1. Developing a Social Media Program:
Dong Fang Chinese Education Institute
Insights and Opportunities in Social Media: Final Project
University of Chicago Graham School
Jason Parker, Instructor
Ying Wehrenberg
Chris Jones
February 12th, 2011
2. Table of Contents
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………1
Background, Mission…………………………………………………………………..2
Background, Objective……...………………………………………………………...3
Motivation………………………..……………….………………………...................4
Opportunity….....………………………………………………………………………6
Listening….…………………………………………………………………………….7
Means of Connecting..………………………………………………………………..9
Rallying.……………………………………………………………………………......15
Measuring Success.…………………………………………………………….........16
3. Background
Mission: Dong Fang Chinese Education Institute is a not-for-profit
organization which is committed to teaching the Chinese language
to children in the Chinese community and others desiring high
level Mandarin. It promotes cultural exchange and understanding
between the Chinese and Western traditions.
• It was established in 2006. Currently, the school has about 100
students and 7 teachers, teaching from Kindergarten to 7th grade.
•The school charges minimum tuition & fees in order to make sure it is
affordable to every family. Financial records are open to the public.
The teachers and management team consists of the parents of the
students.
Problem: The school was operating at break-even for the last couple of
years. Recently the student enrollment dropped at the same time
school operating cost increased. If this trend continues, the school
will face operating losses in the future.
4. Background
Objective:
1. Increase awareness of the school & enrollment in the future
2. Seek more support and sponsorship from the local community and
Chinese Embassy
3. Promote parent involvement and set up organized volunteer team
4. Maintain quality of teachers and constantly improve teaching curriculum
5. Motivation
Target Market:
• Middle age (parent)
• Families that have at least a parent who is a Chinese speaker
• Those who value education
Consumer Behavior:
• Highly involved in their children’s education
• Academic focus (highly educated themselves)
• Most parents are still adjusting to the new environment and western
traditions
• Traditional Chinese parenting style
• Believe that learning Chinese is a must
6. Motivation
1. Want to be better parent
2. Want to give brighter future for their children
• Learning Chinese is a long-term commitment. It is not easy for both children
and parents
• It requires each other’s support and exchange idea from parents
• Creating a fun environment for children to learn is crucial.
• Find friends who can share stories that are easy to understand through similar
backgrounds in this new environment.
7. Opportunity
Overall Strategy:
• Word of mouth
• Leverage the social graph
(people want to be at where their friends are)
To provide a fun and friendly environment for the children to study
Chinese and for parents to be able to support each other. The
school can use social media tool to encourage parents to interact,
stimulating discussion and engagement. And ultimately to connect
with the school.
By having similar backgrounds, similar interests and goals, the
school can use social networking to share experiences and
stories, create a community that will support the school in the long
run.
8. Listening
Overall approach:
• Monitoring
1) To listen in on the conversations among parents.
2) Identify key issues affecting parents and students
3) Enable school to measure the effects of its marketing efforts by
monitoring buzz before and after.
We have made the assumption that 50% of the parents are active
in Social Media and the School’s participation in the space.
9. Listening
Information Using:
• Insight development
• Influencer identification
Recent study & conclusion:
• More than 60% of the existing parents are recommended by their
friend or other parents that enrolled their children in the school.
• It would be wise to market to existing parents in hopes of
spreading word of mouth.
10. Means of Connecting
Three Tactics:
1. Create a Community by using Facebook, Twitter, and Blog
2. Content Calendar
3. Rating and Review (posting on website)
11. Means of Connecting
Create a Community
1. Facebook
• Develop a Facebook page that allows parents to share the
challenges of learning Chinese, as well as different parenting
styles and preferences.
Custom apps and unique content include:
1. Youtube (content will be mentioned in rallying later)
2. Current news of China
3. Photo of extra curriculum activities ( include winners of the photo
contest & their pictures)
4. Games that are geared toward fun ways of learning Chinese for
the whole family
5. Chinese book club
6. Compete in riddle (in Chinese)
12. Means of Connecting
Creating a Community
2. Twitter
• Incorporate Twitter into school Facebook page, aggregated tweets
from famous Chinese musician like Lang Lang
* Chinese believe that music will enhance brain activity. Most of the
parents (especially the well-to-do) will send their kids for music
lessons.
13. Means of Connecting
Create a Community
3. Blogging
• In order to create an open dialogue with parents, the principal of
the school will blog about current happenings at the school and
seek feedback.
• The goal is to support existing parents. We will introduce the blog
through email and all administration to parent correspondence.
• Include links to the blogs that is are popular among parents
(example, Tiger Mom), and post comments on them to lead
people back to school blog.
• The text of school posts will talk about, for example, different
parenting style, the dos and don’ts, different points of view
between Chinese and western parent, etc…
• The comment section will encourage parent feedback
14. Means of Connecting
Content Calendar
• Our blogging schedule will begin monthly and increase as we
grow.
Example of the plan:
Jan: School preparation after winter break
Feb: Chinese New Year Celebration
March: Fund raising dinner party
April: Spring Break trip
May: Summer Camp selection
June: Parade in China town
July: Summer Camp activity
Aug: Holiday trip to China
Sept: Welcome back & Hello to new friends
Oct: Celebrate Chinese National day
Nov: Music Month
Dec: Holiday Season, Western tradition
15. January 2011 Social Media Posting Schedule
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Date Theme Topic Contributor Keywords
1
Twitter
3-Jan Events Chinese New Year School Principal new technology
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Blog
3-Jan Events Chinese New Year School Principal industry benchmarks
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Facebook Group
3-Jan Chinese New Year new technology
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Other
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31
16. Means of Connecting
Rating & Review
We will put the parent’s rating and review on school website because:
• Word of mouth is a powerful amplifier of brand marketing,
achieving results no media campaign can achieve
• It’s believable, self reinforcing and self-spreading
• It gives the parent’s the ability to have a voice and that the school
is listening.
• It helps monitoring and generate insights, and finally help with
influencer identification
17. Rallying
Slogan: “You Can Do It!”
Goal
• To stimulate the parent’s motivations and to energize the parent to
aim high on their life journey.
Rules
• Both parent’s and children will write down an item for the wish list,
and submit to school wish list box or send online.
Feedback & Voluntary Participation
• Interesting and different wishes will be posted on school
Facebook page and Youtube as school’s marketing campaign
18. Measuring Success
1. Rating & Review
2. Number of children enrolled
3. Amount of funds raised from local community and Chinese
Embassy
4. Number of fans and followers on social media
