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By: Katie Conyers, Ashley Francis, Erin Kolstad, Jordan McMullen, Brooke Wilson, and Noelle Wilson University of North Carolina at Chapel HillExecutive Summary This report details our group’s research findings from this semester. The findings stem from multiple forms of research: a content analysis, literature review, a survey, and qualitative research, which consisted of interviews and a focus group. By combining reviews of relevant literature with the collection of original data, the team worked to answer Student Life and Leadership’s specific research questions and address their communication needs. Situation Analysis Carolina Union’s Student Life and Leadership (SLL) aims to be a “hub for student involvement” by providing the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) students with information and resources to get involved on campus. SLL oversees all student activities at UNC including several popular organizations within the Carolina Union, such as: Carolina Leadership Development, Carolina Union Activities Board (CUAB), and the student government. SLL’s target audience is comprised of undergraduate students at UNC, as its primary goal is to facilitate greater extracurricular student involvement.Throughout the semester, our team identified several key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing SLL. Important strengths of SLL are its access to a vast amount of resources, its affiliation with the Carolina Union, and its involvement in many popular and well-attended events on campus. Weaknesses include several identity changes preceding SLL’s rebranding, a lack of presence both on campus and on social media, and the fact that the organizations SLL oversees have more presence and recognition on campus than SLL does. These weaknesses can provide opportunities for growth. SLL has access to many different resources and over 17,000 students, and its lack of social media presence means there is an opportunity to create a fresh image. While looking to grow, SLL must also be wary of possible threats, such as getting lost in the vast sea of organizations at UNC and the reluctance of organizations that have traditionally stood on their own to adjust to new requirements. Content AnalysisTo begin addressing SLL’s desire to reach more students, our team conducted a content analysis focused on the question: what kinds of social media posts generate the most engagement? Our team analyzed the social media postings of successful organizations at UNC and organizations at other universities that are similar to SLL. We analyzed 50 posts each from the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts of selected organizations and examined the tone, content, and amount of engagement with each post. Engagement was classified as likes, comments, shares, and retweets on all mediums. A positive correlation was found between posts with pictures and posts with high engagement across all of the social media accounts. We also found that while Instagram accounts had the lowest number of followers, they also received the highest amount of engagement. SLL can use this information when making social media posts, keeping in mind the effectiveness of images, as well as maintaining a positive overall tone. SurveyTo gain a greater understanding of how SLL can best reach its target audience, our team administered a web-based survey. The survey was distributed to UNC undergraduates in order to gauge their attitudes, awareness, and behavior toward SLL as a brand, as well as to determine the best ways to increase awareness and share information with students.Our most telling finding about students’ awareness of SLL was that over 90% of 155 respondents had heard of many prominent on-campus organizations such as Campus Rec and Student Government, but when asked about SLL, only 18% reported recognition of the organization. As the representatives from SLL initially expressed, one of SLL’s main problems is that not many students know what it is. The data collected in our group’s survey demonstrates a less-than-desirable amount of awareness surrounding SLL and highlights student organizations on campus such as Campus Rec and Student Government, which are well-known brands. Therefore, SLL should emulate its peer organizations’ public relation efforts in the future.The survey also examined which forms of communication were most widely used and most preferred by students. The top three ways students receive information about organizations are social media, word-of-mouth, and email listservs. Of social media sites, respondents indicated Facebook was the most frequently used for finding information, followed by Twitter and Instagram. Respondents also indicated the effectiveness of word-of-mouth communication. On average, students said they were likely to listen to a friend’s advice, and seek out information about peer-suggested organizations. This theme was also prevalent in our qualitative research.Qualitative AnalysisIn addition to the survey, qualitative data was collected by observations, in-depth interviews, and a focus group. The research focused on attitudes, awareness, and behaviors of UNC undergraduates in relation to SLL and student organizations in general. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted in order to gain detailed responses. Each group member conducted two interviews. The interviews were then combined and analyzed to find common themes. Key themes include the importance of word-of-mouth communication among peers, how students view social media as a source of information rather than a place for social interaction with organizations, and students’ general lack of awareness of SLL. One focus group was also conducted, consisting of seven UNC undergraduate students. From the group discussions, the focus group participants reinforced the concepts found previously but also probed deeper. The group dynamic allowed conversation to flow and spark new ideas, which was not available in the one-on-one interviews or the close-ended survey. Arising from the discussion, the key themes included the importance of word-of-mouth communication among friends due to the hassle of random flyers, the view of social media, especially Facebook, as an information source, and the misconceptions and lack of awareness about SLL.InsightsAfter extensive and exhaustive research and data collection, the answers to SLL’s research questions can be used to help SLL become “the hub of student involvement” it aspires to be. To accomplish this, SLL must spread word-of-mouth communication — both online and offline — to raise awareness. SLL can create a strong presence on campus by marketing to first-years, publicizing their association with events, and creating interesting, relevant social media posts.Student Life and Leadership Research ReportSituation AnalysisSLL was created as a branch of the Carolina Union in September of 2014 to oversee student organizations on campus and to organize events like FallFest. SLL endeavors to be the heart of student involvement on campus, motivating and helping students to explore, create and engage in the opportunities at UNC (Carolina Union, 2015). This principle is reflected through the events and activities SLL organizes. However, due to continuous structural and identity changes, SLL has not achieved its desired level of awareness (Kunstman, 2015). The sheer mass of societies within the Carolina Union could also contribute to low student recognition of SLL (Student Life, 2015). Contemporaneously at the start of this semester, SLL also had no social media presence, and had implemented virtually no Public Relations (PR) or advertising strategies. This year their office has a public relations and advertising budget of $2,500 alongside the $125,000 budget to be distributed amongst the organizations they preside over. As they have begun their social media and marketing campaigns, it is important for SLL to learn how involved undergraduates are at UNC, how aware of SLL students are and how students prefer to interact, and communicate with student organizations. A SWOT analysis will be utilized to elucidate the current situation of SLL in its market.Below is a graphic of the SWOT analysis that analyzed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that face SLL. -163131594551500Secondary ResearchIn order to plan a campaign increasing the awareness of SLL, the target audience will be undergraduate students. Student union involvement is useful to those obtaining a four-year degree because it opens them up to opportunities directed towards leadership, increases engagement with their peers, and provides them with an opportunity to apply the knowledge they have learned in a classroom. According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, some students are more likely to get involved than others. These students consist of women, full-time students, students living on campus, international students and those who have been exposed to diversity (Lane & Perozzi, 2014). However, it is important to reach out to all students from each demographic because getting involved outside the classroom correlates directly with student success during college and post graduation (McIntosh, 2011). As noted by SLL, currently the top 20% of active students at UNC are already extensively engaged, but SLL’s goal is to reach out to the middle 60% of active students. One of the primary method SLL can utilize is word-of-mouth, which is a strategy used to stimulate a connection with a consumer by creating conversations (Fulgoni & Lipsman, 2015). Simply getting the word out about a product or service increases the chances of someone interacting with a good three times more than relying on a single advertisement (Court, Elzinga, Mulder, & Vetvik, 2009). According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers will believe in what the brand is saying if they hear it from a family member or friend over any other medium (Whitler, 2014). Social media allows companies to exponentially expand their message’s reach and increase the conversations about that brand. Therefore, SLL can also expand the word-of-mouth strategy through its social media. A study found that 72% of all college students have a social media profile, with 45% of those students using their social media site at least once a day (Sponcil & Gitimu, 2013). In fact, according to a study conducted by College Explorer from re:fuel, a leading media promotions firm, it concluded that college students are spending less time on traditional media and computers, while investing 3.6 hours a day just on their cell phone devices. The most used media seems to be Facebook, but that number is quickly declining in recent years. Only 67% of about 2,000 surveyed students said they were active on Facebook, which is a 12% difference from the prior year (Uncategorized, 2014). In order to stay relevant, school administrations are starting to change the way they communicate with students. Instead of primarily communicating through email, they are expanding to different forms of social media.While social media word-of-mouth marketing is useful, SLL should take notice to who is relaying the message. According to the International Journal of Educational Research, the sender of the information is the key component in how the content is processed by the receiver (Greenacre, Freeman, Cong, & Chapman, 2013). Most students find their peers to be more trustworthy than a random person or even a family member. College students tend put more value in their peers’ opinions because they identify with them the best (Greenacre et al., 2013). Therefore, SLL’s student workers could be useful as their form of communication with the undergraduates. SLL can use this secondary research about its target audience to begin answering the following research question with a content analysis.Content Analysis With our content analysis, our group focused on one research question: What kinds of social media posts generate the most engagement? Therefore, we analyzed the social media tactics of successful organizations on UNC’s campus, as well as on other college campuses. The Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram content from the accounts of SLL, CUAB, Campus Recreation (Campus Rec), and organizations similar to SLL at Florida State University (FSU), the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT) and Michigan State University (MSU) were closely analyzed for engagement, tone, and content. To analyze these pages, we collected 50 posts from each medium and counted the engagement with each post. Engagement with a post consisted of: likes, comments, shares, tweets, and retweets on all mediums. Tonality was also categorized into positive, neutral, and negative/sarcastic tone. The content of the post was coded by including a photo, sharing information of an event, a link to another website, a video, or a combination. Finally, the posts were coded depending on the type of information they shared, such as: student activities, event promotion, and motivational quotes among others. From all of this, the most common themes were engagement frequency whether or not the post had a positive tone, included a photo, or shared information about an event. These variables were deemed notable based on their recurring nature in all posts reviewed and recorded in the code sheets. The Instagram engagement was left out of the posts with photos frequency, as it is solely a photo-sharing medium.We found a positive relationship between photo posts and engagement in the content of every account. Additionally, posts that had a positive tone and promoted specific events increased the average amount of forms of engagement per post. One major finding from the content analysis was the significantly higher level of engagement with Instagram posts. While the Instagram accounts of all organizations typically had the fewest amount of followers, these posts had an overwhelmingly higher frequency of forms of engagement. These findings give merit to the importance of including visual content in posts to increase engagement. Using the social media trends found in the content analysis, we then strategically reviewed literature that would help inform our results and help answer SLL’s research questions. Literature ReviewDespite social media being a relatively new concept in society, it has permeated people’s lives and become a prominent way to communicate with the outside world on a local and national basis. Social media can be a useful tool to obtain facts and knowledge, but it can also be an overload of information. Therefore, it is essential to stand out among the thousands of posts people see each day. This literature review will cover the reasons social media is popular and why it would be beneficial to focus on social media marketing strategies. Through this research, SLL will be able to effectively identify proven successful methods to reach college students in the most time-efficient way. Purpose of Social MediaMany marketing and advertising campaigns have incorporated digital media to accommodate the role technology has taken in society. Those who were born after 1980 are known as Generation Y, or Y’ers. As those children grew older, the development of technology significantly increased. Therefore, Y’ers value anything that is instant and convenient (Munir, Putro, Sibarani, & Tjakraatmadja, 2015). Social media makes it easier to communicate with family and friends, as well as displays a brief overview of one’s character for potential employers. A study conducted by Accenture Interactive’s Acquity Group, a digital marketing company, focuses on the differences in generations and what they are likely to share based on the content presented. From the ages 18-22, which is also typically the age of a college student, the study found that age group to be more likely to share a piece of information if it was a link or video that came directly from one of their friends or family members. It also found that humorous videos were more likely to be shared by all demographics (Cummings, 2015).College students primarily use social media as a way to educate themselves on current events, entertainment and connecting with their friends and family. In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center about news sharing, it confirmed that college students do use social media as an initial way to find out what is happening but then confirm it with more reputable sources, such as the main authority it came from. However, it is important to note that the reality of modern day is younger people from ages of 18-33 are attached to their mobile device. Though many still use social media for social purposes only, scholars believe that it has the potential to be used as the next traditional media. Social media allows students to freely choose when and where they want to receive specific information. It also permits students to interact directly with the source and receive immediate responses to their questions (Brown, Tucker-McLaughlin, & Rosengard, 2014).In comparison, an article featured in the New York Times explored the relationship between another form of online media and college students. Although not all that different from sending a text, email has become outdated according to some professors at college universities. Reynol Junc, an associate professor at Purdue, conducted a study that concluded college students only use their email six minutes a day, while spending 31 minutes on social networking sites (Rubin, 2013). Therefore, some professors have had to convert to the digital media era and update their ways of communicating with the younger crowd. However, interestingly enough, a management system used by Brown University revealed 98% of the younger population still choose email over other forms of communication (Rubin, 2013). Specific Social Media Platform Marketing StrategiesIn addition to social media being used for personal use, businesses have started to incorporate it into their marketing plans. A study conducted by Burson and Marsteller, a PR and communications firm, found that 86% of the top 100 companies on the Fortune 500 list included at least one form of social media to flush information out to the public (B?ja & Bala?, 2014). Many businesses use social media as a way to promote their ideas and products, while gaining an active voice nationally. Not only are consumers using social media on their computers, they are also using it on their mobile phones. By having accessible information, it means the promotion or advertisement can be viewed by anyone with a smartphone at any given time or place. Companies and organizations like to use social media because it does not cost any money to use. Businesses on a tight budget will often increase their sales primarily through social media marketing because potential buyers can easily share messages and provide instant feedback on the products (Schultze, Sch?ler, & Skiera, 2015). While forming a plan, there must be defined and attainable goals with marketing objectives to help the company achieve them (Daoud, 2014). To reach the target audience, choosing the channel the company presents its data on is crucial, as well as the way it is presented. The following sections will further explain what needs to be accomplished on each platform. Facebook. According to the majority of scholars, the social media platform used by the public that seems to be the most popular is Facebook. In 2012, a study found that 90% of college students use Facebook, checking in an average of 5.75 times a day. The three top Facebook activities with over 30% of engagement include checking the timeline, viewing photos, and commenting on posts. (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013).Furthermore, the type of post will heavily affect if people will interact with that content. There are four factors that should be considered. First, one needs to determine if an advertisement should be focused on reach, which projects broadcasted messages to everyone, or relevance, which targets a specific individual. Next, who delivers the message should be a consideration. Typically, campaigns include content directly from friends, but sometimes messages coming from a stranger might be better. Then, one should consider whether his or her message should be a “push” message, messages seeking out consumers, or “pull” message, messages consumers actively look for. Lastly, offering an incentive with the message could increase engagement (Schulze, Sch?ler, & Skiera, 2015).According to a study specifically on Facebook, it matters whether the information or product is fun or useful in determining which marketing strategy should be used. Fun information or products, such as the online game Farmville, can be successful through either broadcast messages or direct messages and push or pull messages, but it must be delivered through a friend with an incentive. Sixty-four percent of Facebook campaigns rely on unsolicited messages, which are pushed onto the consumer. Useful information or products, on the other hand, must have a target audience, use the pull method and be delivered through strangers. Yet, it does not require an incentive (Schulze, Sch?ler, & Skiera, 2015). Through this study, objective recommendations seems to be the most effective way to promote a message because people felt they were making their own choices about engaging in that content.Twitter. Many people view Twitter as a platform to voice their opinion and often refer to it as a “micro-blog” since one can only write up to a 140 characters to express their thoughts. In 2012, 29% of 18-29 year-olds used Twitter. One of the advantages to Twitter that Facebook does not offer is the ability to filter out people who you do not want to follow, but they can still follow your updates. People view this feature as a way to control interactions with content-specific platforms in which one would want to engage in (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013). In order to successfully manage a Twitter account for a business, applying the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be very useful. One can find popular hash tags and keywords by analyzing the page’s engagement, link clicks, and reach. It would be beneficial to consistently use the same words for an event that happens bi-weekly or annually, so users will be able to easily find the information. Additionally, the handle and user name should be similar, if not the same, to the brand’s name (Miller, 2015). By limiting the number of changes, confusion among the public will be lessened. Additionally, SEO can be enhanced by linking all of the social media platforms and the main website. The more times a word or phrase is said, the better chance a brand will appear on Google search. A social media marketing campaign using Twitter should target retweets because it increases the chance of others to seeing it, which can expand awareness. A study showed than tweets less than 120 characters are more likely to get retweets because users can add additional text to the tweet (Miller, 2015). Instagram. Although Facebook and Twitter seem to be the leading social media sites, Instagram is steadily rising in active users with more than 30 billion photos shared as of 2012. In a study conducted by Forrester research, Instagram contains 400% more user engagement with brands than Facebook and Twitter (Williams, 2015). However, it is more challenging to establish a brand on this platform unless a strong marketing strategy is implemented. Miles Williams, the CMO of Movable Ink, offers five tactics brands should use to reach the public. First, it is important to use frequently used hash tags in order to increase traffic on a page. Second, a brand should link to someone who is known as an influencer because people already trust and listen to them. Third, utilize the feature on Instagram to add people from a contact list on a phone. Fourth, add people from an email account to Instagram. The third and fourth point allows a brand to build a network it already had. Fifth, marketers for a brand must pay attention to the trends and what is relevant to the target generation (Williams, 2015). Furthermore, a study conducted by Mavrck, a marketing company, analyzed 1.3 million Instagram posts to figure out which time of the day people were more likely to engage in a post. It found that posts shared between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. received the most involvement from users. Scholars proposed an increase in engagement could be because there is not a significant amount of posts during that time, but a large amount of people scrolling through their feeds. Therefore, people do not have to produce posts that will grab the attention of others since there is little competition (Heine, 2015). The information found from this literature review will be applied to the survey questions in order to make it easier to determine specific trends that derive from the survey. Additionally, the survey questions tailored from this literature review will further explain the results it concludes.Survey Methods & FindingsHaving identified clarity of identity, audience awareness, and effective outreach as SLL’s primary issues, our group created and administered a web-based survey. We collected quantitative data in order to gauge the target audience’s attitudes, awareness, and behavior toward SLL as a brand. Our survey focused on finding answers to three research questions:1. How engaged/involved is the average undergraduate student at UNC?2. To what extent are UNC students informed and aware of SLL and the services it provides?3. How do UNC students prefer to contact and interact with student organizations, especially regarding social media?Based on our group’s limited time and resources, we chose to use the nonprobability model of convenience sampling to gain respondents for the survey. Each group member shared the survey with UNC undergraduates through social media, email, and face-to-face communication. One hundred and fifty-five respondents completed the survey. The average respondent was 20-years-old, white female, from North Carolina, a junior at UNC, and a student in the School of Media and Journalism. RQ1: Engagement With Student OrganizationsWe began our survey by asking students which on-campus organizations they were familiar with. Of the survey respondents, 94% (N = 173) reported that they had heard of Campus Rec, and 92% (N = 171) reported that they had heard of Student Government. The organization the fewest students had heard of was SLL, with 18% (N = 33) recognition. The results of this survey question illustrate students’ knowledge and awareness about SLL on UNC’s campus. As the representatives from SLL initially expressed, one of SLL’s main problems is that not many students know what it is. The data collected in our group’s survey demonstrates a less-than-desirable amount of awareness surrounding SLL and highlights student organizations on campus such as Campus Rec and Student Government, which are well-known brands. Therefore, SLL should emulate its peer organizations’ public relation efforts in the future.To study undergraduate engagement with organizations via social media, respondents were asked how likely they were to follow organizations on social platforms. Respondents (N = 184) indicated their likelihood on a seven-point scale with one being “not likely at all,” and seven being “very likely”. On average, participants indicated that they are neither likely nor unlikely to follow student organizations on social media. (M = 4.38, SD = 1.91). This information suggests that for SLL to capture student attention using social media, they must enhance their methods of engaging students so they see a clear value in following SLL’s social media pages. RQ2: Awareness of Student Life and LeadershipFinding the specific awareness of SLL was necessary to ensure that the prior secondary research our group gathered could be backed up with quantitative data. The respondents (N = 175) were asked in a nominal format to select “yes” or “no” regarding whether or not they had heard about SLL. Of the 175 respondents, 84% had not heard about SLL. This statistic aligns with what is previously known about SLL’s PR shortcomings and justifies the strategies and research questions that have been followed to date.The next question delved deeper to determine respondents’ precise level of familiarity with SLL. From a range of one (unfamiliar) to seven (familiar), data from the respondents (N = 175) demonstrated unfamiliarity (M = 1.97, SD = 1.64) with SLL overall, as 84% of respondents stated they had not heard of SLL. In cohesion with the respondents’ familiarity with SLL, the respondents’ (N = 174) experience with SLL was also low (M = 1.89, SD = 1.56) on a scale from one (inexperienced) to seven (experienced). Respondents (N = 174) were then asked how knowledgeable they were of SLL. The results for this question remain consistent with the previous responses, illustrating a low level of knowledge from respondents (M = 1.93, SD = 1.62) with a scale from one (not knowledgeable) to seven (knowledgeable).The survey also measured how many respondents (N = 174) knew SLL was involved in events they responded as having attended. Ninety-three percent of respondents did not know SLL was involved in the events they attended (N = 162). These responses contradict the 22% of students that reported using SLL’s services. The mean number of events attended was 1.18 events, which means on average respondents attended more than one event that SLL was involved in. Again, this emphasizes that simple communication of SLL needs to be established at events. RQ3: Attitudes Toward Student Organization CommunicationThe final research question discovers how undergraduate students prefer to communicate with student organizations and the forms of communication they use most frequently. Respondents (N = 149) were asked how they receive information about student organizations, and then asked to rank what their preferred form of communication was for receiving information. The top three most preferred ways to receive information about student organizations were through social media (54%, N = 80), friends (20%, N = 30), and an email listserv (16%, N = 24). Of these social media sites, respondents (N=153) indicated that out of six forms of social media categories, Facebook was most frequently selected as the most likely source of information (28%, N = 120), while Twitter (12%, N = 19) and Instagram (7%, N = 10) were the next most selected. This corresponds with the importance of Facebook, as shown in the literature review.Much of our qualitative research revealed the importance of word-of-mouth in reaching college students, and this is a pattern backed up by our survey results. To see how often UNC undergraduates share information via word-of-mouth, respondents (N = 156) were asked how often they hear about campus events from peers. Although 19% of respondents stated, as described previously, that they hear about campus events from friends, 38% of respondents (N = 60) reported hearing about events from friends “often” and 35% reported “somewhat often” (N = 54). The next step was to gauge how likely respondents (N = 155) would be to accept advice about an organization from a friend. Of the responses, respondents on average are somewhat likely to listen to a friend’s advice (M = 5.09, SD = 1.35). To conclude the information gathered on this section of the survey, respondents (N = 156) were asked how likely they were to seek out information about an organization a friend gave them advice about. On average, respondents reported that they were somewhat likely to seek out information about organizations they have heard about (M = 5.01, SD = 1.38). The importance of word-of-mouth communication will resurface again in our qualitative findings. Qualitative Methods & Findings While the literature review and survey showed some of the most common ways undergraduate students communicate and engage, a deeper insight into the awareness, attitudes and behaviors were needed to see why these trends occurred. To gain this in-depth look, qualitative research, including participant observations, interviews, and a focus group were conducted with SLL’s target audience, UNC’s undergraduate population. Through qualitative research, researchers were able to further answer research questions on how UNC students engage on campus, how they interact with student organizations and how aware of SLL the average student is.Participant Observations Each team member completed a 30-minute participant observation from various locations on UNC’s campus. They were complete observers, so they simply observed the actions of a UNC student from a far. Multiple team members noticed students working on group projects and taking multiple social media breaks on Facebook and Twitter, showing that students are constantly checking social media. This seems to be a habit to occupy boredom or simply pass the time, but students did not engage with the content frequently. Rather, they simply liked a picture or continued to quickly scroll through their newsfeeds. To gain more insight into the awareness and attitudes behind these displayed behaviors, the research team conducted a series of interviews. Interviews Each member of the group conducted two in-depth interviews with UNC undergraduate students, which lasted an average of 16 minutes. Researchers asked the participants interview questions about the student organizations they are involved in on campus, their social media habits, and their awareness and interactions with SLL. From the interviews, word-of-mouth communication appeared as an important method of sharing information at UNC. However, this form of communication comes with a caveat, as students primarily prefer to hear directly from their personal friends, rather than from a random person on campus. Their friends are a primary source of information, while people handing out flyers are simply seen as an annoyance. One respondent, a UNC sophomore involved in Greek life, said: I am most effectively reached by word-of-mouth when I have a personal connection with the person that’s telling me. I mean, random people in the pit who hand me a piece of paper I usually throw away. And there are so many flyers up around the library and stuff that you just can’t pay attention to all of them. But when the person you know tells you about something you feel more obliged because you know that person. In terms of engaging with student organizations on social media, students view social media primarily as a source of information, rather than a place to interact with organizations. Instead of liking pictures or commenting on posts, students looked to social media to find out about events and as a reminder of upcoming events. Facebook was the preferred social media form among participants, which supports a study that found 90% of college students use Facebook (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013). About his use of Facebook, one respondent, a UNC junior and member of the pre-law fraternity, said: That is the hub for how many clubs and groups communicate. You have the (Class of) 2017 group, Overheard. Facebook is just set up where you can just spread information easily, whereas Twitter is limited to 140 characters, Instagram is mostly pictures, and Snapchat would be a catastrophe trying to relay all that information. Finally, there seemed to be a general lack of awareness of SLL among the average undergraduates. This reinforces data that was found in the survey. Some interviewees seemed to have a vague idea of what SLL is but could not name any actual services or activities that SLL offers. The most recognizable feature of SLL was the studentlife.unc.edu website. However, other interviewees were leaders in their organization, so they had previously heard of SLL through their required obligations with SLL. These organization leaders did not have a favorable view of SLL because they viewed the website as redundant and unnecessary. A focus group participant, who is a UNC senior and student in the School of Media and Journalism, said: They want us to post all our events on their digital bulletin board, but the students won’t see it there, they will see it on social media. To further study UNC undergraduates and their behaviors, a focus group was conducted to generate group discussions and interactions that were not available in individual interviews. Focus Groups The focus group consisted of seven people, including six females and one male. The discussion lasted around 35 minutes long. It was designed to create a varied set of opinions and experiences in order to gain the clearest perception of student interaction with student organizations and SLL. While the focus group was not ethnically diverse, there was a wide range of majors and organizations memberships present, which created a diverse conversation. Overall, students emphasized that they liked to receive information from their friends because they view it as more relevant to their interests. This supports data found in the survey and the in-depth interviews. The focus group participants unanimously said they disliked being targeted in the pit and handed papers, saying they would often just through the flyer away. Additionally, the students said they mostly joined organizations early as first or second years because they were searching for friends and were more receptive. One participant, who is the supplies and logistics committee member for Carolina for the Kids, said, “I think all freshmen want to get involved in a big organization as a way to meet people.” Thus, SLL should focus on building positive camaraderie among students and utilizing a convenient word-of-mouth communication, specifically focusing on the freshmen class. The focus group participants reported that they primarily used social media to simply receive information from student organizations, rather than engaging with the posts. Such information included meeting locations and times, application deadlines, and event news. In fact, the students said they were annoyed by constant, irrelevant posts and would not engage with a post often to avoid notifications. One participant, an executive member in Carolina Fever, said, “I just don’t really interact with posts because anytime I comment on [a post]…I’m going to get notifications from everyone else.” Additionally, students said if the relevant information in a post was accompanied by a strong visual graphic, they would pay more attention. Therefore, in order to get the most attention, posts should include straightforward information and appealing pictures or gifs. SLL should gauge their social media success by the number of their followers than by the amount of engagement with posts. In terms of awareness of SLL, focus group participants were, again, generally unaware of the organization or had a misconception of what SLL is. Only one participant was aware of SLL, but he thought it was simply the studentlife.unc.edu website, while it is actually much more than that. Even after an explanation of what SLL was, students still lacked an understanding. One student, a member of Campus Connect, said. “So they are tying themselves with other events that organizations are doing? [They are] the organizations themselves?” All participants had heard of FallFest, one of the events SLL helps organize. However, no one knew SLL was affiliated with FallFest. Ultimately, the data and information found in the quantitative and qualitative research help answer the client’s research questions and can be used to further SLL’s PR efforts. Addressing the Client’s Research QuestionsAfter meeting with the client and conducting SWOT analyses of their communication situation, our group identified that establishing brand clarity, gaining audience awareness, and communicating effectively were SLL’s primary challenges. To gain a deeper understanding of the problem of the target audience’s attitudes, awareness, and behaviors, our group conducted exhaustive research to answer the following research questions (RQs):1. How engaged/involved is the average undergraduate student at UNC?2. To what extent are UNC students informed and aware of SLL and the services it provides?3. How do UNC students prefer to contact and interact with student organizations, especially regarding social media?RQ1: Level of Engagement With Student OrganizationsIn agreement with SLL’s pre-existing survey data, our group’s research concluded that the majority of UNC students are somehow involved on campus. Data collected from our survey and focus group revealed that a great majority of students are involved with or aware of campus organizations under SLL’s “umbrella,” such as Student Government and Campus Rec. However, students are largely unaware of SLL. This presents a challenge of how to best engage with students in a way that motivates them to expand their knowledge and involvement in SLL and the organizations it encompasses.According to our survey, individual interviews, and focus group, first-years and transfer students tend to seek campus involvement more than other students because adjusting to life at UNC guides them to seek camaraderie. Therefore, SLL could benefit by targeting certain services and communication strategies toward these specific groups. This presents the need for further research into messaging that resonates with SLL’s target populations.Survey data indicates that students are neither likely nor unlikely to follow a student organization on social media. Findings from the individual interviews and focus groups suggest that students may decline to follow organizations on social media to avoid additional notifications. Rather, students prefer to visit these pages only when seeking specific information. This sheds light to the insight that students may be plugged in to organizations via social media without any tangible evidence. This presents the challenge of gauging the relevance and efficacy of SLL’s social media content apart from likes, shares, or comments. Furthermore, these findings present a need for SLL to shift the current communication climate on social media by enhancing its methods of engaging students, so they see a clear value in following SLL’s social media pages. SLL’s most widely-recognized resource among students for campus involvement, according to our group’s survey data, is the studentlife.unc.edu website. However, we observed a trend of dissatisfaction with this resource, as participants found it redundant and ineffective for promoting events. Participants who had negative experiences with the site stated that it tainted their views of SLL as an organization. Therefore, SLL must improve the utility of its website to encourage students to engage and increase valuable communication on other platforms. This will allow students to view SLL from other perspectives. RQ2: Awareness of Student Life and LeadershipAll of our group’s qualitative and quantitative research has validated SLL’s concerns regarding student awareness of the organization. Of 175 survey respondents, 84% had not heard of SLL and were “very unfamiliar” with its purpose. This suggests a flaw in SLL’s current communication plan, as the messages it tries to convey is not reaching its target audience. In order to increase student awareness, SLL must increase the frequency and refine the type of outreach attempts.While many students were aware of events that SLL hosts, 93% were unaware that they were SLL-sponsored. This same feedback was reflected in the interviews. A similar phenomenon occurs with SLL’s umbrella organizations, which tend to have high awareness, unlike SLL. This data highlights a complex challenge for SLL as it works to improve awareness. In order to promote its brand, SLL must achieve a balance between leveraging its affiliation with existing organizations and events without allowing these organizations and events to overshadow it. Our group suggests including SLL’s logo, website, and social media information on promotional materials for events it sponsors as well as the clubs it oversees. To improve awareness, SLL must find an effective balance of communication strategies to best reach its target audience. For example, SLL’s most widely-known form of outreach is its website, which several target audience members find frustrating and ineffective. Also, SLL frequently communicates by distributing flyers, which our research concludes is unfavorable to students as compared to other media. Furthermore, SLL’s Facebook page was only recently created, and it is infrequently used. As a result, SLL must concentrate its outreach on media, such as Facebook, that are relevant to students in order to find the most favorable ratio of communication strategies. RQ3: Attitudes Toward Student Organization CommunicationWhile students stated in our survey that they were neither likely nor unlikely to follow campus organizations on Facebook, qualitative research reveals that they still view Facebook as a “hub for communication” for such organizations. Furthermore, Facebook is the most popular social media network used by college students (Mastrodicasa & Metellus, 2013). By connecting this data with the Facebook knowledge from RQ1, one can deduce that social media is extremely important if the content is seen, regardless of whether students respond to the content. Therefore, SLL must gauge the success of its outreach on Facebook by followers and page views, rather than likes, shares, and comments on specific posts. Additionally, survey and focus group participants said they favored Facebook posts with straightforward information and appealing graphics. Therefore, SLL must make it a habit to post valuable and interesting content to students more frequently.Students also indicated a strong preference for face-to-face communication. They said their peers were trusted sources of information and often influenced them to get involved on campus. SLL can improve their visibility by encouraging students to share their experiences with SLL with their friends. However, SLL must accomplish this while avoiding forced and uncomfortable face-to-face communication, such as delegating students to hand out fliers to the public. InsightsThe outcome of the final research provided insights for future campaigning that did not entirely reflect the initial research that has been gathered throughout this semester. The core research heavily emphasized the importance of social media marketing in creating a brand and an image for new companies and organizations. This was the primary solution that was utilized to improve and respond to the awareness and recognition problem of SLL. The majority of this research focused on specific online methods to increase engagement online. Examples were through rich media, such as photos and videos or community-based discussion tactics. Although these means of creating online engagement remain imperative, the qualitative research directed strategies for SLL in another direction: offline. In the personal interviews and focus group, one key factor influenced every respondent: physical word-of-mouth. Each of the students that were involved in attending events held by organization’s or were directly involved in managing organizations, stated that the most likely factor in their attendance and inclusion in a society was contingent on a friend’s review. If a society or event was recommended to a friend, they would search for information online. This was a factor that was not brought to the foreground until late in the research. From these qualitative studies, word-of-mouth and creating engagement through SLL’s current offline network may be a significant factor in increasing online engagement and, therefore, create recognition for SLL. The respondents elaborated further, stating that they were much more likely to follow pages and online communities that were recommended by their friends or trusted sources. If SLL were to encourage the leaders of organizations in the Carolina Union to follow their online communities and ensure lower members in the organization follow the same directive, word-of-mouth may increase. Another method is through student speakers before lectures. Aggregating participants in the Carolina Union to speak to students in their classes on behalf of SLL is another method of facilitating word-of-mouth discussion. Although this method may not be as effective as pure recommendations, it could continue to build the offline presence of SLL on campus at UNC.If these methods are utilized alongside the online strategies that have been recommended and researched throughout the report, SLL should experience significant awareness and recognition from the undergraduates. This will cultivate engagement online and offline, and hopefully, will achieve SLL’s goal of being the heart of student involvement on campus. Then, SLL may be in a position to motivate and help students explore, create, and engage in the opportunities that are provided by UNC. ReferencesB?ja, M., & Bala?, R. (2014). Social media marketing to increase brand awareness. Journal of Economics and Business Research, (2), 155-165.Brown, T., Tucker-McLaughlin, M., Rosengard, D. (2014). Students and Social News: How College Student Share News Through Social Media. Sage Journals, 8(2), 120-137. Doi: Union. (2015). Student Life: Explore, Create, Engage. Retrieved August 24, 2015, from Carolina Union: , C. (2015). Infographic: How Your Age Affects What You Share on Social Media. Adweek. Retrieved from , H. (2014). 8 Essential Elements of a Social Media Marketing Strategy. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from , R. (2015). Social Media. In Third Edition (Ed.) Media Planning and Buying in the 21st Century (pp.428-442). 2020:Marketing Communications LLC.Greenacre, L., Freeman, L., Cong, K., & Chapman, T. (2014). Understanding and predicting student Word of Mouth. International Journal Of Educational Research, 6440-48. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2013.10.006Heine, C. (2015). Here Is an Hour-By-Hour Breakdown of When People Post on Instagram. Adweek. Retrieved from , R. (2015, August 28). Senior Associate Director for Student Life & Leadership . (J. McMullen, Interviewer)Lane, T., & Perozzi, B. (2014). Student engagement and college unions. New Directions for Student Services, 2014(145), 27-37. doi:10.1002/ss.20077Mastrodicasa, J., & Metellus, P. (2013). The impact of social media on college students. Journal of College and Character, 14(1), 21-30. doi:, K. K. (2011). The role of mentoring in the identification and selection of college student unions/activities careers (Order No. 3487437). Available from ProQuest Central; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (912998083). Retrieved from , G. (2015, August 18). How to Optimize Your Tweets for Search. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from , N. S., Putro, U. S., Sibarani, R. M., & Tjakraatmadja, J. H. (2015). The Influence of Multigenerational Workforce in Effective Informal Team Learning. Journal of Economics and Business Research, 21(2), 199-217.Rubin, C. (2013). Technology and the College Generation. The New York Times. Retrieved from , C., Sch?ler, L., & Skiera, B. (2015). Customizing social media marketing. MIT Sloan Management Review, 56(2), 8-10. Retrieved from , M., & Gitimu, P. (2013). Use of social media by college students: Relationship to communication and self-concept. Journal of Technology Research, 4, 1-13. Retrieved from Life. (2015). Student Life Organisations Directory . Retrieved August 24, 2015, from Student Life: . (2014, February 19). The Evolution of Social Media Use Among College Students. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from , M. (2015, May 26). 5 Killer Instagram Marketing Strategies You Need to Know. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from AFacebook pages analyzed:Student Life and Leadership - Campus Recreation - Union Activities Board - - State - State - pages analyzed:Student Life and Leadership - Recreation - Union Activities Board - Tennessee - State - State - pages analyzed:Student Life and Leadership - Recreation - Union Activities Board - HYPERLINK "" \h - State University - State - BContent Analysis Codebook: CContent Analysis Code Sheet: DSurvey: EResultsInitial Qualtrics Report: SPSS output: Appendix FTable 1. Descriptive Statistics: Hours Spent on Social Media.Type ofSocial MediaNumberMinimumMaximumMedianStandard DeviationMedianModeTwitter1470201.573.10400Facebook1490806.519.933.52Instagram14801004.613.151.50Snapchat1500100012.3983.2621Tumblr149030.85300YikYak149010.541.3100Table 2. Frequency and percentage of likelihood to engage with a post.“I would be likely to… if...”“…it includes humorous language.”“…it includes an interesting photo.”“… a friend was tagged in it.”“… it contained a link to a song.”“… it contained a YouTube video.”“…Take a second look…”101/15565%137/15588%95/15561%15/15510%45/15529%“…Like a post…”100/14668%96/14666%98/14667%15/14610%29/14620%“…Share a post…”54/12543%76/12561%51/12541%10/1258%39/12531% ................
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