Exercise Guide 1: General Activities
Prepared for Harvard University
Practical Social Media Management Class
Exercise: Keyword Research
1. Conduct Keyword Research
Goal: Identify what people are searching on so you can use these phrases in your posts and use
the findings to generate content ideas.
a. Adwords.google.com
b. This brings you to the log in screen. If you have a Google Account log in. If you do not
have a Google Account, got to Google and search keyword research – you will see the
Google Adwords link and it will bring you directly to the keyword tool.
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Only shows if you are not logged in to
Google.
1. Enter a starting keyword you think your target market is searching on OR
enter a competitors URL.
a. We use the phrase competitor broadly here. What site is ranking
well for phrases you think your audience is searching on. Learn from
others optimization and see what phrases they are trying to rank
for.
2. If you are not logged in with a Google Account you will need to put in this
code. If you are logged in you will not see this code.
3. Hit Search
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Notes:
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If you are logged in the top menu bar (in green) will look different from the
picture on the previous page.
Category helps you refine your search to a specific industry/focus. A good
example of this is in the UK sneakers are called trainers. But trainers (people
who train) are also called trainers. To reduce noise on the word trainers, you
could use category and enter sneakers and this will only deliver variations of the
word trainer that have to do with footwear.
Play with the different settings and filters to see how the results vary.
If you are logged in, when you hit search Google brings you first to
recommendations for Ad Group Ideas, switch to the Keyword Ideas Tab
Review results
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1. You have two choices to review keywords. You can individually select words
you think are appropriate using the checkbox on the right or you can
download the full set up keywords to an excel file and sort them in various
ways, deleting lines that are not relevant. We prefer the second message for
large volume of words.
Notes:
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Again, play with the options.
If the results were not what you expected try another keyword.
Exercise: Create a Content Asset Inventory
Typically people have much more content sitting around the office than they realize. Taking the time to
create a Content Asset Inventory allows you to pull all existing content into one place so you can use this
information as you begin to develop a Content Calendar.
To access a template for the Content Asset Inventory go to www.precisionmarketinggroup.com/HU
A Content Asset Inventory includes:
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Type of Content
o Brochure
o Article
o Blog post
o Download
o Ebook
o Research
o Etc.
Gated/Free
o Is this content only available behind a form or can anyone access it?
Topic 1 and Topic 2
o What is the primary and secondary topic for the content? This will help you pick themes
and group content around topic types. For example if you are sharing information for
students abroad you may have content organized by travel safety, In country resources,
travel considerations, how grades transfer, safety alerts, travel tips, etc.
Title
o What is the name/title of the piece of content?
URL
o Where can the content be found on the website?
For departments with a number of people communicating through social media channels you may want
to break up the social media responsibilities around content type. Though a goal is to have a consistent
voice overall getting a consistent voice by topic area is a start.
As you look at your content you may have other ideas of what to track or how to group it. This list is a
suggested starting point.
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Exercise: Create a Content Editorial Calendar
Content is the most critical element to social media success, yet it is where people typically take the
least amount of time to plan. A Content Editorial Calendar will not only guide you through the year it will
remind you what you have already covered and will add to the Content Asset Inventory as often topics
can be repurposed through the year.
To get a copy of the Content Editorial Calendar go to www.precisionmarketinggroup.com/HU
The Content Editorial Calendar includes:
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Outside Forces/Important Dates
o What other items/events are happening? Is there a major research paper being
published, is there a deadline for a grant application, is there an event someone in your
department is teaching, is there an event happening on campus related to what you do?
Knowing this information can help you determine the focus of your content.
Keywords
o Start with the keywords you want to be known/found for and assign one to each
day/week/month (whatever time frame you are planning on posting – often driven by
the channel chosen)
Title/Topic
o What is the focus of the content that will be created? If you can create a title (best for
blog posts) then that piece of work is done. If you are planning a Tweet note what you
want the topic of the post to be. For example, recent stats on number of students
applying.
Content Type
o What type of content do you want to create around this? Some examples of content
types (not all are appropriate for all channels) include:
 Top 10 List
 Opinion
 Q&A
 How to/tutorials
 Interview
 Guest content
 Round-up
 X Steps
 Day in the life
 Share other people’s content
 Tips
 Cool tools
 Breaking news
 Event coverage
 Photos
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Contest
Themed months
Author
o Assign someone now, people do not need to wait to put their content together until the
day before.
Social Media Channel
o Is the content intended to be a blog post or a Tweet? If you are writing longer pieces of
content and you are using a channel like Twitter, make sure you add something to your
editorial calendar that allows you to repurpose content from the blog post into multiple
tweets.
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