Communicating with Faculty Using Social Media

Transcription

1 Communicating with Faculty Using Social Media RESEARCH FUNDING & DEVELOPMENT SERVICES Rachel Dresbeck, Ph.D., Director, Research Development & Communication Oregon Health & Science University

2 Oregon Health & Science University Portland, Oregon 2 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

3 VEHICLES USED TO COMMUNICATE WITH RESEARCHERS AT OHSU Research News blog Created to avoid sending lots of s Research News bi-weekly Sent to all faculty, research staff, admins, postdocs, and other subscribers (approx 5,000) Weekly Funding Alerts 400 opt-in subscribers, also posted on the web Occasional targeted Important policy changes or events Flyers Usually posted near elevators to advertise events Postdoc Facebook page 98 followers. Post info about events, funding opportunities for postdocs, interesting articles Very rarely: Snail mail Faculty welcome letters, postcards to advertise Research News 3 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

4 WHY SOCIAL MEDIA? Who wants to get 500 s a day? Our read rate for newsletters was 30-35% Everyone ignores , even from the Vice President Wanted to achieve better penetration for important information Wanted to give opportunity for direct feedback Wanted to give postdocs a sense of community Gives users more control over how and when they can get information We added a Facebook widget to our postdoc site to promote integration and validity of social media. 4 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

5 DRIVING TRAFFIC TO OUR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES Research News blog gets 7,000-11,000 page views per month Bi-weekly opt-out news digest is the main driver of traffic (sent to all faculty, research staff, administrators, postdocs, and other subscribers) Feeds on the OHSU intranet Content researchers actually want to read news you can use Short, easy-to-remember vanity URL: Use images and embedded YouTube videos whenever possible Link to Research News in our signatures Collaboration with other bloggers at OHSU (i.e. Staff News, Cancer Institute blog) Postcard sent to all readers saying Got questions about research? Postdoctoral Fellows Facebook page Sent an to all postdocs asking them to Like our page When you highlight an individual or cool article, tend to get more Likes Widget on our Postdoctoral Fellows webpage 5 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

6 WHAT DO PEOPLE READ? OHSU Research News High profile, new faculty recruits Funding opportunities (including internal opportunities and limited submissions) Major discoveries or publications by colleagues Events (visiting speakers, lecture series, career development workshops) Policy changes and news from the NIH Examples of high traffic posts: One step closer to developing an HIV vaccine Kenton Gregory, M.D., joins OHSU New guidelines posted for Tartar Trust Fellowships Pay down your loans with the NIH Loan Repayment Program How would a government shutdown affect you? Researchers enjoy hearing about their colleagues. 6 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

7 MEASURING SUCCESS Use ing marketing software (ActiveCampaign, Mail Chimp, etc.) Track how many people are opening and interacting with the s you send Aim for at least 25-30% read rate, 5-10% click rate Read rates will be higher for opt-in s, less for opt-out s These programs can also show you WHO is reading your s Track web and blog traffic with Google Analytics Track trends over time Does your traffic increase when you post internal funding opportunities? When you send out newsletters? Set goals Metrics can help you figure out what s working and what s not. Using your current traffic metrics as a starting point, set realistic goals and track your progress monthly. 7 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

8 THINGS WE VE LEARNED COMMUNICATING WITH FACULTY Know your audience Make it very clear who your blog post is targeting. Readers should know within the first sentence or two if something is relevant to just junior faculty or everyone. Reference the name of the speaker first, in the title if possible. Researchers care more about who is talking than the title of the talk. Subject lines/headlines are critical Remember, people are busy Avoid bureaucratic language. No one will read what you have to say unless they feel its relevance. Be human. We try to use real OHSU researchers, not stock photos! 8 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services

9 QUESTIONS? Contact us at Research News: Find Funding: Postdoctoral Fellows: Thanks to Katie Wilkes, Program Manager for Research Funding & Development Services, for her hard work on these slides! 9 OHSU Research Funding & Development Services