Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference - Creating a Web 2.0 Plan

Still here at the Stamats Integrated Marketing Conference in Chicago. Blogging a few things I find particularly of interest.

Creating a Web 2.0 Plan
Fritz McDonald and Lara Marsh
Stamats

Note: For the purposes of this presentation it seems, Web 2.0 is defined in terms of its social media aspects.

Web 2.0 foundational principles

Participatory culture

• Active vs. passive users
• Millennials are highly skilled web users.
• Content creates community
• Content belongs to everyone
• Open platform vs. closed portal

It's about making and sharing content

• Creating content is a social act.
  
• 64% of teens online are content creators
• Primary function is to display user content.
• Attracts users and creates traffic.
  

Three institutional approaches to social media

1. Build your own network

• Develop and support a network people will want to join. Create something different. Model success of other social media sites like Twitter. Create value – what can you give, what service can you provide? Example: Financial Aid advice. Build a community around something you already started. – comments on DU's Virtual Tour for example. Don’t think gimmick, think value
• Map your audiences: where are they, what do they care about most? Design for their content consumption preferences
• Define foundational content: informative, engaging, build sustained relationships. How will you share? User-generated/institution-generated mix - enabling user generated content is key.
• Build the site: who leads the community (community management team), what size will you take on, features, look and feel
• Recruit community members – internal, external ambassadors, invite target audiences inside and out, be transparent/don’t manipulate. Promote your site to generate traffic, participate in at least 5 social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube. Visit forums, make announcements to friends, send to email lists. Direct marketing, advertising, collateral also
• Link content to content sharing sites – bookmarklets, etc. (we have sharing tools on www.davenport.edu: email this, Del.icio.us, Facebook, Digg, Technorati, Google, Yahoo!, Reddit.
  

2. Join in and participate on a network

• Understand the community ground rules. Study dynamics, language, styles. Listen to the conversations – most important. Fit in. Share your institutional character
• Decide platform – blog, social network/combination. New Facebook Platform is specifically for institutions.
• Avoid traditional marketing pitches
• Work with the community – add value, offer advice, service, knowledge. Be transparent. Avoid institutional jargon – talk to them in their language. (Sees Target’s corporate Facebook page as one of most successful.) Don’t just put up photos and say "Call us." Offer discussion or Q & A on "Why go to college?" for example. (Note to web team: The NEXTERS!)
• Participate in forums and message boards - discussion thread to create brand ambassadors.
• Commit – time, resources (community manager is a must), link outward, guide, respond. Rules: members are advisors, encourage candor, pay attention to what members initiate, keep experimenting/innovating

3. Employ other 2.0 technologies/approaches

• Blogs – most popular choice. Try not to censor. 70% of social networkers say they read others’ blogs. You don’t have to respond to trolls, but you must respond to legitimate questions and concerns (use moderated comments)
  
• Photo posting on sites like Flickr – 73% of teens upload photos. You get comments, a chance to join in the discussion. Davenport's Flickr site is here. We could do much more with this.
• Video – key is enabling comments. Keep authentic as possible. DU has posted our TV spots and a few other videos on YouTube, also embedding the videos on our website. This needs further attention, too.

Conclusion: Davenport has done a few scattershot things, none of them particularly strategic. We need a concerted, sustained effort toward our social media strategy this year (and we will!).