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Recap: Making Your Statement in a Digital World

November 17, 2016 by Lucie Amberg

Keyboard

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

The session was presented in two parts.

  • Part 1 focused on writing for websites and blogs and also provided strategic tips for managing communications across all digital platforms, including social media.
  • Part 2 dove deep into the social media universe and discussed strategies for storytelling and audience engagement across a variety of platforms.

Key takeaways from Part 1

Websites

  • Your audience views your website as the place to get information. An effective website is accurate, consistent and organized.
  • In order to create an effective website, you must first identify your audiences.
  • You’ve also got to identify your goals — what you want people to do when they visit your site.
  • Once all of your website’s stakeholders have agreed on audiences and goals, write them down so that you can all stay on track.
  • Want to test the effectiveness of your site? Ask someone (who doesn’t normally use it) to find something on it.

Blogs

  • A blog is a great place to build a relationship with your audience.
  • Someone who visits your blog expects it to be a chronological journal of what’s happening in your unit, which means sharing time-sensitive information isn’t a problem — as long as you’re keeping your blog up-to-date in general.
  • Use classic storytelling tools, like perspective, conflict and tension, to create blog posts that resonate with your audience.
  • A blog makes a great content repository. Consider using blog posts for the most in-depth version of your news and events and distributing shorter variations of the post across your social media channels.

Social media

  • Good social media is interactive and unpretentious and should look effortless — even though good social media management requires a lot of effort.
  • Don’t dive into every social media channel at once. Pick ones that help meet your strategic communication goals.
  • When deciding whether to take on a new social media channel, analyze whether it’s a good fit for your goals, target audience and current resources.
  • Identify the ideal audience member for your social media. Get specific with the details; even consider giving that person a name. This will make it easier to create conversational, personal social posts.

The Missouri State brand

We also provided a brief overview of Missouri State’s new brand, which helps unite all university communications through consistent messaging and visual elements. Key points included:

  • The Missouri State brand messaging, which helps break down Missouri State’s attributes into tangible benefits for our students.
  • The personality of branded content, summarized as pragmatic and optimistic; engaged and tenacious; geniune and grounded.
  • Visual assets, which unite Missouri State communications with a common color palette, design and typography.
  • More information is available through the Missouri State brand website and blog.

Access the presentation

  • Making Your Statement in a Digital World – Part 1
  • Part 1 handout

Key takeaways from Part 2Go Bears GIF

Facebook

  • Use Facebook Pages to share your organization’s story and connect with your fans
  • Facebook Pages help you become
    • Discoverable
    • Connected
    • Timely
    • Insightful
  • That it’s social media’s biggest platform is a benefit for reach, but a challenge for organizations to acquire attention
  • Promote transparency. Allow anyone to publish to your page or tag you in photos
  • Post videos directly to Facebook to boost your posts’ reach

Twitter

  • Act like your own biggest fan
  • Always respond to questions and concerns from your audience
  • Focus on linking to mobile-friendly content
  • Think about your voice. An institution does not have to sound institutional
  • Use precise university-branded hashtags
    • #MSUBears (athletics)
    • #GoMaroon (student engagement, traditions, etc.)
    • #BearGrads (commencement)
    • #CitizenBear (public affairs)
    • #BearsHomecoming (homecoming)

Visual Platforms

  • Visual content captures our attention more quickly than text
  • Use Instagram if your organization lends itself to visual storytelling, but note the platform focuses on consumption, not interactivity
  • YouTube reaches more 18-49-year-olds than any cable network in the United States
  • However, there’s no formula for making a video go viral
  • Use aggregators to combine cross-platform posts around a theme or hashtag

Access the presentation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Visual Platforms

Filed Under: Social media, Training Tagged With: blogging, Social Media, strategy, Training, web and new media, website

Find your place in the digital world: strategy, communication and best practices

August 4, 2015 by

Blog: using- torytelling- actics

If you’re in charge of a website, blog or social media platform, you should attend this workshop to learn strategies and best practices for communicating in the digital world.

Register for workshop

Part one: Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World

Blog: using storytelling tacticsAug 10, 8-9:30 a.m.

Updated for 2015 with mobile best practices

Part one of this interactive session will answer questions such as:

  • What are users looking for when they visit my website, blog or social media?
  • How do I organize content on my website so that users can find the information they want?
  • What should I be communicating on a website vs. a blog? How do the two relate?
  • What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?

Part two: Social Media Boot Camp

Facebook exampleAug. 10, 9:45 a.m.-noon

Part two of this training will focus on strategies for effectively communicating through social media. We will answer questions such as:

  • How should I be tailoring content to different social media platforms?
  • What are some advanced strategies to increase our effectiveness on Facebook and Twitter?
  • How can we best utilize photo and video content?
  • What are some emerging platforms our unit may want to consider?

Workshop details

  • When: Aug. 10, 8 a.m.-noon
  • Where: Jim D. Morris Center, room 500
  • Presenters: New Media Specialists Lucie Amberg, Courtney Wendel-Stevenson and Kevin Agee

Who should attend

This workshop is open to University faculty, staff and students who currently manage a website, blog or social media account on behalf of their University unit.

Free registration

The workshop is organized into two parts; please register for each section.

Filed Under: Social media, Training, web strategy and development Tagged With: blogging, Social Media, Training

Recap: Find Your Place in the Digital World – Session 1

April 14, 2015 by Lucie Amberg

An exercise on writing a six-word story, employed during the blogging portion of Short & Snappy

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

The first session focused on writing for websites, blogs and social media — with an emphasis on optimizing content for mobile devices.

Website: Where users go to get information

Users visit your website because they are seeking information, and they typically come into your website with specific questions.

Strategies for helping users find information:

  • Test your website’s organization by asking someone to find something on it. How (and how easily) does that person locate the information you requested?
  • Identify your audiences and goals. Get input from other stakeholders, and write your goals down so that everyone stays on the same page.
  • Think mobile first. Lean text, engaging visuals and clear structure are critical.

When updating your website, identify who your audience is, what they’re looking for and what you want them to do. –@lucieamberg

— Web & New Media (@MSUWEB) March 31, 2015

When writing for mobile, limit paragraphs to one or two sentences, 140-200 characters. What looks small on a desktop looks large on a phone. — Web & New Media (@MSUWEB) March 31, 2015

Blog: The perfect place to tell a story

Users approach blogs with a broader goal — they want to get to know you better.

Strategies for telling your story:

  • Users will notice how recently you’ve updated your blog. Updating at least once per week tells readers that you’re enthusiastic and have lots of news and ideas to share.
  • Get visual! Include photos and videos when possible.
  • Engage readers with classic storytelling techniques.

Use storytelling tactics when writing for your blog. Ex: Tell the story from a specific point of view, use details, subvert expectations.

— Web & New Media (@MSUWEB) March 31, 2015

Social media: A way to create new impressions

Social media users are looking to engage and discover — casually. Take advantage of social media platforms to encounter new people or present a different side of your program to those who already know about it.

Strategies for tackling social media:

  • Think long term; commit to sharing quality content and post consistently.
  • Know your goals, and keep them realistic. Use social media to engage and direct people back to your website or blog.

 

Own your content. It should live on your website/blog. Then use social media to share your content & engage with your audience @lucieamberg — Web & New Media (@MSUWEB) March 31, 2015

Access the presentation

  • Find Your Place – Short and Snappy

Read the recap of Find Your Place – Session 2. 

Filed Under: Social media, Training, Web Press, web strategy and development, WordPress blogs Tagged With: blogging, Blogs, content, digital communication, mobile, mobile friendly, short and snappy, websites

Immersion blogs featured via Missouri State homepage and social media

March 16, 2015 by Lucie Amberg

Four small homepage features drew attention to individual blog categories, such as Hunger and Homelessness

Missouri State’s office of community involvement and service regularly hosts immersion trips, which give students opportunities to volunteer in communities throughout the U.S.

Missouri State homepage feature

During spring break, the immersion trips were featured from the Missouri State homepage — with particular emphasis placed on the students’ first-hand perspectives.

Each participant blogged about the experience via www.blogs.missouristate.edu/immersion. This blog feed was available from the main homepage feature:

The spring break homepage feature drew attention to Missouri State's immersion trips by highlighting a video about them and encouraging viewers to read the immersion blog.

A complete homepage “takeover”

Posts were filed in categories based on the issues participants were serving. Immersion blog categories were as follows:

  • Health and Wellness
  • Hunger and Homelessness
  • Urban Development
  • Working with Youth

These individual feeds were featured via smaller homepage features that linked directly to each service category.

Four small homepage features drew attention to individual blog categories, such as Hunger and Homelessness

Social media presence

The office of community involvement and service actively chronicled the immersion experience on social media. These posts were shared by other University accounts, including the Missouri State accounts.

#CitizenBear RT @MOStateService Sending MSU love from The Appalachians! Serving the community dinner tonight. pic.twitter.com/c2oCFGwskg

— Missouri State (@missouristate) March 9, 2015

Engagement and analytics

The homepage feature was successful at adding to the immersion trips’ visibility — even during the typically quiet spring break week.

From March 7, 2015 – March 15, 2015, the immersion blog received:

  • 2,492 pageviews, making it the top Missouri State blog destination for the week
  • An average time-on-page of 1 minute and 22 seconds, indicating that visitors were reading and absorbing the bloggers’ experiences

Top referral sources for the immersion blog were as follows:

  1. The large homepage feature
  2. The smaller homepage features
  3. Missouri State’s Twitter account
  4. Missouri State’s Facebook account
  5. The Alumni Association’s Facebook account

Filed Under: Social media, WordPress blogs Tagged With: blogging, categories, community involvement and service, homepage feature, immersion blogs, immersion trips, spring break

Find your place in the digital world: strategy, communication and best practices

February 6, 2015 by

Exercise: the 6 word story

If you’re in charge of a website, blog or social media platform, you should attend this workshop to learn strategies and best practices for communicating in the digital world.

Exercise: the 6 word storyPart one: Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World

March 31, 1-2:30 p.m.

Part one of this interactive session will answer questions such as:

  • What are users looking for when they visit my website, blog or social media?
  • How do I organize content on my website so that users can find the information they want?
  • What should I be communicating on a website vs. a blog? How do the two relate?
  • What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?

WorkshopPart two: Social Media Boot Camp

March 31, 2:45-5 p.m.

Part two of this training will focus on strategies for effectively communicating through social media. We will answer questions such as:

  • How should I be tailoring content to different social media platforms?
  • What are some advanced strategies to increase our effectiveness on Facebook and Twitter?
  • How can we best utilize photo and video content?
  • What are some emerging platforms our unit may want to consider?

Workshop details

  • When: March 31, 1-5 p.m.
  • Where: McQueary Family Health Sciences Hall, room 127
  • Presenters: New Media Specialists Lucie Amberg, Courtney Wendel-Stevenson and Kevin Agee

Who should attend

This workshop is open to University faculty, staff and students who currently manage a website, blog or social media account on behalf of their University unit.

Free registration

The workshop is organized into two parts; please register for each section through My Learning Connection (on the Profile tab of My Missouri State).

Filed Under: Social media, Training, web strategy and development Tagged With: blogging, Social Media, Training

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