feeding the beast: connecting ubc's content strategy and digital ecosystem

Feeding the beastConnecting UBC’s content strategy and digital ecosystem

PSEWEB 2015

Houston White Digital Marketing Specialist @houstonw

UBC Digital Ecosystem | @houstonw

Digital Marketing Specialist

• UBC Communications and Marketing • Part of the Brand Team • Manage UBC Digital Marketing

initiatives • Manage UBC’s central brand social

channels • Set institutional social media

guidelines • Support social media managers

across campus

Me!


Goals

• To shape and elevate the university brand

• To inspire the world to engage with UBC

• To uncover, co-create and share stories that bring the UBC brand to life

Our digital ecosystem


UBC redesign launched April 2014

• Old site described as conservative, daunting, confusing, and text heavy

• Moved from functional and informational to functional, informational, and experiential.

• Go see Adrian’s talk at 4:15 pm today!

UBC.ca


Primary Goals

1. Improve the delivery of information 2. Improve the functional elements 3. Deliver a better experience

Supporting objectives

• Communicate to our diverse audiences strategically

• Be a demonstrated proof point of the UBC brand

• Establish a means to measure and monitor effectiveness

UBC.ca experiential layer


High quality productions that:

• Tell stories that aren’t being told

• Resonate with key target audiences

• Increase the reach and engagement of UBC

Story Forms

• Informational, Episodic, Microsite, Longform

Professional-Quality Rich Media

• Photography, illustrations

• Video, animations

• Audio

Advanced Design and Development

• Responsive (mobile-friendly)

• Modern interaction design and web technologies

Case Study: Winter 2015 Feature Stories

UBC’s FACES OF RESEARCH


Faces of Research

Visual Story

• Editorial style photographs of Vanier Scholars, Canada Research Chairs, and Royal Society Fellows

• 3 photos • http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-

winter/faces-of-research.html

http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-winter/faces-of-research.html


Path to Research

Microsite Story

• Highlighted the different paths that UBC researchers take to create new knowledge in the world

• 6 research stages • 14 researcher stories • http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-

winter/path-to-research.html

http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-winter/path-to-research.html


Smartest Coffee Talk

Episodic Video Story

• Three conversations between UBC researchers walking through campus

• 3 long-form videos (15 minutes+) • Split video into 9 short social clips

(<2 minutes) • http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-

winter/smartest-coffee-talk-you-will-ever-overhear.html

http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-winter/smartest-coffee-talk-you-will-ever-overhear.html


Synapse of Discovery

Microsite Story

• Highlighted the brain research at UBC’s Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health

• 10 brain research stories • 5 interview videos with

Brain Research Centre Directors • 1 patient story video • http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-

winter/synapse-of-discovery.html

http://www.ubc.ca/stories/2015-winter/synapse-of-discovery.html


Discoverability

• Our audience had trouble finding the stories

• Implemented UI changes and continue to improve the site

• We were overly relying on web traffic and not leveraging our social channels or campus colleagues

The challenge


Principles of feature story distribution

•Actively bring our audience to our stories from social,

instead of expecting them to be passively discovered

•Organize long-form feature stories into mini narratives

for social media

•Tailor content to individual social platforms

•Work with communicators from faculties, units, and

departments mentioned in stories to further amplify

•Use Social Media Amplification Fund to target

audiences based on story content

The solution


Leverage UBC communicators network

• 35 communicators contacted • 50 departments, units, faculties

represented

Process

Feature Story Amplification Strategy2015 Winter | Brand Social Channels

1Communicator Mapping Document communicators who were involved in story production or whose units/faculty are mentioned

2Initial email

Notify communicators of our timeline and sharing plans, equip them with assets, copy & links, invite them to customize messaging for their audience/channels

3.1Brand Channel Sharing Share story component via brand social platforms, mentioning relevant unit/faculty/schools.

4Measurement and analytics Analyze reach, engagement, and web traffic related to brand channel shares and story component.

5Micro-report out

Email communicators to follow up, thank them for amplifying, and provide reach, engagement, and web analytics to them.

6Feature story campaign report

Once feature story campaign finishes, aggregate data to measure success.

3.2Partner Channel Sharing Communicators share story component via unit/faculty/school channels.


Editorial calendar

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday SaturdaySunday

5Vanier Scholars

8Funding

9The Research Team

7The Genesis of the Project Idea

11Ethics Approval

12The Research Activity

15Knowledge Mobilization

24Path to Research

18The non-linear path Wade Davis

20Choosing a disciplineWade Davis

25Andrew Baron Genesis

26Elizabeth Saewyc Genesis

28Andrew BaronFunding

27Jaqueline FirkinsFunding

29Bob Hancock Research Team

31Corey NislowResearch Team

30Elizabeth Saewyc Research Team

4 6 10

14

22

17

19 21

13 16

JANUARY

23Anthropology to botanyWade Davis

3Don Mavinic Research Activity

2Andrew Baron Ethics

1Bob Hancock Ethics

9Technology and romanceMarina Adshade

15Canada Research Chairs

24Mind vs. BrainBrain Centre Directors

8 10

16 17

22 23Synapse of Discovery

Monday TuesdaySunday

FEBRUARY


Editorial calendar

Path to Research

4Corey NislowResearch Activity

3Don Mavinic Research Activity

6Jaqueline FirkinsKnowledge Mobilization

7Andrew Baron Knowledge Mobilization

5Susan CrichtonKnowledge Mobilization

2Andrew Baron Ethics

1Bob Hancock Ethics

14Marriage and loveMarina Adshade

12Love isn’t one-dimensionalMarina Adshade

9Technology and romanceMarina Adshade

15Canada Research Chairs

24Mind vs. BrainBrain Centre Directors

27Brain disease is on the riseBrain Centre Directors

25Alzheimer’s

26ALS

28Mental Health and Addiction

8 10 11 13

16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23Synapse of Discovery


FEBRUARY

READING WEEK

15Royal Society of Canada

23Our forests are iconicRichard Hamelin

1Taking care of our brainsBrain Centre Directors

9Unlocking mysteriesBrain Centre Directors

2MRI Research

3Multiple Sclerosis

10Stroke

8

16 17

22 24

Monday TuesdaySunday

MARCH


Editorial calendar

Andrew Baron

Marriage and loveMarina Adshade

Mental Health and

18Infected treesRichard Hamelin

15Royal Society of Canada

27Faces of Research

20What you see isn’t what you getRichard Hamelin

23Our forests are iconicRichard Hamelin

1Taking care of our brainsBrain Centre Directors

4The Golden Age of NeuroscienceBrain Centre Directors

9Unlocking mysteriesBrain Centre Directors

11Marco’s Story

2MRI Research

3Multiple Sclerosis

5Neurotrauma

6Parkinson’s Disease

10Stroke

8

25The Smartest Coffee Talk You’ll Ever Overhear

12 13

16 17 19

22 24 26 28

7

14

21


MARCH


… to an integrated distribution campaign

• 50 days of social content • 122 posts on Facebook and Twitter • 4,761,230 impressions • 2,234,864 engagements (Likes,

comments, shares, RTs, favourites, clicks)

• 185,451 video views • $10,753.59 spent from Social Media

Amplification Fund

Amplification

From four stories…


Web traffic to stories

Channel Sessions % New Sessions New Users Bounce Rate Pages/Session Avg. Session

Duration

Social 16,891 69.17% 11,684 92.27% 1.09 00:26

Direct 6,382 67.49% 4,307 83.28% 1.63 1:40

Organic Search 3,354 49.91% 1,674 76.21% 1.30 1:01

(Other) 688 9.45% 65 72.38% 1.65 2:00

Referral 488 50.41% 246 73.77% 1.51 1:16

Email 22 18.18% 4 90.91% 1.18 0:41

Dates: Jan 1, 2015 - March 31, 2015 Source: Google Analytics


Social referrals to stories Dates: Jan 1, 2015 - March 31, 2015 Source: Google Analytics

Social Network Sessions Pageviews Avg. Session Duration Pages / Session

Facebook 14,105 15,255 0:24 1.08

Twitter 2,270 2,647 0:42 1.17

LinkedIn 442 481 0:27 1.09

Google+ 43 52 0:42 1.21

Tumblr 19 20 0:07 1.05


Facebook distribution Dates: Jan 1, 2015 - March 31, 2015 Source: Facebook Insights

Story Number of Posts Impressions People Reached

Engagement (Likes, Comments, Shares, Clicks)

Engaged Users Video Views Spend

Faces of Research 6

954,758 total 297,323 org.

657,435 paid

498,861 total 116,685 org.

382,176 paid44,569 28,843 - $1,225.00

Path to Research 201,029,656 total

721,669 org. 307,987 paid

554,880 total 317,816 org.

237,064 paid33,406 29,788 - $2,286.06

Smartest Coffee Talk 10

1,379,154 total 573,319 org.

805,835 paid

721,480 total 220,296 org. 501,184 paid

20,847 17,996144,821 total

57,044 org. 87,777 paid

$2,475.42

Synapse of Discovery 14

813,892 total 607,923 org.

205,969 paid

444,160 total 260,250 org. 183,910 paid

11,281 12,25539,376 total 25,918 org. 13,458 paid

$913.60

Total 504,177,460 total 2,200,234 org. 1,977,226 paid

2,219,381 total 915,047 org.

1,304,334 paid110,103 88,882

184,197 total 82,962 org.

101,235 paid$6,900.08


What we learned:

• Social media is the largest source of visitors for our feature stories

• Visitors from social media spend less time on a page, and go to fewer pages per session

• Facebook is the social platform with the greatest reach and engagement.

• Short, social video is a big driver of engagement • Social spend was instrumental in targeting our

stories to relevant audiences

Key takeaways


Key story-specific takeaways

Faces of Research

• Fewer shareable sections, but higher reach and engagement.

• Users more likely to engage in multiple ways than other stories.

Path to Research

• Second highest engagement. • Cross-section of topics profiled

helped draw a diverse audience.

Smartest Coffee Talk

• Social clips from long-form video led to high views counts.

• Big impressions and reach, but fewer engaged users.

Synapse of Discovery

• Effective targeting to people interested in different brain diseases.

• Single topic narrowed audience.


Social video


Huge growth

• Started posting natively in November 2014

• Average of 151,305 views per month since then

Facebook video


Autoplay native video is easier to use

• Less friction, lower barrier to view • More visually engaging • More integrated into timeline

…especially on mobile

User experience matters

before after


Epic Snowball Fight

• Shot on iPhone • Posted on February 25, 2014 directly

on Facebook • Highest engagement we’d ever seen • Early days of Facebook video, so no

view counts or analytics • 1830 likes, 365 shares

Our first clue


Meditative Moments

• Student Services exam-time campaign

• Video content originally created for web, Youtube, Instagram, digital signage

• Posted November 26, 2014 directly on Facebook

• 27k views, 783 likes, 188 shares

A second test


Polar Bear Swim

• Student-led event on the last day of classes

• Despite appearances, very cold!* • Video shot on iPhone, also sent a

photographer to capture stills • Posted November 28, 2014 directly

on Facebook • 128k views, 2696 likes, 447 shares • 755k impressions, 360k unique

people reached

The perfect storm

*for Vancouver


Get straight to the action

• Abandon headers and title slides • Make the first three seconds count • Assume your audience doesn’t hear

the sound

Facebook video lessons

*for Vancouver


Autoplay native video is easier to use

• Less friction • More visually engaging • More integrated into timeline …especially on mobile

Timeline

• Advertiser beta in August 2014 • Public launch in January 2015

Twitter video


Twitter videoVi

ews

0

450

900

1350

1800

Dec 2014 Jan 2015 Feb 2015 Mar 2015 Apr 2015 May 2015 Jun 2015

Promoted Organic

First video

Autoplay

@UBC video views


Twitter videoVi

ews

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

Dec 2014 Jan 2015 Feb 2015 Mar 2015 Apr 2015 May 2015 Jun 2015 Jul 2015

Promoted Organic

First video

Autoplay

@UBC video views


Part of our digital ecosystem

• Early adopter, less competition as an advertiser in the sector

• New distribution for existing content and initiatives

• Reach gained from producing more “fun” content allows us to more effectively tell other, less “fun” stories

Social video

Thank you!

PSEWEB 2015

Houston White Digital Marketing Specialist @houstonw

feeding the beast: connecting ubc's content strategy and digital ecosystem

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