Developing a Social Media Program:

Dong Fang Chinese Education Institute

Insights and Opportunities in Social Media: Final Project

University of Chicago Graham School

Jason Parker, Instructor

Ying Wehrenberg

Chris Jones

February 12th, 2011

Table of Contents

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………1

Background, Mission…………………………………………………………………..2

Background, Objective……...………………………………………………………...3

Motivation………………………..……………….………………………...................4

Opportunity….....………………………………………………………………………6

Listening….…………………………………………………………………………….7

Means of Connecting..………………………………………………………………..9

Rallying.……………………………………………………………………………......15

Measuring Success.…………………………………………………………….........16

Background

Mission: Dong Fang Chinese Education Institute is a not-for-profit

organization which is committed to teaching the Chinese language

to children in the Chinese community and others desiring high

level Mandarin. It promotes cultural exchange and understanding

between the Chinese and Western traditions.

• It was established in 2006. Currently, the school has about 100

students and 7 teachers, teaching from Kindergarten to 7th grade.

•The school charges minimum tuition & fees in order to make sure it is

affordable to every family. Financial records are open to the public.

The teachers and management team consists of the parents of the

students.

Problem: The school was operating at break-even for the last couple of

years. Recently the student enrollment dropped at the same time

school operating cost increased. If this trend continues, the school

will face operating losses in the future.

Background

Objective:

1. Increase awareness of the school & enrollment in the future

2. Seek more support and sponsorship from the local community and

Chinese Embassy

3. Promote parent involvement and set up organized volunteer team

4. Maintain quality of teachers and constantly improve teaching curriculum

Motivation

Target Market:

• Middle age (parent)

• Families that have at least a parent who is a Chinese speaker

• Those who value education

Consumer Behavior:

• Highly involved in their children’s education

• Academic focus (highly educated themselves)

• Most parents are still adjusting to the new environment and western

traditions

• Traditional Chinese parenting style

• Believe that learning Chinese is a must

Motivation

1. Want to be better parent

2. Want to give brighter future for their children

• Learning Chinese is a long-term commitment. It is not easy for both children

and parents

• It requires each other’s support and exchange idea from parents

• Creating a fun environment for children to learn is crucial.

• Find friends who can share stories that are easy to understand through similar

backgrounds in this new environment.

Opportunity

Overall Strategy:

• Word of mouth

• Leverage the social graph

(people want to be at where their friends are)

To provide a fun and friendly environment for the children to study

Chinese and for parents to be able to support each other. The

school can use social media tool to encourage parents to interact,

stimulating discussion and engagement. And ultimately to connect

with the school.

By having similar backgrounds, similar interests and goals, the

school can use social networking to share experiences and

stories, create a community that will support the school in the long

run.

Listening

Overall approach:

• Monitoring

1) To listen in on the conversations among parents.

2) Identify key issues affecting parents and students

3) Enable school to measure the effects of its marketing efforts by

monitoring buzz before and after.

We have made the assumption that 50% of the parents are active

in Social Media and the School’s participation in the space.

Listening

Information Using:

• Insight development

• Influencer identification

Recent study & conclusion:

• More than 60% of the existing parents are recommended by their

friend or other parents that enrolled their children in the school.

• It would be wise to market to existing parents in hopes of

spreading word of mouth.

Means of Connecting

Three Tactics:

1. Create a Community by using Facebook, Twitter, and Blog

2. Content Calendar

3. Rating and Review (posting on website)

Means of Connecting

Create a Community

1. Facebook

• Develop a Facebook page that allows parents to share the

challenges of learning Chinese, as well as different parenting

styles and preferences.

Custom apps and unique content include:

1. Youtube (content will be mentioned in rallying later)

2. Current news of China

3. Photo of extra curriculum activities ( include winners of the photo

contest & their pictures)

4. Games that are geared toward fun ways of learning Chinese for

the whole family

5. Chinese book club

6. Compete in riddle (in Chinese)

Means of Connecting

Creating a Community

2. Twitter

• Incorporate Twitter into school Facebook page, aggregated tweets

from famous Chinese musician like Lang Lang

* Chinese believe that music will enhance brain activity. Most of the

parents (especially the well-to-do) will send their kids for music

lessons.

Means of Connecting

Create a Community

3. Blogging

• In order to create an open dialogue with parents, the principal of

the school will blog about current happenings at the school and

seek feedback.

• The goal is to support existing parents. We will introduce the blog

through email and all administration to parent correspondence.

• Include links to the blogs that is are popular among parents

(example, Tiger Mom), and post comments on them to lead

people back to school blog.

• The text of school posts will talk about, for example, different

parenting style, the dos and don’ts, different points of view

between Chinese and western parent, etc…

• The comment section will encourage parent feedback

Means of Connecting

Content Calendar

• Our blogging schedule will begin monthly and increase as we

grow.

Example of the plan:

Jan: School preparation after winter break

Feb: Chinese New Year Celebration

March: Fund raising dinner party

April: Spring Break trip

May: Summer Camp selection

June: Parade in China town

July: Summer Camp activity

Aug: Holiday trip to China

Sept: Welcome back & Hello to new friends

Oct: Celebrate Chinese National day

Nov: Music Month

Dec: Holiday Season, Western tradition

January 2011 Social Media Posting Schedule

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Date Theme Topic Contributor Keywords

1

Twitter

3-Jan Events Chinese New Year School Principal new technology

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Blog

3-Jan Events Chinese New Year School Principal industry benchmarks

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Facebook Group

3-Jan Chinese New Year new technology

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Other

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

Means of Connecting

Rating & Review

We will put the parent’s rating and review on school website because:

• Word of mouth is a powerful amplifier of brand marketing,

achieving results no media campaign can achieve

• It’s believable, self reinforcing and self-spreading

• It gives the parent’s the ability to have a voice and that the school

is listening.

• It helps monitoring and generate insights, and finally help with

influencer identification

Rallying

Slogan: “You Can Do It!”

Goal

• To stimulate the parent’s motivations and to energize the parent to

aim high on their life journey.

Rules

• Both parent’s and children will write down an item for the wish list,

and submit to school wish list box or send online.

Feedback & Voluntary Participation

• Interesting and different wishes will be posted on school

Facebook page and Youtube as school’s marketing campaign

Measuring Success

1. Rating & Review

2. Number of children enrolled

3. Amount of funds raised from local community and Chinese

Embassy

4. Number of fans and followers on social media