Social

Media Marketing Plan

Madison Biernacki, Erin Matthews, Chase Murray, Derek Smith
11/2/2015

Executive Summary
JMUs College of Business has three main market segments: students, alumni, and employers.
Each of these segments has a vested interest in the reputation and recognition of the College of
Business. The main focus of this social media marketing plan is to boost the Colleges
rebranded image online by increasing engagement with these markets, and fostering
awareness for the Prepared to Make the Difference campaign. It is based on a comprehensive
analysis of the College of Businesss current social media presence and available opportunities.
This examination has resulted in a set of actionable social media goals and strategies and the
best tools for executing and monitoring the plan. Social media goals for JMUs College of
Business include:
Create content that strengthens the COB brand
Increase size of followings on all social media
Become more active on each social media account
Create content that encourages engagement with COB social media
Increase overall reach of social media postings
Increase awareness of COB Prepare to Make the Difference campaign
A set of social media strategies will be utilized to achieve the above goals. These strategies
include listening, engaging, contributing and connecting to chosen social platforms. This plan
also describes the analytics we will use to measure and evaluate progress.
The plan concludes with the budget for implementation and a return on investment analysis.
The leader responsible for overseeing and executing the social media plan is Carrie Wood,
Integrated Marketing Director.

Brief Overview
Due to the booming popularity of social media outlets over the past few years, Americans are
looking for ways to fill their time. Users are passionate about interacting online and posting
information about their opinions of topics and relay their thoughts. Targeting this growing trend
of online users, James Madison University is looking to engage user and increase interest in the
College of Business brand here in Harrisonburg.
James Madison Universitys College of Business was originally established in 1972 as
the School of Business. Since its induction, the College of Business has grown to include
majors such as marketing, management, finance, computer information systems, economics,
and accounting. The accounting program and other programs alike have gained national
attention for superior performance in comparison to other colleges across the country.
Currently, the various departments within the College of Business have all operated on
various social media platforms independent of one another. This is a growing problem due to
the inability to reach the students and alumni via one consolidated dashboard. There are more
students and alumni on social media now, more than ever, creating a need to unify the social
media efforts of these accounts in accordance to the targeted goals of the College. These
actions will help to engage the selected target markets and thus create a stronger sentiment
towards the College as a whole.

Social Media Presence

Overall, the Colleges social media presence is skewed by the multitude of accounts, the
varying degrees of which they are used, and unclear branding. For example, the marketing
department posts an average of 2.08 posts per month on Facebook, while the accounting
department has only posted three times within the past year. Additionally, there have been no
statistically significant engagement through any social media platform gaging sentiment towards
the College of Business. Although the lack of statistical information may appear alarming, there
are similar engagement numbers when compared to the University of Virginia's Darden School
of Business.
In Figure 1 (below), the breakdown of the individual social media platforms is represented as
well as, the varying College of Business departments. This breakdown also features averages
to more easily compare each of the different platforms.
Five key metrics for auditing the Colleges social media presence on individual social media
platforms are:
Sentiment analysis: shows the number of positive, neutral, negative, or no
comment/mention on each social media platform where the company has a sizeable
presence.
Reach: indicates the number of Twitter followers, Facebook likes, LinkedIn Group
Members, YouTube subscribers, etc.
Company Posts: measures how often the company posts on each social media platform.
Feedback: shows the number of comments, likes, or replies to company generated
content.
Average response time: measures response time to user comments on the companys
social media properties
*All accounts use information dating back one calendar year to allow comparison between
accounts.
Figure 1 conveys a comprehensive breakdown of all College of Business and COB-affiliated
department key metrics on the five social media platforms currently being utilized.
This figure highlights inconsistencies on social media via various platforms. Certain
accounts can be found across multiple platforms, posting actively, while other accounts have
hardly been touched within the past year.

Metric

Sentiment

Facebook

Positive 13%
Neutral 0%
2236 likes
Negative 0%
No interaction 85%
Positive 4%
Neutral 0%
755 likes
Negative 0%
No Interaction 96%
Positive 0%
Neutral 0%
69 likes
Negative 0%
No Interaction 100%
Positive 0%
Neutral 0%
95 likes
Negative 0%
No Interaction 100%
Positive 4%
Neutral 0%
1028.6 likes
Negative 0%
No Interaction 96%

COB

Marketing

Economics

Accounting

Facebook
average
Twitter

COB

Positive 0%
Neutral 0%
Negative 0%
No interaction 100%

Marketing

Positive 0%
Neutral 0%
Negative 0%
No Interaction 100%

Twitter
Average
YouTube

COB

Positive 0%
Neutral 0%
Negative 0%
No Interaction 100%

Positive 19%
Neutral 0%
Negative 0%
No Interaction 81%

Reach

Company
Posts

Feedback

Average Response
Time

8.6 Likes
.3 comments
2 monthly
1.04 shares
per post
2.4 likes
2.08
.1 comments
monthly
.08 shares
per post
.25 likes
.04 comments
1.5 monthly
0 shares
per post
0 likes
Less than 1
0 comments
quarterly
0 shares
per post
1.86
2.9 likes
monthly
.13 comments
(excluding .37 shares per
accounting)
post


53% Original
46% Retweet
1947 followers 4.5 monthly
6.7 retweets
6.7 favorites
per post
54% Original
47% Retweet
11.4
1124 followers
11.8 Retweets
monthly
12.1 favorites
per post
1535.5
followers

7.95
monthly

19 subscribers

1 quarterly

9.25 retweets
9.4 favorites
per post

719.4 views
2.9 likes
.11 dislikes
.4 comments
per video

Figure 1: Platform-specific measurements of the College of Business Social Media Presence (Continued)

None

None

none

None

None

None

None

None

None

LinkedIn

Positive 80%
Neutral 0%
COB
Negative 0% No
Interaction 20%
Figure 1 (Continued)

6,808
members

1.3 monthly

Competitive Analysis

2.9 likes
.31 comments
per post

none

By assessing the College of Business social media resources, the following Social Media
SWOT Analysis (below) identifies the COBs strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Given the factors profiled in the SWOT Analysis (Figure 2), it was possible to determine a
general strategy to pursue. A W-O (weakness-opportunity) strategy will be best for this social
media plan. This strategy will help to overcome weaknesses in social media platform
performance by following opportunities on the web. There are weaknesses such as lack of
engagement and inconsistent postings that can be improved upon through the opportunities
identified in the SWOT analysis.
Strengths

Weaknesses

Variety of posts across a diverse social

media presence

Doesnt have much of a reach on social

media (not a lot of followers or posts)

Utilizes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and

LinkedIn

There are several pages for majors on

Facebook and Twitter, but they are not used
consistently

Enthusiastic champion for marketing

efforts of the social media presence to
revamp posts and further influence both
current and prospective students
Presence is more monitored now and is
now seen as more important and necessary
than in years past

Its difficult to find the official JMU College

of Business page because it is listed as a
Place, and that doesnt show up in the
immediate search

Opportunities

Threats

COB Facebook page has over 2,000 likes,

the most out of any other page/social media

Independent departments may fight for

influence, rather than uniting to be a unified
social media presence

The College of Business can better

collaborate with COB students with more
engaging posts

Lack of coordination can lead to missed

opportunity to provide engaging content

To make the COB Facebook page easier

to find and utilize that account more

Lack of monitoring can lead to campaigns

that provide no impact to the College of
Business

There is a lack of a comprehensive

monitoring tool

The marketing department has developed

a more frequently used Facebook page
comparable to what the College of Business

has
Figure 2: SWOT Analysis for the College of Business

Goals
After analyzing the current situation the College of Business is in, there appears to be an
opportunity to attract and engage students, alumni, and employers across multiple platforms.
The following social media goals are designed to achieve this task:
Create content that strengthens the COB brand
Increase size of followings on all social media
Become more active on each social media account
Create content that encourages engagement with COB social media
Increase overall reach of social media postings
Increase awareness of COB Prepare to Make the Difference campaign

Strategies
The College of Business intends to accomplish its goals through an overarching strategy that
will increase the visibility of the brand and its campaign, and engage followers in an online
community. Since there seems to be an issue with the frequency of posting, a few accounts will
be terminated. Below is the recommended strategy:
Listen to how the brand is being mentioned on social media in order to understand
current perceptions and listen to influencers in business today to gain a better
understanding for trending topics.
Engage with followers through an increased number of responses to posts,
acknowledging that you appreciate their feedback and support.
Contribute to trending topics through content creation and curation, and establish
thought leadership in order to create meaningful interactions with followers.
Connect with the College of Business community by highlighting the accomplishments of
faculty, staff, and alumni in order to promote the Prepare to Make the Difference
campaign.

Target Market
The College of Business has a numerous segments in which it directly interacts with. However,
there are three main segments which will be targeted through this plan: Students, Alumni, and
Employers.
Students make up the segment that is most actively involved with the brand on a day to
day basis. These individuals are interested in information such as upcoming events, speakers,
or links to tutors and other resources. While this segment may not be as willing to engage in
more general posts on the university, they do look to social media as a convenient source on
resources the College of Business offers.
The alumni are those that have graduated, and have the ability to contribute back to the
community. Messages directed toward these individuals will be different from those of the
student. They are not interested in the day to day operations catered to students, but they are
interested in the overall accomplishments and progress at their alma mater. The main focus with
this segment is to drive donations back to the College of Business and to enhance networking
opportunities for students.
Employers are the last segment the College of Business will be targeting though the
social media plan. Unlike students and alumni, employers want information that will set James
Madison Universitys College of Business students apart from students at other universities.
Emphasis will be placed on the innovative and collaborative learning processes the College of
Business utilizes to teach its students. While these segments are vastly different from one
another, they each contribute to the success of the school.

Tools
Outlining characteristics of the target market helps to narrow down the best social media
platforms to explore. Each persona featured in our target market has different qualities that
need to be taken into account when choosing how to capture their attention. Because students
play such a pivotal role in the success of a college within a university, their attention and
feedback is greatly needed.
More specifically, students attending James Madison University are more inclined to like
a page on Facebook or join a group to allow for inquiries about classes, selling textbooks, and
general questions. Regarding alumni, a group that talks about possible activities with old
classmates, reunions, and news within their alma mater will be most applicable. Alumni play a
huge role in donations and maintenance of the College of Business, and what better way to
foster those relationships than through personal engagement with pictures, links to videos,
event invites, and newsletters. Tapping into this already established social media platform can
be hugely beneficial if alumni and students are shown value in joining something that will not fill
their timeline with spam. Both male and female students and alumni should be targeted via
Facebook to provide news, updates on events, and other happenings within the College of
Business at JMU. The largest group of our target market, males and females aged 17-23, is
already online and using social media heavily, so it is less of a conversion process than it is
conveying value.
Another alternative for news within the College of Business is to maintain a Twitter feed
where announcements for career-building and other professional events can be shared, as well
as faculty changes or recognition. Twitter will allow students to retweet and favorite different
announcements to help spread the word, increasing attendance and knowledge of certain
events. Ideally, this will lead to increased followers and an expanded reach into the JMU
community. Additionally, Twitter will be able to display YouTube videos for increased viewership
and subscribers. A YouTube channel will allow students to see the College of Business as more
of a brand and maintain an image of professionalism as well as a great reputation. Creative and
exciting videos will urge prospective students or students in other colleges at JMU to check out
what the College of Business has to offer.
Regarding alumni and employers, the most applicable method to reach them will be
through LinkedIn. LinkedIn has many groups dedicated to alumni, specifically, and can also act
as a platform for employers to search for students based on skills or major. The current group,
dedicated to the College of Business, can be revamped to feature posts on a bi-monthly basis,
acting as a newsletter and an outlet for alumni and employers to post about possible job
openings, announcements in the working world, and different ways that JMU has helped them.
Due to current technological advancements, each of these platforms is available on
mobile devices and can be accessed from anywhere with cell service. With a continued
increase in smartphones in America, it is safe to say that most of these interactions will take
place via phone or tablet instead of a legitimate computer. These outlets will provide JMUs
College of Business with the outreach and brand recognition it is looking for.

Implementation
The previous sections have laid the foundation to which the remainder of the plan is built upon.
Keeping the goals, strategies, and various target markets in mind, a series of platform specific
tactics have been developed to ensure that the plan remains on target and on message.
Various examples have been included, as well as a list of responsibilities to be performed to
facilitate success.
Platform-Specific Tactics and Tools
Facebook
According to the sum of the class Facebook pages, there are
a minimum of 22,951 students on Facebook. Although this
number includes only students, it does not include all
business majors. A majority of the student population is on
this platform, making it a powerful tool for the College of
Business to utilize.
The following are a list of Facebook tactics will be
implemented to increase engagement with COB target
markets:
Increase average posting amount to 12 posts per
month
Post engaging content once per week, specific to
each target market (3 posts total)
Include links to the College of Business Twitter and
YouTube pages to promote increased engagement
Participate in conversations with target markets
Use Facebook advertising. Instructions for how to properly use Facebook advertising
can be found https://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads/ (See Figure 3 above.)
At this time, eliminate all Accounting and Economics major pages due to lack of use
Twitter
Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms among young adults, featuring the age
group the College of Business is mostly targeting. College students are heavily involved mobile
users and Twitter makes it easy to reach these users on-the-go with concise but focused
messages.
The following tactics should be pursued to take advantage of this platform in order to
strengthen COBs image and create relationships with the target markets:
Increase average posting to 3 tweets per week
Post engaging content at least once per week by posting pictures and tweeting
questions to promote conversation
Interact with followers by retweeting relevant content
Respond to mentions in a timely manner

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YouTube
YouTube is the second largest search engine with over 3 billion searches a month. The majority
of people within the College of Business target markets are of an increasing visual-learning
generation. YouTube is a great platform for promoting word-of-mouth recommendations and
sharing content.
The following YouTube tactics will be taken in order to strengthen COBs image and
promote word-of-mouth:
Post videos at a consistent rate of once every 3 months
Videos should be no more than three minutes
Reply to comments in a timely manner
Promote videos on Facebook and Twitter
Embed the College of Business logo in all videos to maintain a consistent and
professional brand image
Create original content by utilizing storyboards (See Figure 4 below.)

LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the most popular professional social media platforms. Its especially popular
among students searching for jobs and wanting to expand their network. Majority of alumni and
employees also have LinkedIn accounts for their professional networking, so it covers all three
of the College of Businesss target markets.
The following LinkedIn tactical actions will be taken:
All employees will complete profiles and join the College of Business group
Professors will post relevant information from their industry to spark meaningful
engagement and establish thought leadership
Each department will post creative or curated content at least once every 2 weeks
Job openings will be displayed
Highlight accomplishments of students, faculty, and alumni
Monitor members posts and engage where value is added

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Content Development:
The key to successful social media content is quality over quantity. The following tactics will
help maximize the generation of quality content that can be repurposed for each social media
platform to save time and money and to create a greater impact.
Developing Content: an analysis of the content needs for each social media platform will
be conducted to identify the specific needs for each target market and to find and fill
content gaps. The sentiment analysis, provided, is an inventory of the College of
Business existing content, some of which may be repurposed.
Managing Content: social media content needs to be carefully edited before posting.
User contributions will be moderated to ensure relevant conversations and maintain the
desired image.
Cross-utilizing Content: existing content will be adapted to each type of platform for
proper cross-utilization. Avoid over-utilization because it can trigger unwanted attention
from search engines.
Breaking Apart Content: content will be broken down into smaller chunks and
reformatted to maximize the utilization of the material. This allows content to appear in
various forms and on multiple platforms to further establish the brand.
Assignments
Carrie Wood, Integrated Marketing Director, will be responsible for JMUs College of Business
social media platforms and may assign various roles to student staff whenever she sees fit.

Monitoring
In this section, we will breakdown tasks of tracking, measuring, and evaluating the COBs social
media marketing activities. These activities will ensure that the recommended plan is being
implemented properly, and allows for adjustment as needed to touch on previously established
goals.
Tracking:
Due to the vast amount of information that can be found on social media, it is imperative that a
tracking plan be implemented. Keywords and topics will be identified to optimize the success of
each social media platform. In order to maximize the efficiency of searches, Boolean operators
(___ AND ___, ___ OR___, etc.) can be used to pinpoint the desired information to enhance
social media evaluation of the sentiment of posts and feedback within the industry.

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Measuring
During the measurement process, data is categorized into two categories, quantitative and
qualitative. More specifically, quantitative measurements are numbers and figure-oriented, while
qualitative data provides a judgement of the sentiment or feeling towards the College of
Business. An example of a quantitative measurement is the number of likes on a post or the
number of views on any particular video posted by the College of Business. Collecting both
quantitative and qualitative data is crucial to gaining a complete picture of how all social media
platforms are performing.
The metrics chosen to measure both quantitative and qualitative data are referred to as
Key Performance Indicators. A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a business metric used to
determine the general direction of how the plan is performing in comparison to the set goals.
The KPIs selected have been chosen specifically to match the goals established earlier. The
KPI specifically ties to the SMART goal format for successful goal creation, as they provide the
measurable aspect to the goal.
Quantitative KPIs: Figure 5 lists the quantitative KPIs selected to measure the progress of the
social media goals and have been broken down by each social media platform used
Qualitative KPIs: Also, Figure 5 lists the qualitative KPIs selected to measure the process of
the social media goals for the College of Business. It is recommend to establish benchmarks in
the beginning to then base your subsequent evaluations on. This will allow an accurate
identification of the impact the plan is having on the set goals.

Social Media
Platform
Facebook


Twitter


YouTube


LinkedIn

Quantitative Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Next Year

Average 10 likes per post
30% growth in number followers
Average 3 comments per post
20% growth in number followers
30% growth in number of retweets
30% growth in number of favorites
35% increase in views per post
Double the number of subscribers
Average 3 comments per post
Average 5 likes per post
Average 3 comments per post
10% increase in number of members

Figure 5: Quantitative Key Performance Indicators for the College of Business

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Figure 6: Qualitative Key Performance Indicators for the College of Business

Evaluating
Quantitative and qualitative data on its own is simply numbers and figures. The process of
evaluation is what provides value for the data collected, and helps to get a feel of the overall
behavior across all social media platforms. Its important to look at what is and isnt working
well, what changes can be made, etc. The goal of evaluating is to constantly be able to make
these identifications, which become especially important when fine-tuning the social media plan.
Social Media Monitoring Tools
Social media monitoring tools have been chosen based on the goals of the College of Business,
performance metrics chosen, minimal costs, and simplicity. The College of Business will utilize
free monitoring tools like Google Alerts, Google Trends, and SocialMention. Specifically,
SocialMention will allow the user to search using different keywords across the internet to see
any relevant posts. It helps to get an overview of where things are being posted and mentioned
and the overall sentiment of posts.
Comparatively, Hootsuite, a social media management dashboard, will simplify the
management of different social media platforms in order to track the most important metrics.
Hootsuite is a paid subscription, but only costs about $10.00 per month for two users. Utilizing
Hootsuite will allow for targeted streams in order to gather feedback and interact with the target
market in the simplest way possible. Analytics within Hootsuite will allow the College of
Business to gain insight into the sentiment of each post, similar to SocialMention. The most
difficult aspect of the social media monitoring tools, like Hootsuite, is the initial setup. After the
initial setup using instructional videos if necessary, Hootsuite has a very user-friendly interface
and is relatively cheap compared to other analytics tools.

Tuning
Social media is constantly changing. There will always be new features, consumer preference
changes, and unforeseen circumstances that will require adaptation. The evaluation stage
provides the basis for making strategic decisions on altering goals and tactics, or the creation of
new goals or tactics if necessary. This process will ensure that resources are being used
effectively, creating the highest value for the College of Business.

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Budget
Figure 7 presents an estimate for the budget required to implement this plan with the
established goals in mind.
Budget
Hootsuite (2 users)
Facebook Ads

$120.00
$600.00

Total Expenditure

$720.00

Figure 7

Return on Investment
Due to the nature of the goals established for the College of Business, there are no monetary or
financial results to directly tie to the social media plan, so creating a standard ROI will be
infeasible. A proxy ROI leaves us with the best estimate for the return on investment achieved
from these goals. These measure the long-term impact the social media plan has on customer
response. Using sentiment analysis will allow a visual representation of the effectiveness of the
plan, as well as a basis for estimating the value customers are receiving via social media efforts.