Social Media Strategy Rock Chalk Living
The Kansan launched its very own housing site for students in October of this year. At the same time of the website’s launch, we created both a Twitter and Facebook page as a way to establish a relationship with the KU student body and create and more dynamic engagement. The social media accounts launched the same week as the website to start generating buzz and building a relationship with the KU student body as their new and improved way of finding housing. Through strategic marketing and relevant content, these social media handles have served as one of the key components in the development and success of RockChalkLiving.com. Weeks before the launch, a proposal was drafted by our Social Media Specialist including research and thoughtful strategy to make sure the accounts would be successful. Personality & Tone When developing the social media accounts, it was important to find a way to convey helpful and relevant information on finding housing while keeping it witty and relatable to college students. The accounts would use an entertaining sense of humor on relevant topics to build more followers and interact with students. Also, the images used for the profile photos were designed to match the website and all other corresponding media. This was to create and identify a strong brand connection with the actual site itself. The Launch Apartment Fest The website and social media accounts were launching the same week as the Kansan’s Apartment Fest for which RockChalkLiving.com would serve as the sponsor of the event. This on-campus event served as launching pad for the social media accounts. The event created a direct link to gaining attention. A photobooth with the website’s logo was used at the event and students were encouraged to stop by and take photos. Participants were immediately directed to check out the social media accounts to find their picture and tag themselves. The thought behind this was to get students to have their photo taken, which would then lead them to liking or following the accounts when searching for their photo.
Increasing Followers/Likes During the first two weeks of the account, both our Twitter and Facebook accounts targeted specific student groups in order to gain more followers. Research was done to find the most followed and most prevalent social media accounts that students were using. So for example, the KU Student Senate and the KU Greek Life have strong followings, so the Rock Chalk Living accounts tagged these groups with a related message to their specific audience. By reaching out through a direct tag or shout-out, groups were likely to follow back and even respond creating a conversation, which would be increasing impressions. On Twitter, the account used specific hashtags in all of the posts. The hashtags reflected the slogan and copy used in the multimedia campaign currently taking place for Rock Chalk Living. The slogan “Search, don’t settle” turned into an effective hashtag, #searchdontsettle. This served as a branding opportunity for the twitter account. On facebook, it was the same approach. Rock Chalk Living would post and tag other student groups as well as post on their walls in order to gain impressions from their following. All posts were strategically timed via Hootsuite, a social media management system, to coincide with events going on with the groups targeted. Hootsuite allowed for postings to be pre-set during higher traffic readership times and even provide data analytics. Timing is often a key point in social media success. By posting at specific times, the visibility of the post increased. It’s important to understand that timing matters so that your post does not get lost in the constantly updated feeds. By the end of the first two weeks, both accounts had more than 100 followers/likes. Feature of the Week Each week, a posting from the actual website is featured on the social media accounts to highlight not only the housing opportunity, but also creating a direct link and driving more traffic to the website using repetition and frequency.
The Proposal
Scheduling
Feature of the Week Mock-up
Research & Targeting
Identity The Twitter and Facebook profiles mirror the identity of the actual website to create a strong brand image. This gives the brand name Rock Chalk Living a distinct look across all platforms. TWITTER
WWW.ROCKCHALKLIVING.COM (ACUTAL WEBSITE)
Interacting with student groups The tweets use the hashtag #SEARCHDONTSETTLE, the brand’s slogan. Also, the tweet is customized to the student group that is being targeted.
Retweets & Favorites
By directly targeting local places and student groups, the twitter account was able to track its success through retweets and favorites. Each retweet and favorite shown below is a result from the direct targeting strategy used to gain followers.
Property of the Week Each week a different property that is on the website is featured on the social media accounts. Each post includes amenities, contact information, photos and links to find out more information.
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The Launch As students took pictures, they were directed to the social media accounts to find their pictures and tag themselves.
Google Analytics On the day that the website and social media accounts launched, over half of the traffic was driven from social media referrals.