I spend a lot of time in my work cleaning up jargon on college websites, which is why it pains me when I find myself using jargony content strategy terms. Yet, like other specialty web disciplines, content strategy has a number of specific guides, tools and processes to help us get our work done. Designers, developers, UX-ers, we all have them — and we need to be able to communicate the purpose and value of these concepts to other people on our … [Read more...]
Ask Me Anything: How Can Higher Ed Use Reddit AMAs?
January 19, 2015 by
The following guest post was written by Ryan Morejon, social media community manager, and Angeline Evans, former digital media manager, at Florida International University. You never want to dive into a new social channel without a strategy just because it’s new or just for the sake of being there. That’s why, at first, we were hesitant to experiment with Reddit at Florida International University. For one, we didn’t know much about it, … [Read more...]
A Closer Look at Shorthand Visual Communications
January 12, 2015 by
Let's put ourselves in the shoes of one of our students. A graduating student, let's say. Perhaps their feelings are best represented like this: Or like this: (•_•) <) )╯College / \ \(•_•) ( (> is finally / \ (•_•) <) )> over. / \ Or perhaps they would feel more like this: Why are we talking about GIFs, emoji, and ASCII art in a space where we typically discuss CMS workflows and … [Read more...]
Optimizing Your Content for the Social Feed
January 5, 2015 by
The following guest post was written by Mike Petroff, digital content strategist, Harvard University. Content strategy typically starts with planning for and managing content on your own website. Words, images, videos, and other elements all fit within your carefully constructed design. But, what happens when people discover your content in spaces like Facebook and Twitter? How can we prepare our content to visually stand out when it … [Read more...]
The Power of the First-Person Perspective
July 15, 2014 by
A lot has been said about “clickbait” content from sites like Upworthy, whose headlines tug on (some say exploit) emotions and curiosity to lure readers to their content. While I don’t feel as strongly about these headlines as many do, one type of headline that particularly grates on me is the faux first-person headline. For example: A News Team Follows Potential Models For One Week. My Face Is Now Stuck In Disgust Mode. I’ve Tried To … [Read more...]