On Twitter…
Hosted 11 dynamic #UMichChat panels which highlighed everything from innovation to activism. The engaging live dialogues now trend regionally on a monthly basis.
| January | Student Life with Royster Harper |
| February | Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Kelly LaPierre, Thomas Zurbuchen, Jeffrey Sorensen, David Merritt, & Michael Finney) |
| April | Violence, Crime, and Social Media (Cliff Lampe, Desmond Patton, Detective Sergeant Boike, Eric Strauss) |
| May | “The King of Twitter” John Dingell’s wisdom on a lifetime of service |
| June | “Students at UMich” |
| July | “Forever Go Blue” Alumni |
| August | ‘Activism and Racial Education’: A discussion of Between the World and Me, written by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Sept. | Welcome hoMe: Resources and advice for a new school year/Feature with President Schlissel (Lindsay Haas, Kyle Stefek, Michael Joiner-Hill) |
| October | Introducing Intraoperative Neuromonitering (Emily Matthews, Josh Mergos, Stephanie Schwartz) |
| Nov. | #GivingBlueday (Katherine Kowalski, Michael Reed, Ashley Howard/Madison Graver) |
| Dec. | Revamping HigherEd in 140 Characters (Matt Adams, Andrew Martin, Aswin Punathambeker) |
Provided coverage and promoted collaborative engagement at 34 different presentations and events through #UMichTalks. The hashtag has been widely adopted across campus, allowing our collective audiences unprecedented access and coverage to important events and timely topics.
| 2/4 Jessy Grizzle | 2/10 Roderick Little | 2/20 Tyree Guyton | 2/23 Tamas Gombosi | 3/13 Corey Booker |
| 3/16 CEO of WebMD | 3/19 The Big Picture of Small Things | 3/23 Rosalind | 3/27 Teach-In +50 | 4/1 Victor Lieberman |
| 4/6 Christin Carter-Su | 4/7 The Man Behind The Sandwich, Ari Weinzweig | 4/10 The Innovation of Tomorrow: A White House Insider’s Guide | 4/13 Higher Education Work For Low-Income Students | 5/15 Ford School Academic Engagement Conference |
| 6/1 Wellespring | 7/30 Diary of a Young Girl | 8/5 UROP Symposia | 8/14 Bridge Ceremony | 9/15 Big Data |
| 9/25 Entrepalooza | 10/1 JSB Symposia | 10/5 Michigan Institute for Data Science Kick-Off Symposium | 10/8 Orchestras in the 21st Century: A New Paradigm | 10/13 Piper Kerman |
| 10/15 “Can College Make You Smarter?” | 10/22 #sumit15 | 10/27 Talk it Up | 11/2 Prechter Lecture | 11 U-M Diversity Summit |
| 11/24 Cybersecurity | 12/1 Historic presentation | 12/10 Gamefication and Education | 12/18 LSA Honors |
On Snapchat…
UMSocial continues to lead the pack in Snapchat storytelling among higher education institutions. Inquires for consultation on the network far outweighed any other requests received by the office in the 2015 calendar year. Stories and feature opportunities have become a key strategy in everyone’s social planning and across departments; and collaborations have replaced traditional outreach efforts such as email. In total, 63 different ephemeral stories were told. The growing popularity also gave birth to the creation of regular content takeovers and weekly features like LSA Tuesdays and Arts and Culture Thursdays. Additionally each story was downloaded and made available in a YouTube playlist.
| Geofilter Campaign | Snap-a-versary (One Year on Snapchat) Blog Post | Dress that Squirrel | Travelocity Roaming Gnome | SpringFest |
| MRelay | Michigan Engineering Design Expo | Dance Marathon | WinterFest – #1 Public University | LSA Major/Minor Expo |
| #ABrighterBlue | TedX | Spring Commencement | Spring Term | National Best Friends Day |
| #AskUMich | #WolverineSummer | Shakespeare in the Arb | 4th of July-GeoFilter Curation | Swing Dancing at the Cube |
| Tour of UMMA | Educational Theatre Company | Tour of Kelsey Museum | Taubman Museum | New Student Convocation |
| International Academy Open House | Stay In the Blue | World Suicide Prevention Day | Send Silence Packing | Game Day Spirit |
| So Just, So Fair | International Institute | Career fair | Banned Books exhibit | SMTD homecoming |
| Homecoming game | ‘Waiting in line’ UMHS Organ Donor Awareness | Law, Justice, and Society minor (w/ LSA) | Safe drinking PSA | #MakeHealthFest2015 |
| POP X | Diversity Summit | Big House blood drive | Wheelchair basketball | Exploring the Institute for the Humanities |
| MUSKET ‘Spring Awakening’ | LSA: ‘Snapchat makes you happy” | Comm Dept Entertainment Media Forum | LSA: Research in EEB (sweet potatoes) | Hail Mail promotion |
| SQUEST | Michigan vs OSU | Galens Tag Days | Michigan’s best dance crew | Amcult hula performance |
| Kevorkian Collection at Bentley | Emoji Snowflakes | Study Tips | “Night Before Winter Break” video preview | New Year’s graphic |
| Bowl Game snap |
Introduced an entire new suite of expanded campus geo-filters, including many limited-edition filters for special events and the first filter to be provided at all three University of Michigan campuses (Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn)
North Campus, Central (2), Big House Stadium, Big House Helmet, Medical Campus, Homecoming (2), Welcome Week (2), MGoGrad (2) and Giving Blue Day
On Instagram…
To capitalize on the continued growth of Instagram in 2015, UMSocial introduced a number of new efforts aimed at diversifying our content offerings and showcasing the breadth and depth of our university programing. Instagram ambassador takeovers and Saturday Michigan News videos are appearing on a monthly and weekly basis. Leveraging this new regular content we also implemented a daily theme that spans all seven day of the week and increased our content on takeover weeks to two posts each day.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Spirit/Pride | WOAA | Academics | Global | Bentley | Hail Mail | News |
| T-Shirt giveaway at WinterFest | Cold Day Gear giveaway |
| Ann Arbor iPhone Case giveaway | Tinder Valentine’s Day Spoof |
| Spring Break Selfie Promo | LSA Major/Minor Expo Hyperlapse |
| Dear Wolverine (Depression Center) | #AlwaysLSA event coverage |
| Share your cap w/ #MyUMCap Contest | #AlwaysUMich |
| Common concert video | Behind-the-scenes Commencement |
| #WorldWideWednesday | #FoodFriday/#UMichFoodie |
| Ambassador: Jordan Katz | Ambassador: Eric Bronson |
| ‘This Week’s Headlines’ | ‘On Assignment’ with #umicheeb |
| Ambassador: Emily Schieffer | Ambassador: Engineering Ethiopia collaboration |
| Ambassador: Austin Thomason | Ambassador: Career Center |
| Ambassador: UMHS Lead cancer doctor | Ambassador: Ginsberg Center |
| Ambassador: Giving Blueday | Ambassador: Library collective |
| Ambassador: UMHS Ghana Collaboration | Holiday Motion Graphics |
| Wolverines of Ann Arbor |
On Facebook…
Facebook’s slowed growth and aging demographic presented many negative content results in 2014. To combat the negative environment of the platform and encourage more proactive and positive online dialogue, UMSocial created a number of new campaigns in 2015. Our most popular programs continue to be Michigan Mondays, which provide an opportunity to inspire our audiences with quotes by prominent or unknown alumni, students, and university stakeholders; and Wolverines of Ann Arbor, which has become a powerful platform for depicting diversity and sharing personal narratives. As with Instagram, we have also partnered with other units (LSA, UMHS, and the Bentley) to share themed content on a given day. Lastly, we have seen great success with embedded video, gifs, and photo albums (Michigan Photography).
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| Photo of the Week | Michigan Monday | Health | WOAA | Bentley | LSA | Global |
| Valentine’s Day photo submissions/album and graphic | Video: “Messages of Hope” Depression Center |
| National Reading Month/Women’s History Month content | Promotion of Yik Yak Pledge |
| Spring Commencement album | Video: Music Matters |
| Michigan Softball championship | Mothers Day/Fathers day |
| Album: President’s trip to China | Album: President’s trip to China |
| “Calling all poets” Call to action to write a Michigan poem | Video: #WolverineSummer |
| Album: #InternDetroit | Wolverines of Ann Arbor |
| Album: New Student Convocation | Album: Open House |
| Album: myhoMecoming | Album: #UMichMoments |
| Album: Game Days |
On Pinterest…
UMSocial led a concentrated effort in 2015 to streamline the U-M Pinterest presence across all departments, campuses, and organizations. The amount of content required to properly maintain a robust Pinterest account, and the layout of the network itself, led to the absorption of many erroneous accounts. These efforts not only strengthened our brand presence but also alleviated the burden of updates for many smaller departments and organizations.
| Michigan Squirrels (Squirrel Appreciation Day) | Absorbed College of LSA |
| Absorbed Recreational Sports | #MGoGrad Bucket List |
| Introduced Promoted Pins with Blog Post | Spring at #UMich |
| Summer at #UMich | Absorbed School of Information |
| Absorbed School of Public Health | New Students at Michigan |
| Absorbed Michigan Dining | Absorbed University Housing |
| Mcity | Dormspiration 2015 |
| STEAM at Michigan/#GirlsWithToys (Efforts with us and LSA) | Absorbed Ginsberg Center |
On YouTube…
Visuals are critical to social content. First it was images, then memes, and now short engaging video or gifs. In 2015 UMSocial sought to streamline our YouTube footprint and create more dynamic, regular content. By absorbing accounts, we helped content be better recognized; and by creating short videos on timely topics, we created top performing or searched for content. Lastly, we made a conscious effort to better package long ceremonial and event video coverage, thereby substantially increasing content views and shares.
| Your Moment: Graduation Hype Video | Snapchat playlist |
| Messages of Hope | Major/Minor Expo |
| Spring Fest Video | 2015 Spring Commencement Recap |
| 2015 Spring Commencement Package (Zingerman’s, President, Dean of LSA, Engineering Commencement) | Softball Hype Video |
| FIFA Scandal | Rec Sports |
| InsideTheM: Michigan Dining | Lake Erie Algae (Michigan News) |
| #WolverineSummer | Mcity Dedication |
| Mexico Coffee (Michigan News) | Ghana (Michigan News) |
| Dow Global Impact Series | Diversity is… |
| “What is an Indian” | “The Night before Winter Break” |
On YikYak…
New social networks appear every day, but few have caused such an uproar in higher education as Yik Yak. After publishing an initial evaluation of the platform in 2014, UMSocial chose to advocate for personal responsibility and proactive online dialogues on the network. Following a potential suicide threat published within the Ann Arbor Yik Yak feed, we rallied with students to show support and promote available resources. After a successful positivity pledge campaign, Yik Yak reached out to us and we partnered to created their first university-wide branded community ‘Hail Mail.’ Content for Hail Mail is created by our first Yik Yak-dedicated student intern in collaboration with our award-winning campus newspaper staff and our Office of Student Life. Additionally, UMSocial now pulls daily ‘Yaks’ and incorporates them into our Twitter streams and a ‘Yak’ of the week that is published on our Instagram. By educating our users on the platform, recognizing their contributions, and creating a steady flow of resources and information on a platform we know they regularly use, we have thus far alleviated many of the large-scale issues that many other universities have encountered at the hand of unchecked anonymity.
In Collaboration With…
Social content is stronger when we leverage the collective. The relationships UMSocial built in 2014 enabled the creation of a strong leadership team of cross campus social media communicators. In collaboration we were able to tell bigger, bolder stories, bring better resources to fruition and set brand goals.
Squirrel Appreciation Day: Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, @UmichStudents
#1 Public University Video/Promo
Valentine’s Day
Messages of Hope
Photos of the Week: Instagram, FB, Twitter
National Best Friends day: Snapchat, Twitter
#WolverineSummer: Snapchat, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram
Dubsmash: Instagram, Twitter
Fourth of July geo-filter campaign: Snapchat, Twitter
#STEAM/GirlswithToys: Throwbacks on FB, Twitter, Pinterest Board
Collaborative efforts with the Career Center
Collaborative efforts with Michigan Photography
Collaborative efforts with News Service: Retweeting Content, Instagram Takeover, Weekly Headlines Instagram Videos
Social Media R&D: Developing key skills to become a successful social media manager
Social Media Vending Machine—Fall 2015
National Media Of Honor
#moveinhoMe
Health and Wellness: Stay in the Blue
#myhomecoming: Snapchat stories, Instagram content, encouraging hashtag usage
#mgoBoo
By examining the way content performs on a given platform and studying our demographics and how they engage with content on each network, UMSocial often tailors a single content theme across channels uniquely. In 2015 we relied frequently upon our storytelling initiatives to help us provide video in one place, still images in another, live tweeting or interactive dialogue hosting in another—then lastly, looping back home to our website for a full summary recaps of efforts.
| Michigan’s 178th Birthday | Springfest |
| MRelay | Dance Marathon |
| GEazy Concert | Spring Commencement |
| New Services Content via Instagram | Softball Championship: FB and Twitter |
| #AskUmich | Orientation |
| LinkedIn | Showcase pages | CCRB remodel: Snapchat, Youtube, FB Video |
| Mcity Dedication: Snapchat, Twitter (Live-tweet), Instagram Video, Pinterest | #InternDetroit: FB photo album, Twitter |
| Vending Machine: Photos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Snapchat, YouTube | U-M v. MSU: Snapchat PSA, Safe drinking WOAA, Alternative tailgate advertising |
| Homecoming: Snapchat, Starkid #UmichChat, #myhoMecoming Instagram, Facebook | UM vs OSU: Instagram post, FB album |
| Giving Blueday: UMichChat, Instagram Takeover, UMichStudent student tweeter | Diversity Summit: Snapchat Story, #UMichTalks |
On SocialMedia.UMich.edu
Our website turned one in February of 2015, celebrating a year of providing resources and information to our peers who have recognized it as a pillar of best practice within higher education. The most-viewed blog posting of the year was of course our in-depth case study of the hacking of three of our athletics Facebook pages. Praised for its transparency and timeliness, socialmedia.umich.edu has evolved into a site that not only provides internal or higher ed communicators’ resources, but which also curates and explores the best and worst of social media for all.
| #UMSocial’s Most A-Maize-Ing Campaigns | Yik Yak Pledge |
| Monthly Recaps | #UMichChat Recaps |
| Major/Minor Expo: LSA Collaboration | How #UMSocial uses Slack |
| TedXUofM Coverage+ | #GoBlueDhabi Guest Blog |
| Squirrel Appreciation Day | Michigan Dining Guest Blog |
| Instagram Use Among Incoming Students | Instagram Ambassador Program |
| Wolverines of Ann Arbor Monthly Recaps | Social Vending Machine |
| Snap-A-Versery | Dormspiration Launch |
| New Semester, New Geofilters! | Linkedin for Higher Ed |
| Pumpkin Stencils | One year of #UMichChat |
| Printable Ornaments | WOAA yearly wrap-up |
| Hacked: A Case Study | Year in Review |
With the formation of the UMSocial Leadership Team in 2015, we were able to really begin to update and adopt many overarching strategies and best practices across campus. The guidelines, procedures, and tools ensure all accounts properly represent the university and our brand from conception to fruition. Supporting a unified approach to social media strategy, content creation, and analytics ensures quality communications across every platform and provides a clearer view of our return on investment.
Facebook Best Practices
LinkedIn Showcase Pages
Protecting the Brand
Reporting Best Practices
YouTube Best Practices
Annual Report
Social Leadership Team
Social Leadership Meetings
Orientation packet materials distribution
Monthly Analytics Reports (President Schlissel, LSA, Bentley, UMHS, & Global)
Implementation of Proactive Listening Platform – Digital Roots
Creation of Monthly Workshops
Establishment of Bi-weekly consultations (LSA, Athletics, UMHS)
Implementation of Amplify
