UGS Social Media Guide

Duration

9 weeks

Tools

Hootsuite, Microsoft Excel, Adobe InDesign

Key Skills

Social Media Auditing, SEO Auditing, Book Layout

Team

Project Manager - Whitney Knorp

Teammate - Caroline Turnbull

in the winter of my sophomore year at Cal Poly, I interned for the University Graphic Systems. I worked alongside another Graphic Communication student, Caroline Turnbull, under the then current Marketing Manager, Whitney Knorp. Over the course of 10 weeks, we conducted a social media audit for authorized UGS social media accounts. After our completing our research, we compiled our findings into one handy guide, which we then printed and stored away for future UGS managers to use.

Project Overview

Goals

Develop an understanding of current UGS platforms, as well as establish new social media protocols that will boost engagement and increase revenue
Compile new findings in a concise and organized social media/ marketing bible, which will be accessible to future UGS managers

Steps

Study current accounts
Conduct interviews and surveys
Study current webpage
Create goals to maximize social media and marketing tools

Breakdown of Authorized Accounts (as of January 2021)

Our first task involved both Caroline and I analyzing the most posts from the UGS Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. After jotting down some notes on our observations of the three accounts, we broke these notes down to conclusions.

Instagram

UGS doesn’t generate new content often and they don't have a posting schedule
UGS generally upholds a uniform branding style
Followers like posts that show Cal Poly
students working and designing in GrC

Facebook

Facebook posts tend to follow the same structure as instagram posts
Very little engagement with Facebook posts
Followers like FB posts that show Cal Poly students working and designing in GrC

UGS has only one post on LinkedIn
There is currently insufficient data to show what posts do the best on LinkedIn
Looking at other accounts can give us insight into ways engagement can be improved

Breakdown Conclusions

Most effective platform for reaching customers
UGS should create and stick to a social media calendar
Post more content on design and production process for products
Instagram is the best place to spend money on promotions

Posts should align closely with Instagram posts
Especially effective at boosting engagement when they include multiple graphics and links.
Facebook promotions do not reach as many customers as Instagram promotions

Great for connecting with students who are trying to grow their network
Use to promote career services such as resume printing and design

Survey and Interview Conclusions

Non-GRC students weren’t familiar with UGS
Print services are required on a basis no more than once a month (usually
papers for class)
A personal printer is common among students
Design services would be very helpful for ⅔ students interviewed
The location of UGS is unknown by non-GRC students but would be used by
more students if they knew how to get there
People want to hear from UGS by email or text once or twice a month
People want to see UGS on Instagram, posting between every other day and
once a week
The content should include information, short videos, and completed jobs
Most people want to see a friendly, cheerful tone from companies

Interviews and Survey

Interviews

We brainstormed a list of questions that we would later ask to six Cal Poly Students (3 GrC students and 3 non-GrC students) in order to help us gain personal insight on potential customer’s needs. These questions included but were not limited to:

Basic demographics
How familiar are you with University Graphic Systems?
How often do you require any kind of print services? (i.e. printing documents, resumes, business cards, portfolios, books, posters, stickers, T-shirts, mugs)
If you do need to print something, where do you usually go to do it? What do you usually need printed?
How often do you find yourself needing or wanting help with design services? (i.e. resume, business cards, website, logos, marketing collateral?

Survey

As part of the research process, we believed it was also important to hear from a wider audience and to obtain concrete data, which we could refer to. We created and distributed a survey that included questions about print and design needs, social media effectivity, and personal demographics.

Screen Shot 2022-08-21 at 5.23.27 PM.png

Customer Profiles

From the 83 survey and six interview responses we received, we were able to categorize our customers into one of four profiles:

Those who have high volume needs
Those who have medium volume needs (specialty items)
Those who have low volume print needs but need design services
Business owners

Social Analytics

In the next phase, we conducted a study to investigate the success of the UGS Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts in terms of:

Impressions
Likes
Comments
Saves
Website Clicks
Profile Visits
Shares
Reach
Audience Distribution

We used the software, Hootsuite, to generate and identify these key metrics on UGS authorized social accounts. Metrics we recorded and organized in our compiled guide.

Brand Voice Suggestions

Based on our prior investigation of UGS social media accounts, we concluded that UGS should use a friendly, but professional tone to market themselves. A fun and lighthearted, but not too over-the-top tone is also one that could be incorporated. The focus is on the student’s learn by doing experience, as well as ways in which UGS services can benefit the community.

Campaign Suggestions

As part of our investigation, we also discovered insights on various UGS social media campaigns. These are typically promotional offers that take place during holidays and other important events, such as back to school and graduation. Based on our findings, we formed a list of promotional events that have worked well and perhaps need improvements. UGS should consider this list when planning future campaigns.

Holiday specific content/promotions
- Using holiday themed colors but keep posts in same style as other ones as to keep a cohesive look but also have holiday promotions stand out
Get to know UGS managers/interns
- Favorite projects
- What they want to do after graduation
- A fun interaction they had while working with UGS
Technical production process with images of students live in action
Include links within posts to increase engagement
- Links for Facebook and LinkedIn
- For Instagram, direct followers to link in bio, maybe create a linktree
Coupons and promotions
- Post promotional content more regularly throughout school year
- Promotions for holidays and events
- Loyalty program/stamp card
Specialty products w emphasis on stickers
- Show finished stickers in ways students would use them (on laptop or water bottle)
- Tutorial on some sticker design (more targeted for non-GRC followers with an interest in UGS services)
Finished client projects
- Professional, in good setting
Graphic Communication meme Mondays
Overall consistency in social media posts - stick to same format for captions on all posts
General UGS and GRC tips
- How to order
- General pricing
- More content like the “bleeds” post

SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely) Goals

In order to improve and maintain a professional brand on social media, we suggest that UGS follow a strict posting schedule, which should address these four points.

Social media calendar - post every 1-2 days
Record weekly social media stats
Increase promotions to once a quarter
Have at least 5 inbound links

Key Performance Indicators

To measure the success of their social media postings, UGS should use the following indicators.

Increased website clicks per month
Increased reach on Instagram and Facebook posts
Increased website clicks from Instagram and Facebook posts
Increase followers on Instagram and Facebook and increase connections on LinkedIn

SEO Audit

We then moved on to perform an SEO audit, which is a study to investigate the top Adwords for the UGS landing site. We used the SEO auditing site, Ahrefs.com, to gather these metrics. For each AdWord, we recorded the:

Cost/ click
Searches / month
Potential click / month
Total cost / month

Keywords found for the UGS website:

Printing systems
Graphics systems
Graphic systems
University graphics
Graphic system services
Poly stickers
Graphic print services

This SEO audit helped us distinguish what key words are commonly searched by potential customers looking to find graphic and print services. A topic UGS should include on their landing page based on these keywords is graphics- whether this be graphic systems, graphics systems, university graphics, or graphic print systems. UGS currently has no inbound links, so it would be helpful to get some created.

Budget Analysis

In the last part of our study, we conducted a budget analysis. In 2021, the allocated budget for advertising was $1500. UGS is active about 11 months out of the year, so the monthly budget is $136.36. We focused on calculating the return on investment for two promotional campaigns, the SLO Kit Promotion and the Valentine's Day Promotion.

SLO Kit Promotion

Instagram
- Promotion cost: $21
- Reach: 1,487
- Duration: 7 days
- Cost per link click: $0.75
- Total link clicks: 12
- Total profile visits: 45
- Profile visit rate (profile clicks/ reach)x100: 3.0%
- Click rate (clicks/ reach)x100: 0.8%
Facebook
- Promotion cost: $25
- Reach: 5,456
- Duration: 7 days
- Cost per post engagement: $0.14
- Total link clicks: 6
- Cost per link click (cost/ total link clicks): $4.17/ click
- Click rate (clicks/ reach)x100: 0.1%
Total # of sales: 21
Total # of link clicks from promoted posts: 18
Average amount spent by customers: $40
Conversion rate (total sales/ total reach)x100: 0.3%
Revenue: $840
Total promotion cost: $46

Valentine’s Day Promotion Instagram

Promotion cost: $30
Duration: 5 days
Reach: 5,822
Cost per link click: $1.43
Total profile visits: 35
Profile visit rate (profile clicks/ reach)x100: 0.6%
Total link clicks: 21
Click rate (clicks/ reach)x100: 0.36%
Total # of sales: 6
Average amount spent by customers: $9.58
Conversion rate (total sales/ reach)x100: 0.1%
Revenue: $57.50

Overall Findings from Social Analytics

What was surprising about this data?

UGS doesn't gain a lot of revenue from promoted posts. The SLO kit campaign was larger and each sale was more expensive. Instagram drives more potential customers to the purchase link than facebook does. When looking at the total revenue from both promotions, we can possibly conclude that there is more of a demand for specialty products over paper products.

What needs to be improved, why?

UGS needs to find a better strategy for promoting paper products as they did not succeed in the same way the specialty products did. However, from our research, there is not enough data to make any definitive conclusions. UGS should promote more products to see what is effective at increasing revenue. They should also increase the duration of each promotion to maximize revenue.

What is currently working in our promotion strategy?

Promoting through Instagram seems to be the better platform to reach customers. Promoting larger, specialty items was also successful. The promotions overall did have a great impact on the clicks, profile visits, and reach of these posts, so it would be smart to continue experimenting with these.

What are your recommendations going forward to improve our strategy?

Do more promotions in general
Increase duration of promotions
Promote products that customers want to purchase
Be strategic about what products get promoted- must have confidence that the product will sell
Document data for all promoted posts and analyze this data

How should we allocate our monthly advertising budget on social media (ie how many different monthly promotions, quantity of promoted posts per month, budget for different types of posts, what channels should use more promotion dollars)?

Put more money in Instagram promotions. With a smaller budget allotted over a longer period of time, promotion dollars are maximized ($21 over 7 days does better than $30 over 5 days). Promotions should be created as often as there are specialty products to promote, about once a month. Less budget should be given to paper products as they do not do as well. Products being promoted should also include some degree of customization. Instagram is the best place to spend promotion dollars.

UGS Social Media Bible Redesign

One of the last steps of this project was to compile all of our findings into InDesign document, which can be accessed and edited by all future UGS managers.

Print and Assemble Booklet

We used the UGS Xerox machine to print the 50 page booklet, the Polar Cutter to trim the pages and the Sprial Machine to assemble it.

Finished Product!

Future Enhancements

We recognize that our work, in identifying major conclusions on UGS authorized accounts, is only temporary. In the next few years, we expect the social media presence of UGS to shift drastically, as the its student management changes every school year. Therefore, we would like our work, which is displayed in this book, to be regularly updated by future UGS managers and interns. We would also like to encourage future UGS managers to support more social media campaigns and promotions, which we concluded that, when correctly initiated, play a powerful role in increasing engagement and revenue.

Lessons Learned

This project taught me the value of social media and SEO auditing, which can help companies redirect their presence on social media and online. In turn, this can help them increase engagement and therefore revenue, especially when it comes to paid social media advertisement campaigns. Auditing is also beneficial to companies in that it reveals how simple changes to a website or social media account can suddenly lead to increased engagement. For example, an SEO audit will tell a company which key words to display on their main webpage in order to maximize their site traction.

UGS Social Media Guide

Duration

Tools

Key Skills

Team