Social media influencer program implementation

Abstract

This project consisted of researching and creating a plan to implement a social media influencer program at Oklahoma State University. Due to Covid-19 closures, we were unable to completely implement the program this semester, but these guidelines can be used for future reference and reflects recent research and documentation.

This social media influencer program consists of students who will represent campus life to current students, alumni, parents and, primarily, future students via social media. All content will depict Oklahoma State in a fun and honest way while remaining appropriate and positive.

To begin my research and planning process, I stayed in close contact with Megan Horton, director of branding and digital strategy at Oklahoma State. Ms. Horton has been researching how to implement a program like this one on campus. We were able to discuss our research and plans in order to come up with an effective solution.

This thesis outlines the specific steps that were taken in order to create a social media influencer program on campus. The goal for the end of this project was to create a list of 30-40 people who could be prime influencers for the campus. The project came to a halt before applications were sent out. Therefore, we were unable to implement our program this semester. The steps following the creation of the application are relevant to those that should be followed in order to create a group in the future. The outcome we hoped to achieve was a fully functioning team of social media influencers who are capable of producing effective content. To do this, we will diligently follow the steps we have recorded so far and make amends as issues arise. By combining the idea of a brand ambassador program and the concept of using social media influencers to represent campus, the end outcome is a large group of qualified social media influencers, governed by strict guidelines. In this project, we actively seek out qualified and capable influencers who are willing to follow these guidelines. This will hopefully give us an edge, compared to other campuses, in the social media department. This thesis was meant to be hands-on, documenting each step of the process. I met with Megan Horton every Friday to discuss how we would move forward and we've continued to email about our plans for the organization. Although Covid-19 has delayed our progress so far, we are confident in the steps we have researched and documented, and hope to implement the social media influencer program next semester.