Social Media in Campus Dining
Rob Nolen – Manager of Culinary & Hospitality Services
Snapshot of Kennesaw State
Univ.

Current Enrollment: 24,175


Undergrad:
Grad:
22,333
1,842

On-Campus Residents: 3,066

Demographics




Female vs. Male: 60/40
Average Age: 24
International Population: 7% (131 countries)
Campus dining operations



One AYCTE location:
Seven retail venues
KSU Catering
Social Media: A Few
Statistics
Why Social Media is Important

Consumers have low levels of trust in advertising…


… but high levels of trust in the opinions of their peers



70% of consumers trust the opinions others post online1
90% of consumers trust the recommendations of those they know2
Milestone: Facebook surpassed Google and became the most
visited site in the U.S. for the week ending March 13, 20103


Only 14% of consumers trust advertisements1
During that time, Facebook and Google made up 14% of all U.S.
site visits
YouTube

Sixty hours of video uploaded every 60 seconds!4

Up from 10 hours per minute in January 2008
Why Social Media is Important

16,197 Tweets per second for New Year’s 20125


Everyone is tapping into it!


More than doubled the record of 6,939 set in 2011
President Obama joined Instagram in January 20126
The challenge: There are always brand champions, but there
are also detractors

McDonald’s series of Promoted Tweets in January 20127


#MeetTheFarmers went very well
#McDStories did not, and the promotion was pulled after only two hours of
brutally negative tweets about the restaurant
Facebook
An established service, but a newer venture
for Culinary & Hospitality Services
Facebook for Culinary Services

Historical opposition to the use of Fafebook by departments on
campus




“Student space; not for departmental use; their world, not ours”
If we were to create a page, the direction had been given for wall
censorship to remove negative stories and comments.
Culinary Services page created in early February 2010, but
has only recently been used more frequently
Utilized primarily to advertise events and promotions and to
feature photographs and video from departmental events
It’s Not Always About the Likes

Our page’s “Likes” have fluctuated during its two-year life



Currently: 135
Majority have taken place in FY12
Although our “Likes” continue to increase, they’re not of sole
importance… don’t forget about Total Reach!


The total number of unique users who have viewed any content
associated with your page in a given time period
Includes shares, advertisements that point to you, or sponsored
stories
Example of Total Reach
2500
2000
1500
1000
Although the number of
users actually creating a
story from an event or post
might be low, your overall
reach and impact could
still be very high
500
People Talking About This
0
Weekly Total Reach
Know Your Resources
2500
What led to the huge
bumps in Reach?
2000
 Promotion

by our
followers (RT’s, shares,
etc.)
1500
1000
500
0

If your university has a
social media director
or coordinator, partner
with them!
Twitter
Short and tweet
@ksuculinary

Currently: 579 followers


Steadily increasing, with an 18% increase since January 2012
Still room for growth; Followers represent about 4% of our meal
plan holders
How We’re Growing

Regular interaction with followers
 Cannot
slack off
 As challenging as it may be, our students are connected
24/7, and we should be as well

Rewards for Twitter followers
 “Mention
this Tweet”
 Eat Tweets
Eat Tweets

Limited time, limited quantity “secret” menu items
 Giant
burritos, gourmet burgers, full racks of ribs,
specialty pizzas, etc.

Gain approximately 20-30 followers per event and
reward existing followers
Measuring Impressions

A number of services exist to review your impact on
Twitter
 HootSuite
 Crowdbooster
 Provides
a great data showing the impact of individual
tweets throughout time
Example: Crowdbooster
Data pulled from www.crowdbooster.com for @ksuculinary
foursquare
The Commons was a success! Let’s drive
some traffic to retail…
foursquare

All retail locations set up as foursquare venues on
campus
 “Claimed”
and now managed by Culinary Services as
of Fall 2011

Check-ins to date: 7,525
 The
Commons: 5,779
 Retail: 1,746
Trial Loyalty Special at
Delancey Deli

Simple: Free dessert on the third check-in
Usefulness of foursquare

Provides vital statistics about your guests
 Age
and gender breakdown
 Time visited
 Unique vs. returning visitors
 Social reach
 Percentage
of visitors who sent their check-ins to either
Twitter or Facebook
Based on check-ins to The Commons from February 6 – May 6, 2012
SinglePlatform
Let your guests browse menus on the go
SinglePlatform


Centralized service at www.singleplatform.com
Seamlessly integrates your retail menus within
various social media platforms
 foursquare
 yp.com
 urbanspoon
 yelp
 Facebook

$395 per year
Allows users to view
items on your menu
from any device.
Pricing and item
descriptions are
included.
Instead of changing
menus on a variety of
social media sites,
SinglePlatform allows
you to make
centralized edits,
which are then pushed
out to all the services.
Guests can also
“favorite” items, so
others can see
popular choices.
Klout
Where does your influence lie?
Klout


www.klout.com
Measures your social media influence across a
number of services on a score of 0 – 100
 Twitter
 foursquare
 Facebook
 Instagram
 Flikr
Influences on Klout


Compiles topics on which you may influence others
Provides a social snapshot of your organization
 Helps

target your messaging
As of this morning, Culinary Services has a Klout
score of 32.48 and is influential about 16 topics.
To name a few:
 Fried
Chicken
 Vegetarianism
 Recipes
 Oreos
HootSuite
Integrating your efforts across the
organization
Integrating Your Efforts


www.hootsuite.com
Incorporates a number of social media outlets into
one centralized dashboard
 Twitter
 Facebook
 LinkedIn
 foursquare
 MySpace
 WordPress
(blogs)
Dashboard View
Scheduling Messages

Messages can be created by any of your team
members and scheduled to be sent out
automatically by HootSuite
 Tweets,
posts, or blog entries can be edited by other
team members prior to being sent out
What’s Included

For $5.99 per month, you receive:
 Unlimited
social network profiles
 One weekly stats report
 Two included team members
 HootSuite desktop application
 Facebook Insight Analytics
 Access to Google Analytics
 Incorporates
analytics
your departmental website into Twitter
Google Analytics in HootSuite
What’s Extra

Upgrades to HootSuite Pro include:
 Additional
team members (for larger organizations)
 Vanity URLs
 Additional, customized reporting
 Priority support
Google Indoor Maps
Slowly making its way onto the scene
Google Indoor Maps


Currently available only for Android
Upload your building’s floor plans to Google Maps
 Guests
can navigate through your virtual building
before even setting foot inside
 Great for student unions and dining halls
 Could potentially be utilized for parking structures as
the product moves out of beta testing
Questions / Discussion
Rob Nolen – Manager of Culinary & Hospitality Services
Sources
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Weber, L. “Marketing to the Social Web,” Wiley Publishing, 2007
The Nielsen Company. July 7, 2009. Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends
and Virtual Strangers the Most. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/globaladvertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
Dougherty, H. (March 15, 2010). Facebook Reaches Top Ranking in US.
http://www.experian.com/blogs/hitwise/2010/03/15/facebook-reaches-topranking-in-us/
YouTube Press Room; http://www.youtube.com/t/press_timeline
Dugan, L. (January 3, 2012). Twitter Users Welcome 2012 with 16,000 Tweets per
Second. http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-users-welcome-2012-with16000-tweets-per-second_b17264
Admin. (January 6, 2012). Why Join Instagram? http://yoursocialmove.com/why-joininstagram
Dugan, L. (January 24, 2012). McDonald’s Twitter Ad Campaign Was a #McFail.
http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/mcdonalds-twitter-ad-campaign-was-amcfail_b17961