Portfolio Spotlight: Social Media Strategy Student Project

The following content is a project that I completed during my undergraduate program. Seeking out and analyzing data sets to find relevant information are skills that this project helped to refine. This project allowed me to envision what a social media campaign that I oversaw would look like. Knowledge gained from completion of this project included implementing incentive goals as reward triggers as a part of a digital marketing campaign.

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Data Analysis 

The target audience segment for this strategy is comprised of the Southern New Hampshire University student body. A secondary segment is comprised of friends and family of on-campus students. This audience is comprised of 18–28-year-olds. The audience is also comprised of those who have obtained at least a high school diploma, some college, or an associate degree. This represents 53.2% of the population of New Hampshire. (United States Census Bureau, 2022a). The average median household income in New Hampshire is $89,992. (United States Census Bureau, 2022b). It is important to acknowledge that this may not reflect the intended target audience segment, who are more likely dependent on student funding as their main income source, and therefore not represented accurately in this data. 

Current data suggests that this segment favors Snapchat, BeReal, Instagram, and TikTok as preferred social media platforms. (Statista, 2023). Practical use of BeReal often leaves much to be desired for social media strategies, so the focus should be on Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Interests reflected by this segment include community outreach and issues of public health. Personal values include education, community, and activism.  

An example of an audience archetype matching this segment would be a 21-year-old female pursuing a nursing degree, living on-campus at Southern New Hampshire University. She is enthusiastic about community health and pediatric care. Her favorite brands are Stanley and Lululemon. She is from the Manchester area and has relatives who live an hour away from campus. Her parents combined annual income is $90,000. She uses Snapchat and TikTok multiple times daily. (Grayson, 2023).

Evaluating the Landscape 

The SWOT model can be applied to Southern New Hampshire University’s social media presence. (Shewan, 2024). Southern New Hampshire University currently owns a brand account on Instagram. This is a strength as this platform is favored by the target audience segment. Another strength is the account making use of the “stories” feature on this platform, as this feature can be used to post relevant content throughout the duration of promotional events. One weakness reflected by this Instagram account is the small number of followers. Another weakness is a lack of connection strategy between the university’s other social media accounts. (Clampitt, 2017). For example, the Instagram account only links to the university’s LinkedIn account. 

Creating and maintaining accounts which reflect current social media use trends associated with the student body is an area of opportunity. Creating an account on TikTok which focuses primarily on on-campus activities is an example of catering to an underserved demographic. One threat to Southern New Hampshire University’s social media presence is the lack of centralized triggers and easily identifiable nodes. (Clampitt, 2017). For example, only a few posts on the Instagram page clearly communicate the intention of the post. 

The target audience segment for this strategy will appreciate stronger implementation of automaticity and reward triggers to entice engagement with Instagram posts. (Clampitt, 2017). For example, in relation to the current strategy proposal, creating a template for a banner to be added to the top of all photos uploaded pertaining to on-campus events would be ideal. In this way, posts promoting campus events would be easy to identify, and relevant information could be ascertained immediately. This type of trigger will also resonate with the intended audience of on-campus students, who favor scrolling through Instagram feeds rather than checking on individual accounts one at a time. 

Proposal Creations 

Two main objectives should be considered for this social media campaign. The campaign should start one week before and continue throughout the event. These objectives will follow the SMART goal framework. (Barnhart, 2020). The first objective is to get 30,000 unique impressions cumulatively on posts across all three platforms throughout the duration of the campaign. The second objective is to spend at least $20 a day across all platforms on advertising. Both objectives are specific. Attaining 30,000 unique impressions is achievable and realistic over the allotted time. The measurement for success will be reflected by much interaction each post garners from paid promotion. It is highly unlikely that more than $50 per day will be necessary to reach this goal. 

The three platforms selected for this campaign will be Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok. Each of these platforms are favored by the current target audience segment. (Statista, 2023). Advertising is achieved by spending a certain amount of money on each post based on projected interaction on Snapchat and TikTok. (Snapchat, n.d.; TikTok, n.d.). A similar formula is used on Instagram advertising, although this platform also allows for a specific duration of time to be set for a post to be promoted. (Instagram, n.d.). Given the brevity of this campaign, it is recommended to spend the same amount of $20 per day, per post, for the first week.  

This campaign would benefit from posting at least once every other day. TikTok especially favors creators who post at least once per day. (Kazakova, 2023). Account activity can also be maintained by posting once or twice per day on the additional formats allowed by each platform. For example, one post could be created and promoted every other day on Instagram. In addition to this, multiple posts could be created for the Stories feature each day to maintain account activity and facilitate further reach. For the first week of the campaign, one post should be made per day on TikTok, and one post should be made for Instagram and Snapchat every two days. 

The tone of content posted for this campaign should reflect the values and ideals of the university and St. Jude Children’s Hospital. One way to connect with the audience might be to position the university as an advocate for St. Jude's patients. Consider contacting the hospital to ask if any patients would be interested in having their stories featured in content created for the event. Content featuring these types of stories elicit deeper emotions from audiences. (Dorado, 2019). Additionally, content created for this campaign should reflect the language used by the target audience. (Dorado, 2019). Using positive tones with casual language that connects with young adults is recommended. Consider using shades of green to evoke an association with life and vitality in content. (Hughes, 2019). Finally, consider employing incentive goals for charity donation dollars received through the bake sale. 

Throughout the duration of the campaign, analytics for each post and account should be checked daily. (Clampitt, 2017). This will help to better understand which posts are performing well. These analytics will also help determine if the target audience is being successfully reached. A retrospective analysis should be done for the entire campaign after the first week. The analytic data from each platform after this week should be used as the most important key performance indicator for this campaign. (Clampitt, 2017). Adjustments to content posted, time of posting, frequency of posting, and budget for advertising should all be implemented in accordance with this analytic data for the second week of the campaign.

 

Sources 

Barnhart, B. (2020). How to set (and achieve) meaningful social media goals. Sprout Social, Inc. 
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-goals/ 

Clampitt, P. G. (2017). Social media strategy: Tools for professionals and organizations. SAGE  
Publications, Inc. 

Dodaro, M. (2019). 7 Social Media Content Writing Tips. Industry Dive. https:// 
www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-social-media-content-writing-tips/555805/ 

Grayson, R. (2023). Foundations in Digital Marketing. BCcampus. https:// 
pressbooks.bccampus.ca/socialmedia/chapter/8-audience-archetypes/ 

Hughes, K. (2019). Graphic Design : Learn It, Do It. Taylor & Francis Group. https:// 
ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/lib/snhu-ebooks/detail.action? 
docID=5785742 

Instagram. (n.d.). Turn any Instagram post into an inspiring ad. Meta. https:// 
business.instagram.com/boost-instagram-posts/get-started#budget-duration 

Kazakova, A. (2023). Is Posting Too Much on TikTok Bad? YES (Find Out Why). inBeat.  
https://www.inbeat.co/articles/posting-too-much-on-tiktok/ 

Shewan, D. (2024). How to Do a SWOT Analysis (With Examples & Free Template!).  
WordStream. https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/12/20/swot-analysis 

Snapchat. (n.d.) Learn How Pricing Works with Snapchat Ads. Snap Inc. https:// 
forbusiness.snapchat.com/advertising/pricing 

Statista. (2023). Distribution of leading social media platform users in the United States as of  
September 2023, by age group. Stacy Jo Dixon. https://www.statista.com/statistics/ 
1337525/us-distribution-leading-social-media-platforms-by-age-group/ 

TikTok. (n.d.). Advertising Starter Guide Tool. TikTok for Business. https://www.tiktok.com/ 
business/en/advertising-starter-guide-tool 

United States Census Bureau. (2022a). New Hampshire, Education. American Community  
Survey. https://data.census.gov/profile/New_Hampshire?g=040XX00US33#education 

United States Census Bureau. (2022b). New Hampshire, Income and Poverty. American  
Community Survey. https://data.census.gov/profile/New_Hampshire? 
g=040XX00US33#income-and-poverty