Due dates: June 3 for peer review, June 17 final
Team One: Ken, Varad, Diana
Team Two: Lisa and John
Working with one other student, identify 3 companies or organizations (profit, non-profit, educational, or other) that use social media consistently to communicate content to their target audience and beyond.
Using standard social media techniques we've learned in class and that you've learned on your own through the class reading material, blogs, and our Twitter feed, write an 10-15 page report profiles the best practices these organizations use to deploy and manage their social media accounts. Include graphics such as screen grabs, organizational logos, and any social media tracking charts you can generate or find regarding these organizations.
Your report should include the following components:
1. Title Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Introduction
Introduce the organizations you've identified. Explain their mission and/or purpose, their primary and secondary audiences, and what methods they currently use for communication, including websites, print publications/ads, email, newsletters, and finally -- what social media tools they use.
4. Communication Strategies (use the five steps below)
Step One -- Observation
Identify the social media tools these organizations use. Observe the way they share information, curate content, and interact with their audience. Note characteristics of their use of social media and compare the methods of all three organizations.
Step Two -- Analysis
After sufficient observation, analyze their methods for social media use and management. How often do they communicate? What tools do they use? How do their profiles describe them? How much do they interact with their audience versus simply sharing content? Do they aggregate content or simply share it? Can you detect any management strategies through the consistency and format of their posts? Can you determine if they use any social media management tools to schedule or track interactions? How well does the content they share correlate with their organizational purpose? Can you determine if they have an employee or a staff who manages social media?
Step Three -- Identify Vulnerabilities
After observing and analyzing their use of social media, identify and describe any communication vulnerabilities they face. Does the content they share potentially pose any problems for their audience? How well and how completely do they communicate across social media networks? How much could users be well-informed or mis-informed by their communication strategies? How vulnerable are they to haters or anyone who wants to discredit them? How well do they monitor feedback, comments, and sharing of their content to determine if it reaches the intended audience with the intended meaning?
Step Four -- Compile and Describe Best Practices
After observing interactions, analyzing their methods, and identifying their vulnerabilities, compile a descriptive list of the the practices they use consistently that you feel are practical and efficient. Explain how these strategies align with their mission, purpose, and audience, and why the methods they use work well for them. Compare the practices of the three organizations you have chosen and determine which one(s) you feel are the most efficient and effective users of social media and explain why. For this segment of the report, you may want to create a qualitative (but somewhat quantitative) ranking using a table or numerical rubric to explain your findings.
Step Five -- Explain Relevance to Other Organizations
As the last section of this part of the report, try to generalize how well the best practices you've identified would work in other organizations, including your own. Explain why they would or would not be useful for other organizations.
5. Conclusion
Write a summary of your report, pulling together your final thoughts about the three organizations you've studied and the social media practices they use. Make at least three recommendations for other organizations to consider for social media use and management.
Team One -- Best Practices for AMEX, EMC, and Mayo Clinic
Team Two -- Best Practices for Regions Bank and Coca-Cola
Note: The format required for this report is unique to the assignment. Best practices in social media abound, and methods for compiling them vary. These references will provide you with examples of how other organizations have gathered and reported their social media best practices.
Centers for Disease Control -- their list of recommended tools and best practices for federal agencies
Social media best practices at Colorado State University
A collection of social media best practices and organizational profiles in a student report from the University of Georgia
Vanderbilt's social media best practices policies
A Baylor University report on best practices for using social media in real estate
A 2011 best practices graduate student report for social media use in emergencies
A tools-based best practices presentation by a social media manager at Virginia Commonwealth
UMass Amherst report on social media best practices for business schools