Social Media Diary

We have been able to engage Ottawa’s Facebook fans so much more by simply asking them to give their opinion or asking them to take action. Facebook is a place to connect with people and talk to them. It is not a press release distributor. Our philosophy is, if you sound like one of our commercials, you aren’t doing it right. Since figuring out this “secret” we have become very good at figuring out how to get fans to comment and like with even the most tedious updates. For example, say you need to send an update about an upcoming choir event. Put a question at the end. “Do we have any choir alumni on this page? Leave us a comment and tell us the year you were in it!” Don’t fret about negative responses. Every fan page gets them. It comes with the program. Look at it as an opportunity to talk to them personally and prove to them that you appreciate their opinion. (That is, if it isn’t just flat out rude or mean. You can delete those and ban that person from your page. More on that later.) Address the comment, you might even win them over and they will give your brand even more respect.

When I meet someone who doesn’t understand social media or is leery of using it, one of the main things they ALWAYS say to me is “what if someone says something bad?” I am honest and let them know you will probably face some negativity in some form or another, but it probably won’t be the end of the world situation that you fear. Yes, there are some scary examples that we all hear about- Motrin moms or Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines, but because you are afraid of what might happen isn’t a reason you should not do social media.  We have had to deal with some negative comments on Ottawa’s Facebook page. They don’t happen every day, but every once in a while. The funny thing is we are never surprised at who writes them. The fans who have gone off the deep end on our page all had some very similar behaviors.  1. They commented A LOT. In our case, they have always been people who seemed the most active and commented on everything. They wanted their presence known.    2. The tone of their comments always had some underlying hostility. These fans’ comments toed the line of negativity from the very beginning, but it wasn’t blatant and in the spirit of transparency, it was important to us that our fans be able to have an opinion. As long as they weren’t just plain rude. 3. They never have a profile picture. Their photo is always of a pet, or a symbol of some sort or just a blank face in general.  Here is how we are dealing with these rogue fans (at the moment)  1. We state clearly on our page that “profanity, rude remarks, and racial slurs will be removed and reported.” That way people know our expectations from the very beginning. We delete any comment that falls with in these bounds no questions asked.  2. Keeping our policy above in mind, we respond by a case-by-case basis depending the wording of the comment itself. Here are some examples that got us to where we are today on our stance of negative comments.   Sometimes our commenters have been angry alumni who have been disappointed by a campus visit or recent change. Depending on the wording of the comment, we may leave it up and respond to him/her directly on the page(transparency) and then I have the alumni director send them a personal message. When this has happened, the person always turns around to be a positive force on the page.  Sometimes our negative commenters have been people who have felt personally unjustified by the university in some way. In one instance we had a lady who was still upset about something that happened about 30 years ago and our Facebook page was her punching bag. We deleted all of her comments(because they were nasty) and she continued to rewrite them. We had no choice but to ban her from our page. We researched her back story and found that she has been attacking the university in one form or another for years. In another instance, a fan was upset about certain student groups being allowed on campus after he saw a student wearing that group’s t-shirt in a photo we uploaded. He made his comment. We responded to it on the page explaining the university’s policy on student groups in hopes he would understand and drop it. He responded back and stated we should change the policy and went into a lengthy rebuttal. After careful thought, we ultimately deleted the entire exchange and sent him a message stating that we understand where he is coming from, but that the photo on our Facebook page isn’t the place for that discussion and it could get out of hand quickly. We explained that we try to keep Ottawa’s Facebook as a place for positive interaction. We learned a lot from this situation that occurred in the span of about 45 minutes. Because his comment was so politically charged, there was no way to change his mind, so indulging him in on the page wasn’t the right thing do to.  In closing, every day is an adventure in social media. Because Ottawa isn’t a huge multi-national corporation, handling negative comments this way works for us. As we grow, this may change. But right now (and always) it will be extremely important that we are genuine, transparent and just plain nice to our fans, followers and connections. Besides, the positive comments far out way the negative and they make social media worth every second.  

Disclaimer: I’ve never been a wedding DJ, so I can’t say this is exactly what they go through. But, seems to be true.  Sometimes, I swear I could cry. My job is to make to almost 2300 people happy. My goal is to get them to comment, or like, or retweet. I spend my days trying to figure out how to make this happen. Sometimes it just WON’T. I have noticed that engagement activity comes and goes in waves. There are high points and low points. Right now, I’m totally in a low point. I’m pulling out all my best moves and I’m just not getting the desired response.  I was at a wedding this past weekend and decided the DJ’s job was very similar to mine as a Facebook page administrator. Here is how. A DJ wants everyone to dance and enjoy the music he is playing. Dancing for a DJ is the equivalent of comments and likes for me.  After the bride and groom do their first dance, the DJ usually plays the obligatory “let’s-get-this-party-started-everyone-please-dance” music. The songs on this playlist are usually “YMCA,” “We Are Family,” “Cotton Eyed Joe” and “Thriller,” during which it is typically the reluctant wedding party and family that must force themselves to dance (sober non the less) in front of everyone else at the wedding who is probably also still sober. But, hey, it’s for the bride!  This stage of the DJ’s playlist is very similar to when you just start your Facebook page. You start off with predictable posts about upcoming football games and new deans joining the campus(the equivalent of hearing “Celebration”). You get comments and likes, but realize the commenters are the people in your office. They are the equivalent of the family at the wedding party dancing (sober remember) just trying to make the party go smoothly. The DJ is fine with this, and probably realizes these are sympathy dancer. He needs to do more to get the rest of the guests involved.  So the family dancing works. A few others have ventured in. Wives of the groomsmen. Nieces and nephews. The DJ thinks, okay a few more people. Time to pull out “I Like Big Butts” (isn’t that song funny? He’s talking about butts, people!) The Facebook equivalent of this is when you start to notice new commenters popping up on your page, but as you look closer you realize that they are the daughters, husbands or wives of the already commenting co-workers. This is fine you think. I’m so appreciative of the support. Maybe it is time for me to go out and start getting some original Facebook-only content so I get our target market to actually start commenting! This is like the DJ taking requests.  So who does the DJ REALLY want to get dancing? The crazy friends of the bride and groom of course! He knows they are the most fun. It will be a fantastic party if the DJ can play just the right music to get those people away from the Franzia and Bud Light and over to the dance floor. Heck some are probably even engaged themselves and might even use him for their upcoming wedding if only he can get them up to the dance floor. That is the key! The equivalent of the crazy friends to me are the high school students, alumni, parents and other important constituents who are fans of our page who are the entire reason to have the page in the first place- they are our target.       How does the DJ get the crazy friends to dance? He has been studying and listening to his top 40 hits. He knows what these kids want to hear: Black Eyed Peas. He turns on the song, all of sudden everyone turns into Children of the Corn and is entranced by the steady beating of “I Gotta Feelin.’” People rush to the dance floor with arms flailing, because it really is going be a good, good night! The Facebook equivalent of this is when the admin has been doing their research and now understands what these likers/fans really want from this page. There is no turning back now. Everyone is commenting/dancing! Best party ever!   Uh-oh. The DJ decides to take a risk. A slow song. He dutifully plays Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s “It’s Your Love.” Everyone leaves. This song is so 2000. You’re back to the family only dancing.This is like letting your Facebook page go boring for a few days. Will the commenters ever come back?!  The DJ scrambles. Time for another bump and grind song. He pulls out: “Hey Ya”. Nope, not working.  You lost ‘em. Time to regain the trust and go out with a bang. It is time for JOURNEY! Everyone’s back. They can’t resist Journey. You saved the Facebook page. You provided some irresistible content and all your commenters are back. Whew, relax. Right now, I’m totally having my slow song moment on our page. I’m really hoping the reason is just that it is summer. Whatever it is, I feel like I’m changing songs like a mad women and no one is even listening…err commenting! I’m sure all you wedding DJ’s out there know what I’m talking about.  

I’m sure you have heard me mention Braves TV in the past. I’m sure you are dying to know what it is, right? Braves TV (BTV) is my student Facebook team whose purpose is to make fun videos for our Facebook fans (and anyone who can access YouTube). It is my first BIG initiative since starting at Ottawa. Their tag line is, what if you gave eight students Flip Cams to create any videos they wanted? This is Ottawa in real life.  On our Facebook page, 13 percent of our fans/likers are ages 13-17 aka- potential students. The videos BTV creates are intended for that 13 percent. So they can get to know what it is really like at Ottawa in a fun way. BTV is a huge experiment. But we know that the three most important aspects a potential student wants to learn about regarding a school is culture, academics and extra curriculars. Not necessarily in that order. BTV definitely covers the culture part of this triad.   What kind of videos do they make? So far, BTV has made:  - Intro video: tells the fans who and what BTV is. - Journey: They did a lip dub to Don’t Stop Believin’ in our cafeteria. So brave!  - Student Body Photo: they attempted to get every student at the traditional campus in a student body photo. (Got rained out, but AWESOME video)  - Promo video for the photo: They created a fun video to get students to come to the photo Yet to be edited: Ottawa Cribs, a professor interview and two day in the life videos. What was the result of this work?   It is really important to me that the videos seem genuine and not to much like a marketing campaign. So, far, our fans love the videos. They know we make them just for them and I think they like that. Even though we made these videos for the 13 percent of 13-17 year olds on the page, they don’t interact that much with the videos in terms of likes and comments- downside. But, we know from our admin reps they are watching the videos and using them as a way to see what the school is like.  And, our Braves TV videos are the most watched videos we have. Each one has views in the 400 plus range, which is a lot for our small school. Social Media builds, so I’m hoping to see even more  How can we leverage these videos more?  I’m realizing what a great asset these videos are. And no other school is doing something like this- that we know of. So, I have been working on ways to leverage these videos more in order to reach our target market. That includes creating a Facebook tab for just BTV. Under construction, but take a look here. We are planning an e-mail campaign for the videos to send to potential students. And, our admin reps use them in their campus visits. That’s the plan for the immediate future.  Media coverage Braves TV has gotten some blog coverage, which makes me really proud. Check out what some of the articles written about them.  My College Guide interviewed me about BTV.  Free State Social covered it on their blog.  Lawrence Journal World put it on their blog.  Locker Partner wrote about the transparency that BTV creates.   This project was incredibly time consuming last semester, and we’re about to gear for another crazy semester.  

I pride myself on being creative, or at least my attempts to be creative. I respect people and companies who don’t do business as usual and love to inspire creativity in their employees. I HATE boring!! Why be boring- I ask?  Why not take some risks?  I get ideas popping in my head all the time. Things we could do at Ottawa. I love taking things I see that are emotionally moving and unique and figuring out how I can apply that to Ottawa. Sometimes I take it too far and get ideas that are what I call “half-ideas.” These are the ideas that get my heart racing for just a second before the balloon bursts. Ideas that are so brilliant I can’t keep them to myself, I HAVE to tell someone! And, after I tell someone, I realize just how dumb they are. I call them half-ideas because sometimes my ideas never fully emerge and hang there, dangling off a cliff in my mind.    So, the “Half Ideas” series is about those ideas that pop in my head that are just unrealistic, lame, weird, nonsensical, etc that I momentarily thought were brilliant and ABSOLUTELY necessary to Ottawa’s social media strategy. Maybe you can use them? Facebook Scarves  (half-idea) How half-idea was formed: I was watching “An Education.” (Great movie) The main character, who is an English school girl, was wearing a striped scarf. Similar to the scarves worn in Harry Potter   Flash of brilliance: Since Ottawa is a school (just like the one Harry Potter goes to…not) what if we gave our Facebook fans scarves(in Ottawa colors) to wear? And, you could only get them on Facebook!? Everyone could wear them around campus and we could take photos and we could be the SCHOOL WITH THE FACEBOOK SCARVES!!    Why it won’t work: Once I shared my flash of brilliance with my mom, she told me how bad it was. Too much money, probably no interest in wearing scarves and…why??? So this idea is going into my mental vault (and on my blog) of half-ideas. Tucked away in a crate just like the ones in Indiana Jones where they might be found to be useful one day. 

I have tried many different angles to get comments and likes on Ottawa’s Facebook page.  Sometimes I get so frustrated when I don’t get interaction back that I have to go take a walk around campus and pump myself back up. One of my efforts to increase engagement was the Question of the Week. I did this for two reasons 1. We were in the first few months of our page and needed people to start interacting. 2. I believe that a university has a unique advantage when it comes to posting interesting content. Ottawa is so multifaceted with sports, clubs, classes that we can engage our fans using many different topics and still be relevant. 3. I realize this depends on the brand, but I definitely feel that you don’t have to make every update on your FB page about your company.   Here is how the Question of the Week went: I would ask an intriguing question on video, which we taped in the OU bookstore. Before I asked the question, I would make announcements about events on campus coming up that week and promote the latest deal happening in the bookstore. After posting, we would put the names of those who answered the question into a drawing to receive an OU t-shirt.    The first few weeks went great! We were getting 10-15 responses per video. It did exactly what is was supposed to do. It was going so well, that I even branched off and created Memory of the Week for the alumni FB page that I also update. Then about five weeks in it started dying off. I don’t have an exact reason for why. But, I have a few clues. 1. They were tired of the announcements in the beginning. This was evident by one lady making the comment that she always fast forwards through commercials and the announcements were no different to her. 2. I think they just got bored with it. Soon all the people answering where those I already gave t-shirts to. That was a clue to me that it had probably run its course. 3. They didn’t like me. No, just kidding. (At least I hope I am…)   One fan even made the comment that, “the Question of the Week wasn’t relevant to anything going on in the real world.” That one floored me because I always got question ideas from the news that week…. Throughout the weeks that I did the Question of the Week, I started making adjustments of course- I stopped filming in the bookstore and simply filmed at my desk, I stopped doing the announcements and instead just tried to be fun. (I even danced in one of the videos) But, alas, I stopped doing them. It just become too much effort to keep going when the engagement started dying down.  Lesson learned: The Question of the Week worked. It increased engagement which has continued since we stopped it. I learned that I need to be constantly thinking of creative ways to engage our fans. They get bored. If we’re not engaging them, then they don’t see the important updates we make.    Here are a couple of the videos:  (This is the one where I danced. I’m VERY proud.) 

I created a separate Facebook profile in order to manage Ottawa’s Facebook pages. The profile is empty. It only has a picture of me and a quick description telling those who may find it that my main account is at a different location.   Ever since I established our Fan page, the fans have been finding my Ottawa profile and friend requesting me. At first I was turning them down, but now I’m not sure that is that the right approach, so I’ve been accepting them, but I do nothing else to foster a relationship. I don’t even update the status of that account.   Lately, I’m wondering if there is some unknown advantage to this account that I can’t see?  Right now, that profile as 22 friends. Some are coworkers, some are BTV students, some are our fans.  I use the Ottawa profile to test apps so it is a huge mess. I also have no desire to keep up this separate Ottawa profile. This Ottawa profile concept is thought provoking. What if all 1,700 were my friend? That means I could get Ottawa’s messages out in two ways. What kind of content should I put on this profile? My adventures at Ottawa? The possibilities are endless, but would it really be worth it? And, my goal is to develop Ottawa’s social media and part of that means putting a program in place that can live long after I leave (which won’t be for a long time). Fans would get attached to me and then what if I died or something? (just kidding) Would the program still be able to foster as well?  I have no immediate answers. Maybe I will have a flash of brilliance that will allow me to use that profile for the betterment of Ottawa. Or, maybe I just shouldn’t worry about it.  This is just another interesting experience in this adventure I call Ottawa’s social media.