Social Media Strategy (FIU Social Media Association) 11-29-15
1. The Social Media Strategy for the
FIU Social Media Association
by
Ryan Benvenuti
Kristina Escobar
Carlo Callwood
Purnima Abeysirigunawardena
2. Founded in September 2015, the Florida International University (FIU) Social Media
Association is an amplifying student association that endorses and promotes the ever-
evolving social media industry. While representing Florida International University – the
2nd largest university in the State of Florida while being among the top ten (10) largest
universities in the United States – its social media association is a membership based
organization comprising of professors, students, social media professionals and the FIU
community and allows one to further develop their social media skills through
networking events, seminars and hands-on projects and assignments.
3. The FIU Social Media Association agendas – while using primary social media
networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube –
usually centers on efforts to create content that attracts attention and
encourages its participants (most notably students) to share it across these social
networks. And because the participants are selective by the association itself,
the underlying message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates
because it appears to come from a trusted source, as opposed to just coming
from the university itself. It should be noted however that this form of
marketing is not intended just for advertising the university; its goal is to further
educate, inform and allow individuals to interact with one another and build
relationships online. When participants are able to join these social channels,
they can interact with each other directly by making the interactions become
more personal to its users.
4. • Moderately engaging profile with over 300 followers and over 50 posts so far.
• Has a profile that includes a clickable link to a Facebook website and Twitter account.
• The postings, photos and images includes either a text overlay on an image/photo to convey
the message or using a post caption to enhance the post.
• Postings include relevant hashtags that help increase the reach, engagement and overall
visibility.
5. Profile should include a short bio description (i.e., the goal of the FIU Social Media Association). When it comes to
the website link, remember to use a trackable link in the Instagram profile (i.e., Google Analytics will not recognize
mobile traffic that comes from Instagram).
While @FIUSMA so far is doing a notable job by showcasing their postings, photos, events and seminars, it should
now start to include videos from key professors and social media professionals along with student interactions at
such organized events and seminars. Relevant postings and videos should also include a ”call to action” in the post
caption so it will drive traffic and results (for example, ask the audience to “click on the link in the bio” or write some
other message requesting they navigate to the profile to access the direct link).
Try to use 10 to 15 hashtags per post. In every post, along with @FIUSMA’s own custom hashtags, try to
incorporate a mix of highly popular hashtags (those with hundreds of thousands or more images), moderately
popular hashtags (those with thousands of images) and less popular hashtags (those with fewer than 1,000 images).
Iconosquare – formerly known as Statigram – is a desktop app that provides both high-level and in-depth analytics,
including the total number of likes received, a history of the most liked photos throughout the duration of the
account, the average number of likes and comments received per photo, follower growth charts, allows users to add a
custom Instagram tab to the Facebook page to boost cross-channel engagement, and also has an embed feature to
showcase the Instagram photo gallery on Facebook website.
InstaFollow is a mobile app – available to both iOS and Android users – that provides insight specifically about your
follower base by enabling you to track new followers and unfollowers, track followers who you don’t follow back,
track users who you follow that don’t follow you back, and follow and unfollow users with a simple tap inside the
app.
6. • Modest platform with almost 100 “likes” and followers.
• Postings are made on a regular basis and consist of promoting social gatherings, events and
seminars while sharing press releases and news articles and sometimes includes a hashtag(s).
• Photos and images includes a text overlay and/or post caption.
7. Profile should include a short bio description (i.e., the goal of the FIU Social Media Association).
With Facebook being the strongest promotional tool that receives the most attention – and while 90% of all social
media participants use Facebook – postings should be made on a daily basis using a content calendar in which its
content should include the following:
1) Sharing more informative postings, blogs and quotes from social marketing professionals;
2) Photos and/or videos taken during the events and seminars that both Florida International University and
@FIUSMA sponsors;
3) Relevant news articles and press releases in regards to the South Florida community as a whole (not just the
university);
4) Posting assignments from students who are enrolled in the Social Media Marketing class – while tagging that
student – who did a remarkable job on the assignment (i.e., the winner of the LinkedIn Pulse Article contest
with a link to the article included).
Try to use 7 to 10 hashtags (incorporating popular hashtags with custom ones) on appropriate posts.
Share these postings on other social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn while also casually asking
the audiences from those networks to like the Facebook page.
Use tools such as Facebook Insights and Google Analytics to track these actions and evaluate their social impact.
Under the Posts tab in Facebook Insights, you can view all of your posts and their individual stats on reach and
number of post clicks, likes, shares and comments.
8. • Very engaging platform with 215 followers and over 160 tweets to date.
• While still in its early stages, this seems to be the most active with its tweets posted on an almost daily basis.
• Tweets – while connected and interacting with other social media platforms for @FIUSMA – include
student social events and seminars along with informative blogs and postings.
• Retweets are also used on a consistent basis.
9. Tweets do not represent enough shares and relevant postings from other social media platforms – what’s
being shared and posted on Facebook and LinkedIn should also be seen on Twitter (and vice versa).
Offer relevant tweets and postings to social marketing professionals and bloggers who are following you on
Twitter to pitch a topic idea.
Try to use 10 to 15 hashtags per post while incorporating popular hashtags with custom ones.
Share tweets, retweets and content more than once – not everyone can be on Twitter at all times, and most
people won’t make a point of visiting your profile in case they missed something. On average, your second
post of a piece of content will receive 86% as much engagement as the first time you tweeted it.
A fully-featured Twitter management tool, SocialBro offers a free plan for Twitter users with fewer than
5,000 contacts. With SocialBro insights, you can receive a report on the best time to tweet and community
insights into the demographics of your followers.
Type in any keyword, hashtag, or username, and the tool TweetReach returns a snapshot of analytics on
your search, including charts and graphs for reach, exposure, activity, and contributors. It’s quite useful for
checking in on mentions of your Twitter username and tracking branded hashtags and industry keywords.
10. • A new but contemporary platform with only 43 members.
• While there is a bio description included in profile, there is no “image” in the profile to illustrate and capture
attention.
• Postings are not consistent and so far only share useful tips for social media marketing.
• Very low engagement.
11. LinkedIn recently released header images, also called “hero images,” which is a new header image placed on the
profile that allows the platform to increase branding and visibility while showcasing and attracting new followers and
connections. An eye-catching hero image should be placed on the profile that should include a @FIUSMA logo.
Publish early in the week – the best day to publish on LinkedIn appears to be Tuesday, with Monday as a close
second. Shares decline as the week progresses and by the weekend, shares are at their lowest.
Postings should be simultaneous with Facebook and Twitter postings, and need to also include:
1) Photos and/or videos taken during events and seminars that both Florida International University and @FIUSMA
sponsors;
2) Relevant news articles and press releases in regards to the South Florida community as a whole (not just the university);
3) Displaying assignments from students who are enrolled in the Social Media Marketing class, specifically ones who did a
commendable job on the assignment (i.e., the winner of the LinkedIn Pulse Article contest with a link to the article
included). Make sure to add the student’s name along with a positive comment.
Encourage more engagement by ending any articles with an open-ended question that invites readers to weigh
in with their own experience, advice, questions or comments.
Much like Facebook’s Insights tab, LinkedIn’s analytics include an overview of the posts as well as a breakdown of
the followers and follower growth.
Socioboard and Simplify360 are also great tools that offer monitoring and management of LinkedIn groups and
pages, along with having many nice features for scheduling updates, group messages and other LinkedIn activities for
business marketing.
12. • To this date, there is still no profile and channel.
• Only a few videos for @FIUSMA have been posted on YouTube, however these videos do
include valuable content that contains social media strategies and tools and is relevant to
marketing students.
13. Create more channels before posting videos along with re-sharing previous videos.
Videos that are shared on Facebook and Instagram should also be posted on YouTube – make sure the
video is less than two (2) minutes. Also, place notices on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to point users to
the YouTube presence.
Videos should be posted consistently and ought to include:
1) Events and seminars that both Florida International University and @FIUSMA sponsors;
2) Displaying and re-sharing creditable videos from students and social media marketing professionals.
Encourage more engagement by placing comments on other people's videos so they are more likely to view
yours. In addition, their connections will see your posts and become more aware of you. Don't make your
posts on other videos for your own channel. Keep comments light and complimentary, and don't exhibit
your own site too much.
YouTube Insights is one of the most important metrics used to determine the success of your videos and
how many views the video has had over time.
The Traffic Sources section within YouTube Insights gives an in-depth look at each traffic source based on
groupings by channel. Segment by referrals from just YouTube, outside of YouTube, via mobile apps and
from direct traffic.
16. Jenn Herman is a social media strategist and resource expert when it comes to Instagram. One of
her achievements incudes winning Social Media Examiner’s TOP 10 Social Media Blog award in
both 2014 and 2015. @jenns_trends
Pam Moore is a leading social media individual to follow because she helps entrepreneurs develop
and implement social media programs. She is the CEO of MarketingNutz, which is a branding
agency while also being ranked by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Woman.
@PamMktgNut
Jay Baer is a marketing consultant and inspirational marketing speaker. He is also the author of a
well-known book, Youtility. @Jaybaear
Ann Handley is chief content officer of a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine called
MarketingProfs. She is noted in Forbes as the most influential woman in social media.
@AnnHadley
18. Goal: To promote a #FIUSMA event by generating excitement and awareness of the event.
24 Hour #FIUSMA Selfie Contest Rules:
1) Take your best selfie between 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM on Sunday showing us how you're exited for #SMAFormal;
2) Tag us @FIUSMA on your selfie submission;
3) Use the hashtag #SMAFormal;
4) Be CREATIVE!
Prize: Winner will receive two free tickets to FIU SMA’s biggest event: SMA Formal 2016!
19. 1. Social Media Examiner (2015). Retrieved from http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
2. Blatchford, J. (2011). Manifested Marketing - Marketing Blog. Retrieved from
https://manifestedmarketing.wordpress.com/tag/bacardi/
3. Aase, L. (2007). Facebook vs. Second Life: No Contest. Retrieved from Social Media University, Global:
http://social-media-university-global.org/2007/09/facebook-vs-second-life-no-contest/
4. Morgan, B. (2015, August 31). When Brands Try To Hard On Social Media. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2015/08/31/when-brands-try-too-hard-on-social-media/
5. Schaefer, M. (2014). Social Media Explained: Untangling the World’s Most Misunderstood Business Trend
6. Lee, K. (2014, December 8). Know What’s Working on Social Media: 19 Free Social Media Analytics Tools.
Retrieved from https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-analytics-tools
7. Elamawy, S. (2015, August 26). The Top 50 Social Media Influencers on Twitter. Retrieved from
http://www.cision.com/us/2015/08/top-50-social-media-influencers-on-twitter/
8. Shaughnessy, H. (2012, January 25). Who Are The Top 50 Social Media Power Influencers? Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2012/01/25/who-are-the-top-50-social-media-power-
influencers/
