Social Media Strategies

How influential are you? The follow-up

See how influential you are on Klout, Kred, PeerIndex and STL Index. Use these forms to record your statistics:

• Klout
• Kred
• PeerIndex
• STL Index

Getting started with Instagram

ASSIGNMENTS

Case study: Follow a news source, brand, celebrity and a college student for 48 hours. Note with each of the sources:

• Were photos personal or professional?
• What types of photos does each publish?
• Which photos did you like? Why?
• Note differences between the four.

Due before class May 9.

Recommendations: Suggest five users classmates should follow. They can include any of the people/brands part of your case study. Include the nature of recommended users’ photos: professional, personal, humor, etc. Identify why each is a good follow. Share your recommendations as a Facebook group post. Due before class May 9.

Evaluate your personal social media plan

Reflect and evaluate how your personal Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterst and Google+ social media plans went; use the following as a guideline. Each reflection should be at least 250 words.

FOLLOW-UP

• How many followers/fans do you have?
• How many people do you currently follow?
• How many times a day do you post?
• How often do you interact with others?
• What time of day do you most frequently post?
• Are your posts focused on a topic or category? If so, what is that focus?
• Do you consider your audience when posting?

STRATEGY EVALUATION

• How well did you stick to the plan you developed? 
• Looking back on your expectations, how did the semester go compared to how you thought it would?
• Was it easy or difficult to stick to your focus? What did you learn about the ratio of posts being on-focus versus off-focus? If posts did not stick to your focus, what made you change?
• Was it easy or difficult to respond to people and post?
• Has your view of this social network changed?
• Will you continue to use this social network? Will you continue to use your plan? 

Due before class May 9.

How to verify news tips from social media

How to create an online resume and portfolio site

ASSIGNMENTS

Create an online portfolio: The portfolio should include a complete bio and at least five links — either to social networks, stories or both. Submit your online portfolio through the class website. Due before class April 25

LinkedIn case study: Follow a news source, brand, celebrity and a college student for 48 hours. Note with each of the sources:

• Are profiles complete/up-to-date?
• Were posts personal or professional?
• Are endorsements personal or professional?
• What types of posts does each publish?
• Which links did you follow? Why?
• Note differences between the four.

Due before class April 30

What you should know about copyright and fair use

‘Hush’: Communicating from 3 perspectives

Welcome to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Teenager Buffy Summers has been chosen by mystical forces (as so often happens) and granted superhuman powers to defeat vampires and other monsters in the fictional town of Sunnydale, Calif. Her friends Willow and Xander and mentor Giles often assist in these exploits.

In “Hush,” which originally aired Dec. 14, 1999, The Gentlemen steal everyone’s voices — part of their larger evil plan. There are vampires and witches and monsters and an astonishing lack of cellphones. (It was that time when people had cellphones, but Hollywood wasn’t sure what to do with them.) The 44-minute episode has about 17 minutes of dialogue. 

ASSIGNMENT

Watch the first 26 minutes of “Hush.” (You can watch the rest later. If you missed it in class, “Buffy” is available on Hulu and Netflix.) This “emergency” occurred before Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. (Blogs existed, but they weren’t as prevalent as they are today.)

Imagine this situation happened here today, where we have Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and much more. Identify how and what you would communicate from three perspectives: As a journalist, as an emergency management agency and as yourself. What would you say or do? Where would you publish it? Each perspective should be at least 400 words. The assignment should be typed and is due before class April 11.

Final project: Create an outline

Just in case: Here’s a list of common KPIs. Pick measurements that will mean the most to your organization. This is a basic list — your plan may require something not listed here or more complicated.

ASSIGNMENT

Create an outline. Follow the guidelines in the presentation above. This does not have to be formal — a bullet point outline is fine. Use information from previous assignments to identify your goal, target audience, strategies and tactics. Explain each of your tactics. Explain how you will measure success for each tactic. Due before class April 11.

Strategy vs. tactic: What’s the difference