Best Practices
Featured Topic: Successful Facebook fan engagement
Facebook provides various metrics for measuring whether your fan page is successful. The two most important are:
- Fan interaction, which measures the number of times your fans post items or comment on or "like" things you've posted.
- Post quality, which is determined by the percentage of fans who interact with your page when you post new content.
On the Facebook pages for both the UW and the UW Alumni Association, topics that consistently perform well against these metrics are:
- Sports-related posts
- Campus photos
- Feel-good stories & status updates
- And Dubs! (Naturally, he has his own fan page.)
Last June, an independent company called Blue Fuego analyzed fan engagement on various university Facebook fan pages, and ranked the UW highest among universities with 20,000 or more students. This also happened to be the month that two UW sports teams won national championships.
Derek Belt, who manages UWAA's Facebook presence, offers these words of wisdom for sustaining Facebook success:
- Fans of your page don't necessarily want to know everything about your organization. It's usually a case of "Yes, I like this group. I support them."
- Don't overload fans with information; give them useful tidbits that make them feel good about their experience with your page.
- Keep self-serving posts to a minimum: I'm not going to sell UWAA memberships on Facebook. But I can make people feel more connected to the UW. That, in turn, could make our membership pitches more meaningful when they arrive in the mail or via e-mail
- Don't rely on your main Facebook page alone. For instance, I also manage Facebook pages for students, Dawg Dash participants, graduating seniors and Coach Sark supporters. These pages allow us to tailor our messaging to those fans' specific interests.
Now Available
Fact Sheet
Download this printer-friendly annual snapshot of facts about the University, including student demographics, ranking highlights, the UW's economic impact and more. Coming soon: a fact sheet template (in Word) that you can customize to highlight facts about your unit.
PowerPoint Templates
Check out the newly posted downloadable PowerPoint templates that incorporate the latest visual brand elements, including a Block W version.
Web Site Header/Footer Wizard
There is now an online tool that helps you create a Web site header and footer that incorporates the University's brand standards and includes global navigation in a variety of colors and customizable layouts. As you move through each step, the tool generates code based on your selections and provides instructions for implementation on your UW Web site. Questions? Contact uweb@uw.edu.
Videos
As we announced last month, there is now a set of five UW videos that help portray what we mean by the Washington Way as well as each of the four Spotlight Opportunity areas. Soon you'll see these videos featured on the UW home page, on UWTV and at live events. We hope that you will feature them on your Web sites and in your e-newsletters also. They are available in several formats:
- Get them on a DVD, which you can do by contacting Cheryl Nations at cnations@uw.edu or x17041.
- Link to them on the UW's YouTube channel:
- Discover What’s Next (approx. 2 min.)
- Expanding World Views (approx. 1 min.)
- Advancing Our World (approx. 1 min.)
- Creating Healthier Lives (approx. 1 min.)
- Environmental Leadership (approx. 1 min.)
- Use YouTube's Embeddable Player to put them on your Web site.
Question of the Month
Q: I heard that there is a viewbook being published by the University. Is it possible to get some copies?
A: Absolutely! And we have extended the ordering deadline to Nov. 24. Don’t forget, there is no cost to your unit to order them. However, you will need to fill out this order form by Tues., Nov. 24, and order a minimum of one box. Each box contains 100 copies. If you miss the deadline, you will have an opportunity later to order free copies to share with your constituents. Look for details in a future issue of Marketing Matters.
The books are slated to arrive during winter quarter 2010. In the meantime, though, you can take a sneak peek on the UW Marketing Web site. The costs for producing this viewbook are being generously underwritten by The Boeing Corporation.
Questions? Contact Sabriena Simon at sabsimon@uw.edu or x50280.
Got a question for next month? Send it to mktg@uw.edu.
Nov. 2009
Table of Contents
- The UW is ranked fourth in a list of the most most-cited academic institutions of published journals by ScienceWatch.com.
- 1 in every 4 current UW undergraduates from Washington state have their tuition and fees fully covered by the Husky Promise. This makes our University one of the most economically diverse in the nation.
- Here are a few stats about the 5,338 UW students enrolled in the 2009 freshman class:
- 1/3 are the first in their families to go to college
- They represent 44 states, D.C., Guam and 27 countries
- 42 of them National Merit finalists
- Pres. Emmert will be sending a holiday e-card to faculty, staff, students, alumni and donors on Dec. 8. If your unit plans to send out e-mail, such as a holiday greeting, to any of these groups, please plan to send it either a few days before or after that date. The President's e-card will link to a video showcasing highlights of 2009 at the University. We encourage you to link to it too. Look for that link on the UW home page on Dec. 8 or check our toolkits page.
- On Nov. 4, 2009, the UW became the first university in the nation to launch a mobile application for the BlackBerry. It carries the same name as our iPhone app: m.uw.
- UW Medicine recently launched a fully redesigned Web site with all-new navigation -- which means a totally new URL structure. If your site links to the UW Medicine site, you will need to update those links.
- Dec. 3: UW Graduate Student Workshop: Building Your Network & Conducting Informational Interviews, Smith 304, 4:30 p.m.
- Dec. 9: School of Social Work Endowed Professorship Lecture Series: "Promoting Positive Adolescent and Adult Functioning through Social Development Intervention in Childhood" by Richard F. Catalano, Social Work Room 305AB, 5:30 p.m.
- Jan. 20: NEXT CITY: Sustainable Urbanization Lecture Series: "Jane Jacobs and Rachel Carson: The Death and Life of Nature and the City" by Robert Fishman, Kane Hall 120, 6:30 p.m.
- Jan. 26: Walker Ames Lecture: "The Science of Optics; The History of Art" by Charles Falco, Kane Hall 120, 6:30 p.m.
For a full list of upcoming events, visit the UWAA events page and the UW Events and Calendars page.
- Dec. 19: Web Council, Odegaard 220, 9-10:30 a.m.
- Jan. 13: E-marketing Working Group, Gerberding Room 142, 12:30-2 p.m.
UW Marketing:
Key Nuttall
Acting Associate Vice President, Marketing
x56410, keyn@uw.edu
Note: UW Marketing Associate VP Tricia Thompson will be on parental leave through Feb. 2010. Director of Strategy and New Media Key Nuttall will be filling in for her.
Brand Styles & Standards:
Cheryl Nations
x17041, cnations@uw.edu
Events:
David Doxtater
x60348, dox@uw.edu
Marketing & Brand Strategy:
Key Nuttall
x56410, keyn@uw.edu
Web Communications:
Gina Hills
x32561, ghills@uw.edu
E-communications & New Media:
Elise Daniel
x68923, eperdan@uw.edu
Questions? Contact mktg@uw.edu
Advertising:
Lead: Eric Nobis
x69815, nobis@uw.edu
Arts UW:
Lead: Laura Biggers
x57951, laurab27@uw.edu
Events:
Lead: David Doxtater
x60348, dox@uw.edu
Logos & Colors:
Lead: Cheryl Nations
x17041, cnations@uw.edu
3-Campus Marketing & Communications:
Lead: Mike Wark
x25771, mwark@uw.edu
"W" License Plate Marketing:
Lead: Kathy Hoggan
x30775, khoggan@uw.edu
Accessibility:
Lead: Rick Ells
x32875, rells@uw.edu
Content Management Systems:
Lead: Ann Whitney
x33402, amwhit24@uw.edu
Digital Media:
Lead: Andre Tan
x17312, andretan@uw.edu
E-marketing:
Lead: Elise Daniel
x68923, eperdan@uw.edu
Web Analytics and Metrics:
Lead: Mark Stewart
x37901, mark47@uw.edu
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