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YouTube Video Thumbnails

November 10, 2014 by

YouTube Custom Thumbnails

Thumbnail images let people see a quick snapshot of your video on YouTube. After your video is finished uploading, you are able to choose a thumbnail from the three options YouTube automatically generates. To select the one you’d like to use, simply click the thumbnail and click Save Changes.

YouTube Custom Thumbnails

Custom video thumbnails

If your account is verified and in good standing, you now have the ability to upload custom thumbnails for any of your videos.

Uploading custom thumbnails

To upload a custom thumbnail image for an existing video:

  • Go to the Video Manager for your YouTube channel
  • Locate a video and click the Edit button
  • Click the Custom thumbnail button and upload your custom thumbnail image
  • Once the thumbnail is uploaded, click the Save Changes button

Custom thumbnail requirements

  • A resolution of 1280 x 720 (with a minimum width of 640 pixels)
  • Be uploaded in image formats such as .JPG, .GIF, .BMP, or .PNG
  • Remain under the 2MB file size limit

Custom thumbnail best practices

Your custom thumbnail image should be as large as possible, as the image will also be used as the preview image in the embedded player. We also recommend that thumbnails:

  • Use a 16:9 aspect ratio as it’s the most used in YouTube players and previews
  • If a person is the focal point of the custom thumbnail image, try to have their face in the middle of the frame so the video title does not overlay their face when the video is embedded

For more information on using YouTube to host your University unit’s video content, please visit our YouTube support page.

Filed Under: Social media, Video Tagged With: best practices, custom, image, media, new media, thumbnail, Video, YouTube

Social Media Kit: Public Affairs Week

September 9, 2014 by

Public Affairs Week is an annual, week-long event developed by and for Missouri State students. The week consists of a series of presentations and special events that relate to the year’s public affairs theme – The Ethical Citizen.

Key details

  • What: Public Affairs Week
  • When: Sept. 15-19, 2014
  • Where: Across campus, with most events at the PSU
  • Who: Various speakers and presenters
  • Tickets: Free and open to the public
  • Sponsors: Public Affairs, SAC, SGA

Share your story

Help us spread the word about Public Affairs Week to the Missouri State and local communities by sharing it on social media. If you attend an event, we want to hear about your experience!

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

Make your post social media savvy

  • Tag the post with the official Public Affairs Week hashtag: #CitizenBear
  • Whenever possible, tag Missouri State University or @missouristate; Public Affairs or @mostatepa; Student Activities Council or @sacmsu; Student Government Association or @mostateSGA
  • If applicable, tag the post with the Springfield, Mo., hashtag: #SGF
  • If you would like to provide a link for more information on the event, please link to: Public Affairs Week
  • When you post to Facebook, boost your status update by sharing it with a photo or video.
  • Nothing beats a first-hand perspective! If you attend Public Affairs Week, consider sharing a photo from or quote about your experience.

Visual assets

Photos

Avenue of flags during Public Affairs Week

Video

Sample social media posts

Sample tweets

  • Learn how to become a #CitizenBear during Public Affairs Week. See the lineup of great events: http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/paw/Schedule.htm
  • Become a civically engaged #CitizenBear and register to vote this week. Campus registration locations: http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/paw/Registration.htm
  • Learn first-hand about the deep injustices of our world’s food system at the Oxfam Hunger Banquet: http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/paw/Hunger-Banquet.htm #CitizenBear
  • Hear talks on community engagement, ethical leadership and cultural competence at MSU Talks Sept. 16 https://www.facebook.com/events/1514120542154583/ #CitizenBear
  • The #SGF community is invited to join the Conference on Civic Engagement Sept. 17: https://www.facebook.com/events/731657083537128/ #CitizenBear
  • .@sacmsu and @OPTV present “The Invisible War,” a doc about the epidemic of rape in the military https://www.facebook.com/events/1478447905756525 #CitizenBear

Review our steps for turning a link into a tweet.

Facebook events

All of the major events for Public Affairs Week have an associated Facebook event; please link to these Facebook event pages where appropriate:

  • Hunger Banquet
  • MSU Talks
  • Civic Engagement Conference
  • Mike Dilbeck – Response Ability
  • The Invisible War
  • Who Cares About Kelsey?

Sample Facebook posts

Sharing about Public Affairs Week 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

  • URL: http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/paw/
  • Headline: Become a #CitizenBear during Public Affairs Week
  • Long text content: Expand your understanding of the public affairs theme during this student-organized week of activities.
  • Short text content: Highlights include the Hunger Banquet, MSU Talks and the Civic Engagement Conference.

Example 2

PAW01

Learn how to become a #CitizenBear during Public Affairs Week. See the lineup of great events: http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/paw/Schedule.htm

Filed Under: Social media, Social media kit, web strategy and development Tagged With: content, facebook, marketing, media, Public Affairs, Social Media, Social Media Kit, social tips, Twitter, Video, YouTube

YouTube channel redesign

August 11, 2014 by

Missouri State YouTube channel

Missouri State YouTube channelThe office of web and new media recently redesigned the Missouri State YouTube channel to better reflect findings from the marketing research conducted last year.

The redesign mainly consists of a reorganization of content into new playlists to better reflect findings from the marketing research as well as to highlight the tagline Follow Your Passion, Find Your Place.

Why the changes were made

Extensive marketing research recommended that the University focus on the following attributes:

  1. Quality academic programs
  2. Warm community experience
  3. Affordable education

The research also identified certain words and ideas that are closely identified with Missouri State; examples include public affairs, Bears, maroon, affordable, home, and comfortable.

When you now visit the Missouri State YouTube channel, you’ll see that the top two playlists are titled Follow Your Passion and Find Your Place, which places greater emphasis on the University’s tagline. Videos are then placed into the appropriate playlist for the best exposure.

Examples of videos that would fit into each category would be:

  • Follow Your Passion: a video highlighting a student’s academic experiences
  • Find Your Place: a video highlighting a student’s first week on campus, and how they immediately felt part of a community on campus

How do I utilize content on YouTube?

When you’re creating and distributing content, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Is there a video that can help illustrate Missouri State’s commitment to academic success?
  • Is there a video that will convey more about the environment?
  • Are there opportunities to embed videos that correlate with the University’s tagline of Follow Your Passion, Find Your Place?
  • Are there opportunities to use videos that focus on terms that performed well in the marketing research (such as Bears, maroon, affordable, home)?

All videos on the Missouri State YouTube channel are freely available to be shared with others. We highly encourage you to repurpose any relevant videos when you are creating new content.

The two playlists of Follow Your Passion and Find Your Place, or any videos included in those playlists, can be embedded on your website or blog. These videos can also be shared through your social media channels.

Additional resources

To stay up to date with the latest videos being uploaded to the Missouri State Youtube channel, please subscribe to the channel’s RSS feed.

Regular listings of the most recent videos are also shared each month on the Web and New Media Blog.

Filed Under: Social media, Video Tagged With: embed, marketing, media, new media, Redesign, research, Video, YouTube

Understanding your audience: Current state of the millennial

February 21, 2014 by

Students volunteering

What is a millennial?

Millennials are also known as “Generation Y,” and were born between 1982 and 2002. They tend to be civic-oriented, politically engaged, technologically adept, and compassionate about causes.

Girl textingHow millennials view mobile

Millennials view technology in a fundamentally different way than previous generations. Technology is personal and taken everywhere. It tends to be social, location-based and offers prediction behavior.

Social content on mobile

  • Social messaging apps are most popular (Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram)
  • Smartphones are inherently social, unlike desktop computers
  • Millennials view shared content as impermanent
  • Freely jump from network to network and abandon old ones
  • Millennials aren’t using Instagram just for photos or Snapchat just for messaging – they use everything for everything
  • Half of all Facebook users are mobile-only

A day in the life of a millennial’s smartphone

  • Smartphones are part of a millennial’s morning routine, the same as waking up with an alarm, brushing your teeth, or having your morning coffee
  • Millennials use their smartphones everywhere, including at the dinner table
  • Millennials converse digitally with their friends via mobile messaging apps as much as they do face-to-face
  • 90% share photos on a social media platform
  • 62% share videos on a social media platform

Cell phone photoDesire to self-document

Often described as narcissism, millenials post extensively to social media as a means to creatively express themselves. They desire to share their point of view and what matters most to them on a platform that makes the most sense to them – social media. Social media is a to a millennial today what the peace t-shirt was to Boomers in the 1970s.

Photos speak louder than words

  • Photo sharing is the number 3 driver to use social media (49%)
    • Allows millennials to connect through creative expression.
    • More photos shared on Facebook than status updates.
    • Led to rapid growth in Instagram and Snapchat adoption.
  • Translated into a rapid growth of online video
    • Millenials compose 40% 0f digital video viewers.
    • Share and consume video collaboratively by posting favorite clips on social media.

Brand recommendations

Millennials are distrusting of institutions and advertising, preferring to trust the opinions of their friends (and strangers) over the posts of a brand. However, millennials rate brands with social media presences as more trustworthy than those without.

So, what does this mean for brands? Make content share-worthy and share-able:

  • Share expertise so your followers can look smart.
  • Be entertaining or funny so  millennials “have to” share it with their friends.
  • Provide helpful tips or how-to’s because millennials want to help their friends.
  • Let millennials express their values and views through your content.

Binge consumption of media

Millennials are creating and sharing so much content because they really like to consume it– and in a way that’s been labeled “binge media.” This concept applies to both information and entertainment, and it has a lot to do with the way technological innovations have affected modes of media consumption.

Style of consumption mirrors technology

Previous generations commonly gathered information by reading a daily paper (or watching a daily newscast- and the same rules apply). The purpose of this activity was to be generally informed about the world; a few key characteristics:

  • Each story had a beginning and an end
  • Articles were read in the context of other articles, providing a broad picture of daily events
  • By consuming news through a paper, readers easily stumbled upon stories they had no previous knowledge of or interest in

In contrast, Millennials are much more likely to consume news online, increasingly through mobile devices. Key differences with this mode of consumption:  Student consuming information on a smartphone

  • Stories often contain hyperlinks to related information, meaning that no story has a set beginning or end; the reader can interact with that story for as long as he or she chooses
  • Articles are consumed individually, rather than as part of a big tableau of news (such as the front page of the paper); readers commonly find articles directly through social media shares– completely bypassing any “front page” experience
  • Readers are less likely to find stories that don’t already resonate with them in some way– while using features such as hyperlinks and comments to engage with something that interests them for much longer than daily paper readers could

Access > ownership

Ad exec Matt Britton as quoted by Financial Times: “Access is more important than ownership for this group. They value experiences versus owning things.”

For Millennials, broad access to information and entertainment is very valuable. Some key reasons why:

  • On-demand and a la carte: They want to consume the content that interests them when they want it and without having to wade through content that doesn’t interest them.
  • Desire to self-curate:Millennials often have diverse interests, which means they value the ability to organize content as they see fit. This also applies to the amount of content; for example, they may want to watch five episodes of a particular TV show in a row rather than waiting for a network to dole out one per week.
  • Institutional filters = barriers: Since Millennials won’t necessarily see value in organizational hierarchy, they may reject anything (such as an editorial board or network schedule) that looks like a barrier to content they want to consume.

Key takeaways

  • Millennials are trained to tap (or click) and search.
  • They look for hyperlinks and will keep tapping/clicking in to find more information on a subject that interests them.
  • Having grown up with search engines, they’re inclined to see browsing through pages or channels as inefficient; it’s just not a great way to find content that interests them.
  • In order to present information in the style that Millennials are accustomed to receiving it, brands should maximize clarity and efficiency while minimizing barriers to important content. (And keep in mind that there’s a good chance it will be consumed on a mobile device.)
  • Remember to leverage Millennials’ desire to search by using relevant keywords and tags with your content. Give them as much ability to self-curate as possible, and when appropriate, provide a way for them to comment or give feedback on your content.

Students volunteeringMaking a difference

When information about the millennial generation was initially released, many reports claimed the cohort was narcissistic and selfish. However, further research has shown that millennials are one of the most compassionate generations in regards to social issues, and that they have some of the highest rates of volunteerism and philanthropy of any generational cohort.

Millennials are activists

  • Millennials were raised to accept differences. As the most racially and ethnically diverse cohort in American history, they are generally more open and accepting to social differences.
  • They were taught volunteerism and citizenship from early ages in school and tend to carry those principals out in their daily lives.
  • Their generation is defined by 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. Having grown up watching others come together in times of tragedy, this generation seeks to mobilize around causes.
  • Millennials support causes, not institutions. For example, they support Relay for Life as a cause instead of the American Cancer Society as an organization.

By the numbers

  • 73% of millennials volunteer
  • 67% feel they can make a difference for a cause they care about
  • 83% donated money in 2012
  • 52% would consider monthly giving
  • Kickstarter: Kickstarter is a great example of millennials’ capacity for philanthropy.
    • $984 million has been pledged since the site launched
    • 64% of Kickstarter users are under 34

What this means for brands

  • Affiliation with a cause is more important to the Millennial generation than to any previous generation.
  • If you can tie a cause to a campaign you are doing, the campaign will have a greater chance of success.
    • Example: TOMS sells shoes, but part of their success can be be attributed to the cause of donating one pair of shoes for every pair that is purchased.
  • Millennials integrate brands that align with their values into everyday life.
    • Example: Walmart vs. Target. While Walmart and Target sell virtually the same products, research has shown that millennials view Target more favorably because of Walmart’s negative reputation for employee standards, production practices and price undercutting.
  • Their social nature means they want to find ways to actively engage in cause campaigns

Best practices

  • When discussing programs and campaigns, demonstrate the “why” not the “what”
  • Facilitate engagement with peers
    • 41% of Millennials participate in cause programs by supporting friends and family in causes meaningful to those people
  • Create opportunities for millennials to engage with your cause through social media
    • Micro-volunteering: Organizations like change.org and Upworthy.com have great success by encouraging millennials to complete simple actions like signing petitions and sharing content that expresses their values.
    • Cause advocates: Encourage them to share your updates, change their profile pictures to a logo representing the cause or invite their friends to events.
  • If using email marketing, make sure content is mobile friendly.
    • The number one action taken by millennials on a smartphone (in relation to a nonprofit) is reading emails. Reading organizations’ emails tops social engagement, reading articles and text alerts.
  • When following up, focus on impact not results. Millennials want to know what the outcome of their efforts were. For example, if you’re relaying the results of a fundraising campaign, instead of saying “we raised $1,000,” you might say “we funded four scholarships.”

Key sources: American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation, 2013 Millennial Impact Report, USA Today: ‘Civic Generation’

Filed Under: web strategy and development Tagged With: causes, content, marketing, media, millennials, mobile, Social Media

Mind’s Eye research site now online

September 11, 2013 by

Mind's Eye website

Mind's Eye websiteMind’s Eye is a new publication from Missouri State University that looks deeper into a few of the hundreds of research projects taking place on campus each year. A new print version of Mind’s Eye will be released each fall, with the Mind’s Eye website being updated throughout the year.

The goal of the site is to be a digital companion to the print piece as well as an archive of research taking place at Missouri State. The Mind’s Eye website is an expanded version of the print publication as many stories will include additional media such as video and audio.

Repurposing content

University units are encouraged to share stories from Mind’s Eye. The office of university communications is cross-posting Mind’s Eye stories to appropriate departmental blogs as new stories are published, but there are additional ways the content can be shared:

  • Write a post on your academic blog highlighting a Mind’s Eye story
  • Embed YouTube videos from Mind’s Eye on blogs or social media sites
  • Share stories through Facebook or Twitter using the #MindsEye hashtag

Research websiteResearch page updates

The University’s research page has also been updated in conjunction with the release of Mind’s Eye.

The main story on the research homepage will now be one of the featured stories from Mind’s Eye and will be updated monthly.

Filed Under: web strategy and development Tagged With: content, design, media, mind's eye, Redesign, research, stories

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  • Last Modified: September 11, 2013
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