1

Table of Contents
Executive Summary

Brief Overview

Social Media Presence

Competitive Analysis
Goals

4-5
5
6-7

Strategies

Target Market

7-8

Tools

8-9

Implementation
Platform-Specific Tactics and Tools

9
9

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

10

LinkedIn

10-11

Content Development

11

Assignments

11

Plan Recommendation

12

Monitoring

14

Tracking

14

Measuring

14

Quantitative KPIs

14

Qualitative KPIs

14

Evaluating

14

Social Media Monitoring Tools

14

Tuning

15

Budget

15

Return on Investment

15

Appendix

16-21
2

Executive Summary
James Madison Universitys College of Business (JMUs CoB) has
multiple market segments it can target. The ages of the target markets
range from 16 to approximately 50. The younger portion makes up high
school students while the later years are JMU alumni who enjoy interacting
on social media. The market segments have rapidly increased over the years
because of the increase of social media use. Even though JMUs CoB appeals
to multiple market segments, it should focus on improving engagement and
interactions with high school students, transfer students, JMU business
majors, and potential JMU business majors.
The primary focus of this social media plan is to use social media
platforms to improve engagement among the target market. In order for the
plan to be successful it is important to have a set of goals in mind. Social
media goals for JMUs CoB include:

Increase number of applicants to JMU declaring a CoB major for Fall

semester of 2016.

Increase number of followers of the JMU CoB Twitter account by 100 by

the end of the school year.

To have at least at least 5 likes for each video.

Have at least 500 member connections by the end of the school year

Strengthen the brand image, primarily among the incoming high school
student market segment.

Increase word of mouth through recommendations.

Strengthen the CoB brand presence primarily among the ages of 17-25
market segment.

Produce more relevant content to increase the share of voice and user
engagement.

Increase traffic and conversions by utilizing CEO and key-word

searches.

A set of comprehensive social media strategies will be implemented to

achieve the above goals. These strategies include listening, interacting, and
3

engaging. In addition, this plan describes how the status of social media
efforts will be tracked, measured, and evaluated.
A detailed budget towards the end of the plan, shows the cost of
implementing the plan. The plan concludes with a return on investment
analysis. The team leaders responsible for preparing, overseeing, and
executing the plan include Corrie Breshears, Natalie Krewin, Marisa Righi,
and Mitchell Wilt.

Brief Overview
JMUs CoB has created a strong reputation as an impressive business
school that challenges its students. Founded in 1972, the CoB fosters
knowledge in the majors of accounting, finance, computer information
systems, marketing, economics, management, and international business.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the CoB remains in the top 5%
of undergraduate business schools across the nation. The CoB was ranked
17th among public institutions and 40th among all business schools in 2014.
In 2013, the CoB was ranked 29th among all business schools. 68% of
students receive a Bachelors degree from JMU and out of that, business is
the most popular major choice with 16%.
There are four main market segments which we recommend the CoB to
target through its social media efforts. These include prospective students
who are high school graduates or transfer students (The Future Duke Dog),
CoB current students (The Duke Dogs), CoB alumni (The Expert Duke Dogs),
and potential employers (The CareerBuilders).

Social Media Presence

JMUs CoB has used social media for several years, however, it has not
evolved or grown to represent the brand accurately and appropriately. After
performing an assessment on CoBs social media maturity level, it has been
determined its presence is poor and immature. By utilizing the sentiment
analysis (Appendix C) nearly 23% of posts are positive, while 54% are neutral
(purely informational based), and 21% are negative. It is important,
throughout the social media plan, to note that the level of positive posts
need to increase in order to create more engagement on each social media
platform and increase the brand persona.
The closest competition for JMUs CoB are William and Mary, University
of Virginia, and Elon (Appendix item D). Through a study of the top 100 most
social media friendly business schools in 2013, it is clear JMUs CoB is
outranked in its social media presence.
4

University of Virginia leads the pack placing fifth, based on the number
of followers, likes, subscribers, and group members. Bloomberg
Businessweek placed UVA number one in student satisfaction and in
educational experience. These two factors combined give the brand a
positive persona and online presence. William and Mary placed twentieth on
the list of social media friendliness. This business school focuses on
revolutionary thinking and experiential learning. Following far behind was
JMUs CoB, placing eighty-seventh. Finally, the business school at Elon was
not even found on the top 100 listing.
However, to fully understand JMU CoBs social media presence, it is
suggested to look at each platform individually through a social media audit.
Below are the five key performance metrics and their definition, as defined
by Oxford Dictionary :
Sentiment Analysis: The process of computationally identifying and
categorizing opinions expressed in a piece of text, especially in order
to determine whether the writers attitude towards a particular topic,
product, etc., is positive, negative, or neutral.
Reach: The extent or range of application, effect, or influence (I.E.
number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans, LinkedIn connections, and
YouTube views).
Company posts: Measure the amount of times a company posts on
the social media platform.
Feedback: Information about reactions to a product, a persons
performance of a task, etc., used as a basis of improvement (I.E. The
number of comments, views, likes, retweets to the companys
content).
Average response time: The amount of time between user
generated comment and company response.
As seen in Appendix D, it is evident there is the most social media
presence on the CoBs and marketing departments Facebook and Twitter
pages. Both platforms have a strong number of posts within a year, relative
to all other platforms used. However, all social media platforms lacked in
two-way conversation and engagement. Furthermore, LinkedIn and YouTube
had weak post numbers and content (little to none within a year). The
sentiment analysis reveals that JMUs CoB is not making effective use of its
social media platforms as of today.

Competitive Analysis
A SWOT analysis has been compiled to determine the strengths and
weaknesses of CoBs social media platforms of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
and LinkedIn. The SWOT analysis also illustrates possible opportunities and
5

threats that may affect CoBs social media posts. This provides insights into
CoBs social media internal functionality and external influencers.
A general strategy found in Appendix item B can be formed utilizing
the SWOT information in Appendix item A. CoBs social media platforms
strengths and opportunities are significant, the SWOT Matrix recommends
carrying out the S-O (strength-opportunity) strategy. This strategy advises to
pursue opportunities on social media platforms that are a good fit for the
CoBs strengths. As a result of this SWOT profile, the CoB should focus
resources on the social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and
LinkedIn. These platforms represent the best opportunities for the company
and emphasizes the CoBs strengths.
S-O Strategy: Follow social media platform opportunities that match
the CoBs strengths on the social web.
W-O Strategy: Overcome weaknesses in social media platform
development and performance in order to take advantage of
opportunities on the social web.
S-T Strategy: Identify ways the organization can use its platform
strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats from
competitors including other business schools on the social web.
W-T Strategy: Creates a protective strategy for the CoB that reduces
the chances the organizations social media weaknesses will make it
vulnerable to external threats.

Goals
In consideration of company and competition research, it is apparent
that JMUs CoB has several opportunities of growth through a comprehensive
social media plan. The overall goal of the social media plan is to gain brand
awareness and increase user engagement. Below are more specific
quantitative and qualitative goals for each social media platforms:
Quantitative
1. Facebook- Increase the word-of-mouth by 20% on the site.
Goal: Increase number of applicants to JMU declaring a CoB major for
Fall semester of 2016.
2. Twitter- Boost engagement by averaging 3 retweets or replies per
tweet.
Goal: Increase number of followers of the JMU CoB Twitter account by
100 by the end of the
school year.
6

3. YouTube- Have one new video every month for one academic year.
Goal: To have at least 5 likes for each video.
4. LinkedIn- Create 20 member connections by the end of 1 month after
implementation.
Goal: Have at least 500 member connections by the end of the school
year.
Qualitative
1. Facebook- Produce more relevant information to create depth and
discussion on the site.
Goal: Strengthen the brand image, primarily among the incoming high
school student
market segment.
2. Twitter- Produce more relevant content to increase the share of voice
and audience engagement.
Goal: Increase word of mouth through recommendations.
3. YouTube- Produce more current content to gain more views, subscribers
and generate more comments.
Goal: Strengthen the CoB brand presence primarily among the ages of
17-25 market
segment.
4. LinkedIn- Produce a visually appealing page to increase connections
and overall interest.
Goal: Increase traffic and conversions by utilizing CEO and key-word
searches.

Strategies
JMUs CoB will pursue a specific set of strategies for the social media
plan. Even though the strategies range in risk and difficulty, CoB will be able
to achieve them though high help efforts from faculty, alumni, business
students, and SMAD students. With all the help, the strategies can be
achieved. The CoBs comprehensive social media strategies include:

Listening to the online community about where the brand is being

mentioned, who is talking about the brand, what is being said about
7

the brand. This would give JMUs CoB more insight on what gets people
talking about its brand and how it can be improved.

Interacting with students, alumni, employers, and influencers on

LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. On LinkedIn, JMUs CoB will also
connect with recruiters and alumni to spread the word about
companies interested in JMU students. The CoB will contribute to
conversations rather than promote the school.

Engaging with the community about upcoming events, answering

concerns about career and major questions, spreading the word about
potential employers for current JMU students.

JMUs CoB should use one Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to spread the
word about the CoB rather than each business major spreading
different messages. This will eliminate confusion and make it easier to
find out what is going on in the CoB.

Target Market
The CoB has several target markets that it wants to appeal to:
The Duke Dogs- This segment consists of JMU business students as well as
JMU students deciding whether or not to declare a business major. Current
business students will be interested in events that CoB offers, such as guest
speakers and networking events. Current students will also be interested in
important deadlines for things such as CoB 300 and graduation applications.
JMU students who think they might want to declare a business major might
want to know the ranking of JMUs CoB or even information from current
students who enjoy being a business major.
The Future Duke Dogs- This segment includes high school students as well
as transfer students. Both high school students and transfer students will be
interested in similar things, such as the atmosphere of the business school,
its ranking, majors offered, and events/clubs students can be involved in.
These potential students will also want to see the accomplishments of
current students as well as the faculty.
The Expert Duke Dogs- This segment includes JMU alumni. Alumni will
want to see how the CoB is improving, which might incentivize them to
donate money to the program. Also, JMU alumni could also be potential
employers to current JMU students.
8

The CareerBuilders- This segment includes employers who might want to

hire JMU students. Potential employers will want to see the accomplishments
of JMUs business school. They will want to see extraordinary triumphs of the
business students across all majors.

Tools
The social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube)
were chosen by the demographics of the previously mentioned market
segments. By selecting these platforms, the CoB is capable of having a high
concentration of the target market engaged in the brand. The different target
markets determined the type of social media platform chosen. For example,
Facebook was chosen because the The Duke Dog and The Future Duke Dog
market segments range between the ages of 17 and 22, the prime age of
Facebooks highest users. By choosing Facebook, JMUs CoB will have a
means of connecting and engaging effectively and efficiently with its market
segments. Furthermore, Facebook allows for real time informational and
social sharing, all of which the CoB should be accomplishing.
Due to the high, real time sharing aspect of Twitter, the overall
positivity of tweets should increase from its current standing. Twitter also
allows for tracking viewer comments and responses. All market segments
would benefit from the use of Twitter.
YouTube was chosen as an effective tool in order to increase visual
sharing. JMUs CoB would utilize video sharing in an attempt to increase user
generated content. Examples of videos created and produced are videos of
JMU alumni sharing their success after college because of their experience in
CoB. In addition, as seen in Appendix F, there will be a video showing current
students volunteer work in the community. This will increase the overall
positivity of each post and allow for sharing across social media platforms.
Furthermore, YouTube was selected to increase brand awareness in the
Expert Duke Dog and Future Duke Dog market segments.
Given the professionality of the CareerBuilders market segment,
LinkedIn was chosen in order to improve the quality of relationships as well
as increasing overall brand positivity in the business community.
Therefore, as discussed above, the social media platforms selected
correlate well with the selected market segments. By aligning the platforms
9

this way, owned and paid content will eventually become earned content.
This is achieved by increasing brand awareness through strengthening brand
persona and user engagement.

Implementation
The competitive analysis, goals, strategies, target market, and tools
were all taken into consideration when creating the following social media
tactics. This part of the plan will also indicate how content will be generated
for each social media platform chosen (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and
YouTube). Lastly, this plan will specify the specific staff members responsible
for carrying out the tactics.

PLATFORM SPECIFIC TACTICS AND TOOLS

The social media platforms and tactics were chosen in order for JMUs
CoB to implement its strategies and achieve its social media goals. Listed
below are the tactics for each platform:
Facebook: Facebook is the most popular social media network with about
1.49 billion active users. Since it is the most popular social media network,
Facebook is a great platform for interacting with existing and potential
customers. JMUs CoB will use the Facebook page to strengthen brand
awareness among its target market. The following are tactics that will be
implemented on Facebook in order to help build brand awareness:
Post content that is of interest to JMUs CoB students, such as
networking events and application deadlines.
Post content that is of interest to high school students and potential
JMU students such as the atmosphere of the business school, its
ranking, majors offered, and events/clubs students can be involved in.
Post content that is of interest to alumni, such as showing milestones
the business school has met or progress on the new Zane Showker
building.
Post content that is of interest to employers, such as competitions
students are involved in.
Post content three times a day. Try to vary the content, for example
post a picture with one post and post a video with another post.
Create a Facebook ad, and post it every day.
Go and talk to CoB classes and tell them to like the Facebook in order
for them to get updates on student clubs and events.
10

Twitter: Twitter is currently the fourth most popular social media platform,
with over 307 million users. Twitter is great social media platform to reach
people on the go, so it is important to post messages that are short and to
the point. Lastly, Twitter is a great platform for engaging directly with
customers so it is important to respond in a timely manner. The following
tactics will be used to engage more closely with the younger part of CoBs
target audience:
Respond to questions and comments in a timely manner. If it could be
within 1 hour that would be ideal.
Average at least three tweets a day. Over time the number of tweets
per day could increase depending on the amount of interactions per
day JMUs CoB is receiving.
Create branded hashtags that the JMU CoBs target audience can use.
Use Ow.ly to shorten links in order to share interesting articles, videos,
and other news pertaining to JMUs CoB.
Follow Twitter users that engage with the JMU CoB Twitter page.
Retweet others who share positive messages about JMUs CoB.
Go to business classes and ask students to follow the Twitter account.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform for
professional networks. LinkedIn has over 400 million members in over 200
countries and territories. This social media platform would be ideal for the
CoB to utilize in order to appeal to potential employers. LinkedIn would also
be a useful platform to illustrate JMU CoBs brand image and serve as a
connection platform for CoB alumni, potential employers, and current
students.
Organize LinkedIn accounts to create a similar image between the CoB
page, CoB accounting page and CoB marketing page.
Key CoB professors should strive to complete 100% of their profiles
and optimize with appropriate keywords.
CoB professor, student, and alumni profiles should include links to the
company website, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
CoB professors, students, and alumni should ask for recommendations
to show credibility.
Post a thought-provoking announcement once a day.
Participate in industry groups (business schools and business topics) a
minimum of once per week to build brand awareness and establish
credibility.
Connect with industry thought leaders and participate in their posts
once a month.
Build relationships with companies interested in hiring JMU CoB
graduates.
Go to business classes and ask students to connect with the JMU CoB
LinkedIn.
11

YouTube: YouTube is the second most popular social media platform, with
more than 1 billion unique visitors per month. As more people prefer to view
their information visually, this social platform will be key for engaging
customers. Also, YouTube is a great social media platform to utilize because it
is easy to share content on YouTube on other platforms. The following tactics
will be used to increase customer engagement in a visually appealing way:
Create videos that show students helping out the local community.
Create videos showcasing students in each major.
Create videos that focus on events that JMUs CoB puts on.
Tag videos with relevant keywords to rank higher in the YouTube search
engine.
Videos should not be longer than 2 minutes because people lose
interest. Use YouTube Analytics to analyze videos to see when viewers
lose interest.
Embed the logo/image for JMUs CoB in all videos.
Post one video per month.
Reply to comments daily.

Cross marketing by using Facebook, Twitter, and possibly LinkedIn to

promote videos.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

Developing Content: Before implementing the recommendations, a

thorough analysis of the content needs for each social media platform
should be conducted. This analysis should identify the specific needs
for each social media platform, find the gaps in content, and fill the
gaps with content that is relevant to the JMU CoB target market. The
social media audit conducted has resulted in a sentiment analysis
chart shown in Appendix C. Looking over the sentiment analysis will
allow JMUs CoB to see how it needs to improve in each social media
platform.
Managing Content: Social media content will be carefully edited
before posting and comments will be carefully monitored to ensure
conversations on each social media platform are relevant.
Cross-utilizing Content: Curated and created content used by JMUs
CoB can used on multiple social media platforms, in this case
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. For example, videos created
for YouTube should be shared on Facebook and possibly Twitter. Still
make sure to use appropriate posts for each platform. Lastly, care
should be taken so that cross-utilization is not overused because it may
trigger unwanted attention from search engines.

12

Breaking Apart Content: Breaking content into smaller chunks and

reformatting it will allow the content to be shown on multiple social
media platforms. Also, reformatting will allow information to be shared
on other social media platforms such as blogs and discussion boards.

ASSIGNMENTS
In order to execute platform-specific tactics and generate content,
specific roles and responsibilities will be assigned based on expertise, staff
availability, and allocated budget. Since JMUs CoB social media is in the
beginning stages there will not be a large staff managing social media. The
following personnel will be involved in the implementation of the social
media plan:
Carrie Wood, Director of Integrated Marketing Communications
SMAD student workers

Plan Recommendations
As seen in the sentiment analysis (Appendix item C) it is suggested
that overall owner engagement and involvement be increased. It is
recommended that each social media site be integrated into one main site.
For example, Facebook marketing, accounting, and economics pages should
be mentioned on the CoB Facebook page to better integrate a consistent
brand image across all platforms. Below is a listing of the social media
platform suggestions per existing page:
Facebook Marketing: The social media engagement is low due to
little to no two-way conversation. In fact, nearly 47% of all posts had
absolutely no interaction (likes, shares, comments, etc.). In addition,
most posts made by the owner are informational based, leading to a
neutral sentiment analysis decision. Moving forward on this page, it is
recommended to decrease the number of informational posts and
increase the number of thought and question driven posts. From here,
engagement on both ends should increase.
Facebook Accounting: The Facebook accounting page lacked in all
areas of brand communication (quality, quantity, brand awareness,
etc.). In addition, the page lacked informational posts. Combining these
areas of weakness has lead the page to have no engagement. It is
suggested that the Facebook accounting page should revamp its
approach to increase social media presence. As of today, only four
posts were made within one year. So, to start, it is best to increase the
13

number of informational posts. This will then increase brand awareness

and overall brand persona.
Facebook Economics: The Facebook economics page overall had no
engagement due to one way conversation by the owner. All posts were
pictures of current guest presenters. By having one form of discussion
(I.E. pictures, informational posts, event postings, etc.) the viewer gets
bored and loses interest in engaging on the page. Therefore, it is
recommended to first increase the number of posts in year. Today,
there have only been 13 posts in one year. Secondly, it is suggested to
increase the variety of each post. By doing this, engagement and
brand persona should increase.
Facebook CoB: Overall, JMUs CoB Facebook page has very little
engagement. Most posts did get likes, but shares and comments were
pretty scarce. Only 16 posts out of the 66 recorded over a year
generated a positive response (comments or shares). Going forward
JMUs CoB Facebook page needs more posts that ask questions in order
to get better engagement. We also recommend that JMUs CoB should
look into creating a brand personality through a Facebook
advertisement.

We suggest to aim the Facebook advertisement towards the Future

Duke Dog market segment (Appendix item G). The overall goal of the
advertisement would be to increase the number of applications for business
majors. An objective would be to increase JMUs CoB brand awareness by
improving the perceived brand persona of the Future Duke Dog market
segment. The advertisement would be allocated at a budget of $1 per day.

Twitter Marketing: The JMU Marketing department has over 1,100

followers on Twitter. With that many followers one would expect more
retweets and favorites. The JMU Marketing Twitter focuses on major
events involving the marketing department. Tweets that received the
most attention were promoting special events with big, well-known
companies. They retweet event information frequently when it may be
more beneficial to promote these events with original content (as
opposed to retweeting).
Twitter CoB: The JMU CoB Twitter has almost 2,000 followers. CoB
Twitter account should be receiving more retweets and favorites with
that amount of followers. The JMU CoB Twitter account only has 578
tweets even though the account has been active since June of 2009.
Many of the tweets are just retweets about other JMU organization
events promoting their events. They had suffered from a major lack of
in engagement. They need to post about promoting prominent events
and awards that make their followers want to retweet and comment on
their posts. Targeting the Expert Duke Dogs, Duke Dogs, and the Future
Duke Dogs could lead to increased engagement.
14

YouTube: The JMU CoB YouTube account has only about 20

subscribers. Most of the videos only have views in the hundreds, which
is bad considering how many students are business majors at JMU. The
videos that have the most views are ones from 3 years ago that
feature students. If JMUs CoB wants to have a successful YouTube page
it needs to feature more student insight videos or even teacher insight
videos. These videos could be a great way for future JMU students to
discover the major he or she wants to pursue.
We recommend utilizing a combination of video and presentation
photos to make up the content of the YouTube videos. YouTube is a
fitting platform to emphasize CoB students during events and the
students positive contributions to JMU and the community of
Harrisonburg.
As you can see Appendix F illustrates an example of content for
the YouTube account. The storyboard shows a professional business
fraternity giving back to the community by picking up litter on the side
of the road. The litter pickup video will be no longer than a minute and
30 seconds long. This post would contain video of the event, a
presentation of photos from the event, and even scripting throughout
the video.
The tone in this post and all of CoBs posts should remain
professional, yet young, positive, and exciting. Music in the background
should be upbeat-Indie pop tunes that demonstrates instrumental
portions with limited vocals. We recommend all videos to be no longer
than 2 minutes in length in order to keep the audience's attention. This
combination of an empowering tone and content of making a
difference will be present through all videos. This content will increase
CoBs reputation and especially gain the interest of Future Duke Dogs,
Expert Duke Dogs, and CareerBuilders.
LinkedIn: JMUs CoB LinkedIn account is non-existent, however JMUs
marketing department and accounting department have LinkedIn
pages. JMUs LinkedIn marketing page is a success with 1,703
members and numerous informative, industry related posts. The
accounting page isnt as successful with 258 members and barely any
posts. We recommend first and foremost unifying these pages by
creating an overarching JMU CoB page and generating department
pages as well. These LinkedIn accounts should have similar profile
pictures to help easily associate them with each other and to raise
awareness with viewers. We suggest creating a stronger presence on
LinkedIn by posting a thought-provoking announcement once a day
and by participating in industry group topics a minimum of once per
week. Connecting with industry thought leaders and participating in
their posts once a month will also improve credibility.

15

Monitoring
TRACKING
The CoB will create a plan to track keywords and topics. By
determining these keywords and topics the school will gain more interaction
on its social media sites. Studying people and their interests will give insight
into what gets them talking.

MEASURING
Social media measurement determines the amount of content and the
attitude of the brand and topic on social media. The amount of content such
as posts, comments, likes, tweets, retweets are all quantitative metrics. The
actual thoughts about the brand meaning any feedback, mentions,
comments, and conversations are qualitative metrics.
Both qualitative and quantitative metrics are Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are business metric measures that evaluate the
success of organization. It is crucial to choose the correct KPIs and ensure
that they align with the social media goals of the company quantitative
metrics and KPIs need to relate to SMART goals (Specific, Measureable,
Attainable, Realistic, Timely).

EVALUATING
In order to determine how successful the social media plan is, the CoB
must ensure there is a close relationship between the goals and the social
media metrics. The key is to see which strategies work towards
accomplishing the social media goals and which do not. Strategies that do
not help accomplish goals should be changed.

SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING TOOLS

The tools used to monitor the social media channels are based on the
CoBs goals, the funds available, the metrics used to evaluate the
development, and the training needed to use the monitoring tools. Free
monitoring tools including YouTube analytics and Google Trends will be used
to track and measure quantitative metrics. Hootsuite is a recommended paid
16

monitoring tool. The price is reasonable while it offers tools for Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn along with click stats (Appendix item H).

Tuning
In order for the social media plan to be implemented correctly, your
social media marketing team will have to constantly monitor and adjust
elements of the plan to increase the chances of success. The social media
strategies will continually be accessed, and the strategies and tactics will be
changed accordingly in order for goals to be achieved. Reevaluating goals,
strategies, tactics, and plan execution is key because of the ever-changing
nature of consumer tastes, the economy, competition, and technology. For
example, for now four social media platforms should be enough, but in the
future JMUs College of Business might want to consider acquiring more
social media platforms like Instagram. Therefore, the marketing team should
always be looking to fine-tune the social media plan in order to maximize the
plans results.

Budget
Sharepoint will have no cost for implementing the social media plan
because JMU offers a free version to faculty and students at this time. Video
specialist, content creation, and copy editor will also be at no cost due to the
volunteer help from JMU SMAD students.
We recommend investing in Hootsuite Pro because this tool will help
monitor and measure the results from multiple social media platforms.
Hootsuite Pro will give results in an efficient way and help optimize
resources. This is an attractive option by ensuring only one password for
several people to access Hootsuite and oversee each other's activity.
Facebook would also be utilized on a daily bases to track post engagement
and monitor usage of advertisements. The cost of this will be $1 per day.
Therefore, the total budget allocated for the social media plan would be
$484.88 for the first year of implementation.

Return on Investment
Due to the fact that the social media goals for JMU CoB are not directed
towards sales and increasing profitability, ROI is not needed. Instead, the JMU
CoB should use Proxy ROIs. Proxy ROIs measure the long-term impact of
17

social media marketing investments on customer response. They include

both quantitative and qualitative measurements, such as the number of
views of the companys social media properties, the companys posting
activity, and the customer response rates, as well as sentiment analysis,
share of voice, satisfaction scores, and advocacy impact. The quantitative
numbers that are important for the social media plan are the engagement,
retention, and social media presence growth rates. For example, JMUs CoB
could measure its success by the number of likes the Facebook page has
received in a month.

Appendix
Appendix A) SWOT Analysis
Strengths

Weaknesses

JMU COB has created a position

for social media and marketing
specific for the COB
JMU COBs marketing staff has
knowledge and experience with
using social media platforms
effectively
JMUs COB has existing accounts
with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
and YouTube
JMUs COB management is
supportive of social media efforts
because they know it will improve
their reputation and bottom line
Resources are sufficient for social
media posts both organic and
nonorganic on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and YouTube

Opportunities
Staff, students, and alumni are
enthusiastic and proud of JMU
COB
Ability to utilize several resources
that JMU has for example, SMAD
students for video/ content
creation

JMUs COB posts low quality

content
They also have low quantity
content of inconsistent, nonengaging posts
Social media platforms are not
unified where some departments
in COB have a social media
presence, but not COB itself
COB has a weak brand presence
on social media platforms
JMU COB currently lacks
monitoring tools to track and
measure effectiveness of social
media posts

Threats
Other business schools have a
strong social media presence
Competitors include aggressive
social media strategies across the
web
Competitors have their own brand
community demonstrated through
18

JMU COB has an existing strong

brand to represent
JMUs COB quantitative social
media marketing efforts could be
monitored to assess progress in
achieving goals
The youth audience of students,
current and prospective, are
content creators and critics with
needs that arent being met
Connecting with professional
business fraternities and COB
organizations to help contribute
content

social media platforms

Potential employers dislike the
lack of opportunity to connect
with JMU COB on social media

Appendix B) SWOT Matrix

SWOT Matrix

Strengths (S)

Weaknesses (W)

Opportunities (O)

S-O strategy

W-O strategy

Threats (T)

S-T strategy

W-T strategy

Appendix C) Sentiment Analysis

Appendix D) Competition

19

Appendix D) Competition Social Media Presence

20

Appendix E) Qualitative Key Performance Indicators

Mathematical Breakdown
Social
Media
Platform

Social Media Goals Key

Performance
Indicator

KPI Formula

KPI (One-year)
Performance
Targets

Twitter

Word of Mouth

Share of Voice
(SV)

SV= Brand
Mentions / Total
Mentions
=1191
= 12% word of
mouth

Increase to 15%
word of mouth

Facebook

Word of Mouth

Audience
Engagement
(AE)

AE= Comments +
Shares / Total
Views
= 393,163
= 1.2% word of
mouth

20% increase to
24% word of
mouth

YouTube

Word of Mouth

Conversation
Reach (CR)

CR=
Total People
Participating /
Total Audience
Exposure

Increase to 5
likes per video

21

= 277996
0.3 likes per video

LinkedIn

*Unable to
compute based on
lack of LinkedIn
social media
presence

Appendix F) YouTube Storyboard

22

Appendix G) Facebook Advertisement

Appendix H) Social Media Budget

Community platform software (Sharepoint)

No Cost

Monitor tool (Hootsuite)

$119.88

Facebook Ads

$365

Video specialist (Volunteer from SMAD)

No Cost

Content creation and copy editing

No Cost

Total expenses for the year

$484.88

Appendix I) Quantitative KPIs for the Next Year

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN
23

Increase the wordof-mouth by 10%

on the site.

Boost engagement
by averaging 3
retweets or replies
per tweet.

Have one new video

every month, for one
academic year,
featuring a CoB
student.

Create 20 member
connections by the end
of 1 month after
implementation.

25% growth in the

number of likes

30% growth in
number of followers

70% increase in
number of videos
viewed

100% growth on number

of followers

25% growth in the

number of
comments

35% growth in
number of retweets

50% increase in
number of unique
visitors

40% increase in number

of group members

20% increase in
number of shares

15% growth in
number of mentions

15% increase in
number of positive
comments

20% increase in the

number of questions
asked and answered in
the group

100% increase in the

number of subscribers

24