented communications effort, the Institute can appeal to a general audience (professors, students, alumni, policy makers, etc.) while simultaneously sharing information on a diversity of materials, thus broadening the level of exposure the audience has to environmental topics. Goals and Objectives Short Term 1. Engage Alumni- email all graduates and current students in our majors and tell them to check out and like our Facebook page. 2. Connect with environmental faculty at Carolina- contact environmental faculty and Carolina and ask them to like our Facebook page. 3. Engage faculty and students- develop a strategy for requesting content from faculty and students, such as research from environmental faculty at Carolina, and cool projects students are working on that we can share. 4. Engage other environmental institutions at other universities- develop a strategy for requesting and sharing content. 5. Take proper steps to affiliate IE social media pages with the university.

Long Term 1. Establish long-term management and oversight structure (who else besides Katie and myself/interns will have access?) 2. Determine relevant engagement metrics for benchmarking analyses and protocol for social media audits. 3. Develop policy for managing comments sections, with the intent of measuring positive/negative impressions and addressing discourteous, irrelevant, and threatening statements. 4. Determine mix of content that is most suitable to audience (policy/science/literature/etc.)

Audiences Internal o Teachers/Faculty ENST/ENSC Beyond immediate curriculum? o Students o Campus Clubs/Organizations/Institutes/Campaigns o University Administrators o IE Board of Visitors o Professional Schools External o Alumni o Private Donors o Speakers o Chapel Hill Residents o Other Universities o UNC-affiliated organizations (UNC Federal Affairs) o Non campus-affiliated organizations (NC Sustainability Center, Solar Institute, etc.)

Platforms There are 3 types of social media that are relevant to the Institute: Social Networks o Services that allow users to connect with others of similar interests and backgrounds. Typically consists of a user profile, various methods of communication, and the ability to participate in groups with certain interests. (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn) o The Institute will rely mostly upon Facebook as a means for social networking. Facebook has the largest and most diverse audience of any social media page. Any public that the Institute has an interest in reaching can be found on Facebook. Other sites will be considered as the need is determined.

Blogging and Microblogging o Blogs are a controlled online publication that are not limited to certain length requirements, and can thus be more detailed and catered to specific audiences. o In reaching a diversity of audiences from environmental scientists to urban planners to policy makers, the Institute could greatly benefit from maintaining a series of blogs or one blog that is multifocused. Blogs are also an effective means of communications with external audiences. o The most heavily populated blog service is WordPress. o Microblogs are services that focus on short updates that are pushed out to anyone subscribed to receive them. (Twitter) o Like Facebook, Twitter has a large and diverse following. Media Sharing o Services that allow users to upload and share various media such as picture and video. Many have additional features such as profiles or commenting. (YouTube, Flickr) o Media sharing pages should be managed with the intent of using them to enhance our presence on other media

Implementation How often do we post? What do we share? Possible limitations.

Evaluation of Audience Engagement Qualitative: All feedback should be monitored for the sake of finding statements from users that might indicate trends concerning our successes and failures in management. Audits should include analysis of profile elements and how they contribute to branding, as well as content strategy, such as consistent use of hashtags Quantitative o How many likes/followers do we have? How quickly are those numbers growing? o Engagement Ratios Facebook= (# of people talking about this/ total # of likes) Twitter= (# of retweets/ total # of followers)