This is an article I wrote for SCUP’s Planning for Higher Education Journal (July–September 2013) that shares some insights about how universities have used social media in different campaigns. It contains three case studies: William & Mary’s Ampersandbox; Florida State’s Great Give; and Missouri University of Science and Technology’s use of social media in crisis communications. Examples are taken from case studies in our book, Social Works.

1. Volume 41, Number 4
July–September 2013
Community-College

2. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 41
FE ATURE A RTI CL E
Social Media Comes of Age
Universities Get Results From Social-Powered Campaigns
by Michael Stoner
IF YO U ’RE O NE O F T H OSE PEO PL E who think that social
at least four new politics [department] academics
media isn’t an essential component of a university’s
in media activity by the end of the campaign” and
marketing, communications, and engagement strategy, it’s
“supporting student recruitment and increasing
blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and many others—as an
integral part of campaigns designed to achieve important
Advancement and Support of Education and the Huron
Consulting Group [CASE, mStoner, and Huron Education
2013; Stoner and Slover-Linnett 2012], we’ve learned that
more than half of CASE-member institutions use social media
DE V ELO P A PL A N . Even a simple campaign needs a
plan: it’s not that the plan itself is so important, but
the process of planning helps to identify potential
challenges and opportunities and encourages planners
a campaign is going to ask for contributions of videos,
images, or other content, it’s essential to ensure that
Results
approaches to creating, conducting, and succeeding in
T HE S O CI A L CH A NNEL S YO U USE DEPEND O N T HE
GOA L S YO U SE T.
the most commonly used social channels in campaigns,
but there’s often a good reason to use another channel
Here’s some of what we’ve learned about using social media as
part of a campaign:
tickets in return for tweets, Foursquare check-ins, or
SE T CL E A R GOA L S A ND M E A SURE PRO GRESS AG A INST
T HEM .
merchandise in return for content) violated Facebook’s
that included quantitative measurements like “involving
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

3. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 42
this when they embarked on a project to create new student
I T ’S A M ULT I - CH A NNEL W O RL D. Although social
channels are integral components of campaigns today, a
that stood out from the competition, had immediate visual
often a killer app, the critical channel that knits together
to take action—as Florida State University learned in its
along with engaging images from the college’s Flickr
S O CI A L W O RK S represent a wide
didn’t change much as the campaign progressed; in others,
goals changed, developing and solidifying as the campaign
and learn,” meaning that those responsible for the campaign
paid close attention to what their audiences responded to and
pairs on each card represent a particular topic, such as Fire
has come of age and colleges and universities have
its topic and links to a custom microsite where prospective
become increasingly sophisticated in using them in their
and the second allows visitors to share their own word pairs
C A SE STUDY 1
A D ISTI N CTI V E PR I NT/ W EB A PPROACH TO A D M ISSI O NS
M A RK E TI N G — A M PER SA NDB OX AT THE CO L L EGE O F
W I L L I A M & M A RY 1
This unique connection between print and web propelled
High school seniors and their families see countless mailings
The applicant pool for the freshman class of 2013 was three
1 This is an abridged and updated version of “A Distinctive Print and
Web Approach to College Marketing: Ampersandbox at the College of
William & Mary,” one of the case studies in Social Works: How #HigherEd
Uses #SocialMedia to Raise Money, Build Awareness, Recruit Students and Get
percent larger than in 2012, according to Henry Broaddus,
Results, edited by Michael Stoner (EDUniverse Media 2013).You can learn
more about Social Works at http://mstnr.me/TkXwLu.
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

4. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 43
which was close to double the cost of any previous viewbook
Following the launch, The Washington Post and The
wrote articles about the
received several awards, including Council for Advancement
and Support of Education (CASE) and University and College
a mobile version of the site to reach prospective students and
people clearly enjoyed posting their word pairs and photos on
C A SE STUDY 2
FL O R I DA STATE UN I V ER SIT Y ’S “GRE AT G I V E ” O NL I NE
G I V I N G C A M PA I GN GO ES V I R A L 2
Three months of planning doesn’t sound long enough to
without clear objectives resulting in a strong campaign that
Yet this was the challenge that faced Florida State University’s
should be able to make an easy connection between the
team had participated in an online and social media training
complemented each other, allowing for a seamless transition
about social media and fund-raising, and they were ready to
And, it’s always a good sign when a new campaign sparks
Broaddus said this addition made the project even more
2 This is an abridged version of “The Great Give Online Goes Viral:
Florida State University,” one of the case studies in Social Works: How
#HigherEd Uses #SocialMedia to Raise Money, Build Awareness, Recruit
Students and Get Results, edited by Michael Stoner (EDUniverse Media
2013). Learn more about Social Works at http://mstnr.me/TkXwLu and
download a copy of the Great Give case study at http://mstnr.me/
Xjzr6M. The original case study was written by Justin Ware, director
of interactive communication at Bentz Whaley Flessner (see his bio at
http://www.bwf.com/who-we-are/team/justin-j-ware/).
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

5. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 44
than once, online ambassadors contacted the annual giving
two goals: increase the online giving dollar amount and
tens of thousands of gifts in 2011, but only about one percent
campaign, the FSU annual giving team conducted surveys
The Great Give, as the campaign was dubbed, was set for
alongside the giving process to learn how donors heard about
percent said e-mail, and Facebook and the FSU website came
produced YouTube videos and used social media channels to
of mouth” likely came through digital means, such as an
in-person meetings with donors and picked up the phone to
Social media channels drove the Great Give to a very
team sought online ambassadors: donors who agreed to
hours after the campaign started), the campaign had raised
more than $186,000 and attracted nearly 300 new donors
giving team found student volunteers who joined the
accomplished all of this by spending just under $20,000 on
students to spread the word about the campaign, which drew
direct mail promotion and fund-raising counsel before the
The guiding principle behind the campaign was simple: meet
other students and their parents as donors, but they also
became familiar with providing philanthropic support to the
essential for institutions such as FSU to employ a broad array
high with pre-packaged social media updates for online
a model for online and social media fund-raising in higher
be considering ways to make the fund-raising process even
included potentially dropping direct mail altogether given
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

6. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 45
that were to happen, the FSU team could carry out future
Later tweets were more detailed: “Suspect was last seen near
C A SE STUDY 3
The university’s website URL was eventually added to
outgoing social media posts in order to direct people to
S O CI A L M ED I A A ND CR ISIS CO M M UN I C ATI O NS
AT M ISS O UR I UN I V ER SIT Y O F S CI EN CE A ND TECHN O L O GY 3
all the messaging that occurs on multiple channels, the
updates, emergency notices, police press releases, contact
messages would not have been seen until administrators
or college break through the virtual noise and make sure its
media for crisis communications began to unfold when a
post regular social media updates to communicate with their
sudden emergency occurred at Missouri University of Science
press release was issued and more than two hours before
After a phone call from the campus police chief alerted them
The communications team started these posts
Facebook accounts and switched the campus home page to
Dispatch responded with a Storify article titled “How a
3 This is an abridged version of “Social Media and its Role in a Crisis
at Missouri University of Science and Technology,” one of the case
studies in Social Works: How #HigherEd Uses #SocialMedia to Raise Money,
Build Awareness, Recruit Students and Get Results, edited by Michael Stoner
(EDUniverse Media 2013). You can learn more about Social Works at
http://mstnr.me/TkXwLu. The original case study was written by Andrew
Careaga, Missouri S&T’s director of communications.
However, the university’s rapid and well-coordinated
The crisis communications plan detailed the roles of campus
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

7. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 46
its response to media inquiries, and the monitoring of
online conversations about the crisis as the situation
communications team trained in social media should be in
REFERENCES
Although a crisis plan contains important guidelines, just
Best Practices in Social
following steps:
»
CO NDU C T TA BL E TO P E X ERCISES . The campus police
and the communications team should come together
practicing crisis management and becoming familiar
»
Insight from Three Years of Data
Survey of Social Media in Advancement conducted by CASE, mStoner,
T EST YO UR SYST EM S .
AUTHOR BI O GR APHY
»
H AV E A B ACK UP W EBSI T E. An institution should have
During more than 30 years as a
communicator and consultant,
M I CH A EL STO NER , the president
than 275 education institutions,
»
M O NI TO R CO N V ER S AT I O NS IN S O CI A L M EDI A . Monitor
online conversations about your institution as part of
which becomes even more important both during and
»
DEBRIEF A ND L E A RN A F T ERWA RD.
following any crisis situation, an institution’s
communications team should meet with campus police
and other key constituent groups to discuss the handling
Along with Rob Cima and Voltaire Miran, Michael launched
team made changes to its internal processes to improve
crisis communications to the campus and the public,
and broader marketing initiatives for schools, colleges,
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

8. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
Michael Stoner | 47
School, Kellogg School of Management, Yale Law School,
content systems campuswide; and designed and implemented
Michael has spoken at hundreds of professional conferences
and workshops (AMA, CASE, NACAC, UCDA, and the College
(EDUniverse
and his articles have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher
Read online at www.scup.org/phe

9. Planning for Higher Education Journal | V41N4 July–September 2013
ii
Planning for Higher Education
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