Vanessa Theoharis / @vanessatsmilesAssociate Director, Integrated Content StrategyBabson College

#SMSsummit

BUILDING AND IMPLEMENTING A PAID SOCIAL MEDIA PLAN

WHAT WE’LL COVER

1. How Social Media Fits Into the Journey

2. Structuring Your Plan

3. Tips for Working with an Agency

4. Guiding Principles

THE HIGHER EDUCATION DECISION JOURNEY

TODAY’S CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

THE LOYALTY LOOP

WHERE DO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA EFFORTS FALL ALONG THE JOURNEY?

MEASURING SOCIAL MEDIA EFFORTS ALONG THE JOURNEY

BECOME AWARE CONSIDER EVALUATE BUY ENJOY

Total Potential Reach

Top Shared URLs Referral Traffic to WWW Properties

Conversions via Social Networks

Most Engaged Content

Total Impressions from Content

Total Followers Social Sharing

Retargeting

STRUCTURING YOUR PLANQuestions to Answer

Where does social media advertising fit into the marketing mix?

Goals must be measurable.

Don’t just boost. Just don’t.

STEP 1:GOALS GOALS GOALS

BECOME AWARE

CONSIDER EVALUATE BUY

New websitevisitors

Lead gen (RFI, event

registrations)

Retargeting websitevisitors

Retargeting to apply

STEP 2:DEFINE SUCCESS

Identify KPIs aligned to goals.

The “always on” strategy.

“Ads are doing well.”

STEP 3: DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE

Use the platform to find the right audience.• Suppress alumni (profile info, upload lists)• Suppress those with a similar degree.

Set up pixels.• Per platform. • Set up custom audiences based on visits

to specific pages or unsuccessful previous completion of goals.

Use existing lists.

Use lists and pixels to create lookalike audiences.

STEP 4: PLATFORM EVALUATION AND AD TYPES

Where is your audience? Where is the audience who will complete your goals?

Try to maintain a presence across multiple platforms for a holistic experience.

LinkedIn

• Sponsored Content• Lead Gen• Text Ads• InMail

Facebook

• News Feed (articles, photo, video, carousels)

• Lead Gen

STEP 4: PLATFORM EVALUATION AND AD TYPES

Instagram

• Feed (photo, video, carousels)

Track everything using UTM tags!

STEP 5: OUTLINE THE PLAN. AND SHARE IT.

Map out your plan against key dates and layer over other marketing touchpoints.

Awareness

• Overarching brand content

• Videos in platform• Drive to website to

build retargetableaudiences

STEP 6:CONTENT AND CREATIVE

STEP 6:CONTENT AND CREATIVE

Lead Gen

• Download white papers, access exclusive content (i.e. not available publicly)

Retargeting

• Additional program content (alumni stories, outcomes)

• Specific CTAs (submit your application, attend an event)

STEP 6:CONTENT AND CREATIVE

STEP 7: BUDGET

Have some advertising history? Evaluate your spend against set goals to develop your budget.

No history? Determine cost per lead (CPL) for other marketing activities. Use this as a baseline (then cut in half).

General Rule: Spend more on LinkedIn, less on Facebook, the least on Instagram.

STEP 8:YOU’RE OFF! KIND OF.

Evaluate your data weekly – against your goals.

Don’t get distracted by other data.

Integrate within other marketing activity dashboards.

WORKING WITH YOUR AGENCY PARTNER

PARTNERING WITH AN AGENCYShare as much information as possible about how your audience engages organically, what content is typically successful, what falls flat.

Review all ad creative before it goes live.

Review analytics and performance with your agency weekly.

Keep community management and monitoring in-house.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

GUIDING PRINCIPLES• Become best friends with your developers. • Become best friends with your platform reps (even if you

use an agency).• Stay on top of platform changes.• Test, fail, try again.• Share your successes. Use your own word of mouth

marketing internally.• Be the keeper of the social media landscape of your

campus.

Vanessa Theoharis / @vanessatsmilesAssociate Director, Integrated Content StrategyBabson College

(Soon to be Digital Marketing Director at OHO Interactive, email me! vanessa@oho.com)

THANK YOU!

QUESTIONS?