Social Analytics Platform Review

When I was shopping and pricing various analytic platforms a year ago, many of the top brands such as Brand Watch and Hootsuite quoted me with enterprise accounts for at least $12,000/year. I don't know about you, but our university doesn't have that kind of money to spend on one platform for only a year! We ended up going with Sprout Social last year, which ended up being about $89/month. It had some positive features to it, but we still couldn't do some things as effectively as we wanted, for example, monitoring was not easy in Sprout Social.  This year, the University of Nebraska system has a system-wide Hootsuite Enterprise account, meaning each individual using the account is a single seat as part of the the overall system's account.

The streams in Hootsuite are very useful to monitor many accounts and search queries at once. This allows you to monitor other campus accounts, in attention to mentions, and listen to social posts from certain locations, and hashtags. You can like, retweet, or respond to any of these posts directly in Hootsuite. The streams may be my favorite part of Hootsuite! You're also able to publish and schedule content here as well.

The campaigns have been great as well, as it enables us to create a number of different social features such as curated content streams or contests. These can be displayed or a variety of platforms, from embedded on a website as we have here: unmc.edu/iamunmc, to a big screen at a graduation ceremony.

The analytics and insights offered from Hootsuite are very in-depth as well, giving us a great look at our metrics across a variety of platforms. You can download customized reports as well detailing whatever data you wish. I would definitely recommend the platform to any institution, especially if you can obtain it for your who system and have several users split the cost.

Using Storify for Storytelling

Using Storify for Storytelling is a great way to show a series of social media posts... perfect for displaying Instagram Takeovers, which were mentioned in one of my posts last week! Here is a Storify covering an Instagram Takeover I did on the Higher Ed Experts account, showing a day in my life at UNMC, leading up to the Higher Ed Social Media Conference next week. How could you use Storify for storytelling at your institution?

Instagram Student Takeovers

Instagram student takeovers are a great way to showcase a day in the life of a student at your university. I started Instagram Takeovers at UNMC on a weekly basis about a month ago, and they've been going very well so far. The mission is to show the world what a day in the life of a UNMC student looks like.

But how do you implement this tactic without giving up control of your school's social account? Instead of establishing temporary passwords for each student, the students send me all of their content (4-6 photos and captions) and I post it to our Instagram account. This allows me to be the filter for all the takeover content, to ensure that all the posts are appropriate. Check out the further guidelines and rules I have in place below. I send these out to each student participating in the takeover each week.

Guidelines:

• Show UNMC love! Show off your school pride.
• What should the captions say? Write the captions in first person, as if you are actually taking over the account. 
• Use the UNMC social team as a resource. 
• Photo rights: We want to show the world what you’re doing, so your photo may be shared by others on other platforms. 
• Tag other accounts.
• Hashtags to be used: #IamUNMC, #TakeoverTuesdayUNMC
• Have fun! 

 Rules:

1. Send appropriate content only. No alcohol or drug use (Not in any capacity). If you send us a potentially inappropriate photo/video, we will contact you about replacing the photo. Your photos can be of whatever you want that depict your life at UNMC, but keep the photos and captions positive and appropriate. No alcohol or drug use (Not in any capacity). If you send us a potentially inappropriate photo, we will contact you about replacing the photo. 
2. Get verbal permission. If you’re taking pictures of your friends, classmates, professor, etc. GET PERMISSION from them to post this on UNMC’s public Instagram account. Every time. Even if you don’t think it’s necessary. (Unless they are unrecognizable in the photos, i.e. back of their heads, far in the distance, etc.)
3. Introduction and Conclusion. Don’t forget to introduce yourself in the first photo. Also wrap up your final photo/video in a way that is a clear indication that your Takeover is finished (through the caption). 
4. Order of photos. Please note what order you would like the photos to appear. It works best if it corresponds to how your day happens chronologically, starting in the morning. I can post the photos anytime throughout the day, whatever makes the most sense with your Takeover depending on your photos. (Breakfast would be during breakfast, for example) We typically get more engagement in the late afternoon or evening though. 

Mobile Conference Recap!

I had the pleasure of attending the Mobile Me & You 2 Conference in Chicago, IL this weekend, learning about the latest innovations in mobile media. Several graduate students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were able to attend, as UNL was a sponsor of the conference. 

Andy Boyle, of NBC Digital, and Kurt Gessler, Deputy Editor of Digital News at Chicago Tribune, presented at the conference at the Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications in Chicago, IL on October 29, 2016. 

Boyle and Gessler presented about how to evaluate your new mobile app or product. “You need to have a plan. What is success? What is failure? How do you define success? Is it traffic? Impact? Money? Ads served? Downloads? Subscriptions?” asked Boyle. He explained that you generally need to know your metric for evaluation first before proceeding. Boyle stated that the ultimate goal for most project-level work, though, has to be impact.  

“Don’t assume you know who the audience is or what type of mobile device they are using,” emphasized Boyle. He gave an example of this when the Chicago Tribune thought they knew their audience didn’t use tablets, only to find out 50% of the app’s use was on tablets.  

Boyle and Gessler also offered more advice to the audience about mobile apps, such as the importance of giving fewer decision options to your audience, and updating your applications and website because the digital space changes so quickly.

They also talked about how crucial it is to offer your craziest ideas first, they don’t need to be grounded in reality. Pitch the ideas and other team members will think how they can build on it. Don’t be afraid to fail due to the risk that management could say “no” to an idea. To avoid rejection, getting buy-in from executives early on can help garner that support in advance.

Boyle closed the presentation with a quote from Bob Woodward on the timely topic of working with management to move ideas forward: “All good work is done in deviance of management.”

#IamUNMC: A Community Hashtag

Incredible work happens everyday at UNMC. But, it can be challenging to replicate the excitement I hear and see daily on campus through social media.

When I became the Web Content/Social Media Specialist and began managing UNMC's social media presence at the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year, I wondered how I could engage students to be loud and proud on social media about the UNMC experience.

The answer: An on-going community hashtag campaign, #IamUNMC.

Whether students are studying in a lab, working on a group project, or skating on the ice rink, including "#IamUNMC" in their Twitter and Instagram posts has become a great way for students on all of our campuses to let their UNMC pride shine. An on-going community hashtag like this is a great way to curate social content about your school.

College of Dentistry student Olivia Rauschenbach said #IamUNMC is a fun way to connect with students on other UNMC campus. "It's encouraging to relate via day-to-day activities with students who, like you, are pursuing their dreams in the medical field."

The impact is best seen in the volume of #IamUNMC posts. I love checking out the photo stream at unmc.edu/iamunmc where all the posts are displayed, with photos shared from Hawaii to the New York City marathon!

College of Allied Health Professions student Lauren Akahoshi said the photo stream also said the photo stream also provides prospective students with a peek at campus life. It "adds so much more liveliness to the UNMC image. It shows that UNMC is much more than just medicine and school. There are so many other things that happen here on a daily basis."

Using #IamUNMC also gives students a sense of unity, recognizing that they are a part of something greater.

College of Nursing student Lyndsay Thornton said she values that cohesiveness. "I've bounced around many schools obtaining pre-requisite courses, so I've never had the feeling of belonging anywhere. UNMC and this campaign make me feel like I finally belong to something!"