Web Strategy and Development Blog

Recap: Making Your Statement in a Digital World – Sept. 29, 2017

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We recently presented Making Your Statement in a Digital World, a comprehensive training session for Missouri State website, blog and social media managers.

Still have questions or need help?

We’re hosting two post-training open labs, to answer your questions and provide support. Please join us. No preregistration is required.

Key details

  • Dates: Friday, Oct. 27 and Friday, Nov. 10
  • Time: 2-4 p.m., both dates
  • Location: Meyer Library 106 Cheek Hall 100
  • About: Both sessions will be held in conjunction with the Web Help Desk open lab.

Access the presentations

The Sept. 29 training session was presented in four parts.

wideshot of people walking on campus

Key takeaways

Readability

  • Use concise text and a scannable layout to make your content more readable. Put the most important information at the top.
  • Always ask, “how does this look on mobile?” Current and future students are researching your department/program on their phones.
  • Write less, people will read more. People will read more of a 300-word article than they will a 600-word article.
  • No one wants to put extra effort into reading. Seventy percent of people read at an intermediate (middle school) level. Newspapers aim for a 7th grade reading level.
  • Headings, bulleted lists and visual elements. Use them.
  • The YoastSEO plugin for WordPress is a great tool for improving your writing.
  • Improving your content readability has many benefits, including audience reach and audience action.

Blogging

  • Does your blog tell a story? Who is speaking in your story and how are you conveying that meaning? It’s important to start in the action and develop some sort of conflict that is resolved.
  • Be sure you are defining your audience; alumni, faculty, staff, and/or students?
  • Utilize the formatting strategies from readability while adding photography and pull quotes.
  • Update your blog with engaging stories at least once a month, if not more.

Students taking photo with Boomer

Accessibility

  • Accessibility means people with disabilities can use and navigate your website.
  • There are federal guidelines for accessibility. MSU, which receives federal funding, falls under WCAG 2.0 Level AA.
  • Think of your website as a public space (i.e. a courthouse or city hall). Make accommodations for all.
  • Accessibility overlaps with readability and best practices for websites. Having an accessible website means your website is better overall.
  • Alt text, headings and descriptive links are crucial for accessibility. Our Accessibility blog series also covers these topics, and more.

Social media and visual platforms

  • Share human – don’t be afraid to act like a human and interact with your audience one-on-one.
  • Set up a Facebook business account where people can find your contact information. Be prepared to respond to their questions.
  • Think visual – when on location for an event share raw photos, but when promoting the event utilize photo services to help boost your presence.
  • Video is king across all platforms. Be sure to add captioning for accessibility and to increase views.
  • Measure your success based off the goals your team sets: more followers, increased engagement, more views, etc. Keep a log of your analytics so you can compare data from previous years.

Students in computer lab

Recap: Find Your Place in the Digital World – Session 2

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The office of Web and new media recently presented an afternoon of training for University website editors, bloggers and social media managers.

The second session focused on the following topics in social media:

  • Best practices for all platforms
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Other visual platforms

Best practices for all platforms

Courtney Wendel-Stevenson opened with a discussion of best practices that serve as a strong foundation for any social media strategy. A few highlights:

  • Use social media as a way to interact with and listen to your audience, not simply as a way to share information.
  • Whenever possible, tag relevant people, organizations and locations in your posts.
  • When applicable, include properly sized photos and hashtags in your posts.
  • Write short text that showcases the most important information first and include a link for more information.

Facebook

Courtney Wendel-Stevenson provided perspective on Facebook, including a breakdown of its sometimes-confounding algorithm. Among her insights:

  • Boost engagement on your page by tagging followers in posts whenever possible and enabling followers to tag themselves.
  • Capitalize on the unique functionality of Facebook events to promote your activities.
  • Include all logistical information and tag the event location’s Facebook page in the location section if possible.
  • Maximize your visibility by adding other Facebook pages as event co-sponsors when possible.
  • Provide a direct link to ticketing or an event website.
  • Understand that your followers’ Facebook news feeds are dynamic. Boost your page’s visibility by encouraging followers to comment, like or click on your posts.
  • Regularly track major insights including your number of followers, post reach and post engagement.

 

Twitter

Kevin Agee led a section on making the most of Twitter. His top five tips:

  • Build your credibility by posting on a regular basis.
  • Think about voice. How would my organization sound if it was a person?
  • Listen to your analytics to give your followers the content they like.
  • Connect with millennials by engaging, not advertising.
  • Partner with other profiles and topics to tell a bigger story.

 

Visual platforms

Courtney Wendel-Stevenson closed the session with a discussion of additional social media platforms — particularly ones that highlight visual content. Key takeaways:

  • Understand that mobile usage has led to a surge in photo and video content.
  • Pictures are now one of the default ways we sort through information.

And a few tips for specific visual platforms:

Instagram

  • A great platform for visual storytelling. More than 810 photos shared per second.
  • It integrates well with other social media platforms.
  • To be successful, users need to have visually interesting content.

YouTube

  • YouTube has an immense user base. 82% of teens 14-17 regularly use YouTube.
  • Videos can tell your story in a unique and engaging way. To be most effective, videos should be two minutes or shorter.
  • Missouri State has great videos University units are welcome to share.

Aggregators

  • Aggregators like Tagboard and Storify connect user posts from a variety of platforms around a common theme – typically a hashtag
  • Aggregators can serve as an archive of the social conversation after the event.
  • Aggregators are most helpful for larger-scale campaigns and events.

Access the presentations

PDFs of the presentations are available below:

Read the recap of Find Your Place – Session 1.