HFU SNAPCHAT

AMBASSADOR PROPOSAL
Snapchat is quickly becoming one of the most popular social media tools for colleges and
universities. It is adaptable to just about any social media experience, from wanting a more
private social media presence to being able to show a photo or video to everyone you are
connected with. Smith from Digital Marketing Ramblings, a site that shares digital stats, that
there are a total of ten billion Snapchat video views daily. It is revolutionary in that it is
personal, yet it gives any audience a glimpse into the lives of the user, something that is not as
often seen on other social media platforms that are mainly used for selfies.

Holy Family University | 9801 Frankford Ave | Philadelphia, PA 19114

WHAT UNIVERSITIES ARE DOING
More people are joining the Snapchat community and universities are utilizing this new
groundbreaking way to reach out to their current students and possible incoming students.
Princeton University does Snapchat Saturdays where they feature students Snapchats on
their Facebook photo album created for Snapchat. Colorado State University used Snapchat to
interact with their students over the summer, hosting a contest with the hashtag
#stateofsummer, where students shared photos of their summer vacation. Whoever had the
most creative photo is given a prize. This encourages student activity because students are
always motivated by a prize. They also use Snapchat to showcase some of their sports teams
during game night. Sometimes students cannot make it, and the university knows that, so they
utilize Snapchat as a way to let the students see previews of the games for themselves.

CUPRAP: A LOOK INTO MIT

Every year the College and University of Public Relations and Associated Professionals hosts a
Professional Development Conference. This past spring, Heather Dotchel, Executive Director of
Marketing & Communications at Holy Family University and David Pavlak, Communications
Specialist, attended the conference, listening to the story behind MITs (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology) success. MIT is taking advantage the benefits of Snapchat, but in its own
creative way. They provide their students with behind-the-scenes access of what goes on on
campus, again something much more doable on something like Snapchat, where pictures are
only up for 24 hours and users are notified if any screen shots of their photos are taken. Kellen
Manning, social media manager for MIT, discussed how Snapchat is now the most popular
social media platform for high school students and young adults in college. MITs Snapchat has
a total of 2,500 followers to date. Their student engagement is that much stronger because they
are interacting with so many of their students on the most popular social media platform,
surpassing student outreach that cannot be done through Facebook and Instagram because
that is not where college students are at anymore.

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SEPCHE SCHOOLS AND SNAPCHAT
Immaculata Universitys Admissions Counselor Owen Logue created a Snapchat for the
university, which he says on his LinkedIn page that it has shown to be a useful recruiting and
incentive tool.

Rosemont College also has a Snapchat (Rosemont1921), which according to their Twitter
account is used for campus contests and student snaps.

Neumann University lists its social media channels on its website, including Snapchat
(NeumannUniv).

Gwynedd Mercy University recently used its Snapchat (GMercyU) to showcase its students
traveling abroad.

Arcadia University posted on their Instagram that they have officially arrived on Snapchat
(ArcadiaU). They handed the account over to a student for 24 hours, where she showcased
what someone can do on campus.

5 out of 8 SEPCHE (The Southeastern Pennsylvania Consortium for Higher Education) schools
are utilizing Snapchat. Out of the 3 schools that are not using Snapchat, Holy Family University
is one of them.

HOW TO MEASURE ANALYTICS

Snapchat comes with a feature to be able to see who is on your Friends List much like how
Facebook works. However, unlike Facebook, Snapchat allows you to be able to see how many
people view picture you post on your Snapchat story. Not only that, but the Snapchat story also
allows someone to be able to see who specifically viewed the photo.

The Holy Family University Admissions office runs a Snapchat account. Timothy ODriscoll,
Assistant Director of Admissions, stated, The goal of our Snapchat is to connect with
prospective students so they can see examples of what it's like to be a student.

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Time Magazine shared data about how to analyze Snapchat.

To find Completion Rate: Divide total views in the last snap from the total views in first snap.

957,000 / 1,100,000 = 87% completion rate, meaning 87% of the audience watched every snap
posted.

To find Screenshot Rate: Divide total screenshots from the total views in any given snap.

957,000 / 29,600 32.33% screenshot completion, meaning 32.33% of the audience is

engaged in the snaps.

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When someone takes a screenshot of your photo on Snapchat, you get a notification. A college
will post a picture with the caption If youre reading this, take a screenshot! What a lot of
colleges found that sometimes there could be a much different ratio of who saw the photo vs.
who actually took the time to look at the photo and see what was being said because there
could be 100 views, but only 30 students actually took a screenshot like the caption requested.

HOW TO PROMOTE OUR SNAPCHAT

Each Snapchat user has his own code. It is very similar to a barcode in a store that matches
up with a specific item. Snapchatters can take a screenshot of their code box and post it on
other social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. What other
Snapchatters will do is take a photo of that barcode on Snapchat and that person will
automatically start following you. Each Snapchat user also has a specific screenname. If the
university promotes their Snapchat on their other social media platforms, including the
screenname will make it easier for others to follow.

Like many other times, promotion through e-mail is always encouraged because the university is
able to reach the entire student body, staff and faculty. On this e-mail, including the barcode
photo as well as the screenname will make it very easy for others to be able to add the
university to their snapchat following.

HOW TO FIND SNAPCHAT AMBASSADORS

Holy Family University has a lot to offer through creating a Snapchat. For one, the university
already has its own Snapchat filter that anyone on campus can use. There are so many fun
events that go on all year round from student orientations, to open houses, to the annual food
truck festival, to Christmas Rose, etc. Even showing the average week of a student going to
class, hitting the books at the library and other regular campus activities can appeal to creating
university activity with its students. Recently, a Social Media minor was added where students
are expected to take the newly created Social Media class.

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Marketing intern Alyssa Reyes set up a meeting with Dr. Amanda McClain who will be teaching
Social Media in Spring 2017. Dr. McClain was enthused that Holy Family was trying to include
Snapchat in their student engagement because she has seen many other colleges incorporate
Snapchat into their social media presence. She also included that she would gladly and very
easily incorporate the use of Snapchat in her class, willing to partner up and be a part of the
Snapchat student ambassador program. Students could be asked as part of the class to sign up
for a week where they can be the Ambassador. It would be a great way to incorporate hands on
experience with a social media platform most students are already familiar with. For students
that are not as familiar with it, this would be a good way to get more comfortable with the app.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that the social media class is only offered in the spring.
Digital Media is offered in the fall terms, a class also being currently taught by Dr. Amanda
McClain. Students in the class are encouraged to rent an iPad (for free) provided by the school,
so that they can utilize Twitter and Facebook as part of class interaction. Every week, there is an
assigned Facebook Ambassador who updates the schools Communications Facebook page
throughout the week. Similarly, there could be a class Snapchatter, using their provided iPad or
their own smartphone to document their week.

Both of these classes cover each semester (with the exception of summer) and this would be an
appropriate start for student recruitment. If the project becomes bigger than expected, then
other students from other classrooms and majors may take part in it. For times like the summer
where these classes are not offered, students a part of the Student Government Association
(SGA) can be contacted and asked to run the Snapchat when there are student orientations and
open houses.

SUMMARY OF EXPECTATIONS
Open to any student
o Directed towards Social Media minor students and students participating in Digital
Media class. Ambassadors can branch out to other students later if the program
finds success.
Students can post anything except the following

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 o No alcohol
o No swearing
o No drugs
o No nudity or sexual content
o No personal promotion (i.e. sharing personal snapchat account)
o No violence/harassment
Student controls account for the week
o Mainly show their weekly Holy Family University experience
o FIRST POST: A 10 second video introduction that includes themselves, what they
study, and what they hope to show us during the week.
Monitored by Dave Pavlak
o Will randomize and hand out account password
At the end of the week, when student has shown their participation, they can pick up their
official HFU Social Media Ambassador T-Shirt at the Marketing/Communications
Department and take one final Snapchat photo of themselves with their new shirt.