Web Strategy and Development Blog

Social Media Kit: Homecoming 2017 – Welcome Home

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Missouri State University alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends are invited to celebrate MSU and all things maroon and white at Homecoming 2017. We’ve created a social media kit to help you share the event with your family and friends.

Key details

  • What: Homecoming 2017 – Welcome Home
  • When: Oct. 27-28, 2017
  • Where: Across campus and in downtown Springfield
  • Who: Missouri State University alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members
  • Sponsors: The Alumni Association and Student Homecoming Committee

Main events:

Share your story

Help us spread the word about Homecoming to the Missouri State and local communities by sharing it on social media.

We encourage you to join the online conversation by posting on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and tagging your posts with the official hashtag: #BearsHomecoming

Homecoming related social media content posted with #BearsHomecoming will be aggregated and featured through Tagboard. To be featured, users need to:

  • Post to a public account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, or Flickr
  • Include the hashtag #BearsHomecoming

Make your post social media savvy

Tagging tips

Other tips:

  • When you post to Facebook, boost your status update by sharing it with a photo. Nothing beats a first-hand perspective!
  • If you attend a Homecoming event, consider sharing a photo from or quote about your experience.
  • You can update your profile and cover photos with the Homecoming logo.

Visual assets

Facebook timeline photos

Twitter timeline photos

Instagram

Twitter profile photos

Facebook profile/cover photos

 

Sample social media posts

Sample tweets

  • Join @MarooNation and @MoStateHC2017 in this year’s theme: Every Bear, Everywhere #BearsHomecoming #SGF
  • The Welcome Home Party is THE place to start your maroon and white weekend with fellow alumni: http://bit.ly/BearsParty
  • Celebrate #BearsHomecoming and enjoy specials at participating #downtownsgf businesses with Bears on the Square: http://bit.ly/BearsOTS  #SGF
  • Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes… http://bit.ly/BearsRent #BearsHomecoming  Oct. 27-28 at @HammonsHall.
  • Join us for breakfast w/ @MSU_Boomer and take home a picture with the best mascot in the MVC #BearsHomecoming: http://bit.ly/BfastBoomer
  • Let’s cover JQH Parkway in maroon and white during #BearsHomecoming Parade Oct. 28 at 9 a.m. #SGF: http://bit.ly/BHPArade
  • Tailgate w/ #MSUBears fans and prepare to cheer on @MOStateFootball in @BearfestVillage at 11 a.m. #BearsHomecoming: http://bit.ly/BFV1llage
  • Bring the kids to @BearfestVillage and check out the Family Zone north of McDonald Arena #BearsHomecoming: http://bit.ly/BFV1llage
  • Cheer @MOStateFootball on against the Sycamores Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. in Plaster Stadium. Tix: http://bit.ly/BHFootball #BearsHomecoming #MSUBears

Review our steps for turning a link into a tweet.

Facebook event

Homecoming 2017 has an associated Facebook event; please link to the Facebook event page when appropriate. And don’t forget to join and share on your pages.

Sample Facebook posts

Sharing about Homecoming on Facebook allows for some additional customization. The sample posts provide content recommendations based on our best practice tips for optimizing link sharing on Facebook.

Example 1
Example 2
  • Headline: Enjoy a family-fun morning including breakfast, a meet and greet with Boomer and get your own family portrait with him on Oct. 28 ‪#‎BearsHomecoming
  • URL: http://bit.ly/1Pa3XfP
Example 3
Example 4

Social Media Kit: Homecoming 2016 – Welcome Home

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Missouri State University alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends are invited to celebrate MSU and all things maroon and white at Homecoming 2016. We’ve created a social media kit to help you share the event with your family and friends.

Key details

  • What: Homecoming 2016 – Welcome Home
  • When: Oct. 14-15, 2016
  • Where: Across campus and in downtown Springfield
  • Who: Missouri State University alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members
  • Sponsors: The Alumni Association and Student Homecoming Committee

Main events:

Share your story

Help us spread the word about Homecoming to the Missouri State and local communities by sharing it on social media.

We encourage you to join the online conversation during Homecoming by posting about it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and tagging your posts with the official hashtag: #BearsHomecoming

Homecoming related social media content posted with #BearsHomecoming will be aggregated and featured through Tagboard. To be featured, users need to:

  • Post to a public account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Vine or Flickr
  • Include the hashtag #BearsHomecoming

Make your post social media savvy

Tagging tips

Other tips:

  • When you post to Facebook, boost your status update by sharing it with a photo. Nothing beats a first-hand perspective!
  • If you attend a Homecoming event, consider sharing a photo from or quote about your experience.

Visual assets

Facebook

koozie-with-beads_1200x675 19466_1174_1200x675 18888-4676_1200x675 18701-5254_1200x675  bearfestfb

Twitter

koozie-with-beads_440x248 19466_1174_440x248 18888-4676_440x248 18701-5341_440x248 bearfestvillagetwitter

Instagram

bearfestvillageinstagram koozie-with-beads_697x697 19466_1174_1080x1080 18888-4676_1080x1080 18701-5289_1080x1080

Sample social media posts

Sample tweets

  • Join @MarooNation and @MoStateHC2016 in this years theme, Welcome Home Bears past and present #BearsHomecoming #SGF
  • Make Homecoming Headquarters your first stop on campus, and get everything you need for #BearsHomecoming weekend: http://alumni.missouristate.edu/homecoming/homecoming-headquarters.htm
  • Celebrate #BearsHomecoming and enjoy specials at participating #downtownsgf businesses with Bears on the Square: http://bit.ly/BOTS15 #SGF
  • Don’t miss our #BearsHomecoming concert with the ‘sass’ and ‘brass’ with @PointerOfficial Oct. 15 at @HammonsHall. Buy tickets: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?pid=8308058
  • Join us for a kid-friendly breakfast w/@MSU_Boomer and color your own Boomer tote after the #BearsHomecoming parade: http://bit.ly/BfastBoomer
  • Soak in MSU spirit and watch floats, bands, & more at the #BearsHomecoming Parade Oct. 15 at 9 a.m. on JQH Pkwy #SGF: http://bit.ly/BHPArade
  • Tailgate w/#MSUBears fans and prepare to cheer on @MOStateFootball in @BearfestVillage at 11 a.m. #BearsHomecoming: http://bit.ly/BFV1llage
  • Bring the kids to @BearfestVillage and check out the Family Zone north of McDonald Arena #BearsHomecoming: http://bit.ly/BFV1llage
  • Cheer @MOStateFootball on against the Leathernecks Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. in Plaster Stadium. Tix: http://bit.ly/BHFootball #BearsHomecoming #MSUBears

Review our steps for turning a link into a tweet.

Facebook event

Homecoming 2016 has an associated Facebook event; please link to the Facebook event page when appropriate.

Sample Facebook posts

Sharing about Homecoming on Facebook allows for some additional customization. The sample posts provide content recommendations based on our best practice tips for optimizing link sharing on Facebook.

Example 1
  • Headline: Celebrate Missouri State and Welcome Home fellow Bears at #BearsHomecoming!
  • URL: https://www.facebook.com/events/496655433874286/
Example 2
  • Caption: Enjoy a family-fun morning including breakfast, a meet and greet with Boomer, and color your own Boomer coloring tote bag after the ‪#‎BearsHomecoming parade Oct. 15.
  • URL:http://bit.ly/1Pa3XfP

Redesigned Alumni Association website

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Alumni website homepageThe redesigned Alumni Association website recently launched. The site was edited, restructured and received a mobile-happy makeover, making it adaptive to smartphones and tablets.

Challenges and goals

Anecdotal feedback from users prior to the redesign was that the site was hard to navigate, and that the abundance of content made if difficult to find important information.

Recognizing those challenges, the redesign was approached with the goals of organizing and prioritizing information, and reducing excess content.

Content restructure

Content on the Alumni Association website was streamlined and grouped into eight main categories:

  • Stay connected
  • Get involved
  • View news and media
  • Learn about us
  • Alumni resources
  • Missouri State resources
  • Awards and honors
  • Show your spirit

Each category now links to a separate landing page with related content.

Summary of changes

Data from before and after the redesign was used to measure progress toward the goal of reducing excess content. Results:

  • Reduced the total number of pages from 94 to 44  (53%)
  • Reduced the total number of links in the homepage navigation from 25 to 13 (48%)
  • Reduced the total number of assets from 542 to 101 assets (82%)
  • Reduced the total asset folder size from  71 MB to 15 MB  (80%)

Site credits

Homecoming 2014 in review

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Missouri State University students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members let the good times roar Oct. 12-18 during Homecoming.

Homecoming promotion:

Instagram of alumni in BearFest VillageHomecoming was promoted in many different ways for months leading up to the big week. Some ways Homecoming was promoted online and through digital marketing include:

  • A series of five emails from the Alumni Association and a few event-specific emails
  • Promotion in the Bear Bulletin monthly newsletter in July-October editions
  • A custom banner in MSU Mobile that pointed to the Homecoming website
  • Photos on the Missouri State homepage that promoted key Homecoming events
  • A Homecoming themed Go Maroon spread
  • A promotional feature on the Alumni Association homepage
  •  Two Homecoming themed Instagram videos featuring President Clif Smart
  • Social media promotion through the MarooNation and Missouri State University accounts
  • A social media kit posted to the Web and new media blog and sent to social media managers of related University accounts.
  • Aggregation of conversation around #BearsHomecoming through Tagboard
  • Live coverage of the Friday and Saturday alumni Homecoming activities via the MarooNation social media accounts

Website traffic:

This year, the alumni Homecoming website was updated to a mobile-friendly template so that it would be easier for users to access during Homecoming festivities. This proved to be a very positive step as 41% of all traffic on the Homecoming website was from a mobile device.

Traffic to the alumni Homecoming website was tracked through Google Analytics.

  • The Homecoming campaign was the top campaign for both internal and external users in October, accounting for 15% of all campaign related traffic.
  • In October, 72% of all pageviews on the alumni Homecoming website were from external users.
  • In October, 76% of all pageviews on the alumni website were of the Homecoming subsite.
  • 46% of all traffic to the alumni website from Sept. 1 – Nov. 1 occurred during the week of Homecoming.
  • In October, the Missouri State University and MarooNation Facebook pages were the top external referrers in the Homecoming campaign.

Social engagement:

Homecoming was heavily promoted by the MarooNation and Missouri State University social media accounts leading up to and during Homecoming. Members of the Missouri State community were encouraged to engage in the social conversation about Homecoming by using #BearsHomecoming.

Facebook

Alumni at MarooNation Tent in BearFest VillageMissouri State Facebook:

Homecoming Week – Oct. 13-18:

  • 20 Homecoming posts
  • Reach of 98,001
  • Engagement of 10,264

Homecoming Weekend – Oct. 17-18:

  • 6 Homecoming posts
  • Reach of 66,096 (67% of weekly reach)
  • Engagement of 8,443 (82% of weekly engagement)

MarooNation Facebook:

Homecoming Week – Oct. 13-18:

  • 24 Homecoming posts
  • Reach of 19,839
  • Engagement of 3,885

Homecoming Weekend – Oct. 17-18:

  • 16 Homecoming posts
  • Reach of 11,821 (60% of weekly reach)
  • Engagement of 3,414 (89% of weekly engagement)

Twitter

Alumna watching Bears football on TVMissouri State Twitter:

Homecoming Week – Oct. 13-18:

  • 25 Homecoming posts
  • Favorites: 118
  • Retweets: 104

Homecoming Weekend – Oct. 17-18:

  • 14 Homecoming posts
  • Favorites: 104 (88% of weekly favorites)
  • Retweets: 90 (87% of weekly retweets)

MarooNation Twitter:

Homecoming Week – Oct. 13-18:

  • 76 Homecoming posts
  • Favorites: 160
  • Retweets: 142
  • Retweet reach: 166,200 users
  • @MarooNation mentions: 20
  • @MarooNation mention reach: 19,600

Homecoming Weekend – Oct. 17-18:

  • 70 Homecoming posts
  • Favorites: 152 (95% of weekly favorites)
  • Retweets: 115 (90% of weekly retweets)

Tweets by others:

Homecoming Week – Oct. 12-19:

  • 964 tweets by users

Instagram

Bronze Bear by Plaster Stadium

 

LinkedIn debuts recommendations for university pages

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LinkedIn logoLast fall, LinkedIn introduced a new type of page to their platform – university pages. These pages were released in conjunction with lowering the minimum age for membership on the platform from 18 to 14. LinkedIn’s goal with lowering the minimum age and introducing university pages was to create an opportunity for high school students to research colleges and universities on the platform.

Since that time, Missouri State University has managed its university page and used it to share information with prospective and current students.

LinkedIn recommendations

Recently, LinkedIn university pages received a new function – recommendations. With this new feature, students and alumni of Missouri State may write recommendations for the University that will automatically display on the page’s home feed and the recommendations tab. The recommendations tab is nested in the menu bar located at the top of the page.

LinkedIn identifies students and alumni of the University by the education section in their personal profiles. Any individual who indicates that they attended Missouri State University automatically follows Missouri State’s university page and is eligible to post a recommendation.

Recommendations of Missouri State

Once the feature was released, the University began receiving recommendations. To date, the recommendations have all been from alumni and have been overwhelmingly positive. Examples:

LinkedIn recommendation by Perry

LinkedIn recommendation by Penny

LinkedIn recommendation by Luis

To view recommendations of Missouri State University on LinkedIn, please visit our University page.