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

Takeaways from Confab Higher Ed 2013

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In November I attended the Confab Higher Ed conference in Atlanta. This was the first time a Confab conference was focused solely on content strategy for higher education institutions, and it was also my first Confab conference.

Confab Higher Ed conference

Session recaps

Below are some takeaways from two of my favorite sessions:

Transmedia Storytelling in Higher Education

Felicia Pride’s presentation on the concept of utilizing transmedia to tell your stories contradicted the COPE (create once, publish everywhere) mentality advocated for by the majority of presenters at Confab, and was a welcome variation on how to approach disseminating your content. Transmedia focuses on story research and development, looking for ways we can allow people to experience a story in more than one way, with a focus on making the subject the protagonist of a story. Henry Jenkins defines this concept as:

Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.

The goal of storytelling in a transmedia context is to let each platform – whether that is a social media platform, video, long-form text piece, photo, etc. – do what it does best. We as content creators simply need to know the place where people are telling their stories, rather than forcing people to come to us. Finally, there are seven questions content strategists must ask themselves as they create and publish stories in order to successfully utilize a transmedia approach:

  1. What’s the story (goal)?
  2. What are the elements (message, plot, characters)?
  3. What actions do you want your audience to take?
  4. How do we tell the story (what platforms/where is our audience)?
  5. How do we share our story?
  6. How do we measure the impact of our story?
  7. How will we continue our story?

Fit to Print: Creating Purposeful News Content

Georgy Cohen gave a great presentation as always, this time focusing on how news content can live beyond the typical news release. Analytics tell us that less than 1% of our site visitors view news releases, so we need find better ways to tell our story through our news releases, and allow these news stories to be content generators rather than an end destination.

Such an approach hinges on news releases being written in a way that allows for social sharing; news needs to speak the language of social to excel at social. This involves rewriting headlines and excerpts for different social platforms, taking the time to include visually interesting photos and videos with our news stories, and allowing for user interaction and sharing.

Other conference recaps

Conference recaps, presentation slides, and presentation storify recaps have all been collected on Meet Content if you would like see other presentations and read more impressions from other attendees.