Final Copy Social Media Marketing Campaign

Social Media Marketing Plan
The Office of Residence Life at James Madison University
August 1, 2020- August 31, 2021
Created by Group 8
Ian Dworak, SiYao Li, Bonnie Nicholson, Ashley Rice
Social Media Marketing
Dr. Kelly Naletelich
December 2, 2019
Table of Contents
1. Situation Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...3
A. Internal Environment…………………………………………………………………….3
B. External Environment……………………………………………………………………5
C. Social Media Audit/Social Media Presence…………………………………………..…11
D. SWOT Analysis………………………………………………………………………….17
2. Social Media Objectives and Budgeting………………………………………………………19
3. Target Audience Insights and Social Media Personas ………………………………………..22
4. Social Zones…………………………………………………………………………………...27
5. Creative Strategy………………………………………………………………………………28
A. Campaign 1……………………………………………………………………………....28
B. Campaign 2………………………………………………………………………………33
C. Campaign 3……………………………………………………………………………....37
D. Campaign 4……………………………………………………………………………....40
E. Campaign 5………………………………………………………………………………45
F. Campaign 6………………………………………………………………………………49
6. Activation Plan and Social Media Content Calendar…………………………………………52
7. Manage and Measure………………………………………………………………………….54
8. Works Cited...…………………………………………………………………………………55
Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 2

1. Situation Analysis
A. Internal Environment
James Madison University’s Office of Residence Life currently has many social media
opportunities that exist in their overall marketing and media plan. Foremost, they have taglines
that are reiterated throughout their various platforms in order to increase recall and awareness.
This includes the taglines “Live Close. Live Safe. Live Supported. Live Engaged”, “You have
the rest of your life to live off campus.”, and the hashtag “#DukesLIVEON.” Each of these
taglines are a strong start in creating a memorable identity for the ORL social media brand, but
could be further enhanced to increase engagement.
Additionally, the Office of Residence Life has touched on a few other opportunities in
their past campaigns such as the various Study Abroad advantages of living on campus and
marketing the “On Campus Experience”. ORL has connections with other areas on campus that
would also benefit from marketing these aspects on their social media platforms, such as the
JMU Study Abroad accounts and the JMU official accounts. The ORL’s connections with these
other teams at JMU creates opportunities for cross-promotions that could extend all parties’
reach. In order to create a more trustworthy presence, the ORL’s pages could also switch to
“Business” Profiles that can then be verified by social media platforms. This would make other
accounts more inclined to interact with the ORLs’.
Another key part of the internal environment that the ORL will have to navigate is JMU’s
overall corporate culture. James Madison University’s brand is what they promise to their
students, their community, and themselves. JMU does a great job at preparing students to live
purposeful lives, which is why their brand is so important to get this right. They state on their
Brand Guide Webpage, “Now more than ever, it is essential that all of us dedicated to JMU

speak with a powerful, collective voice around how Being the Change is a rallying call, and these
brand guidelines express our common voice and show how to speak it.”
In an effort to better match the brand, the ORL is attempting to shift their taglines to
match the “Being the Change” brand. For example, “Live Close” would become “Living the
Closest”. Essentially, this creates an opportunity for creating cohesive future taglines that
connect with JMU’s overall identity. As long as they follow the “Doing the Thing” structure,
other areas on campus can create their own hashtags or taglines that still align with the
university’s brand guide.
As a part of their corporate culture, JMU states that “Brands must connect with
organizational mission, vision and values to be authentic and provide utility to the organization.”
JMU’s Mission: We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and
enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives. JMU’s Vision: To be a national
model for the engaged university, engaged with ideas and the world. JMU’s Values: Academic
Quality, Community, Diversity, Excellence, Integrity, Student Focus. Everything ORL’s media
accounts post or interact with should follow these guidelines. JMU also lays out ten strategic
directions and themes that align with the corporate culture of the university. A few of them
relate directly to the ORL, such as Engagement, Student life, and Access, Inclusion, & Diversity.
Another important part of the internal analysis of the ORL, are their resources that can be
directed and leveraged to social media activities. Alicia Lamb, the Social Media and Marketing
Coordinator, works as a graphic designer and is in charge of pulling together content to create
interesting and engaging posts. The ORL also utilizes an in-house videographer for particular
events on campus. They are currently in the process of hiring a student Social Media Assistant

that could be employed for further aid in marketing campaigns. They are working with a
monetary budget of $1,500.
Finally, JMU has a Media Relations and Social Media Publishing policy guide in place
that the ORL social media platforms must adhere to. A brief summary of these guidelines, as
they pertain to the ORL’s pages, are as follows: All media must pass through the Office of
Communications, employees who have permission to communicate through media must
complete formal approved training, and all media must be consistent with JMU’s strategic
priorities and messages. More detailed policies and procedures can be found in this Policy 1508
on JMU’s website.
B. External Environment
James Madison University’s Office of Residence Life main customer is college students
who attend JMU, specifically freshman and sophomores who have access to social media
platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. As freshmen, students are required to live in
university residence halls for the entirety of their first academic year at James Madison
University. The ORL’s goal is to retain this group of students and to have them live on campus
for longer than required. Upperclassmen students have the option to live off-campus in housing
such as apartments and townhouses, but the ORL targets these students with the goal of showing
them the benefits of living on campus. Whether they are a freshman or upperclassman at JMU,
the parents of these students are a major customer for the ORL because they have a major role in
the decision of where these students live.
Another current customer group for the ORL are high school students that are interested
in going to JMU. These high school students are important because the quality of on-campus
housing will be one of those reasons that make or break their decision of choosing JMU as their

final choice. Additionally, the parents of these high school students are customers because they
play a major role in helping students decide which college to attend. All of these customers of
ORL are users of social media, specifically platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat for
the students, and Facebook for the parents.
There are many competitors in this market, so we are going to narrow it down to off-
campus life, apartments, and townhomes. One close competitor of the ORL is JMU’s department
for off-campus life. JMU Off-Campus Life has both Facebook and Instagram accounts.
However, they only have 738 followers on their Facebook account, and 300 followers on
Instagram accounts which is much lower than the followers on JMU ORL’s accounts. The
Facebook account of JMU Office of Residence Life has 3.88K followers, and the Instagram
account of JMU Office of Residence Life has 1.66K followers. In addition, the engagements per
post also have huge differences between each account. For the Facebook account, the JMU
Office of Residence Lifes’ engagement per post is 30.2 with 5.5 posts per week; on the other
hand, JMU off-campus life’s engagement per post is 3.1 with 4.5 posts per week. For the
Instagram account, the JMU Office of Residence Lifes’ engagement per post is 66.3 with only
1.5 posts per week; on the other hand, JMU off-campus life’s engagement per post is 13.2 with
2.5 posts per week. So, even though JMU’s off-campus life department is a competitor for the
ORL, they are not a strong one that they should be concerned about.
In the chart on the following page, you can see how we categorized each complex in
Harrisonburg into either a townhome or an apartment. Most of the apartment complex’s focus
their social media efforts on Instagram and Facebook, like the ORL, but they tend to have more
engagement from their followers. For example, The North 38 has 1.02K followers on their
Instagram account, posting pictures relating to the life at The North 38. We used the data from

the last 30 days data to create a report
showing the engagement rate per post
for their Instagram at 7.98%, which is
higher than the engagement rate per
post for JMU Office of Residence
Life Instagram account at 4.04%. The
Instagram account’s engagement total
per post for The North 38 is 81.6 in the last 30 days. However, JMU Office of Residence Life
Instagram account’s engagement total per post is only 43.8 in the last 30 days.
The third competitor group are the townhomes in Harrisonburg which have more
luxurious living standards compared to on campus life. Looking at Copper Beech Townhome for
example, they have 0.87K followers for its Instagram account with mostly shows photos of what
it's like to live there and give-away promotions We used the last 30 days data to show a report to
see the engagement rate per post for The Copper Beech Townhome Instagram account which is
5.02%, making it higher than the engagement rate per post for JMU Office of Residence Life
account at 4.04%. Copper’s Instagram account’s engagement total 10.1K with 23 posts in the
last 30 days. However, JMU Office of Residence Life Instagram account’s engagement total is
only 200 with 3 posts in the last 30 days. This analysis shows that Copper posted 20 more times
than the ORL within the last 30 days, which was a common theme across all other townhome
Instagram's, and apartments too. To keep up with their competitors, JMU Office of Residence
Life needs to post more on their social media accounts.
The non JMU off campus groups that we analyzed above, apartments and townhomes,
pose a threat over the JMU ORL because they are not restricted by JMU policies. For example,

North 38 and Copper Beach can host give-ways that come at a high dollar value like gift card
giveaways and discounted rent, when the JMU ORL is restricted from doing so. The screenshot
below shows one example of North 38 promoting a chance to win
a $500 giveaway, something that the ORL could not do.
This is a competitive advantage that the apartments and
townhomes have over the ORL and hey will have to consider this
when executing their social media strategies. In addition to these
three main competitor groups, students also have the option to
live in actual houses, like in the downtown area. We chose not to
analyze this group because we did not see them as a threat to the
ORL since there is a different process when it comes to renting a
house from a private owner.
In order to create a plan that will succeed in today’s social media climate, it is important
to take a look at any current key trends. A major key trend in social media marketing is the use
of stories, the disappearing videos or photos posted on individuals’ profiles. According to the
consulting firm Block Party, stories are now growing 15 times faster than feed-based sharing.
Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer showed that Stories are set to surpass feeds as the
primary way people share things with their friends within the next year.

Another major trend is the increase in the success of using Micro Influencers to promote
a brand or product. According to a study by Dr. Jonah Berger (author of the book Contagious:
Why Things Catch On), 82 percent of consumers were “highly likely” to follow a
recommendation made by a micro-influencer. Micro Influencers are seen as more authentic and
relatable, and more users care about what they have to say. They are also highly affordable, if
not free. This idea could also transfer to the use of testimonials as a strong way to promote
living on campus.
Additionally, there has been a swift decline in organic reach and a need to spend more on
paid advertising. This is largely due to the fact that younger audiences have learned how to
quickly click through and swipe past different advertisements. Also, algorithms used by various
social media platforms, such as Facebook, promote paid content before any unpaid posts. The
key to getting past this is creating interesting and high-quality content targeted at specific
focused groups, rather than a mass audience. Small amounts of money can be invested into
promoting particular posts or pages toward these specific targets. The in-house videographer at
the ORL will prove especially useful in generating this content. As a way to save money,

repurposing well-performing ads can be a great way to maintain a high-quality media presence
with a smaller budget.
Source: Ras. Why you should not solely rely on Facebook organic reach for your business.
Finally, the popularity of the social media platform TikTok has skyrocketed in the past
year. According to a definition by Business Insider, TikTok acts as a social network, where
users share videos covering a wide range of categories, from lip syncing to comedic skits to viral
challenges. TikTok has more than 1 billion all-time downloads. In mid-September of 2019 it
rose to the number one free non-gaming app in the US. Additionally, the app’s users are in the
age range of many current and incoming college students.

C. Social Media Audit/Social Media Presence
The Office of Residence Life is required to follow James Madison University Identity
System Standards for communication and marketing content that they create to ensure that the
University is maintaining a consistent institutional image. JMU’s personality guides their tone of
voice and style to authentically reflects their core values. When speaking to current students,
they use an ethical, involved, intentional, curious and creative voice. They make sure to use an
active voice and relate messages back to the values of engagement, impact and citizenship while
also showing excitement and fun. They share content all the way from words of wisdom, staff
appreciation, on campus housing information, and campus related events.
Focusing on the ORL’s Facebook and Instagram social
media accounts, their profile photos show the JMU logo with the
Residence Life underneath, in purple. Both profile descriptions
highlight the foundation of on campus living: live safe, live
supported, live close, and live engaged. Following JMU
photography guidelines, they post photos of students engaging and
interacting to represent the energy of the Madison Experience.

They also show some location shots to evoke nostalgia by highlighting the beauty of the campus.
They maintain the purple, gold, and white color scheme. They are straightforward with their
captions and only say the most necessary information. With that being said, the information in
the captions is still engaging through the use of quotes and asking questions.
They maintain a balance between being approachable and fun for students, while also
remaining professional. They limit the use of exclamation points and emojis and instead focus on
using hashtags that include “JMU” or other specific JMU
elements to enhance their posts. Specifically, they use the
hashtags “#DukesLiveSafe #DukesLiveClose
#DukesLiveSupported #DukesLIVEON” often to highlight
the key reasons to live on campus. They further use these key
points to create taglines by embracing the “doing the thing”
construct”. For example, turning the point “Live Close” into
“Living the Closest”.
When looking on the official JMU social media directory,
only Facebook and Twitter are linked, which is ironic because
Instagram is one of their main platforms, but it is missing.
Additionally, their website currently has their Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, and Instagram profiles linked, but only posts of Tweets
are shown on the site. On Instagram, they portray themselves as a professional account, but they
do not have a business Instagram and they need to switch to one because it shows that they are
located in a different area than they really are, and they should show their followers validation.
On the ORL’s Facebook “about” page, they have all of their handles listed, but only a clickable

link to their website and Instagram, the others are not click-able. While they don’t directly
promote their social media accounts in posts, they do include their handles and website URL at
the bottom of their graphics. They have links to all of their social media accounts in their Twitter
bio and should use that on their other accounts that are more popular, like Instagram. Lastly,
even though YouTube is not a popular platform for the ORL, their YouTube channel doesn’t pop
up if you search it in the YouTube search bar. This could be an issue for people who are
interested in the channel but are not using a direct link.
Continuing to focus on the ORL’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, about 80% of the
people who follow and like these two pages are females, and only 20% are males. JMU Office of
Residence Life Facebook page currently has about 3.88K followers and 3.66K likes. The
majority of people who follow, like, or engage with the ORL Facebook page are between the
ages of 18 to 24 or 45 to 54. These ages were expected because they correspond to the age of
JMU’s incoming students, current students, and parents. In the graph below, the peaks show that
the amount of people reacting to Facebook's content is highest between April to May and August
to September. These are the months of the year that students receive their admission status and
then once accepted, when the school year begins, so they are most likely excited about moving to
JMU and interacting with the page more during these times.

The ORL is getting people to visit their Homepage, but they are struggling to get people
to continue further down their page and look specifically at posts, photos, videos, or even the
about tab. When they do get fans to view content, they reach the most people and get the greatest
engagement with photos and videos, reaching about 2,300 people, on average. Most followers
are online each day of the week, ranging from all times of the day. They have posted 265 times
since October of last year, getting 9,300 engagements. These engagements included 7.2K
reactions, 828 shares, and 1.3K comments.
The ORL’s Instagram only has 1.66K followers, the majority between the ages 18 to 24
and 45 to 54, similar to Facebook. They receive about 180 profile visits and actions taken on this
account per week. Most people interact with their account on Tuesdays and Fridays throughout
the week, this might be something to take advantage of. They have published 130 posts since
October of last year, 100 less posts than their Facebook account. These posts generated 4.5K
engagements, 4.4K of those being
likes and 65 as comments. Video
views, by themselves, have
generated 11K views, and are
most likely generated by the
testimonial videos from previous
RA’s who are speaking about
“why they became an RA”, this is an area to explore further.
You can see in these two graphs that, both Facebook and Instagram received the most
engagements in August of last year. On August the 20th of 2019, JMU’s residence halls opened
for freshmen, which is likely why there is such a large peak around this time. The ORL should

take advantage of these peak months like April, May, September, and especially August, to
promote their content and reach a
larger audience. Additionally, the
ORL should increase the number of
posts on these platforms throughout
the year, on a weekly basis, to
increase their overall brand
awareness.
It is also important to take a look at the conversation analysis for ORL’s accounts. This
chart shows the percentages for positive, neutral, and negative posts from April 2, 2013 through
today (October 31, 2019) across the ORL’s social media accounts. Although it's great that they
have 0 negative posts, only 39% of their posts are positive which is simply not enough. This goes
to show that the ORL has a lot of room for improvement to make their overall social media
presence more positive, and not just informational because that is not going to hold the
audience's attention.

As mentioned earlier, they share content all the way from words of wisdom, staff
appreciation, on campus housing information, and campus related events. But, they mostly post
about events that are happening on campus, specifically in the residence halls that are loaded
with informational graphics. They also focus on ways to get involved with ORL like becoming
an RA oe and ORL facilities assistant. Almost all of their posts are announcements packed with
information and have fairly little chances for engagement from their audience, which is most
likely why neutral has the highest percentage of 61%. They share a few videos that include
testimonials from RA’s which appeal to the audience's emotions. Creating more posts like these
could help them generate a more positive rating overall.
Majority of the people who are talking about ORL that have questions about events or are
people currently affiliated with the
organization on campus. Looking at the
graphs to the left, when they do get
mentions on Instagram, they are mostly
positive, with no negative messages. On
Facebook, they have a majority of
neutral messages, with quite a few negative ones as well.
While there aren’t many
comments on their posts in general
when someone does post a question
about something they do respond within
a timely manner. They Recently who
tweeted at them because they were

having problems with their WIFI and they directed them to the right people to contact. ORL’s
most used hashtags are #jmureslife, #jmu, and #DukesLIVEON, #DukesLiveSupported,
#DukesLiveEngaged are all part of their most recent posts. The ORL would benefit from more
routine positive interaction with their social media audience.
D. SWOT Analysis
The JMU’S ORL strengths include the strong brand presence that JMU has gained from
their community of students and Alumni. As mentioned earlier, JMU does a great job at
preparing students to live purposeful lives, which is why their brand lives on through Alumni.
They have a strong core mission, vision, and values which incorporate the idea that, “Now more
than ever, it is essential that all of us dedicated to JMU speak with a powerful, collective voice
around how Being the Change is a rallying call…” These ideals make JMU and the ORL stand
out as a unique, strong, and impactful university and organization. The ORL’s taglines are
another strength that differentiates them from competition because they are reiterated throughout
their various platforms in order to increase recall and awareness. These taglines include; “Live
Close. Live Safe. Live Supported. Live Engaged”, “You have the rest of your life to live off
campus.”, and the hashtag “#DukesLIVEON.” These taglines help to create a memorable
identity for the ORL social media brand.
With the ORL’s strengths in mind, they still have many weaknesses and room for
improvement for their social media brand presence. To begin, they market themselves as a
professional department, yet they do not have a validated business Instagram profile which takes
away from their attempted professional persona. Additionally, because they have to abide by

JMU guidelines, they are limited in posts that could show a more entertaining personality for
their brand. Compared to their competitors, they have a much smaller marketing budget which
limits their promotions. They don't take advantage of giving incentives to interact with their
account like some of their competitors do successfully. Also, compared to competitors, they
have a significantly lower amount of times they post each week. Lastly, the ORL does not have
any analytics platform that they use to measure and analyze their metrics, failures, and successes
so that they know what's working and what's not working. These are all areas that the ORL needs
to make better if they want to enhance their social media brand presence.
Many of the ORL’s opportunities stem from the trends that we analyzed earlier, including
the use of stories as the primary way people share things with their friends within the next year.
They should focus on posting stories via their social media profiles to reach a larger audience
since this method is becoming the most popular. They should also take advantage of the increase
in the success of using Micro Influencers to promote a brand or product. Since Micro Influencers
are seen as most authentic and relatable influencer and are highly affordable, they should use
Harrisonburg specific micro influencers to promote living on campus. With the increase in the
need for paid advertising on social media, repurposing well-performing ads can be a great way to
maintain a high-quality media presence with a smaller budget. Overall, the ORL has a great
opportunity to grow their Facebook and Instagram followers and reach a larger audience with
social media on the rise. But, to put the ORL over the top, they should take advantage of the new
and trendy platform, Tik Tok. Overlooking the use of this platform would be a missed
opportunity for them. As the number of JMU students rise along with the addition of new dorms,
the ORL has a lot of room for growth if they take advantage of these opportunities!

When executing this social media marketing campaign, it is important that the ORL is
aware of the potential threats they face. These external threats are dominated by the off-campus
apartments and townhouses that we outlined earlier. These places offer students more amenities
and freedom than on campus facilities, which is a major plus in the student's decision making
process. Also, these competitors have much larger budgets for events and promotions that they
can attract students with, like discounted rent deals. Lastly, they have more followers and
engagement via their social media accounts and the ORL needs to change their strategy if they
want to remain competitive in this market.
2. Social Media Objectives and Budgeting
Objective One: Increase followers on @jmureslife Instagram by 25% by using more engaging
content targeted toward students, such as Instagram Stories, sweepstakes, testimonials, and
competitions by August 2021 in order to increase awareness of the benefits of living on campus.
S: Increase followers on @jmureslife Instagram, currently at 1,651.
M: 25%, or 413 people.
A: Use more engaging content targeted toward students, such as Instagram stories and micro-
influencers.
R: 4,668 Freshmen enrolled at JMU in the Fall, meaning we would only have to capture around
9% of the freshmen class to reach this goal.
T: August 2021, assuming our campaign lasts from August 2020-2021.
Objective Two: Increase engagement on @jmureslife Instagram by 25% through likes, views,
and comments by using more engaging content such as Instagram stories, sweepstakes,
testimonials, and competitions by August 2021 in order to increase the awareness of the benefits
of living on campus.

S: Increase total engagement on @jmureslife Instagram through likes, views, and comments.
M: By 25%, or 1,125 engagements, specifically 1,100 likes and 16 comments, making total
engagement for Instagram at 5,625.
A: Use more engaging content targeted toward students, such as Instagram stories and micro-
influencers.
R: Throughout the last year, the @jmureslife posts generated 4.5K engagements, 4.4K of those
being likes and 65 as comments making an increase of 25% a reasonable objective.
T: By the end of our yearlong campaign, August 2020-2021.
Objective Three:
Increase followers on @jmureslife Facebook by 25% by using more engaging content targeted
toward JMU parents, such as stories and polls, by August 2021 in order to increase awareness of
the benefits of living on campus.
S: Increase followers on @jmureslife Facebook, currently 3,880.
M: 25%, or 970 people.
A: Use more engaging content targeted towards parents, such as stories, informative posts,
sweepstakes, etc.
R: Current freshman + incoming freshmen parents gives us thousands of potential followers.
T: August 2021, assuming our campaign lasts from August 2020-2021.
Objective Four: Increase engagement on the ORL Facebook page through reactions, views,
comments, and shares by 25% to 11,625 total engagements throughout the campaign year,
August 2020-2021.
S: Increase engagement on the ORL Facebook page through reactions, views, comments, and
shares by 25%.

M: Increase by 1,800 reactions, 575 views, 325 comments and 207 shares.
A: Use more engaging content targeted towards parents, such as stories, informative posts,
sweepstakes, etc.
R: The page posted 265 times in the last year getting 9,300 engagements. These engagements
included 7.2K reactions, 828 shares, and 1.3K comments. Each post reaches about 2,300 on
average. The page currently has 3,880 followers making this a realistic goal.
T: By August 2021.
Objective Five: Increase the number of students that sign up to live on campus in order to fill
the available beds for upperclassmen (1,979 beds) by using content that promotes incentives and
activities in current dorms that will make living on campus seem essential to the college
experience, by the Fall 2021 semester.
S: Increase the number of students who sign up to live on campus for a second year by filling the
available beds for upperclassmen.
M: 1,979 students: Currently 1,857 upper class students live on campus. There are 1,979 beds
available for upperclassmen. This means that about 94% of the spots for upperclassmen are
currently full so our goal would need to be just a 122 student increase. This will be measured
using a survey attached to each on-campus lease that asks students to check or write-in why they
chose to live on campus. The ORL social media campaigns that have this as an objective will be
listed as specific options.
A: Use content that promotes incentives and activities in their current dorms to make the
experience of living on campus more fun now. Basically, make the freshmen experience so good
that they’ll be dying to stay on campus.

R: We believe a 6% increase would be reasonable, especially considering that would only be
another 122 students. Additionally, based on recent trends, the incoming freshmen classes are
becoming larger and larger each year making it even more of a realistic possibility.
T: Before the Fall 2021 semester.
Objective Six: Create a ORL TikTok account that gains 1,000 users throughout our yearlong
campaign through funny and relatable content that targets our incoming freshman audience by
August 2021.
S: Create a brand new ORL account on TikTok that can be used to cross-promote other
platforms and create a larger sense of community within students who live on campus.
M: Gain a follower base of at least 1,000 users who are members of our target audiences.
A: Use content that is entertaining, funny, and relatable to students about different aspects of
living on campus. This will be a more creative outlet for the ORL social media accounts that can
also be integrated into other platforms to cross-promote different events and information.
R: This is a new and trending platform that appeals to our target audience of current high school
students/incoming freshman so 1,000 followers should be easily obtained within the year.
T: By the end of our yearlong campaign in August 2021.
3. Target Audience Insights and Social Media Personas
The segments we are targeting for the Office of Residence Life account are incoming
JMU freshmen, current JMU freshmen, and the parents of those JMU students. This is because
one of our main objectives is to increase the number of students who choose to sign up to live on
campus for a second year. We want to increase engagement with them early on and influence
their parents as well since they often pay for students’ housing. By promoting the campaigns to
students before and during their first year, they will already be in the mindset that living on-

campus is preferable early on. Parents are also a critical target audience because they often
influence their children's’ decisions and support them financially.
Incoming JMU Freshmen, or “Baby Dukes”, use social media to stay connected with
their friends and family. They use platforms like Instagram and Snapchat to share videos and
photos to keep others updated on their lives. More recently, TikTok has become popular as a
large source of entertainment for current high school students. This targeted segment uses social
media to get inspired, be validated by others, seem vulnerable and approachable, and to feed
their own ego. For this persona, the most important thing would be the validation that they chose
the right university and getting them excited for the upcoming year. This could be shown on
social media through interactive stories and testimonials on Instagram and Snapchat, and
entertaining videos on TikTok.

Current JMU Freshmen, or “Distinguished Dukes” use social media to stay connected
with their peers at school and their friends and family from home. They use platforms like
Instagram and Snapchat to share videos and photos to keep others updated on their lives. They
also utilize Facebook to stay involved with campus events and clubs. This targeted segment uses
social media for vanity and validation from others. For this persona, the most important thing
would be creating and maintaining an affinity for other students and the university itself. This
could be shown on social media through interactive stories, competitions, and sweepstakes on
Instagram and Snapchat. More informative content would also be welcomed on Facebook.
Incoming and current freshmen mostly live in the social community, social publishing,
and social entertainment zones. College students use popular social media networks to find out
information about current events, meet new friends and stay up to date on trends and activities

happening both on and off campus (McCollum, 2017). They go online for conversation,
collaboration, and community - to build relationships and create an environment for shared
participation. They also publish and disseminate content, especially with the rise of micro-
influencers and TikTok usage. Finally, they use social media to play, mostly for identity and
frivolity. This group grew up with social media heavily influencing their lives and their social
status.
The 2017 Social Admissions Report, developed by Chegg, Target X, and the National
Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA), found that two in five
students use social media to decide which school to attend. This shows the impact social media
has on students’ decisions in college. Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research, shares that 76 percent of teens use Instagram, 75 percent use Snapchat, 66 percent use
Facebook, and 47 percent use Twitter (Turner, 2017). Meaning these should be the platforms
where our main focus lies.
Finally, JMU parents, or “Duke Dads (or moms)”, use social media to stay updated and
involved with their children's lives as well as post for their friends. A 2016 Pew Research Center
study on demographics of mobile devices showed 88 percent of adults ages 30 to 49 and 74
percent of adults ages 50 to 64 own smartphones (Hoffman, 2017). They use platforms like
Facebook and LinkedIn to stay connected with old friends and view posts that could pertain to
their children. Because a lot of parents simply Google the information they need, optimized
links and resources on the JMU website to any social media would prove especially beneficial.
This targeted segment uses social media for their own personal utility and to acknowledge
relationships with others. For this persona, the most important thing would be their curiosity
about their children in college and validation from their older peers. This could be done through

engaging, yet informative, posts and polls on Facebook and LinkedIn. Optimizing social media
for Google searches would also help reach more JMU parents.
JMU parents are dispersed fairly evenly throughout the social media zones because they
are not too familiar with any one. JMU parents go online for conversation and community.
They also publish a lot of posts and photos as content. They are more active with commerce
because they are more likely to click on online banner advertisements. Finally, they also heavily
use social entertainment applications and games, such as those integrated in Facebook. Another
2016 Pew study showed that Facebook is the most popular platform for adults and is used by 88
percent of adults 18 to 29, 79 percent of adults 30 to 49 and 61 percent of adults 50 to 64
(Hoffman, 2017). Social media is still relatively new for them so content needs to be simple yet
engaging.

4. Social Zones
Considering our objectives, budget, and overall direct strategy and segment insights, the
social community zone is our most important one for this campaign. Our objectives focus on
increasing awareness and engagement via social media, with one focused on actually generated
advocacy. So, we want our content to result in sharing, socializing, and conversing throughout
the JMU community. JMU has a strong sense of community that is evident through “Dukes
holding doors”, school spirit, football games, etc. and ORL needs to take advantage of this and
recreate this community online. Specifically, this community could be built through online
member online groups to facilitate conversation and collaboration, like a Facebook group for
parents with kids who live on campus. Also, the ORL could create a brand mascot to help the
brand stay in character, like the Duke Dog JMU mascot. It is important to have a large presence
in this zone to encourage students to want to stay on campus in order to stay involved and
connected and engaged, online and on campus.
We also wanted to incorporate the social entertainment zone because people love to
compete with others to win prizes, especially our Baby Duke and Distinguished Duke audiences.
We plan to use the social entertainment zone as support with our sweepstakes and competitions.
We will use our social platforms to announce these events and allow participants to post their
work and cast their votes to determine winners for these competitions. We can use leaderboards
to show those who leads the competition and even give out achievement badges to the winners of
the competitions and sweepstakes for all to see.

5. Creative Strategy
A. Campaign 1
These would be similar for Facebook, as described below. The link below shows an
example video that could be used. If you have issues opening the video, please contact us.
Tran's Actual Video Recording
Campaign title: Student Stories
Objective(s) met with this Primary Objectives

campaign: Objective One: Increase followers on @jmureslife
Instagram by 25% by using more engaging content targeted
toward students, such as Instagram Stories, sweepstakes,
testimonials, and competitions by August 2021 in order to
increase awareness of the benefits of living on campus.
Objective Two: Increase engagement on @jmureslife
Instagram by 25% through likes, views, and comments by
using more engaging content such as Instagram stories,
sweepstakes, testimonials, and competitions by August

2021 in order to increase the awareness of the benefits of
living on campus.
Objective Three: Increase followers on @jmureslife
Facebook by 25% by using more engaging content targeted
toward JMU parents, such as stories and polls, by August
2021 in order to increase awareness of the benefits of living
on campus.
Objective Four: Increase engagement on the ORL
Facebook page through reactions, views, comments, and
shares by 25% to 11,625 total engagements throughout the
campaign year, August 2020-2021.
Secondary Objective
Objective Five:
Increase the number of students that sign up to live on
campus in order to fill the available beds for upperclassmen
(1,979 beds) by using content that promotes incentives and
activities in current dorms that will make living on campus
seem essential to the college experience, by the Fall 2021
semester.
What stage of the sales Evaluation, Engagement and Acquisition

funnel does this campaign
target (i.e., awareness,
evaluation, acquisition,
engagement, or advocacy)?
When will the campaign 2-3 new testimonials a month, August 2020-2021
run (i.e., month(s), week(s),
etc.)?
What target audience(s) Baby Duke, Distinguished Duke, and Duke Dad
does the campaign appeal
to?
Describe the overall We will take advantage of Instagram and Facebook stories
campaign and experience: by posting testimonial videos of JMU students speaking
about “Why they love/loved living on campus” and “Their
favorite parts about living on campus”. We will choose
students of all ages and backgrounds to highlight the many
benefits of living on campus including things like

convenience engagement, and safety for all students. Rather
than formally interviewing them, we will have them take
selfie videos that make the content more relatable, laid
back, and believable. To kick this campaign off with a
bang, we would use Trang Truong, a JMU senior who lived
in Weaver hall his freshman year and became an RA his
sophomore year to share his favorite things about living on
campus. Tran has a strong social media presence, with 2.9K
followers on Instagram and 2.3K friends on Facebook,
which classifies him as a micro influencer. Tran posts
inspirational videos about working out, makeup, and mental
motivation and really has a positive impact on the JMU
community. He is the perfect student to earn initial
engagement on the campaign. We would post his video on
Instagram and Facebook pages stories initially, and then
repost it onto the profile pages as an actual post to have a
more permanent post that people can look at after the story
is gone. Tran could then have the option to post on his
personal social media accounts to promote the video he
created and earn the ORL more engagement. Throughout
the campaign we will nominate students and accept
volunteers to share their own experiences and tell their
story, these can be done as individuals or with groups. For
example, if a group of suite-mates want to send in a video
they created together, we would love that!
Inspiration for this This campaign was inspired by the success of storytelling
campaign: in marketing. Through research, we found that the ORL
already has video testimonials from students who are or
have been RA’s in the past. During these videos, they are
dressed professionally and formally asked to respond to the
question “Why did you become an RA?”. These videos
generate more engagement than their other posts through
comments because people are tagging each other to watch
their friend who speaks in the video. Using this
information, we created this campaign to build off that
engagement with more relatable content that appeals to the
emotions of our target audience through storytelling. As
mentioned earlier, rather than formally interviewing them,

we will have them take selfie videos that make the content
more relatable, laid back, and believable.
Campaign message (i.e., “Students who live on campus have once-in-a-lifetime

single minded thought that memories that I (my child) should take advantage of while I
you want to elicit from your (they) have the chance.”
target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to Themes include storytelling and inspiration. The tone of

use with justification: voice for the videos include relatability, excitement,
conversational content, and enthusiasm.
Creative appeal: An overall emotional appeal through impactful videos that

generate action. Social appeal because people will want to
feel included in the fun of living on campus. Youth appeal
because you only get this opportunity once-in-a-lifetime.
How will you make your

audience care and what will We will make our audience care by appealing to their
you make them care about emotions through content that is inspiring and shows why
(i.e., emotionally, living on campus is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The
intellectually, aesthetically; ORLs “why” is not about making money, but about
hint: think about the Ted creating a fun and safe community for JMU students to
Talk by Andrew Stanton)? thrive. We will showcase this to get our audience to care.
Target audience(s) will find We would post these videos on Instagram and Facebook
it via (i.e., what platform(s) pages stories initially, and then repost it onto the profile
will you use?): pages as actual posts to have a more permanent post that
people can look at after the story is gone.
They will share and engage They will share and engage with these videos because they
with the content/experience know the students speaking and want to give them a
because: shoutout or they may have a similar experience to the one
told and want to make that known. The JMU network is
strong and large, people will share because of the ties they
have with one another. Duke Dad’s will engage with the
content as well because they video may be of their child, or
relate to their child in some way. Baby Duke’s will engage
with the content because they are excited to experience
these things once they come to JMU!

They may not share or They may not engage with these videos because they don't
engage with the know the student in the video or don’t connect to the story
content/experience because: told. Or, they may not ever see the video because they do
not follow the ORL Instagram and Facebook accounts and
the video was not reported anywhere else.
Resources required: Students who accept the nomination/volunteer and are

willing to share their stories and their personal phone
cameras to create videos.
Key people, organizations, Tran Troung to begin, other JMU micro influencers, and
and/or influencers: JMU students to share their stories, and Alicia to post.
Will you use any hashtags? We will use the hashtags ORL uses currently like:
#DukesLiveSafe #DukesLiveClose #DukesLiveSupported
#DukesLIVEON and #JMU. Additionally, this campaign
will adopt the new hashtag of #Once-In-A-LifeTime.
Cost: No costs for this campaign.
Metrics to measure success For objectives one and three, increasing followers on
(make sure these metrics Instagram and Facebook by 25%, we will measure the
measure the objective(s) number of followers at the end of our yearlong campaign to
listed above): see if we were successful or not.
For objectives two and four, increasing engagement on
Instagram and Facebook by 25%, we will measure likes,
views, and comments on Instagram. To measure
engagement on Facebook, we will use reactions, views,
comments, and shares as our metrics. We can measure
engagement for each video post throughout and see what is
working and what isn't and adjust our plan, but we will use
overall engagement metrics to measure the success at the
end of August 2021.
Lastly, we plan to measure our secondary objective, using a
survey attached to each on-campus lease that asks students
to check or write-in why they chose to live on campus. The
Student Stories social media campaign will be listed
specifically as an option.

B. Campaign 2
Campaign title: Hall Competitions
Objective(s) met with this Primary Objectives:

living on campus.
Secondary Objectives:
Objective Five: Increase the number of students that sign
up to live on campus in order to fill the available beds for
upperclassmen (1,979 beds) by using content that promotes
incentives and activities in current dorms that will make

living on campus seem essential to the college experience,
by the Fall 2021 semester.
What stage of the sales Engagement and Acquisition

When will the campaign Three main competitions throughout the Academic year
run (i.e., month(s), week(s), (August 2020 - May 2021). Specifically, the campaign will
etc.)? last for one week during September with a Back to School
theme, one week in January with a New Year's theme, and
one week in April with a Spring theme.
What target audience(s) Baby Duke and Distinguished Duke

to?
Describe the overall This campaign involves creating competitions between

campaign and experience: different on-campus living Halls. Three times an academic
year, ORL will put on a different competition that aligns
with the seasons or other on-campus events that will have
each hall team up to compete. These competitions include
decorating the common room for a specific season or event
to facilitate creativity and involvement by the residents.
Students can vote on their favorite hall decorations through
polls on Instagram Stories that show pictures of how the
halls are decorated. The winners would receive an
inexpensive yet exciting incentive like pizza or campus
cookies for their hall. This encourages more students to
follow and engage with the ORL Instagram. Additionally,
competition fosters a greater sense of community within
on-campus residents, encouraging them to want to remain
on-campus the next year, helping us reach our fifth
objective.
Inspiration for this In the past, the JMU Alumni Association has put on a
campaign: banner contest for each Freshmen hall on campus. We
want to expand on this to include recurring competitions
sponsored by ORL to increase a sense of community and

engagement with on-campus halls. Additionally, students
love promotions, especially when it involves free food!
Campaign message (i.e., “JMU on-campus housing is an engaging community with

single minded thought that frequent fun activities and events.”
you want to elicit from
your target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to Exciting, competitive, funny

use with justification:
Creative appeal: The creative appeal for this campaign is to foster a sense of
community within those that live on-campus and the
residents different halls. Competition fosters trust among
teammates and will make residents’ identities as on-campus
students' part of their overall social identities as well.

audience care and what will The audience will care emotionally because so many of
you make them care about their peers will be involved and they will want to help out
(i.e., emotionally, their “teammates” (hallmates). Additionally, the food
intellectually, aesthetically; incentives will increase the drive to participate since there
hint: think about the Ted is a desired reward for winning.
Talk by Andrew Stanton)?
Target audience(s) will find

it via (i.e., what platform(s) This will be heavily promoted on Instagram since that is
will you use?): where most of our target audiences spend their time.
Additionally, Instagram includes the “poll” feature on
stories that will allow students to vote on their favorite
decorations.
They will share and engage There is an enticing incentive to winning the competition.
with the content/experience Their friends and peers will also be participating so fear of
because: missing out will work in our favor.
They may not share or The ORL Instagram account is not currently very well-
engage with the known so people who do not follow it will not be able to
content/experience participate.
because:

Resources required: Instagram, incentives
Key people, organizations, Room Advisors, ORL Dorm Staff, Current on-campus
and/or influencers: freshmen
Will you use any hashtags? #DukesliveON #LiveEngaged
Cost: Prize: Pizza or Campus Cookies per event (3 events)

25 large pizzas at $7 each with large order coupon = $175
200 traditional cookies with large order coupon = $180
At least $540
Metrics to measure success We will measure the number of followers on the ORL
(make sure these metrics Instagram page at the start of the campaign, 24 hours
measure the objective(s) following each post during the campaign, and throughout
listed above): the overall timeline of the campaign to see how the
competition and each post affects the followers. We will
also use a Hootsuite account to measure engagement with
each post - likes, views, votes, and comments. We can
measure engagement for each post throughout and see what
is working and what isn't and adjust our plan, but we will
use overall engagement metrics to measure the success at
the end of August 2021.
Our secondary objective is to use the positive response
from this campaign to entice more students to live on-
campus. This will be measured using a survey attached to
each on-campus lease that asks students to check or write-in
why they chose to live on campus. The Hall competition
social media campaign will be listed specifically as an
option to measure the success of the campaign.

C. Campaign 3
Campaign title: Facebook Group for Parents
Objective(s) met with this Objective Four: Increase engagement on the ORL
campaign: Facebook page through reactions, views, comments, and
shares by 25% to 11,625 total engagements throughout the
campaign year, August 2020-2021.
Objective Five:
semester.

What stage of the sales This campaign mostly targets the advocacy part of the
funnel does this campaign sales funnel because parents of students living on campus
target (i.e., awareness, can talk to each other about their child’s experience.
When will the campaign This group will be run year-round with new parents being
run (i.e., month(s), week(s), invited to join the group from posts on our Facebook page.
etc.)?
What target audience(s) Duke Dad

to?
Describe the overall The campaign will be promoted on our Facebook page with
campaign and experience: posts inviting parents to join the group to get more
information about their child's on-campus experience. It
will be a very interactive experience with parents
interacting with us and other parents.
Inspiration for this The inspiration for this came from Ian’s internship this past
campaign: year where he worked in an apartment building and they
had a Facebook group for people who lived there. Also,
JMU students have a group Facebook page for easy
communication and we wanted this same opportunity for
parents.
Campaign message (i.e., The message of this campaign will be “Wow, I am getting
single minded thought that great advice from other JMU parents whose situation is
you want to elicit from your very similar to mine and my children.”
target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to The tone of this campaign will be mostly serious because it
use with justification: can be a place where parents get their questions answered,
share their experiences, and interact with ORL in a
professional way.
Creative appeal: The appeal of this campaign will focus on the building of a
stronger community within the on-campus parent network.

audience care and what will The audience will care because they will enjoy engaging
you make them care about with other parents and they will feel better knowing they
(i.e., emotionally, have a place to go with any questions. It will make them
intellectually, aesthetically; care about the sense of community around their children
hint: think about the Ted and the place they live.
Talk by Andrew Stanton)?

it via (i.e., what platform(s) This campaign will be run on Facebook because most of
will you use?): our target market is found on here more than any other
platform, so it will have the most impressions with the
target market.
They will share and engage They will share and engage with the content because they
with the content/experience will want to be active in their child’s living experience and
because: know things that are going on in their hall and interact with
hallmate and roommate parents.
They may not share or They may not share or engage with the content because
engage with the they might not be active on Facebook and don’t have any
content/experience because: questions because they have another child that has gone
here.
Resources required: Facebook account and promotional posts for the group
Key people, organizations, Someone to monitor the group activity and answer
and/or influencers: questions.
Will you use any hashtags? #OnCampusParents
Cost: No costs for this campaign.
Metrics to measure success To measure objective number three, we are going to see
(make sure these metrics how many people like our Facebook page and are in the
measure the objective(s) Facebook group. This will show how many people are
listed above): interacting with both of our accounts.
To measure objective number five, we will put a question
on the application to live on campus asking the student if

their parents are part of the group and for the
guarantor/parent asking if they are a part of the group.
D. Campaign 4
Campaign title: Dorm of the Week
Objective(s) met with this Primary Objectives:

living on campus.
Secondary Objective:

Objective Five:
semester.
What stage of the sales Engagement and Acquisition

When will the campaign Since there are 28 dorms, we will run the campaign over 28
run (i.e., month(s), week(s), weeks starting the first week in September once the
etc.)? students are back on campus through the end of November.
We will not post throughout December because of
Christmas break and begin again in January through April,
taking advantage of the most popular months that ORL has
engagement with their accounts.
What target audience(s) Baby Duke and Distinguished Duke

to?
Describe the overall Each dorm would have a week dedicated to being all about
campaign and experience: them. To make things simple, we would go in alphabetical
order and begin the week on Monday with a humorous
Instagram post listing characteristic of the dorm as if it
were a person. For Example, Weaver Hall, characteristics
could include: Stays up way too late, always sets the fire
alarm off by burning popcorn, loves the dessert bar from D-
hall and enjoys listening to the roar of Interstate 81 as they
study. Each dorms characteristic would be unique, funny,
and relatable to students who live there or knows someone
who did. This would generate conversation around the ORL
Instagram. Additionally, the ORL should generate a poll on
their story on Wednesdays for each week asking, “What is
your favorite part about living in this dorm?” We will leave
the answers open so that students aren't limited to choosing

an option but can be creative and personable with their
responses. Once students have submitted responses, Alicia
would screenshot and repost these on the accounts story to
again generate conversation amongst the responses and
keep the momentum on engagement from Monday. All of
these posts would be viewable for Baby Duke’s to see
“insider” details of what it’s like to live in each dorm and
find their perfect match which inspires them to come to
JMU!
Inspiration for this This campaign is inspired by the JMU College of Business
campaign: #MarketingMonday where a Marketing student is
nominated each week to be featured as the student of the
week. This feature includes a picture of the student along
with a short bio that tells you a little about them. Although
these posts are more serious, we loved the idea of a “of the
week” campaign and just added a humorous spin to it
instead. Rather than listing things like location, layout, and
specs, we wanted to make the campaign more intriguing by
giving the dorms personas.
Campaign message (i.e., “Haha, those characteristics/poll replies are spot on! Those
single minded thought that are some of the reasons I love living here.” (Makes me get
you want to elicit from your excited to live there!)
target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to The theme of this campaign is comedy and a place to share
use with justification: stories. The campaign is not meant to be a serious but have
a humorous and light-hearted tone of voice. Sometimes
students are overcrowded with serious school work and
content and this will be a nice refresher that makes them
either reminisce and/or get excited for the future.
Creative appeal: This campaign follows an emotional appeal to generate

buzz around each dorm through laughter, nostalgia, and
excitement. For Baby Dukes, this campaign appeals to their
potential of what their future could entail. For
Distinguished Dukes, this campaign appeals to their youth
because they will want to remain living on campus while
they can.

audience care and what will We will make our audience care by appealing to their
you make them care about emotions through content that covers all dorms across
(i.e., emotionally, campus and gives them personable insights to dorm life.
intellectually, aesthetically; Again, the ORLs “why” is not about making money, but
hint: think about the Ted about creating a fun and safe community for JMU students
Talk by Andrew Stanton)? to thrive. We will showcase this to get our audience to care.

it via (i.e., what platform(s) Baby Duke’s and Distinguished Duke’s will find this
will you use?): content on the ORL’s Instagram page. The dorm personas
will be posted via actual posts and the polls will be posted
using stories to make responses quick and easy for users.
They will share and engage Baby Dukes will engage with the content by liking and
with the content/experience commenting to show others why they chose JMU and why
because: they are excited to live in which dorm. Distinguished
Dukes will engage with the dorm personas by commenting
and tagging friends who can relate to the persona for the
dorm they live in. They will also engage with the story
polls by responding to their corresponding dorms week and
replying with their favorite thing! Both target audiences
will engage because they want to be involved in the funny
conversations that this campaign will generate, they won’t
want to be left out.
They may not share or Baby Duke’s may not engage with the content because they
engage with the don’t follow the ORLs Instagram and no one tags them in
content/experience because: the content, so they never see it. Distinguished Duke’s may
not engage with the content for the same reason as the Baby
Duke’s. Also, they may only engage with the content
during the week of the dorm where they live, and no others.
Resources required: A website like Canva to generate cute dorm persona

graphics
Key people, organizations, Alicia to screenshot and post responses to polls

and/or influencers:

Will you use any hashtags? We will use the hashtag #DormOfTheWeek. We will use a
hashtag incorporating the dorms name and area of the
campus that it is located. For example, for Weaver:
#Weaver #TheVillage
Cost: This campaign will not cost anything.
Metrics to measure success To measure the success of Objective one, increasing

(make sure these metrics followers on Instagram by 25%, we will measure the
measure the objective(s) number of followers at the end of our yearlong campaign to
listed above): see if we were successful or not. To measure the success of
Objective two, increasing engagement on Instagram by
25%, we will measure likes and comments on Instagram.
Additionally, we could keep track of the poll responses as
another metric to see if this is a successful way the ORL
could generate engagement in the future. Lastly, we plan to
measure our secondary objective, using a survey attached to
each on-campus lease that asks students to check or write-
in why they chose to live on campus. The Hall of the Week
social media campaign will be listed specifically as an
option.

E. Campaign 5
Campaign title: Sweepstakes
Objective(s) met with this Objective One: Increase followers on @jmureslife

campaign: Instagram by 25% by using more engaging content targeted
living on campus.
Objective Three: Increase followers on @jmureslife
Facebook by 25% by using more engaging content targeted
toward JMU parents, such as stories and polls, by August
2021 in order to increase awareness of the benefits of living
on campus.
Objective Four:

Increase engagement on the ORL Facebook page through
reactions, views, comments, and shares by 25% to 11,625
total engagements throughout the campaign year, August
2020-2021.
What stage of the sales Engagement

When will the campaign A sweepstakes competition will run for a week every other
run (i.e., month(s), week(s), month beginning August 2020 and ending in August 2021.
etc.)?
What target audience(s) Baby Dukes, Distinguished Dukes, Duke Dad

to?
Describe the overall This campaign involves creating a sweepstakes that relates
campaign and experience: to the particular month in which it is taking place. In these
sweepstakes, the ORL Instagram and Facebook accounts
will post an image promoting a particular prize that aligns
with the season. For example, in August 2020 the
sweepstakes will promote Game Day Gear to get students
prepared for the upcoming football season. The prize will
be a $50 gift card to the JMU Bookstore. The way students
and parents will enter will be by (1) Following the ORL
Instagram page, (2) Liking/Following the ORL Facebook
page, and (3) Commenting and tagging friends on either the
Instagram or Facebook posts. Each comment/tagged friend
counts as one entry and participants can comment as many
times as they wish. This will last for one full week and the
winner will be announced on both platforms. This will
occur once every other month throughout the year.
Inspiration for this Many popular social media accounts conduct these
campaign: campaigns in order to get a large amount of people to
follow and engage with content. Specifically, Brickhouse,
a restaurant and bar with a location in Harrisonburg, holds a

sweepstakes for a free pizza every week. As a result, they
sometimes get 100s of comments, all for a $10 pizza.
Campaign message (i.e., “It’s important to follow and engage with the JMU ORL
single minded thought that social media accounts so I don’t miss any important content
you want to elicit from your or free prizes!”
target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to Exciting, school-spirited

use with justification:
Creative appeal: This appeal is more rational since most people have
nothing to lose by following or commenting on a social
media post, but a lot to potentially gain.

audience care and what will ORL will need to heavily emphasize how exciting the
you make them care about prize for the sweepstakes is by relating it to the students’
(i.e., emotionally, and parents’ as much as possible. For example, the first
intellectually, aesthetically; gift card for the bookstore will need to advertise how
hint: think about the Ted important it is to have a lot of JMU gear for the extremely
Talk by Andrew Stanton)? popular football games that are coming up in the fall. Most
people will already be wanting to purchase some kind of
JMU attire, so getting it for free is a really enticing
incentive.

it via (i.e., what platform(s) The posts on Instagram will be targeted toward the
will you use?): incoming and current JMU freshmen. The posts on
Facebook will target the parents of these students. That
way, the content will more closely align with the typical
users on each platform.
They will share and engage Free money and prizes are an extremely enticing incentive,
with the content/experience especially when the risk is so small, and the reward is so
because: great. There is little work involved for the user to get a
significant prize.

They may not share or Because the ORL social media accounts aren’t currently
engage with the super popular, it will be important to spread the word
content/experience because: heavily in the first month so that users are aware of the
sweepstakes.
Resources required: Instagram, Facebook, Funds for the prizes
Key people, organizations, Alicia to make the posts, different JMU-related locations
and/or influencers: for gift cards or prizes, the students and parents to spread
the word.
Will you use any hashtags? #DukesliveON #DukesLiveEngaged #DukeLliveSupported
Cost: Prizes: Bookstore Voucher, Starbucks Gift Card, Dunkin

Gift Card, Chick-Fil-A Gift Card, other gift cards or prizes
that are accessible to on-campus students. Each prize will
be worth $50 with seven sweepstakes in total, meaning the
total cost will be $350.
Metrics to measure success We will measure the number of followers on the ORL
(make sure these metrics Facebook and Instagram pages at the start of the campaign,
measure the objective(s) 24 hours following each post during the campaign, and
listed above): throughout the overall timeline of the campaign to see how
the sweepstakes and each post affects the followers. We
will also use a Hootsuite account to measure engagement
with each post - reactions, shares, likes, views, and
comments. We can measure engagement for each post
throughout and see what is working and what isn't and
adjust our plan, but we will use these overall engagement
metrics to measure the success at the end of August 2021.

F. Campaign 6
Campaign title: TikTok
Objective(s) met with this Objective Six:

campaign: Create an ORL TikTok account that gains 1,000 users
throughout our yearlong campaign through funny and
relatable content that targets our incoming freshman
audience.
What stage of the sales Awareness

When will the campaign Three or four times per week depending on the follower's
run (i.e., month(s), week(s), reactions, all year long. At the beginning, we will post
etc.)? every day to get more followers to follow the account.

What target audience(s) Baby Dukes and Distinguished Dukes
to?
Describe the overall This campaign involves the funny videos about the JMU
campaign and experience: dorms that not only can introduce to high school students
who are interested in JMU what the JMU’s on-campus life
look like in a visual way, but also can catch more attention
from current JMU students to change their mind to live on-
campus. We could have short videos that showcase students
in their natural “dorm life” habitat. We could also use the
JMU Duke Dog mascot to be the face of our TikTok
account. We could even have Duke Dog recreate some of
the most popular TikToks throughout different dorm
locations on campus. These videos would be funny and
give JMU ORL a presence on a new social media platform.
Inspiration for this People are becoming more and more “lazy” in that they
campaign: would rather learn through visual ways, like videos, rather
than reading about something, hence using TikTok. In
addition, TikTok is becoming more and more famous in
young generations so this is the perfect platform to get their
attention.
Campaign message (i.e., “Know more about JMU on-campus life through TikTok!
single minded thought that So much fun that you won’t want to miss it!”
you want to elicit from your
target audience(s):
Theme(s)/tone of voice to The theme of this campaign is funny and trendy by jumping
use with justification: on the trend of TikTok. The tone of voice includes being
humorous and light hearted to appeal to our younger target
audiences.
Creative appeal: This campaign follows an emotional appeal that will get
people to laugh during the videos and also a social appeal
because the audience will want to share these videos to
their parents and friends to spark conversations.

audience care and what will The audience will care because they want to know what
you make them care about college life looks like at JMU before they commit to a
(i.e., emotionally, decision. In addition, they may want to show their parents
intellectually, aesthetically; so that they are at ease about them growing up by showing
hint: think about the Ted them a glimpse of what life would look life by themselves.
Talk by Andrew Stanton)? Although these videos will be funny, they will make the
audience care by appealing to their emotions of laughter
and happiness. The videos will show that JMU is fun and
will keep the audience wanting to come back and stay
current with the videos posted.

it via (i.e., what platform(s) Via the TikTok app where we will upload the videos and
will you use?): people can share, like, and comment on our content.
They will share and engage They will share and engage with this TikTok account
with the content/experience because they think a video is funny to share with friends to
because: give each other a laugh. On the other hand, they might
share to their parents to show them what the JMU dorm life
is all about.
They may not share or They will not share and engage with this TikTok video
engage with the because they don't have a TikTok account. In addition,
content/experience because: they will not share it because they might think it is a boring
video and will just skip it.
Resources required: TikTok app, Duke Dog Mascot, students willing to feature
in videos
Key people, organizations, Someone knows how to make a TikTok video, and
and/or influencers: someone can create scenarios in a funny way to introduce
the life of on-campus, Alicia to regulate
Will you use any hashtags? We will use the hashtags like #DormLife, #JMUTikTok,
#FunnyCollegeLife.
Cost: This campaign will not cost anything.

Metrics to measure success To measure the success of this objective, we will measure
(make sure these metrics followers. Goal is to gain 1,000 users throughout the year,
measure the objective(s) meaning on average around 90 users every month increase.
listed above):
6. Activation Plan and Social Media Content Calendar
To implement this plan successfully, the Social Media team will need to create all content
in advance and start the campaign year with posts ready to go. We recommend that the ORL uses
Hootsuite as their social media management tool to make sure that all campaigns are run
according to the content calendar. This is a great way to ensure execution of the campaign and
maximize the success rate for the ORL to meet their objectives. Additionally, Hootsuite provides
analytical feedback that the ORL can use throughout the year to understand what is working and
what’s not and adjust their plan accordingly. These analytical tools will also show the success of
the overall campaign at the end of the year. Alicia Lamb, the Social Media and Marketing
Coordinator, and the potential Social Media Assistant that ORL is planning to hire will be in
charge of posting all of the content and purchasing the respective prizes.
The campaign will last for a year in total, beginning in August 2020 and ending in
August 2021. The testimonials, parents’ Facebook group, and TikTok will last throughout the
year with regular posts. The Hall competitions will occur three times a year in September,
January, and April to regularly instill a sense of community within on-campus residents and
create an enticing reward for future residents. The sweepstakes will take place every other
month so that users will want to stay following and engaged with the ORL accounts so that they
do not miss any free prizes. The Dorm of the Week campaign will run every week beginning in
September and ending in April. There will be a break in posting during the month of December
since this month consists of finals and winter break.

The overall budget for the yearly marketing campaign was $1,500. Foremost, ORL
should plan to spend $29.99 month for a Hootsuite Professional account which would amount to
$360 for the year that this plan is scheduled to run. This is key in measuring and comparing the
engagement metrics on social media accounts. Additionally, the Hall Competition campaign will
require at least $540.00. We came to this number after calculating that each JMU Hall would
require either 25 large pizzas from Dominos or 200 traditional Campus Cookies, depending on
the prize that the Hall chooses. With large order coupons, 25 large pizzas at $7.00 each would
amount to $175.00 and 200 traditional cookies would amount to $180.00. Assuming each hall
chooses the more expensive option, ORL would need $540 to ensure that either option is
accessible for all three of the hall competitions. Finally, the sweepstakes for require $350 to
allow for a $50 gift card or prize for each of the seven months that the sweepstakes take place.
This adds up to $1,250 total spending, leaving a cushion of $250 for any unforeseen costs.
The client’s overall long-term objective is to get students to sign leases to live on-campus
for a second year. As a means to this end, the client wishes to increase their reach and
engagement on their social media platforms, specifically their Facebook and Instagram profiles.
As a result, we chose to focus heavily on these two platforms since the target audiences most
frequently use these and there is already a significant following base to grow upon. We included
a TikTok campaign to try and capture more of the Baby Duke target audience since research is
showing that current high schoolers are using this platform more and more frequently. In order
to ensure that the plan is consistent, many of the campaigns will cross-promote on different
platforms and will always include ORL’s core hashtags (#DukesLIVEON, etc.) They will also
be required to follow JMU’s style guidelines to promote a consistent look and tone across
platforms.

7. Manage and Measure
We will assess the effectiveness of our social media campaign in many different ways
depending on which platform we are posting our social content on. For Instagram, we will assess
our effectiveness on the number of likes, views, and comments that we get for each post that we
make as well as the number of followers that we gain during the time period we are running our
campaign. For Facebook, we will be doing the same thing, but we will also look at the number of
shares that our posts get too. During our social media campaign, we will assess effectiveness on
TikTok by keeping track of our followers and trying to reach our goal of about 90 new followers
a month or 1,000 during the campaign. We will also assess which campaigns had the most
impact on students who signed to live on campus by sending them a survey to complete with
their lease.
We will use the money allocated in our budget to purchase Hootsuite to collect this data
and help plan out our posts. We will also put a question on our application to live on campus
asking if they follow our accounts or if their parents do and are a part of our Facebook group.

JMU’s Office of Residence Life must abide by the policies and procedures as well as the and
style guide that is provided to them by the university. Our voice must be professional and
appropriate to the audience that we are targeting. Our client should be aware that we are using
testimonials from JMU students that live on campus and that what they say is an opinion and not
to be viewed as fact. They should also be aware that when we give out our JMU Bookstore gift
cards, or other companies’ gift cards or prizes, we are not directly affiliated with those
companies. Our client should also be aware that the people and pictures in our videos our posts
were taken with the permission of the people in them.

Works Cited
About the Author When not playing around with words. (2017, August 22). Everything Social
Marketers Need to Know About Micro-Influencers. Retrieved from
https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-marketers-micro-influencers/.
Competitor Analysis for Digital Marketers: Rival IQ. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://app.rivaliq.com/analyze/instagram#.
Defining Brand. (2019, June 5). Retrieved from
https://www.jmu.edu/identity/defining-brand/index.shtml.
Emily, & Hootsuite. (2019, May 27). Top 5 Social Media Trends in 2019 (And How Brands
Should Adapt). Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-trends/.
Hoffman, C. (2017, November 15). Social media apps have changed the way parents, college
students keep in touch. Retrieved from
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/social-media-apps-have-
changed-the-way-parents-college-students/article_7a95c74c-b047-11e7-a81d-
fb73ba20a253.html.
JMU - Office of Residence Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/jmureslife/.
JMU - Office of Residence Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.facebook.com/jmureslife/.
Like, Love, Delete: Social Media's Influence on College Choice. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.nacacnet.org/news--publications/journal-of-college-admission/social-medias
-influence-on-college-choice/.
McCollum, C. (2017, November 29). Cabrini University Student Media. Retrieved from

https://www.theloquitur.com/top-social-media-apps-for-college-students/.
Media Relations and Social Media Publishing. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.jmu.edu/JMUpolicy/policies/1508.shtml.
Office of Residence Life: First Year Housing. (2019, October 18). Retrieved from
https://www.jmu.edu/orl/housing/first-year.shtml.
Our Brand. (2019, June 5). Retrieved from
https://www.jmu.edu/identity/our-brand/index.shtml.
Ras, J.-P. (2019, October 30). Why you should not solely rely on Facebook organic reach for
your business. Retrieved from
https://rasdigitalmarketing.com/why-you-should-not-solely-rely-on-facebook-organic-rea
ch-for-your-business.

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Social Media Marketing Plan

The Office of Residence Life at James Madison University

August 1, 2020- August 31, 2021

Ian Dworak, SiYao Li, Bonnie Nicholson, Ashley Rice

Social Media Marketing

Dr. Kelly Naletelich

C. Social Media Audit/Social Media Presence…………………………………………..…11

2. Social Media Objectives and Budgeting………………………………………………………19

3. Target Audience Insights and Social Media Personas ………………………………………..22

6. Activation Plan and Social Media Content Calendar…………………………………………52

7. Manage and Measure………………………………………………………………………….54

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 2

could be further enhanced to increase engagement.

accounts more inclined to interact with the ORLs’.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 3

university’s brand guide.

JMU’s Mission: We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 4

monetary budget of $1,500.

Communications, employees who have permission to communicate through media must

the decision of where these students live.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 5

the students, and Facebook for the parents.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 6

showing the engagement rate per post

for their Instagram at 7.98%, which is

higher than the engagement rate per

post for JMU Office of Residence

Life Instagram account at 4.04%. The

Instagram account’s engagement total

Life needs to post more on their social media accounts.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 7

below shows one example of North 38 promoting a chance to win

a $500 giveaway, something that the ORL could not do.

This is a competitive advantage that the apartments and

when executing their social media strategies. In addition to these

three main competitor groups, students also have the option to

live in actual houses, like in the downtown area. We chose not to

ORL since there is a different process when it comes to renting a

house from a private owner.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 8

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 9

with a smaller budget.

age range of many current and incoming college students.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 10

appreciation, on campus housing information, and campus related events.

Focusing on the ORL’s Facebook and Instagram social

Residence Life underneath, in purple. Both profile descriptions

highlight the foundation of on campus living: live safe, live

supported, live close, and live engaged. Following JMU

photography guidelines, they post photos of students engaging and

interacting to represent the energy of the Madison Experience.

Dworak, Li, Nicholson, Rice 11

using hashtags that include “JMU” or other specific JMU

elements to enhance their posts. Specifically, they use the

hashtags “#DukesLiveSafe #DukesLiveClose

#DukesLiveSupported #DukesLIVEON” often to highlight

points to create taglines by embracing the “doing the thing”

construct”. For example, turning the point “Live Close” into

“Living the Closest”.

When looking on the official JMU social media directory,

only Facebook and Twitter are linked, which is ironic because