ACG 16-06-12
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
Deliverable 1 - Social Media Performance of Newcastle
University ( Alumni Association)
In this deliverable, we analyzed social media performance of
both Newcastle University as a whole and Newcastle University
Alumni Association, and gave suggestions accordingly.
I. Social Media Performance of Newcastle University
Facebook performance
There are more than 100 facebook pages/groups related to newcastle university, but not
all of them are official pages/groups which could present views of institutions in
Newcastle University. In order to truely reflect facebook performance of Newcastle
University, we only analyze the official facebook pages/groups of Newcastle University.
We will analyze facebook performance of academic schools, facebook performance of
university's services, and accordingly, the facebook performance of Students' Union,
trying to get an overview of how these institutions function on facebook.
There are 24 academic schools in Newcastle University, but only 4 of them have an
official facebook page/group. The most welcomed facebook page/group is Newcastle
University Business School facebook page, and the least welcomed facebook
page/group is School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development facebook group.
From the existence of facebook pages/groups of the academic schools, we can see that
the schools which participate in social media are related to social science. In general,
academic schools does not actively participate in facebook. Details are shown in the
chart below.
Schools
Newcastle
University
Business
Likes/Member
s
869
Joined in
March, 2011
Update
Frequency
****
Response Rate
****
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School
Architecture,
252
Planning and
Landscape
School
of 121
Modern
Languages
Agriculture,
9
Food and Rural
Development
April, 2011
***
**
March, 2012
****
**
September,
2009
*
*
There are 11 main services for students provided by university, and there are only 3 of
them have official facebook pages/groups. They are Careers Service, Newcastle
University Sport, Newcastle University Libraries. These services all perform well on
facebook, especially Careers Service, which update its profile the most frequently, and
University Libraries, which has the most sub-pages/sub-groups. Details are shown in
the chart below.
Services
likes
Joined in
Careers
Service
Newcastle
University
Sport
Newcastle
University
Libraries
1986
1088
September,
2008
January, 2010
188
February, 2012
Update
Frequency
*****
Response
Rate
**
***
**
***
***
Compared to the performance of academic schools and university services, Students'
Union is the most engaging party on facebook. There are tremendous official pages of
Students' Union, ranging from pages of the unions' officers, to event holding parities.
The page of Students' Union alone has 4233 followers, which ranks the third place on
popularity of facebook pages within Newcastle University. In general, those official
pages related to students' union are operated on a regular basis and truely reflect the
dynamic campus life in Newcastle University. Details are shown in the following chart.
Bodies
The Courier
Likes/Member
s
2830
Team
968
Joined in
November,
2009
October, 2010
Update
Frequency
****
Response Rate
****
***
**
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ACG 16-06-12
Newcastle
Men's Bar
Newcastle
Student Radio
RAG
525
453
***
****
**
**
250
October, 2010
November,
2007
October, 2011
**
**
Students'
Advice Center
Go Play
163
April, 2010
***
**
97
***
**
Culture
Challenge
72
September,
2011
October, 2011
***
****
Through the charts given above and observation of those facebook pages/groups
real-time performance, we have serval conclusions drawn upon the overall facebook
performance of Newcastle University.
1, Most of the facebook pages/groups started in 2011, which means there is no much
experience out there to Newcastle University in terms of facebook marketing.
2, Holders of these warm welcomed facebook pages/groups do have strong offline
existence, which means their online existence depends greatly on their offline
performance rather than their facebook marketing skills.
The suggestion given to Newcastle University in terms of facebook marketing is to
develop its facebook marketing teachniques and enrich its experience in facebook
marketing, rather than rely on its strong offline existence and simply regard facebook as
a tool to deliver information.
Twitter performance
It can't be denied that Facebook has much more functions than Twitter, and more
effective when it comes to social media marketing. However, twitter is a good tool
when delivering conversational message. In general, those parities performing well on
facebook also do a good job on twitter.
The chart below is an overview of usage of twitter in Newcastle University.
Bodies
followers
tweets
Joined in
Newcastle
Uni Alumni
Newcastle
Libraries
3706
990
3672
1686
February,
2009
March,
2009
Update
Frequency
***
Response
Rate
**
***
***
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
Newcastle
1771
University
NU Careers 1489
Service
417
The Courier
1302
Cultural
Lab Ncl
Newcastle
SU
January,
2010
November,
2009
***
**
****
**
624
September,
2009
***
***
1100
207
November,
2009
***
*
1107
197
June, 2011
***
**
NU Lib arts 704
liaison
3187
September,
2009
****
***
NU Lib Arts 703
Liaison
645
Newcastle
University
Business
School
3188
***
***
1417
Setember,
2009
May, 2011
****
***
Newcastle
University
Internationa
l Office
newcastleD
M
632
205
July, 2010
**
*
597
298
March,2008
***
*
Robinson
Library,
Reader
Services
News
540
4536
May, 2011
****
****
2190
From the chart above, we can get some conclusions.
1, Those who perform well on twitter are mainly the institutions which has lots of
information to offer, like university libraries, The Courier, etc., which means twitter is
more suitable for institutions of information service.
ACG 16-06-12
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
2, Though Newcastle University perform well on twitter, but their tweets are not very
highly responded, which means the interacting feature of twitter is not realized here.
The suggestions given to Newcastle University in terms of twitter marketing is to
identify the nature of the institutions which are going to do twitter marketing. Not all
institutions are suitable for twitter marketing.
Linkedin performance
Compared to facebook and twitter, Linkedin is a more professional tool for networking.
It aims at helping users connect with their partners on the purpose of seeking for careers
opportunities or sharing valuable information. The careers service and the alumni
association are the main bodies using Linkedin in Newcastle University. They perform
it in a professional manner, which can be seen from the groups and sub-groups they
have set up.
In detail, the main two groups of Newcastle University are Newcastle University
Alumni Association, which has 5961 members and Newcastle University Business
School - Global Alumni, which has 703 members. There are several sub-groups under
the group of Newcastle University Alumni Association. They are Business School
Alumni ( 53 members), Careers Service ( 35 members), United States Alumni ( 44
members), Agriculture Alumni ( 27 members), Medical Alumni Group ( 16 members),
Dental Alumni Group ( 4 members).
In terms of the number of members in these groups and sub-groups, we can see that
alumni do show great interest in Newcastle University Alumni group, but do not show
much interest in joining sub-groups which are not performed lively.
The charts below is analysis of Newcastle University Alumni Association's
performance on Linkedin.
Demographic analysis
Seniority
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
Function
Location
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Industry
Comments and Discussion
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
From the charts, we can learn that the members of Newcastle Unversity Alumni
Linkedin Group are mostly based in UK, and most of them do have professional jobs
and are senior users on Linkedin.
The suggestion for Linkedin performance of Newcastle University is to try to enable
users to make the most of the connections created by Newcastle University in a
professional manner, like link recomendation, working experience sharing, etc.
II.Social Media Performance of Newcastle University Alumni
Association
A. Social Media Performance of Newcastle University Alumni
Association (compared to other alumni associations)
As alumni associations only targeted alumni, who have left universities and are less and
less connected to universities, the associations' performance on social media is far more
important than other institutions in universities and will create great values to
universities if being done well.
We will analyse the social media engagement of alumni associations of universities in
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
ACG 16-06-12
Russell Group in order to give an overview of how other universities’ alumni
associations are performing in social media and show the potential of social media
marketing for Newcastle University Alumni Association.
Alumni
Association
from
Imperial
College
London
University of
Leeds
University of
Oxford
University of
Cambridge
Newcastle
University
University of
Southampton
University of
Warwick
University of
Edinburgh
University of
Birminghan
University of
Liverpool
King's College
London
University of
Glasgow
University of
Sheffield
University of
Bristol
University of
Nottingham
University of
London
Cardiff
University
Queen's
university
Facebook likes
Twitter
Followers
16,242
0
Linkedin
Followers
2836
Social Media
Engagement
Started from
April, 2008
11,644
2091
1962
October, 2007
6360
2873
4654
June, 2008
5935
1956
2933
March, 2009
5418
3706
5961
5100
807
7349
November,
2007
October, 2007
4777
1610
3723
3337
1887
9223
September,
2007
March, 2008
2978
0
9312
June, 2008
2892
886
2809
2231
1240
6473
November,
2007
July, 2008
2220
0
5681
June, 2008
2145
1245
6472
March, 2008
2136
0
9771
March, 2008
2112
786
7864
October, 2007
1068
1240
1980
February, 2008
690
0
5376
May, 2008
8
0
2217
June, 2008
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
ACG 16-06-12
Belfast
University of 0
Manchester
2217
0
June, 2008
As can be seen from the chart, the alumni associations of Imperial College London and
University of Leeds have the most followers on facebook, which far exceed the amount
of likes of other university's alumni associations. But those two associations do not
perform as well as on Twitter, where Newcastle University and University of Oxford
have the most followers. In general, Newcastle University Alumni Association
performs quite well on social media compared to that of other universities, as it uses the
most social media tools, and has enough fans of each tools.
B. Social Media Performance of Newcastle University Alumni
Association (Internal Analysis - facebook performance )
Likes: 5418
Most popular age group: 25 - 34
Age
Group
Percentag
e
13 - 17
18 - 24
25 - 34
35 - 44
45 - 54
55+
1.5%
25%
42%
21%
7.5%
5%
Location
Locati United Greece
on
Kingdo
m
Numbe 2810
275
r
of
fans
United
States
India
Singapore
Taiwan
Malaysia
202
132
131
126
112
Most Popular Week: 25 September 2011
Ranking of posts in terms of popularity ( From July, 2011)
Title
Theme
Graduation, 13 Graduation
- 15, July, 2011 Ceremony
Type of
post
Pictures
the Engaged Users
1069
Publish Date
31/08/2011
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
ACG 16-06-12
Newly
Refurnished
Students'
Union
Convocation
Weekend 2012
- Memories of
Newcastle
University
Winter
Graduations
2011
Convocation
Weekend 2012
- Memories of
Newcastle
University
Convocation
Weekend 2012
- Memories of
Newcastle
University
Winter
Graduations
2012
Merry
Christmas from
everyone
at
Newcastle
University
Refurnishment
of
Students'
Union
Refurnishment
in University
Pictures
820
27/09/2011
Memories of Pictures
Campus Life
474
19/02/2012
Graduation
Ceremony
Pictures
349
13/12/2011
Memories of Pictures
Campus Life
281
28/02/2012
Memories of Pictures
Campus Life
256
04/03/2012
Graduation
Ceremony
Pictures
236
12/01/2012
Greetings
Pictures
200
24/12/2011
Refurnishment
in University
Videos
128
02/02/2012
Update rates: Three times a week (on average)
Post liked or commented: one out of three
The average amount of likes and comments for each post: 5 ( The amount of likes
and comments to every post differs greatly due to the excitement of the posts)
Content:
1, News for careers opportunities, events for alumni.
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
2, Local news
3, Links to school's event
4, Alumni's achievement
5, Photos and information on graduation celebration (warm welcomed)
Among all the statistics, we can see that Newcastle University Alumni Association
perform on the facebook page on a regular basis, and have reached great awareness
among alumni. Though there is rich content in the facebook page, it is still not actively
responded by alumni. The particular suggestion in terms of content on the facebook
page is to try to put up information related to the campus life of alumni using multiple
media - photos, videos,etc.
C. Social Media Performance of Newcastle University Alumni
Association (Internal Analysis - Newcastle University alumni
performance )
Content Alumni Put on the Facebook Page
1, Alumni putting up old photos of university life
2, Alumni seeking for locals in some places
3, Advertisement of their business
4, Greetings or saying thank you to the Alumni Association
5, Supporting university's development or celebrating university's achievement
Conclusion:
1, Alumni's diverse interests decide the unpopularity of some posts
2, The alumni who follows the alumni page are comparably young and have the sense
of belonging/responsibility to the university.
Suggestion:
The particular suggestion driven from the behaviours of alumni to the alumni
association is to try to target active alumni and customerize its alumni services.
III. Additional Suggestions to Newcastle University and
Newcastle University Alumni Association
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
1, Use of Social media analytical tools
We draw several conclusion based on the data we collected from the social media
analytical tools. It provided us real-time data from a variety of perspectives. To use
social media analytical tools will help the alumni association keep up with the trends
and threat on their social media marketing, which gives them competency over other
universities' alumni associations.
2, Customized alumni services
As alumni from diverse background, they do not have the same interest. To find
something more detailed that they are in common is far more important than simply
regard them as people that graduated from the same university. Therefore, to catagorize
these alumni in terms of the faculties they were studying in and the clubs/socieities they
have joined in will generate their common interest to some extent.
3, Improve online performance by offline activities
It has been approved that the posts which are most welcomed on social media are those
related much to offline activities which concerning the alumni. Offline activities is
irreplaceable way to enhance bonds between alumni, which is exactly the goal of the
alumni association.
4, Content management
Online Performance is vital to establish image of an association. Considering the image
to be built based on online performance, the alumni association should be careful of the
content they put up on social media, and the frequency they update their social media
profiles. The content could be interesting or conversational and the update rate should
be appropriate.
5, Performance monitoring
Social media marketing is not difficult and can be done by people who do not have
specialized skills. But do careful about losing control of the social media performance.
The audience will not tell you that they do not like or are not interested in your online
performance, and in the contrary, they will show it through the decreased web page
traffic, which means every performer should be sensitive and monitoring their
performance in a timely manner.
6, Personal engagement
Relationship building is very informal and personal, which means the alumni
association shouldn't do everything in a very formal manner, which may make their
efforts non-sense. To bring in personal engagement in its online performance will
generate more interest from alumni. The association can encourage its friends to
perform lively towards its posts, and respond to every comment left in a more
personalized way.
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
ACG 16-06-12
Deliverable 2
-
Overview of Potential Alumni Services
In this deliverable, we will briefly look at two potential alumni
services - mobile application service and Open Course Ware
service, which could be considered by Newcastle University
Alumni Association.
Usage
of
Mobile
Application
from universities'
alumni
associations
Within the Russell Group, there are 8 universities using mobile applications to connect
with their students. These universities are University of Birminghan, University of
Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Cardiff University,
University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, and University of Sheffield, The best
functioning mobile application among them is the one from University of Oxford. The
app from University Oxford offers a variety of functions to its students, which range
from finding a nearest PC to managing events participating.
We haven't found out any universities from Russell Group having a mobile app
specially for connecting with alumni. Many of them encourage alumni to use the same
app as current students use to connect with the university, as the apps also provide the
alumni-related information.
Universities
University of
Birminghan
University of
Bristol
University of
Cambridge
Mobile App for Mobile
App Functionability Popularity
all students
specially for
Alumni
**
Yes
No
***
Yes
No
**
***
Yes
No
****
****
Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
ACG 16-06-12
University of
Edinburgh
Cardiff
University
University of
Glasgow
University of
Leeds
Imperial College
London
King's College
London
University of
Liverpool
University of
London
University of
Manchester
University of
Nottingham
University of
Oxford
Queen's
university
Belfast
University of
Sheffield
University of
Southampton
University of
Warwick
Yes
No
***
**
Yes
No
***
***
No
No
Yes
No
****
***
No
No
No
No
Yes
No.
***
***
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No.
*****
****
No
No
Yes
No
***
***
No
No
No
No
But simply take a look at what other universities outside Russell Group are doing, we
will get some clues about using mobile apps to connect alumni. There is a great
example here. The University of California does have a specialized mobile application
for its alumni. With this application, users can access Alumni Association news, find
out about upcoming alumni events and even search for other graduates by zip code.
Besides these applications created by universities, there are some applications created
by companies, which can be bought by universities and adjusted to cater to specific
needs of universities' alumni association. The features of these templates differ a lot,
but they do give other options for the alumni association.
As a report says, Many higher education institutions have more general apps where
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
students, employees or just fans can find out what's happening on campus. However,
alumni frequently look for specific information about reunions or discounts they are
entitled to that may not be readily available on an app targeting a wider variety of
people. Mobile apps just for alums give them a place to go to get the information that's
most important to them.
These apps also increase a school's chances of keeping connected to its grads. In what is
now a technology driven world, fewer and fewer people pay attention to their 'snail
mail,' but an increasing amount rely on their phones to provide them with information.
A mobile app specifically for alumni gives schools another outlet to try to reach people.
It is realistic and achievable for Newcastle University to have a mobile application for
its alumni either by creating it or buying a template.
Overview of Open Course Ware Service
More and more universities are engaged in providing Open Course Ware to its alumni,
or to the public. Some of them charge money for it, while some provide it for free. The
motivation behind it is mainly to enhance the reputation of the university and market
the university in the long term.
In general, the universities who provide Open Course Ware are top universities and the
courses they offered are welcomed. Besides those universities, there are still many
institutions/companies offer Open Course Ware to the public. They also do a great job
in delivering distance education to the public, and their performance will give
Newcastle University inspiration on developing Open Course Ware.
We picked up fifteen Open Course Wares in random to analyze, which include MIT
Open Course Ware, Open Yale Courses, Tufts Open Course Ware, The Open University
of London, Carnegie Mellon University Open Learning Initiaitive,Open Stanford in
iTunes, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, University of California, University of
Tokyo Open Course Ware, University of Michigan Open Courses,etc. And we found
out the information on amount to courses, year founded, sources of revenue, popularity,
etc. is not all available on their website, which increase the difficulty to compare them.
But from their online existence, we can learn that most of them have a variety of
courses on offer, but the quality and accessibility of them differ a lot. Some of them
simply film the courses taught to general students in classroom, while some produce
specialized video to deliver effective distance teaching. Some of them limit the
numbers of courses users can access, while some freely open all their courses to users.
The Open Course Ware is till under development, the huge gaps between these Open
Course Ware is inevitable.
Simply look at a good example - MIT Open Course Ware, and we hope it would inspire
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Social media students’ project update – Savvas Papagiannidis
the university to some extent.
The MIT Open Course Ware has over 2100 courses available for the public, which
cover more than 40 subjects. It targeted educators, students and self-learners. Many of
the courses are translated into different languages, which makes MIT accessible to
people from different countries. It does well on online marketing, which includes
search engine optimization, email marketing and advertisement. The sources of
revenue include subscribe fees of some courses, advertisement, and donations. The
MIT Open Course is host by a great team, and it has the potential to domain the distance
learning service market globally.