Creating digital, visual content poses challenges for higher education. Here are some ideas and resources I shared with my Frostburg State colleague Bri Huot at the CASE District II 2012 conference.

1. Going Visual
in Digital
Communications
Becca Ramspott: Communications Specialist
Brianne Reason: Alumni Affairs/Annual Giving Specialist
Frostburg State University
CASE District II Conference, March 4, 2013

2. Past vs. Present …
• Everything has always been visual …

3. Past vs. Present …

4. Past vs. Present …
Neil Armstrong picture from http://charithwg.blogspot.com/2011/07/first-foot-print-on-moonin-celebration.html
Red Bull Statos picture of Felix Baumgartner from DachisGroup, “7 Social Campaign Insights from Red Bull Statos,
http://www.dachisgroup.com/2012/10/7-social-campaign-insights-from-redbull-stratos/

5. Eye-opening stats …
“A 2012 study by ROI Research found that
when users engage with friends on social media
sites, it's the pictures they took that are enjoyed
the most. Forty-four percent of respondents are
more likely to engage with brands if they post
pictures than any other media. Pictures have
become one of our default modes of sorting and
understanding the vast amounts of information
we're exposed to every day.”*
*Walter, Ekaterina, “The Rise of Social Media,” Fast Company, Aug. 28, 2012

6. Eye-opening stats …
• Videos are shared 1,200% more than links
and text posts combined.
• Photos are liked 200% more than text
updates.
Bullas, Jeff, “So How Powerful is Visual Content on Social Media?” quote from a study done
by Simply Measured, which looked at Facebook’s top 10 brand pages

7. But creating digital, visual
content poses challenges for
higher education …
• Many of us are short on time, staff and resources
• Social media changes all the time … hard to keep
up
• No control with social media
• How to be relevant to our various online
audiences … Where do we go? What do we say?
• Old school versus new school

8. SOCIAL MEDIA and
the “shiny new toy” syndrome

9. Frostburg State’s stats
• VERY small shop
• Limited resources: no full-time videographer or
photographer on our staff
• No budget for specific campaign projects
• Support from senior leadership to take risks, try
new ideas
>>> Creative problem solving
>>> Less red tape
>>> Close-knit campus community = familiarity with
available resources

10. Frostburg’s Foray
Into Social Media …

11. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• Be a CURATOR! (Visual storytelling, organizing info in
an interactive way)
– Create an editorial calendar for your social media
– No posts/tweets without some sort of picture
illustrating the event or announcement, whenever
possible
– PHOTOS, PHOTOS, PHOTOS (Facebook Photo
albums are worth their weight in gold, in terms of
engagement)

12. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

13. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

14. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• Take advantage of USER-GENERATED CONTENT
– Ask questions on Twitter and RT people’s
responses with your commentary added
– Invite people to share pictures
(#instaFrostburg)
– Do contests (legality?)

15. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

16. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• CROSS-PROMOTE your social media communities
– Add links to social media in email signatures
– Highlight social media on related print
materials
– Share and share alike across the social media
spectrum (think about how students use their
mobile devices to discover and share info)

17. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

18. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

19. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• LISTEN to what’s out there, what people are saying
about your brand …
– Socialmention.com (<<< FREE!)
– Google Reader
– Hootsuite/Tweetdeck “Mentions” feature
– Brand monitoring/listening tools like Radian6
– Students, students, students!! What are they talking
about?

20. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• Have a strategic approach that helps you
STAY NIMBLE
– Don’t invest in overly complicated ideas that take a lot
of time and energy … think smart, simple and
shareable
– Be willing to let go of projects that aren’t working or no
longer serve your institution’s goals
– Make sure whatever content you’re curating and
creating supports institutional goals

21. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations

22. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations

23. How Frostburg
Curates Content, Conversations

24. Frostburg’s Formula
for Curating Content, Conversations
• EDUCATE, DON’T DICTATE, in how you share social
media best practices with your campus
– Form a Social Media Group for collective
leadership/sounding board in spearheading social
media practices
– Have tools and resources at the ready to deal with
flurry of social media creation (eFrostburg
Community)
– Acknowledge departments who use social media well

25. FSU’s Social Media Marketing
Philosophy
• We don’t censor our social media communities;
instead we respond or, better yet, wait for one
of our constituents to chime in
• Authenticity is key; if we make a mistake, we
acknowledge it
• Keep it fresh and informal; casual voice
• Social media is conversation and interaction, not
one-way communication
• Reverse thinking: personal made business
instead of reverse

26. FSU Faculty Staff Campaign
• Over 700 Faculty and Staff
• 12 Special Gifts Committee Members
• All gifts July 1- June 30 are counted
– Targeted solicitation takes place during
academic year

27. A Visual Campaign
Dialogue= Dollars
• Fundraising best practices of
cultivation
• Videos allow you to reach the masses
personally
$

28. The Transition to Visual
2011 2012

29. The Transition to Visual
•Choose the right subject
•Graduating senior
•Chief of Police
•Show them the fruit of
their labor

30. Overwhelming Response

31. Overwhelming Response

32. Overwhelming Response
“I cannot yet give at this time, but I hope to
someday. I just wanted you to know this
is a great video.”
– FSU Professor

33. Collaboration is Key
• Reach out to your campus partners
– Mass Communications
– Use ideas from your gift officers for content
• Utilize students
– Experiential learning
– Eases task load for staff

34. Collaboration is Key
• Not everyone is digital
– What about Physical Plant? Housekeeping?
– Are you leaving people out?
• Ian- SG Member example

35. • Mashable.com
• MediaPost Publications
• “Wired Edition” of
Chronicle of Higher Ed
• #casesmc Twitter chats
Staying Current

36. Keep the Conversation Going …
Brianne Reason
blreason@frostburg.edu
@BrianneReason
www.linkedin.com/in/briannereason

37. Keep the Conversation Going …
Becca Ramspott
reramspott@frostburg.edu
@beccaramspott
www.linkedin.com/in/beccaramspott
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