Web Strategy and Development Blog

Public Affairs Conference 2016 Digital Recap

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The 2016 Public Affairs Conference centered on health-related topics, but not just of the physical variety. The conference theme — Building Healthy Communities: Mind, Body and Spirit — encompassed the annual four-day event featuring keynote presentations, panel discussions and special events on the Springfield campus of Missouri State University.

Digital promotion of the Public Affairs Conference

To promote the event, Web and New Media partnered and engaged with Conference representatives and social media accounts across the university. These strategies included the development of a social media kit and strategic live social media posts.

New content

We generated a different and supplementary approach to digital promotions and produced a series of five public affairs blog posts.

Public Affairs pages on MissouriState.edu

The most popular page was the conference schedule, which was viewed 3,840 times, a marginal increase over the 2015 conference. Total page views were down slightly, and other figures were statistically similar to the results from 2015.

  • 14,014 total page views
  • 10,914 unique page views
  • 91 seconds average time on pages
  • 39.48 percent bounce rate

Where the traffic came from — the top five sources

  • 2,363 sessions from the MissouriState.edu homepage feature
  • 969 from the MissouriState.edu homepage featurettes
  • 641 from MSU Mobile
  • 424 from Missouri State Facebook
  • 332 from Missouri State Twitter

Livestream

Plenary sessions from Peter Gray and Paul Thomlinson are available on Livestream. Viewers have watched Gray’s session 166 times and Thomlinson’s 164 times. About 25 people watched each session live.

Social media kit

The Public Affairs Conference social media kit contained a variety of tools that assisted university departments and individuals in sharing their conference experiences. These items included:

  • Key details about the conference
  • Tips for social media-savvy posts
  • Promotion of the #CitizenBear hashtag
  • Shareable visual assets including video and images
  • Sample social media posts

Social media analytics

Using the Avanish Kaushik method of measuring social media success, Missouri State posts on the conference generated the following:

Missouri State Facebook (14 posts)

0.270 applause rate (Likes/Favorites)

0.007 conversation rate (Comments/Replies)

0.034 amplification rate (Shared/Retweeted)

0.464 conversion rate (Clicks to websites)

MarooNation Facebook (7)

0.321 applause rate

0.016 conversation rate

0.144 amplification rate

0.785 conversion rate

Missouri State Twitter (31)

0.933 applause rate

0.056 conversation rate

0.262 amplification rate

0.340 conversion rate

MarooNation Twitter (6)

1.636 applause rate

0 conversation rate

0.613 amplification rate

1.125 conversion rate

Missouri State Instagram (2)

39.685 applause rate

0.048 conversation rate

Missouri State LinkedIn Co. (2)

0.408 applause rate

0 conversation rate

0.664 conversion rate

Missouri State LinkedIn Edu (1)

0.323 applause rate

0 conversation rate

0.351 conversion rate

MarooNation LinkedIn (1)

0.217 applause rate

0 conversation rate

1.304 conversion rate

Social media post highlights

A pair of tweets about Jillian Michaels’ keynote address at JQH Arena drew the biggest engagement rates on Twitter (9.7 percent and 8.2 percent). Those tweets actually served as bookends for her speech. The first introduced her and the second chronicled her closing thought.

One of the most visually striking events of the conference was the Field of Memories. The 1,100 flags planted at the North Mall served to represent the 1,100 students who die by suicide each year on college campuses.

Web and social media highlights from #BearsHomecoming

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Alumnus in ColoradoMissouri State University students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members came together to celebrate the ways Bears have broken barriers during homecoming Oct. 11-17.

Homecoming promotion:

Homecoming was promoted in many ways for months leading up to the week of festivities. Promotional efforts online and through digital marketing included:

  • Four homecoming invitation emails and a few event and audience-specific emails sent July-October from the Alumni Association
  • A feature in the Bear Bulletin monthly newsletter in July-September editions
  • A custom banner in MSU Mobile that pointed to the alumni homecoming website
  • A feature and four featurettes on the Missouri State homepage that promoted key homecoming events
  • A homecoming themed Instagram video 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 emailed to social media ambassadors
  • 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:

Last year, the homecoming website was converted to a mobile-friendly format. This proves to be a positive step as this year, 51% of all traffic on the Homecoming website was from a mobile device (up 10% from last year).

Homecoming kids with BoomerTraffic to the alumni homecoming website was tracked through Google Analytics. Here are some highlights from Oct. 5-18:

  • Pageviews of the homecoming subsite (14,483) were up 22% from the previous year
  • 64% of all pageviews on the alumni website were of the homecoming subsite
  • 77% of all pageviews on the alumni homecoming website were unique
  • 75% of all pageviews on the alumni homecoming website were from external users

The Homecoming campaign was the top campaign on the Missouri State website for both internal and external users in October, accounting for 28% of all campaign-related traffic.

  • The Missouri State homepage was the number one referrer in the campaign (40% of all traffic)
  • The Alumni Association Facebook page was the number one social referrer in the campaign, and third overall (5.6% of all traffic)
  • From all accounts, social media led to the following:
    • Facebook: 12% of all sessions
    • Twitter: 3% of all sessions

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.

Alumna with coffee cupFacebook

Homecoming-related posts – Oct. 5-18

Missouri State Facebook:

  • Posts: 12
  • Reach: 64,107
  • Engagements: 3,778

MarooNation Facebook:

  • Posts: 30
  • Reach: 49,155
  • Engagements: 2,993

Homecoming Facebook event:

  • RSVPs
    • Going: 2,809
    • Interested: 111
    • Invited but not RSVPed: 456
  • Reach: 207,000
  • Event page views: 12,000
  • Event engagements: 3,200

Homecoming selfieTwitter

Homecoming-related tweets – Oct. 11-18

Missouri State Twitter:

  • Tweets: 19
  • RTs: 53
  • Impressions: 489,800

MarooNation Twitter:

  • Tweets: 51
  • RTs: 62
  • Impressions: 71,500

Public tweets with #BearsHomecoming:

  • Tweets: 798
  • Contributors: 421
  • Accounts reached: 288,161
  • Impressions: 1,230,343

Instagram

Posts with #BearsHomecoming – Sept. 29-Oct. 17

Missouri State Instagram:

  • Posts: 6
  • Favorites: 2,656
  • Comments: 15

Public posts with #BearsHomecoming: 87

Recap: Public Affairs Conference 2015

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The 2015 Public Affairs Conference centered on the principles of ethical citizenship. Specifically, the conference theme was The Ethical Citizen: Can You Make a Difference? The annual four-day event featured keynote presentations, panel discussions and special events on the Springfield campus of Missouri State University.

Digital promotion of the Public Affairs Conference

To promote the event, Web and new media partnered and engaged with Conference representatives and social media accounts across the university. These strategies included the development of a social media kit and strategic live social media posts.

Social Media Kit18382_9416

The Public Affairs Conference social media kit contained a variety of tools that assisted university departments and individuals in sharing their conference experiences. These items included:

  • Key details about the conference
  • Tips for social media-savvy posts
  • Promotion of the #CitizenBear hashtag
  • Shareable visual assets including video and images pre-cropped for optimal use on Facebook and Twitter
  • Sample social media posts

Social media analytics

@MissouriState on Twitter

  • 126 new followers (147 percent increase over the 2014 Public Affairs Conference)
  • Engagement rate of 2.8 percent (number of times users interacted with tweets divided by total impressions), a 65 percent over the 2014 conference.
  • 279 retweets (73 percent increase)
  • 332 favorites (63 percent increase)
  • 48 replies (336 percent increase)
  • 66 posts (68 percent decrease)
  • 200,700 impressions (52 percent decrease)

MissouriStateU on Facebook

  • 111 new fans (46 percent increase)
  • Engagement rate of 5 percent (same)
  • 2,000 engagements (1,463 percent increase)
  • 8,000 average reach (789 percent increase)
  • 2,900 stories created via shares (383 percent increase)
  • 17 posts (13 percent increase)
  • 138,000 total reach (930 percent increase)

Public Affairs pages on MissouriState.edu

The most popular page was the conference schedule, which was viewed 3,700 times (42 percent increase over the 2014 conference)

  • 14,200 total page views (46 percent increase)
  • 10,900 unique page views (43 percent increase)
  • 93 seconds average time on pages (same)
  • 37.70 percent bounce rate (3 percent increase)

Social media post highlights

These tweets received the two highest engagement rates of the week from the @MissouriState Twitter account. The Sean McEwen tweet checked in at 15.6 percent (432 engagements/2,770 impressions), while the Cal Ripken Jr. tweet was at 11.6 percent (886/7,669). The lesson: Celebrity is everything.

 

Sharing the wealth

Users also generated great content of their own, which was populated on the #CitizenBear Tagboard.

A Life Size Puppet. #Shatterer #PAC2015 #CitizenBear #Bread&Puppet #VSCOcam

A photo posted by Cassidy Flynn (@casssfrasss) on

2015 Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame in review

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2015 Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame honoreesThe 2015 Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony took place on April 17 at the White River Conference Center in Springfield, Missouri. The event recognized the second inductees into the Hall of Fame: George Washington Carver, Simone Bernstein and Eric Greitens.

Social engagement:

The Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame was promoted by the Missouri State University, MarooNation and other social media accounts. Attendees were encouraged to engage in the social conversation during the event by using #ShowMeCitizens.

#ShowMeCitizens:

Overall hashtag use:

  • Impressions: 409, 575
  • Accounts reached: 54,414
  • Contributors: 24

Tweet: Great night honoring a great man. MO Public Affairs Hall of FameTwitter:

@MissouriState tweets during the week of the event:

  • Total tweets: 1
  • Impressions: 3,343
  • Engagement: 109
  • ReTweets: 1
  • Favorites: 4

@MarooNation tweets during the week of the event:

  • Total tweets: 3
  • Impressions: 5,295
  • Engagement: 85
  • ReTweets: 8
  • Favorites: 10

Live tweeting from @MissouriState during the event:

  • Total tweets: 15
  • Impressions: 55,381
  • Engagement: 502
  • ReTweets: 17
  • Favorites: 42

Facebook:

Missouri State posts during the week of the event:

  • Total posts: 1
  • Reach: 8,880
  • Likes: 33
  • Shares: 2

MarooNation posts during the week of the event:

  • Total posts: 2
  • Reach: 10,350
  • Likes: 51
  • Shares: 11

YouTube videos:

Website traffic:

Traffic to the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame website was tracked through Google Analytics.

Analytics from the Missouri Public Affairs Hall of Fame website April 13-19, 2015:

  • Total pageviews: 1,758, 63% from external traffic
  • Unique pageviews: 1,345, 65% from external traffic
  • The homepage was the fourth most visited page on the public affairs website, and it accounted for 10% of all pageviews
  • The website ranked #5 and #9 in the top 10 social referrals to the Missouri State University website
  • 29 pageviews were generated by links shared in the social media kit
  • The post-event recap generated 110 pageviews by 100 unique users the weekend of the event

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