Hannah Wagner Writing for Public Relations Cindy Vincent Communication Plan

Introduction:

The Communications department at Salem State University instills strong values in their students and prepares us for stepping out into the work force. The work being done here is exemplary and we just need to shift our focus on how we showcase this work and get others involved. Connecting with our community within and without of the department is the next crucial step for us in our journey. Objectives: 1. Create a greater sense of community within the department 2. Increase social media viewers and followers by 25% 3. Connect with the media of the Salem community

Target Audience Internal: 1. Staff and Faculty 2. Current Students External: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Salem residents/surrounding community Potential Staff Local Businesses Prospective Students Undeclared Students

Communication Audit
Methodological Approach: I am creating this audit in order to assess the needs of the Communications department at Salem State University. I am looking into their website on the Salem State page and assessing all social media outlets to see if the messages are reaching the target audience in a clear and

effective way. The Salem State website states that The Communications Department is committed to providing a teaching and learning experience which challenges and supports students to think critically, communicate effectively and act ethically. The curriculum is designed to familiarize students with the current theories and practices of the hectically changing, increasingly diverse and technologically driven environments of advertising, public relations, journalism and related fields. My places for research are the four communications strategies of the department (website, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr) and seeing where they excel and where they can improve. I find that the students needs are more postings about resources for us. Places where we can go to find internships and what we can do to be more involved on campus. When I say more involved I mean in the sense that we can take everything we are learning in class and apply it in outside programs. The student theatre ensemble has a publicist position, in program council you can work on event planning, and after doing research I found out we have a student run newspaper. How we can get involved with these and other groups like them would be immensely helpful to our students. Generally what I heard from people was more updates about what it happening right now in the department would be helpful; for the staff and the students. Audit Results: The website is one of the strongest of our outlets. There are many sections on the website that provide detailed information about the different services the department provides. My assessment for the webpage is that it is a wonderful resource for incoming students, their parents and potential employees. Anyone that is not already affiliated with Salem State gets a great overview of what the department can offer and do for them. For current employees and students

the website is not the best resource. Most of the information we are already aware of. The sections that are the most beneficial to us news and events is empty and internships has no information on where to apply for them. The next best communications strategy is our Facebook page. I was impressed with the breadth of information posted. We posted on a variety of different topics that I believe reach out to the whole spectrum of our target audience. Facebook does a much better job of reaching out to the current students and faculty and also I noticed it was information that would appeal to the surrounding community. There was helpful information about events going on in the department but also interesting news stories that would keep people coming back to the page. The biggest issue was that we dont keep up with it. The last post was in December and before that was September. We are on the right track with the content we just need to stay on top of it. Our Tumblr page has some great posts as well. This catered to current students and employees and the community. The stories are great to keep students updated about whats happening right now in the department and offers opportunities for lots of events we can become involved in. There are also posts about events that the community can attend. The stories written by our professors are a highlight. They are funny, informative, and appeal to students, faculty, and the community. Some stories help us stay updated on whats going on around the world and others offer fantastic tips like 10 movies all Communications majors should know well. The content is rich and appealing we just need to keep going. Lastly there is the twitter account. The page has 170 followers and follows 109. In order to get our name out there we have to have lots of followers. We should aim to follow and have follow back every staff member and student in our department. The page is good at creating a

conversation with the audience and engaging them. I notice that there are more than a few responses to people and this is a positive attribute. The twitter page excels at reaching out to our current faculty and students, giving them updates on events, posting lots of reminders for students, and resources for us.

Strategies: 1. 2. 3. Assign one person to post on our media outlets everyday Give each outlet a niche to create a stronger sense of community Reaching out to the local media Tactics:
Internal Audience: 1. Facebook Story Series a. This brought lots of attention to our Facebook page! The stories gave students an easy place to go to find out about events in our department and what they could be involved in. It also provided a consistency and gave students something to look forward to. 2. Twitter and Blog Posts a. I think it is important for students to hear from one another, this is what fosters that sense of community we are striving for. These posts were written by students making our audience connect more. Students feel like their voice is being represented and the professors can link in to what their students have to say. These posts create bridges between the people writing them and the people reading them. 3. Newsletter a. This is the most successful at reaching out equally to students and faculty. The newsletter addresses events to attend, classes, important reminders, and recognizes the achievements of the people in the department. While distribution of the newsletter would focus on an internal audience the information in it is pertinent to our external audience as well. External Audience: 1. Brochure

a. The brochure gives a comprehensive glance into the world of our department (specifically the PR concentration). Prospective students can see who their professors might be and prospective staff can see who theyd be working with. Our audience will get a look at what their classes would be and the type of projects they would be involved in. This gives our external audience a feel for life with us. Its also beneficial to current students who have thought about switching their concentration. 2. Promotional Video a. This video shows real life students talking about what they have gotten out of their experience with our department. Videos excite people and when posted on Facebook they are the number one priority on the feed. These get seen the most on Facebook and Twitter so this will reach out to a large breadth of people. The topic shows outsiders that we have a sense of community and are connected with the people in our department. 3. I was given the alumni video section for my redesign of the Salem State web page. It is simple and has one video. Videos are great, students often come back to talk about their post grad experiences and it is beneficial to hear about. However the woman in the video seems to be lacking communications skills. She using the word um between all of her words and is generally not the most engaging. We need videos of alumni who are impassioned about what theyre doing and get other students excited about entering the work force not anxious. I saw on another section of the site that there are student testimonials about their experiences with internships. I think the alumni section would be a better place for this. You could have bios about students who have gone on to succeed in their field. It could look like this:

4. Media Kit

a. This is how we will reach out to other media outlets in our area. This is a package that shows our breadth or work, what we have to offer, and how a partnership with us will be beneficial. Our media kit encourages people to write about us and put us in the news while also building relationships.

Timeline
Before we can reach out to our external audience we must start internally. First we have to build a strong sense of union within the department and then we can build relationships in our community. I would begin first by designating our secretary, Joanna, to being in charge of our social media presence. I also think opening up her office so students can sit down will transform it into an area for students to convene. This will stimulate the sense of community we are looking for. Next we should create a board to physically post all the information that is online. A newsletter should be put out monthly. It can be viewed on our website and we will also send out copies to all students in the department. They can be placed in professors mailboxes. This can be something that students create under the supervision of a professor it can be a directed study that meets once a week. All of these elements will create consistency which will be key in this process. Now that we have created strong ties within the department we can tackle our external audience. An important thing to post on our media for this audience will be the promotional video. This is our attention grabber that will get people excited; it is also given priority on Facebook and Twitter so it will be seen the most. After weve enticed people with a video they will want more information so we will create and send out a brochure. I think these can be updated every five years. Again this will be a project that is headed by a professor and students will be taken on to help in the process of creating. They should be placed strategically around campus, in the bursars and registrars office, at Joannas desk, and given to the tour guides to handout. We can then spend time updating our website. This can be taken on by Joanna as well. Lastly we will take our work and newly founded success and put it all together in a media kit.

This can be taken on by the chair of the department and they can bring on students to help as they see fit. This will then be sent out to choice media outlets in our surrounding area that we are interested in building relationships with.

Conclusion
I believe the Communications Department at Salem State University does extraordinary work with their students and we should share it with the rest of the school and our community! The content that we do put out on our media outlets is rich and reaches out to all of our target audiences. We just need to push ourselves to find more creative ways to get the message out there. This is achieved through consistency in posting, newsletters, brochures, promo videos, and media kits. Through this we will gain more interest and recognition for the great work that is already being done.