DIGIAL & SOCIAL MEDIA PROJECT

AIESEC UK
 Digital & Social Media - AIESEC UK

Executive Summary

AIESEC is a global not-for-profit organization aiming to develop responsible global leaders

through self-driven practical learning experiences. More specifically, AIESEC develops four
characteristics via its youth leadership development model: self-awareness, solution-oriented,
world citizen and community empowerment.

Founded in 1953, AIESEC-UK currently has 24 local chapters in UK universities and a volunteer
membership of 750 students, delivering approximately 550 volunteering and 200 professional
placements per year. It partners with other AIESEC entities globally, charities, NGOs, start-ups,
educational institutions, or corporates. Its growth since the early 2000s has been driven primar-
ily by a move to online platforms.

This marketing project aims to perform an audit of AIESEC-UK’s digital social media (DSM)
platforms to identify areas for improvement and best case practices. Although AIESEC-UK has a
presence across multiple channels, the accessibility and usefulness of data will primarily focus on
insights from Facebook, to a lesser degree from Twitter and LinkedIn, and draw on some aspects
of Google Analytics. The audit covers a 2-year period (May 2014–May 2016). The key metrics
used to determine DSM effectiveness are number of sign-ups and number of applications (for
membership, volunteering, and professional programs). The project reveals insufficient market-
ing-related organizational structure, a lack of content strategy and performance tracking of most
DSM activities despite the organization’s intention to leverage DSM platforms for brand aware-
ness, engagement and acquisition.

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PART A
GENERAL OVERVIEW

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1. Marketing/Business Objectives

AIESEC-UK offers both leadership and international exchange opportunities. The key metrics
for DSM activities are the numbers of application forms completed by UK students for mem-
bership and exchange programs. Both primary metrics have dropped over the past few years,
though the number of programs offered has slighly increased (Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1
Key Performance Metrics

Source: AIESEC-UK Annual Reports

2. DSM’s Role

DSM activities in the September-October period are centered around recruiting members for
local AIESEC committees in UK universities. Outside of this period, DSM platforms are focused
on driving brand awareness with posts featuring global issues and youth leadership to boost par-
ticipation in exchange and professional opportunities via AIESEC. In both cases, the key metrics
are the amount of traffic funneled towards AIESEC-UK website, the numbers of sign-ups and
opportunity applications. On the other hand, AIESEC-UK also interacts with businesses to offer
them a global talent pipeline, tailoring its LinkedIn page specifically to the B2B community.

3. DSM Channels

DSM activities of AIESEC-UK are mainly on Facebook and Twitter which have 50,000 and 7,000
followers respectively (Exhibit 2). The other channels, except LinkedIn, are relatively inactive
and AIESEC-UK has given limited attention towards leveraging these channels.

4. Paid DSM

A small proportion of sponsored/paid activities are done on Facebook and LinkedIn (Exhibit 3).
However, not a great deal of analysis has gone into performance benchmarking of such activities.
Among those paid activities, “boosting” posts that have a good organic performance per se are
more successful in the combined reach.

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Exhibit 2
Digital Social Media Platforms

Platform Activity (Dec 2015- May 2016) Audience

Facebook
136 Publications 50,000 Likes
https://www.facebook.com/AIESECUK/
Twitter
169 Tweets 7,200 followers
@AIESECUK
LinkedIn
21 Publications 1,200 followers
www.linkedin.com/company/aiesec-uk
Blog
7 posts 1628 views
http://www.aiesec.co.uk/magazine/
YouTube 2 Uploads 11 subscribers
Instagram 39 posts 751 followers

Exhibit 3
Organic vs. Paid Interactions
Facebook May 2014 - May 2015
Organic
Paid

May 2015 - May 2016

LinkedIn

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5. DSM Administration

DSM platforms are managed by a full-time team and by a National Support Team on a voluntary
basis (Exhibit 4). The marketing function is divided into B2C Marketing (Facebook & Twitter)
versus B2B Marketing (LinkedIn), managed by two full-time staff whilst the National Support
Team (3-7 volunteers) may contribute or monitor the content on behalf of the National Team.
Overall, there is no formal strategic scheduling and performance tracking of posts, leaving DSM
activities subject to time availability and ad-hoc initiatives of volunteers.

Exhibit 4

Marketing Function Organization

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PART B
CHANNEL ANALYSIS

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1. Objective

Facebook and Twitter are used to maintain brand awareness and encourage students to apply for
exchange opportunities. LinkedIn is used to increase awareness amongst the business communi-
ty to generate leads for companies interested in hiring AIESEC talents (Exhibit 5).

Exhibit 5
Sample Posts on DSM Channels

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2. Target Audience

AIESEC-UK wants its audience to be representative of the UK student population.

Twitter and Facebook audiences are relatively similar (Exhibit 6). A typical member will be fe-
male (56%) between the ages of 18-24, English-speaking and from the UK. They most likely have
interests in business, current events, and technology. These demographics are closely aligned to
AIESEC’s target segment although there is no gender focus. Mobile is the predominant device
used to access the Facebook page, with 55% traffic coming through this channel.

As expected, the majority of people who have liked the AIESEC Facebook page are from the
UK. What is less clear is why the other countries appear in the top 5 and represent a significant
followership. One possible explanation is that this diverse range of countries represents foreign
students studying in the UK. Unfortunately, we lack the granularity in our data to understand
other potential reasons, but we intuitively believe this would not be sufficient to explain these
numbers.

Approximately 31% of people following AIESEC on Twitter are also from the UK (Exhibit 7).
The other 4 countries in top 5 are the USA, India, Mexico and Colombia, each making up only
5% or less of total Twitter followers. In absence of a content strategy, this geographic diversity
could dilute the effectiveness of DSM content to targeted segments.

In terms of audience engagement, most content types (based on Stephen et al [2015]) reach a
high level of engagement with DSM audience (Exhibit 8). In particular, most content types have
posts that, over their lifetime, engage more than 1,000 people. However, this still represents a
small proportion of the total life time reach – a measure of mere exposure – (Exhibit 9) and im-
plies room for better content management to convert reach into engagement.

Exhibit 6
A. Facebook Audience

B. Audience Interests

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Exhibit 7
Audience by Origin

Facebook Page Likes Twitter Followers

Exhibit 8
Lifetime people who have liked the page and engaged with posts (May 2014 – May 2016)

Exhibit 9
Lifetime Total Post Reach (May 2014 – May 2016)

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3. Content

Twitter and Facebook content is primarily Type-3 with rich media showcasing exchange opportu-
nities and profiling young adults on exchange programs. The content fits AIESEC’s brand image,
typically including a link to its website with application and sign-up instructions.

On Facebook, posts with Type-3 content represent 35% of all posts, followed by Type-6 with con-
tent of informative nature related to the general AIESEC-UK brand and programs (Exhibit 10)
rather than a strictly advertising message. Next is Type-5 content with a clear advertising tone,
representing 9% of posts. Similar patterns are observed on Twitter (Exhibit 11).

Exhibit 10 Exhibit 11
Facebook Posts by Content Type Tweets by Content Type

Content Categorization based on Stephen et. al (2015)

1 Positive, motivational, humorous 3 Relevant content for AIESEC-UK’s image

5 Advertising tone one-liners 6 Specific programs/events with information
8 General brand-related information 9 Engaging request such as soliciting likes
10 Calls to enter competition or survey 11 Post mentions other non-brand entities
12 Post mentions a major holiday 13 Photo, video, or link

4. Earned DSM

Primary types of earned DSM on both Twitter and Facebook are Likes or “Reactions” by mem-
bers who have followed the AIESEC page. Occasionally, members will share AIESEC’s post to
their own timeline or Twitter feed. There are several media articles that name the organization
and are shared on Facebook.

Overall, the proportion of comments and shares on Facebook are significantly higher for posts
with Type 8 informative content on the general AIESEC-UK brand although this represents a rel-
atively small proportion of posts, indicating room for better content management more tailored
to the audience. Type 3 content also drives high engagement. Regarding Twitter, the proportion of
Re-Tweets are significantly higher for Type-12 content ‘piggy-backing’ holidays or global events
(Exhibit 12).

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Exhibit 12
A. Facebook Earned DSM

Likes Comments

Shares

B. Twitter Earned DSM - ReTweets

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5. Paid Media Performance

Paid media is used infrequently, with only 13 paid posts on Facebook and 3 on LinkedIn in the
studied period. On Facebook, 5 of the 13 paid posts are Type-3 content, directly relevant to the
brand image, highlighting the core mission of cultural experiences and leadership development
through exchange programs. A further five posts are Type-5, portraying a strong advertising tone
to promote new exchange destinations or application closing dates. If we look at the performance
of Facebook paid media, only two posts appear in the top 20 posts, ranked 14th and 19th respec-
tively (Exhibit 13). Therefore, relative to free posts, paid posts have low overall lifetime reach.

Two LinkedIn paid posts are Type-3 content, the third Type-9 where the audience are encouraged
to engage by downloading an AIESEC report. The LinkedIn paid media results in a 43-fold and
14-fold increase in two posts with one post seemingly not benefiting at all from being paid.

Further than this high-level analysis of paid media, performance is not measured by AIESEC-UK,
once again indicative of a non-systematic and informal administration, performance assessment,
and organization of its marketing function.

Exhibit 13

A. Facebook Paid Posts

Organic
Paid

B. Total Reach of Top 20 Facebook Posts C. LinkedIn Paid Posts

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 Digital & Social Media - AIESEC UK

PART C
COMPETITION
& PERFORMANCE

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1. Brand Benefits of DSM

In terms of raising awareness measured by Lifetime Reach (Exhibit 9), most content types reach
a significantly high audience, hitting nearly 40,000 people with some content breaking a 100,000
reach. Regarding acquisitions by channel, while organic search still represents the majority (34%),
social media takes up 9% of total acquisitions (Exhibit 14) with Facebook as the predominant
channel (96% of total acquisitions through social media).

This data suggests that social media provides benefits in raising awareness, still limited in acqui-
sition benefits, while “on the spot” sign-up and applications with face-to-face interactions are the
primary drivers for acquisition. This raises a strategic concern about whether social media, mov-
ing forward, should be used primarily as an awareness-raising, engagement or an acquisition tool.

Exhibit 14
A. Acquisitions by Channel B. Acquisitions by Social Media

2. DSM Cost

Of 2014-15 finances, marketing budget represents 6.9% of the total organizational costs. A break-
down of the marketing budget reveals 54% attributed to direct staff costs, 33% to physical pub-
lications, 9% on online platform maintenance and 4% on online advertising. It is recommended
not to cut costs on DSM channels given the low level currently.

3. Competitors’ DSM

Best-known for-profit competitors which offer exchange programs are BUNAC and CampAmer-
ica. Others include Projects Abroad, GVI or Volunteering Solutions. There also exist some not-
for-profit competitors, such as Globalalteer or Xchange Scotland, and numerous university-run
volunteering programs.

Relative to its competitors or peer group, AIESEC-UK is close to the median in terms of Facebook
likes and arguably at the higher end together with GVI as GVI is a global rather than a national
entity (Exhibit 15). AIESEC-UK appears to be using Twitter far less and its presence on LinkedIn

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is again mid-range, far away from GVI & Volunteering Solutions which are averaging 1-2 publi-
cations per day. AIESEC-UK’s YouTube channel is highly under-utilized relative to competitors
and it also stays at the lower end in terms of blog counts on their website and on Instagram.

BUNAC’s DSM content is consistently around advertising members’ experiences abroad (Exhib-
it 16). A typical post will include a picture of young people with a focus on outdoor entertain-
ment and activities. Its YouTube channel and blog curate stories from its participants. However,
its higher activity levels are not generating higher numbers of followers or likes, possibly due to
its heavy focus on advertising.

GVI also promotes international opportunities but does not directly ‘sell’ its programs. Instead,
its DSM features current global issues and focuses on making an impact. Its content is profes-
sionally presented and consistently re-posted across all platforms. Its YouTube channel and blog
are specifically used to feature stories about the impact its participants have created.

Overall, it can be seen that better-performing competitors focus their DSM activities upon mo-
tivational and inspirational content with real experiences rather than direct advertising.

Exhibit 15
Competitors’ DSM

BUNAC Projects GVI Volunteer Xchnage AIESEC

Abroad Solutions Scotland UK
Blog
- Posts 127 60 5k N/A 5 10
Facebook
- Likes 29k 15.5k 235k 57k 1.9k 50k
Twitter
- Tweets 11.1k 16.1k 9.5k 0 2.8k 924
- Followers 7.8k 7.9k 4.6k 5 1.2k 7.2k
- Likes 273 575 3.7k 0 0 91
LinkedIn
- Followers 1.1k 3.5k 2.3k 750 N/A 1.2k
- Publications 0 7 1/day 2/day 21
YouTube
- Videos 54 521 107 243 30 5
- Subscribers 163 2k 450 622 16 11
Instagram
- Followers 1158 43 3764 1597 35 751
- Posts 369 1 1625 626 4 39

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Exhibit 16
Competitors’ Sample Posts on DSM Channels

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4. Recent Successes

More successful posts with higher reach and engagement are predominantly presented in a light-
er tone with less specific information (Exhibit 17). Often, the message portrays leadership traits
well aligned with the leadership development brand of AIESEC-UK. For example, one post with
the highest shares delivered a message about setting aside differences and uniting for one pur-
pose. Based on data, posts with positive or motivational tone type (Type 8 or 11) and posts that
‘piggyback’ major holidays (Type 12) have the highest engagement.

Exhibit 17
Top 10 Posts by Highest Reach

Post Message Type Content Lifetime People who

Type Total have liked &
Reach engaged
Why we do what we do. #AIESEC Link 8 168,610 1,194

Reason why you should volunteer abroad. Photo 13 107,409 737

aiesec.co.uk #Summer #Volunteer #AIESEC
A big thank you to all our volunteers around Photo 12 103,788 1,048
the world. Happy #InternationalVolunteerDay
Our thoughts are with #Paris right now. Photo 12 78,572 619
AIESEC France stay safe and keep us updated.
The first time Oscars Winner Leonardo Di- Photo 3 54,718 1,107
Caprio used his acceptance speech to warn
about the effects of global warming. youth4gg.
aiesec.co.uk #Youth4GG #SDG13 #YouthAc-
tion #Oscars #Leo
What an amazing graphic created by our volun- Link 3 52,081 502
teer Dominique in AIESEC STRATHCLYDE!
What’s your favourite Sustainable Development
Goals? Vote now. UN Youth Envoy The Global
Goals Global Goals for Sustainable Develop-
ment #Youth4GG #AIESECUK #SDGs
What do you do for your future now? Link 11 35,904 946

Will you take your chance today? Photo 1 30,832 595

Can you name all the places? Volunteer abroad Link 11 30,533 689
this summer in 15+ countries. aiesec.co.uk
#AIESEC #GlobalVolutneer #abroad
Happy Birthday Your Majesty! Photo 12 30,230 1,175

One of reasons people are in AIESEC is they Photo 3 25,360 579

want to inspire others and make a different for
people around.

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5. Recent Failures

In general, failing posts are those filled with call-to-action messages such as ‘Join now’, ‘Sign up’
and ‘Read about’, mostly Type 5 – one liners with advertising tone (Exhibit 18). This is in contrast
with some posts which may have an advertising purpose per se but still attract high engagement
due to the attached message, such as ‘Make Summer of Your Dreams happen with AIESEC-UK
Go Global program in 2015!’. This suggests advertising content, moving forward, should be re-
phrased in a more motivational tone instead of purely advertising.

Besides, posts that simply show a photo, video, or link without further information (Type 13)
attract the least engagement, reflecting areas for improvement in content management even with
simple uploads.

Exhibit 18
Top 10 Posts by Lowest Reach

Post Message Type Content Lifetime People who

Type Total have liked &
Reach engaged
Looking for professional development, build- Photo 5 181 76
ing personal connections and making global
impact? Join your local chapter today / sign up
on http://www.aiesec.co.uk/students/
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 81 86
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 68 80
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 63 23
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 58 56
Be a Global Volunteer, make an impact! 6-8 Photo 5 54 61
Weeks; 15 Destinations; 5 world issues: Ed-
ucation, Culture, Social Entrepreneurship,
Environment, Health. Apply now: www.aiesec.
co.uk/apply For more details, please visit :
www.aiesec.co.uk
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 46 68
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 25 58
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 14 28
AIESEC UK’s cover photo Photo 13 9 44
AIESEC UK Photo 13 8 32

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PART D
EVALUATION

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Due to the voluntary basis of AIESEC-UK teams and its lack of strategic organization and
management of DSM, we evaluate most DSM aspects as average or below (Exhibit 19). While
AIESEC-UK is generally a good brand relative to most competitors, this audit uncovers areas of
improvement in order for AIESEC-UK to leverage its international recognition and achieve its
organizational objectives. Moving forward, recommendations focus on alignments of different
DSM channels to different organizational objectives and on more strategic management of DSM
activities to track performance in terms of raising awareness, engaging audience, and converting
interests into memberships and program applications.

Exhibit 19
Scoring DSM Activities

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Insta- YouTube Blog

gram
Activity Levels 5 4 3 2 1 2
Clear Channel Objective 4 3 4 2 1 2
Measuring & Tracking 3 3 3 2 2 2
Audience Alignment 6 5 4 3 3 3
Earned Engagement 5 5 3 1 1 1
Paid Engagement 4 n/a 4 n/a n/a n/a
Actual Performance 5 3 3 1 1 2
Costs 6 6 6 6 6 6
Total (Max: 80) 38 29 30 17 15 18

Rubrics

N/A - insufficient information

1 - Terrible
2 - Very Poor
3 - Poor
4 - Average Poor
5 - Medium, a balance of positives and negatives
6 - Average Good
7 - Good
8 - Very Good
9 - Excellent, best case practice
10 - Who are we kidding?

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REFERENCES

AIESEC-UK (2014-2016). Annual Reports.

Stephen et al (2015). Is It What You Say or How You Say It? How Content Characteristics Affect
Consumer Engagement with Brands on Facebook.

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