Mediaboss Marketing

Although vaccine availability and public adaptation to the pandemic in the U.S. have created more opportunities for on-campus tours in the 202122 academic year, the hunger for digital content among prospective students has not diminished. At Scripps College, the open rate for admission emails has increased, on average, 15percent from last year. And, as the popularity of social media platforms and features such as TikTok and Instagram Reels has shown, high school and college-age users are increasingly watching and sharing videos as a preferred means of communication.

As the higher education landscape becomes more competitive, with a long-predicted decrease in the applicant pool looming, now is the time for colleges and universities to effectively reach prospective students by capitalizing on these trends and meeting students where they are on social media platforms, watching and engaging with video content that can take them beyond the traditional campus tour.

Student consumption of online content continues to increase. As of this year, YouTube had more than two billion users worldwide, while Instagram had more than onebillion, placing both in the top five most popular social media platforms globally. Recent data from social media monitoring software companies shows that YouTubes user base is 72percent female, with its largest number of users aged between 15 and 25. Knowing these data points was a key catalyst to post Explore Scripps on these platforms, where we knew our video posts would be more likely to reach our prospective students.

Pinpointing the distinctive aspects of your campus culture, such as a signature resource program, a standout academic department, a popular extracurricular or a cherished tradition, can help determine what features you should highlight. Visually appealing and authentic experiencesstudy groups gathering outside on a nice day or scholar athletes practicing a sport, for examplealso play well on video, as they show the reality of day-to-day student life. Posting to platforms that prioritize videos and visual aesthetics encourages viewing while also making it easier for admissions offices to share content on their own social media platforms and in their emails to prospective students.

The input and insights of your student body are vital to the planning, execution and success of a video strategy. At Scripps, our interns dont just appear in front of the camerathey attend our brainstorming meetings, help edit content and pitch concepts that highlight the unique aspects of the Scripps experience they wish theyd seen more of during their own college search.

When available, rely on data from a recent survey of students, alums and families to help build your content calendar. For example, survey data showed that students highly value Scrippss place within the Claremont Colleges (5C) consortium and are passionate about diversity, but they want more information about the connection between a liberal arts education and career preparation. As a result, Explore Scripps videos have focused on residential life, community building and resources at Scripps and the 5Cs, including our Career Planning and Resources office and Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment, which works to build an inclusive community through social justice programming, as well as STEM research opportunities at our intercollegiate W.M. Keck Science Department.

As with all campus initiatives, if a project is not sustainable, no matter how successful it is, it wont last. Creating a successful videoeven a minute-long video on a small campusrequires time to plan, film and edit. Likewise, scheduling depends on the availability of faculty, students, staff and on-campus spaces. Build relationships with collaborators across campus, create a rubric for the length of time each project should take and set a realistic goal of posting one to two videos each month to maintain a reasonable workload for marketing and communications.

Thus far, on Instagram Reels, our Explore Scripps series has received an average of 900percent more views than our previous Instagram videos, solely through organic reach. By using a data-informed approach that values student perspectives, weve created a series that highlights Scrippss unique characteristics; foregrounds academic and extracurricular resources for prospective students with a variety of affinities, interests and experiences; and increases access to the college for those who may not have the resources for an on-campus visit.

An effective video communications strategy not only meets your audience where they are, it broadens your prospective applicant pool. To build a successful foundation, start with a sustainable schedule, let data and visual aesthetics inform your content strategy, and prioritize the unique stories that will highlight your institution to a new generation of prospective students.

For Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., Rachael Warecki is news and strategic communications specialist, and Jacqueline Legazcue is digital marketing specialist.

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Building a Video Communications Strategy That Works | Call to Action: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed

Super Bowl

With the Super Bowl coming up, it is important for brands looking to capitalize on football-themed promotions to remember that the terms Super Bowl and Super Sunday are registered trademarks guarded by the National Football League (NFL) more closely than a shutdown corner on a wide receiver.

Because there is a fine line between permissible fair uses of Super Bowl and Super Sunday (e.g., in on-air banter and news and sports reports) and impermissible promotional uses that may infringe the NFLs trademark, here are some guidelines to keep you from going offsides:

Some creative ways that brands have tried to keep both feet in bounds in their promotions include using statements such as The Big Game, The Big One, Gameday, Gametime, The Big Matchup, Footballs Favorite Day; referencing the date of the game (e.g., The February Football Finale), the names of the cities/states of the teams competing in the Super Bowl (e.g., Cincinnati or Kansas City); or making fun of the fact that they are prohibited from mentioning Super Bowl (e.g., by bleeping it out or by saying the game that shall not be mentioned).

The Super Bowl is not the only sports event around the corner that presents marketing opportunities for brands. The 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics beginning on February 4th and March 4th, respectively, create an international stage for the best athletes and marketing campaigns. Similar to the NFL, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) have strict rules and guidelines for use of its trademarks, name, and other intellectual property. Both the IOC and USOPC sell sponsorships and licenses for use of their intellectual property. The key to a gold-medal marketing campaign is to stay away from using the well-known symbol comprised of five interlocking circles, the Olympic motto Faster, Higher, Stronger, the term Olympic, Olympian, or Beijing 2022. Use of these symbols, or any other intellectual property or indicia of the IOC or USOPC, without a license will almost inevitably result in cease and desist letters, and even possible statutory and civil damages. Brands can avoid skiing down the slippery slope of Olympic marketing mistakes by disclaiming any affiliation with or sponsorship of the IOC and/or USOPC, recognizing that some names, logos, and trademarks may be off-limits without a license, and ensuring proper use of any third-party intellectual property.

Remember, advertisers literally pay millions of dollars to be associated with the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the Paralympics. Their willingness to pay reflects the substantial commercial goodwill that the NFL, IOC, and USOPC has developed. The NFL, IOC, and USOPC persistently protect their investments by policing unauthorized use of their trademarks.

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Planning a Super Bowl- or Olympics-Themed Marketing Campaign? Quick Tips for Staying in Bounds and Avoiding Disqualification - JD Supra

Following the exit of prominent team members such as Ali Myth Kabbani in recent months, leading esports organization TSM has seen a sharp decline in its combined social media following a potential challenge for the esports team that Forbes described as the worlds most valuable in December 2020.

In August, TSMs social media following stood at nearly 80 million across platforms. In the months since, the companys combined social following dropped to 49 million, according to the gaming and esports consultancy and data platform GEEIQ a decline of nearly 30 million followers.

These numbers refer to TSMs combined social media following: the organizations branded accounts, plus the social accounts of its team members and influencers across Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. This combined figure is what most esports teams use to pitch themselves to prospective brand partners and sponsors.

The way teams sell themselves in the space is through their influence, said Chris Mann, svp of gaming and esports agency REV/XP and former vp of partnerships at esports organizations Dignitas and NRG Esports. Influence isscale, right? So most teams count their social following across their team accounts and all of their players accounts, and their creators, as well.

As far as pitch decks, we do reference what our following is, in terms of how we communicate our reach and how we communicate what that total audience is, said Matthew Boyd, head of research and insights at TSM. Generally, the way things have existed with the partnership equation, up to this point, is that when were talking about social handles and building those into those agreements, weve pretty much been focused on those owned-and-operated channels, as well as the competitive roster, specifically. So creators and streamers have been less of a central focus when weve been going out to the marketplace and talking about whats possible from an activation standpoint.

TSMs official branded accounts have a total of 9.84 million followers across platforms, according to GEEIQ. Followership of these official accounts has decreased by one percent since September 2021, though Boyd said that followership across TSMs social accounts increased by four percent during the 2021 calendar year. Some of this drop might be the result of social platforms recent purges of bot accounts, which are particularly prevalent in the esports scene.

But the primary reason for TSMs follower decrease was almost assuredly the exit of some of TSMs more prominent influencers in recent months, most notably Ali Myth Kabbani, who boasts 21 million followers across platforms and declined to re-sign with the team when his contract ended in December 2021. Obviously, Myth leaving, thats kind of a big thing. I dont think were shying away from the fact that we have had some high-profile departures, Boyd said. Our perspective is, at the end of the day, were a competitive organization. We acknowledge that with any kind of organization, whether its esports or traditional sports, talent comes and goes. I think that kind of comes with the territory.

During Kabbanis tenure at the organization, his fans dutifully became fans of TSM but their loyalty ultimately lied with the influencer, not the team. This phenomenon is common in both traditional and electronic sports. Its the same within traditional sports, said George Mead, partnerships director at Fnatic. When Ronaldo switches from one team to the other, theres a huge spike in the level of followers of the team that he goes to.

Though Kabbanis exit was the cause of the largest drop, TSMs social media following was already on the decline when he left the team. The organization faced a PR crisis in November, when former team member Yiliang Doublelift Peng shared vehement criticisms of the team and its CEO, Andy Reginald Dinh. In January, reports surfaced that Riot Games was investigating Dinh for verbally abusing his colleagues and creating a toxic work environment at TSM. It looks like their Instagram, their Facebook, their Twitch and their TSM in India Instagram are all consistently losing followers even their YouTube is going down, said GEEIQ CEO Charles Hambro. So I dont think this is just isolated to content creators leaving.

Ultimately, the loss of influencers such as Kabbani could just be another downstream effect of TSMs PR crises. In a video about his choice to leave the organization, Kabbani blamed the teams lack of a family feel for his decision.

Late last year, serious allegations were made in a highly-public forum against TSM founder and CEO Andy Dinh. The well-being of our players and staff is paramount, and something we take seriously. This is not how TSM as an organization operates, and it is absolutely not who we aspire to be as a company, said a TSM spokesperson in a statement. Immediately upon learning of these allegations, TSM and its Board of Directors, with Andys full support, created an independent subcommittee, enlisted the services of outside legal counsel and hired an independent investigator to conduct a robust investigation. In addition, Andy recused himself from any oversight of the scope, nature and conclusions of the investigation.

Controversies notwithstanding, the timing of this decline in followers is not the best for TSM, which entered an eye-popping $210 million, 10-year partnership with cryptocurrency exchange FTX in June 2021. Its likely that FTX signed this deal with TSMs combined social media following then pushing 80 million in mind.

The story theyre trying to tell is one of dominance within the cultural landscape thats the entire value proposition for sponsors. Theyre certainly not doing it on just present numbers alone, said Jason Chung, an assistant professor of sport management and executive director of esports at the University of New Haven. To a certain extent, this is a learning experience for brands that they have to not just latch onto esports orgs because theyre trendy, or they have fans. They also have to look at the management, they have to look at the way its trending, they have to look for scandals, they have to do their due diligence on leadership.

Despite these troubles, TSM is still one of the most storied esports organizations in the business and despite its decline in followers, it remains one of the most-followed teams in North American esports, coming behind only FaZe Clan (which has 33 million followers across its branded accounts and 207 million in total). But the organizations competitors continue to build their follower counts, while TSMs have stagnated in recent months. If TSM continues down this path, its decreased following could put the organizations future brand partnerships at risk.

Its quite easy for a team to grow multiple percent, said GEEIQ CPO James Burden. But to actually lose followers, someone is actively going to your account and unfollowing because they dont like the content. So that is worrying, to say the least.

https://digiday.com/?p=438474

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TSMs social media following has seen a 30 million decline in the last six months - Digiday

Two in five people stopped using at least one social media platform either permanently or temporarily over a 12-month period, a study by Deloitte shows.

The professional services firms survey of 1,000 consumers in the Republic found 42 per cent made a move to break their social media habit. Of those who did, the most common reason cited was boredom with the content they found there.

This was followed by reasons such as too much fake news, the content being too negative, a reaction to how much time they were spending on the platform, privacy concerns, because it didnt make them feel good about themselves and harassment or bullying, which was mentioned by 5 per cent of those who quit.

The Deloitte Digital Consumer Trends report also found that three-quarters of respondents (74 per cent) have access to a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, an increase of 11 per cent year-on-year, with access increasing significantly among over-65s from 43 per cent in 2020 to 57 per cent last year.

Netflix is the overwhelming leader, it said, with 65 per cent of respondents having access to it, up from 56 per cent in 2020. It was followed by Amazon Prime Video, to which 26 per cent have access, Disney Plus (24 per cent), Sky-owned Now (10 per cent) and YouTube Premium (7 per cent).

Some 16 per cent of respondents to the survey, which was conducted in July-August 2021, had cancelled a paid subscription to a video streaming service in the prior 12 months, with lack of use the most commonly cited reason.

Lack of suitable content, a desire to cut back on total subscription spending and the ending of a free trial or discount period were the other main reasons given for cancelling.

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'Boredom' main reason why two-fifths made effort to quit social media last year - The Irish Times

Sarah Barnett05:10 AM, 3 Feb 20227 minute readSarah Barnett05:10 AM, 3 Feb 20227 minute read

Not all marketing agencies are created equal.Sarah Barnett provides six questions you can ask the agency before you agree to hire them.

I know a lot of brokers are looking to ramp up their social media presence in 2022, so Ive put together a list ofsix questions you can ask the agency before you agree to hire them.

How involved are you in the broking industry?

Your social media content should act as the bridge between what you know and what consumers want to know. This means your agency needs to keep up to date with whats happening in the industry by regularly speaking to aggregators, lenders, associations and, most importantly brokers. If your agency knows whos who and is regularly invited to speak at industry events and webinars, then thats a good sign theyll be able to impart your subject-matter expertise to your ideal clients and referral partners.

How much input will I need to provide?

Before you outsource to a marketing agency, find out how much effort will be required on your part. For instance, will they handle all the content ideation, creation, scheduling and publishing? Will they design an on-brand theme for you, or will you need to provide graphic design assets? Who handles the audience building and engagement tasks? If youre having to spoonfeed the agency content ideas, then they may not be able to free up as much time and headspace as youd like.

Are your copywriters based in Australia?

Your content should sound like you on your best day, which will give people confidence that youre a competent professional. Poor grammar can undermine your credibility in an instant, and if your agency doesnt use local copywriters they may struggle to craft copy that aligns with your brand. Plus, if the copywriters are overseas they may not understand the context of the Australian market theres nothing worse than a brokers social media content referencing 401(k) plans and realtors!

Whats your approach to marketing?

A good social media agency understands the difference between marketing a consumer good vs marketing a professional service. What works well for a 20-year-old influencer wont be the best strategy for your broking business. The wrong kind of marketing can bring you the wrong kind of client. For instance, focusing on cashbacks can attract price-sensitive clients wholl switch to the next shiny thing at the drop of a hat.

Can I see your reviews?

The agency you choose should have a collection of verified reviews to support any claims theyve made. Testimonials are fine, but youll never know if these are several years old, or have been selectively edited. By checking out their Google reviews, youll gain insight into what its like working with them and how consistent they are in providing a great service. Youll also be able to see whos used their services and check the standard of their work.

Do you walk the talk?

Well, this is actually something youll be able to gauge yourself by checking out their website and social media profiles. See if the quality and tone of the content resonate with what youre hoping to achieve for your brand. How the agency handles their own online presence will give you an indication of whether they know their stuff... or not.

A final note on outsourcing

I came across this brilliant reminder recently: If you deprive yourself of outsourcing and your competitors do not, youre putting yourself out of business.- Lee Kuan Yew (ex-PM of Singapore).

While engaging a social media marketing agency can feel daunting, the brokers who are active on social media are not doing everything themselves. Unless you have an in-house marketing resource, its smart to outsource a lot of the grunt work to free you up for the high pay-off activities.

6 questions to ask your social media marketing agency

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Sarah Barnett is the head of content and co-founder of marketing solution provider Social Broker, which targetsbusy finance and legal professionals who want to get noticed online.

Sarah previously headed up marketing and innovation for a leading behaviour change consultancy where she spearheaded data-driven solutions for big banks, insurers, telcos and energy retailers. She has deep insight into the sales behaviours that high-performers consistently demonstrate to win and retain business.

She has been a member of the Australian Market & Social Research Society since 2013 and stays on the cutting edge of voice-of-customer research.

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6 questions to ask your social media marketing agency - The Adviser - The Adviser