Viral content strategy for universities and schools
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The document outlines strategies for creating shareable content that engages stakeholders by moving away from static formats to interactive and modular content. It emphasizes the importance of emotional connection, awe, and providing value through entertainment or education to encourage content sharing. Additionally, it offers examples of successful campaigns and tips for fostering a culture of viral content in educational institutions.
Viral content strategy for universities and schools
- 1. GOING VIRAL How to develop content your stakeholders want to share EDUCATEPLUS CONFERENCE 2014 #educate_plus CAMERON PEGG GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY [email protected]
- 2. CAMERON PEGG @ghostwhowrites | au.linkedin.com/in/cameronpegg/ ⢠#highered communications, publications and alumni engagement specialist ⢠Lecturer and course coordinator â journalism, creative writing and professional communication ⢠Feature writer and reviewer â The Australian ⢠Contributor â CASE Blog and CURRENTS magazine
- 3. MOST OF THE DIGITAL CONTENT THAT UNIVERSITIES CREATE IS NOT SHARED BY A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF PEOPLE. WHY? We need to move from a STATIC âBANNERâ approach to embrace modular content which is interactive, shareable and mobile.
- 4. EMBRACE THE NEW RULES OF CONTENT ď§ The empowered consumer will bypass or ignore communications that arenât relevant and donât add value to their lives ď§ Content MUST provide entertainment, education or utility ď§ Apply this rule to all content that you create from now on. Does it pass the test?
- 5. WHY DO PEOPLE SHARE CONTENT IN THE FIRST PLACE? Berger and Milkman (University of Pennsylvania) describe the âemotional communionâ facilitated by content sharing. The traits of viral content ď§ Surprising ď§ Interesting ď§ Intense ď§ Positive ď§ Actionable
- 6. SHARING âWe anticipated that people would share articles with practical information about health or gadgets, and they did, but they also sent articles about paleontology and cosmology. Youâd see articles shooting up the list were about the optics of deer visionââ study researchers
- 7. ONE TRAIT STOOD OUT IN BERGER AND MILKMANâS RESEARCH
- 8. AWE Itâs time to consider awe as your core business
- 9. This does not inspire awe:.... University X improves in world rankings
- 10. This does not inspire awe either:... You should give to our Annual Appeal
- 11. AWE IN ACTION Watch how Stanford generated two million YouTube views in less than 48 hours
- 12. UNDERSTANDING AWE âIf Iâve just read this story that changes the way I understand the world and myself, I want to talk to others about what it means. I want to proselytize and share the feeling of awe. If you read the article and feel the same emotion, it will bring us closer togetherâ â viral content researcher Jonah Berger
- 13. CREATING EMOTIONAL COMMUNION If a bank can create an emotional connection between customers, a school or university certainly can!
- 14. CREATING EMOTIONAL COMMUNION If a bank can create an emotional connection between customers, a school or university certainly can! CAMERON PEGG GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY âThe essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusionâ â Donald Caine
- 15. HARNESSING THE POWER OF SURPRISE How did the Central Institute of Technology in Perth generate more than three million views of its campaign ad?
- 16. A RECRUITMENT VIDEO WITH A TWIST John Paul College ad featuring Gotye.
- 17. DEALING WITH THE CYNICS
- 18. CUTTING THROUGH IN THE AGE OF DISTRACTION What do the rise of these sites reveal about audience behaviour?
- 19. A SIGN OF THE TIMES Spotted at my local gym
- 20. INCONVENIENT TRUTH People are too busy to notice anything, let alone share it, unless it moves them, teaches them something new, or entertains them⌠THE
- 21. LEARNING FROM THE OATMEAL
- 22. YOUR GOAL Make your message worth their time
- 23. GAMIFICATION AND VIRAL CONTENT FREERICE
- 24. Freerice is an online game that was created in 2007 by a developer, and donated to the UN World Food Programme in 2009. In 2010, an updated version was launched to encourage social media sharing among users. Players answer multiple-choice questions. For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the world Food Programme. CASE STUDY FREERICE
- 25. 101, 415, 929, 916 grains of rice have been donated since the game was launched
- 26. ARE YOU USING REDDIT?
- 27. REDDIT AS AN INCUBATOR OF VIRAL CONTENT Reddit is a collection of themed discussion forums that is often referred to as âthe front page of the Internetâ. Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions allow users to post questions, with the âOPâ (operator) choosing which ones to answer. The content generated is then voted on using redditâs âup/downâ rankings system. The more upvotes, the higher the score, meaning your post is seen by more users.
- 28. This is what happened when a group of astronomy graduate students from Cornell held a reddit AMA in 2013 Not terribly surprising â people are ENGAGED by astrophysics. Think of the disciplines at your school that could encourage a conversation like this and activate them.
- 29. ARE YOU USING INFOGRAPHICS? University research represents untapped infographic gold... Pair your writers and designers to create infographics that extend media releases and make complex, esoteric research more tangible.
- 30. SMITH COLLEGE GRADUATE DESTINATIONS
- 31. GREAT INFOGRAPHICS ENCOURAGE ENGAGEMENT Smith alumni were inspired to comment on the infographic on Facebook and share their own success stories.
- 32. COLLEGE MASCOT INFOGRAPHIC 1100 mascots mapped
- 33. WHILE WEâRE ON THE TOPIC OF COLLEGE MASCOTS Can you image this as your homepage?
- 34. WHILE WEâRE ON THE TOPIC OF COLLEGE MASCOTS Can you image this as your homepage? Oberlin College in Ohio took over its homepage on April Fools Day in 2012 with a cheeky animated homage to their unofficial campus mascot, an albino squirrel (the design referenced a viral Japanese video from 2011). The longer you watched the squirrel, the more points you received. Visitors were able to share their âscoreâ via Twitter, with the page receiving a 700% increase in daily views, mostly from new visitors.
- 35. BECAUSE I AM A GIRL CAMERON PEGG GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
- 38. A CHALLENGE FOR THOSE IN THE AUDIENCE HOW MIGHT YOU VISUALISE DATA TO: ⢠Celebrate fundraising goals ⢠Encourage people to give ⢠Connect with alumni ⢠Generate media attention for your institution
- 39. THE ART OF NEWSJACKING âThe act of redirecting the momentum from breaking news into your companyâs favour by injecting a fresh perspective in real timeâ
- 40. THE CSIRO NEWSJACKS STAR WARS DAY
- 41. In 2013, the CSIRO planned a media campaign around their robotics research lab to coincide with the annual âMay the Fourth Be With Youâ day, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. Media releases, blog posts, images and video were created to capitalise on the media interest in the day. More than 430,000 impressions were generated by 165 tweets promoting CSIROâs robotics work. Major news orgs and prominent journalists helped seed this activity.
- 42. OREOâS DAILY TWIST CAMPAIGN How can your institution extend the SOCIAL CONVERSATIONS that are already taking place?
- 43. THE BEST NEWSJACK OF THEM ALL⌠Oreo conceived and tweeted this image when the power momentarily went out at the 2013 Superbowl.
- 44. CAN DOGS REALLY DRIVE?
- 45. DRIVING D GS CAMPAIGN The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in New Zealand collaborated with MINI to teach three shelter dogs how to drive a modified MINI Cooper S. The goal was to get people to think differently about shelter animals and to consider adopting them as pets. ⢠More than 10 million views of the original YouTube video ⢠Estimated total audience/media reach was 230,540,469 people ⢠Every SPCA dog was adopted
- 46. CREATING A VIRAL CONTENT CULTURE AT YOUR SCHOOL COLLABORATE Break down existing staff silos and encourage everyone to contribute ideas VISUALS FIRST Think visually at all times METRICS Update your metrics and increase âviral literacyâ among decision makers RE-ENGINEER YOUR HOMEPAGE Ditch the corporate messages and promote what is trending EXPAND YOUR REACH Include prominent bloggers and potential brand ambassadors in your media lists
- 47. A QUICK RECAP C A M E R O N P E G G GR IFF ITH UN IVE RSI TY
- 48. A QUICK RECAP SURPRISING ENTERTAINING INFORMATIVE USEFUL (AWE) INSPIRING
- 49. YOUR NEW JOB