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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

Redesigned sports medicine and athletic training website: Tradition, achievement and energy

October 8, 2015 by Lucie Amberg

Infant grabbing the finger of an occupational therapist

The redesigned sports medicine and athletic training website recently launched as part of the Academic Website Project. This is the fourth academic website to receive a full redesign for the mobile-friendly template.

Excellence and opportunity

During the content development phase of the project, the athletic training program’s reputation for excellence repeatedly emerged as a theme. Both faculty and students mentioned:

  • The program’s long history of accreditation
  • The high scores graduates tend to earn on the Board of Certification exam
  • The program’s remarkable job placement rate

These ideas became the focus of the content and are layered throughout the website — in both text and multimedia. This video, which features two sisters who both chose Missouri State’s athletic training program, provides an example:

Keeping students connected

The redesigned website also provides opportunities to showcase the department’s very active digital communication channels. The news feeds from these channels are integrated into the website’s design, and the following channels are available via buttons in the site’s footer:

  • Sports medicine and athletic training blog
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Introducing a new program

The redesign process coincided with the introduction of a highly anticipated new program within the department of sports medicine and athletic training: the Master of Occupational Therapy. Creating a website for a program in the foundational stage presented an interesting challenge. The vision for the program was represented through photography of the faculty members in their own work spaces, which provides a window through which prospective students may glimpse their own careers.

Selection of occupational therapy photos

Occupational therapist with infant
Infant grabbing the finger of an occupational therapist
Infant patient with occupational therapist
Occupational therapist with adult patient
Occupational therapist helping a patient brush teeth
Occupational therapist assisting a patient with cooking skills

Site credits

  • Project lead and content: Lucie Amberg, new media specialist in the office of Web and new media
  • Design: Abby Isackson, graphic designer in the office of publications
  • Photography: Jesse Scheve, staff photographer in photo services
  • Videography: Chris Nagle, videographer in photo services
  • Editor: Don Hendricks, director of the office of University communications
  • Implementation: Brian Heaton, content management programmer in the office of Web and new media, with Lucie Amberg and Sara Clark, director of the office of Web and new media, and student coders Brandon Fitzlaff and Max Orlando

Filed Under: Academic websites, Mobile, Redesign, Web redesign 2015, web strategy and development Tagged With: ATEP, athletic training, mobile, mobile friendly, occupational therapy, Redesign, SMAT OT, sports medicine, sportsmed, website

Maximize the potential of websites, blogs and social media

September 24, 2015 by Lucie Amberg

A session of Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World will be held on Oct. 28

Writing for the Web

If you’re in charge of a website, blog, social media platform — or all three — you’ve likely asked the following questions:

  • What do users want my website, blog or social media to provide?
  • 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?
  • How do I repurpose my website and blog content and distribute it on social media?
  • What can I do immediately to make my digital communications more strategic?

The office of Web and new media is offering a free, interactive training session that will address each of these questions. The workshop will also provide tips and techniques that can be implemented right away in order to make your digital communications more efficient and effective.

A session of Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World will be held on Oct. 28Workshop details

  • What: Short and Snappy: Writing for the Digital World
  • When: Oct. 26, 2:30 – 4 p.m.
  • Where: Meyer Library 101
  • Presenter: Lucie Amberg, new media specialist in the office of Web and new media

Who should attend

This session is open to University faculty, staff and student employees who are responsible for University websites, blogs or social media accounts.

Free registration

Registration is requested via My Learning Connection (on the Profile tab of My Missouri State).

 

Filed Under: Social media, Training, web strategy and development, WordPress blogs Tagged With: blog, Blogs, content, mobile, mobile friendly, new media, Social Media, Training, website, writing

Redesigned Alumni Association website

July 22, 2015 by

Alumni website homepage

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

  • Project lead and content: Courtney Wendel-Stevenson, new media specialist, Web and new media
  • Design: Chris Austin, web designer, Web and new media
  • Implementation: Brian Heaton, content management programmer/analyst, and Sara Clark, director of Web and new media

Filed Under: Mobile, Redesign, web strategy and development Tagged With: alumni, maroonation, website, website conversion

Commencement website highlights ceremony details in a mobile-friendly format

March 26, 2014 by

Graduate waves

Link to commencement websiteThe commencement website received a mobile-friendly update this spring, which included a new streamlined design and an audience-based organization structure.

Celebrating the joy of commencement

Multimedia content takes center stage in the revised website:

  • Photos of the commencement ceremonies provides visual context on the site’s homepage and ceremony landing page.
  • A video congratulating the graduates appears on the Spring 2014 ceremony landing page.
  • Past ceremony pages include social media feeds, links to video and more.
  • The commencement hashtag, #BearGrads, appears in the new social media footer to encourage students, faculty, staff and guests to join the graduation celebration online.

Adopting a mobile-friendly layout

Another feature of the commencement website is its mobile-friendly format. The site’s appearance changes when viewed on a desktop, tablet and mobile device.

Commencement tablet view
Tablet view of commencement website

To accommodate this change in appearance, the commencement website includes:

  • A consistent navigation
  • Page content organized in a hierarchical manner
  • Maroon action blocks to refer to other site sections
  • Short sentences with action verbs

Highlighting the ceremony

The redesigned commencement website also focuses primarily on the ceremony. Graduation requirements are now housed on the office of the registrar’s website, allowing for the commencement site to clearly feature ceremony details, speaker bios, cap and gown information, and more.

Site credits

  • Design: Kelly Johnson, student Web designer, with oversight by Chris Austin, Web designer
  • Content: Jessica Clements, new media specialist
  • Website implementation: Brittany Dilts, Web and new media student worker, with oversight by Sara Clark, director of Web and new media; Chad Killingsworth, assistant director of Web and new media; and Brian Heaton, content management programmer/analyst

Filed Under: Mobile, Redesign, Web Press, web strategy and development Tagged With: commencement, mobile, Redesign, website

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