The Network

UQ marketing and communications news

February 2018

UQ Moments

You may have noticed a new series on our Facebook page called UQ Moments.

This series aims to capture those moments that reflect UQ life, whether they be the everyday occurrences, unique aspects or larger than life moments.

The moments potentially differentiate UQ and give future students an insight into UQ life in an authentic, fun short video format. They also ensure our other audiences that are more familiar with UQ, such as current students, staff and alumni, can recognise and engage with the moments that resonate for them.

Social video generates higher engagement on average than any other format and was selected as the best delivery of UQ Moments to our online audience. We’re aiming for weekly release on Facebook and the videos are currently averaging 8300 views and 230 likes.

We'd love to hear your ideas for potential moments that we can capture for future videos. Contact the Marketing team with any suggestions.

Unicorn hunters bring back gold

In December 2017, 14 UQ Idea Hub students adventured to Tel Aviv’s world-leading startup scene as part of the third UQ Startup Adventure. This is the only program of its kind in the world, immersing students in the startup culture of Israel for four weeks on a full scholarship.

At UQ Idea Hub, we wanted to collect content that could be leveraged, both while the students were away and upon their return, to encourage more donors to give to the program and more students to participate.

We created a media kit detailing what we wanted the students to collect or produce while in the field, giving them the choice between daily vlogging, blogging, Instagram posting and photography assignments. The result was a bounty of relevant and engaging content showcasing the adventurers’ experiences, in-country partnerships and detailing the transformations each student experienced. We even have a virtual reality project underway thanks to one student’s efforts collecting 360-degree video content through his travels.

Because the program takes students from across all of UQ, the media kits were tailored to the students’ faculties, schools and disciplines, including relevant accounts to tag and share with, as well as hashtags and the signature #UQStartupAdventure. One month after the return of the adventurers we are still seeing excellent engagement on the content being shared.

Additionally, to keep content timely and relevant we sent daily reminders calling for images and quotes on the student experiences using instant messaging service, WhatsApp.

You can view the Tel Aviv UQ Startup Adventure content with the hashtag #UQStartupAdventure on Facebook and Twitter, as well as at ideahub.uq.edu.au.

To find out more about our media kit or how we worked with our adventurers to get the best content from them, contact Olivia Adlard.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! (just not on Facebook)

In early January Mark Zuckerberg announced yet another change to Facebook's News Feed.

In the coming months the social media platform will be prioritising posts from friends over content from media outlets, brands and organisations – including UQ.

According to Zuckerburg, this is in the users' best interest as it allows people to connect better with the people they care about.

However, it will have implications for how organisations like UQ share content and connect with audiences.

Adam Mosseri, Head of News Feed at Facebook, wrote a separate article that spelled out more directly how the changes would affect organisations.

He wrote:
"Because space in News Feed is limited, showing more posts from friends and family and updates that spark conversation means we’ll show less public content, including videos and other posts from publishers or businesses.

As we make these updates, Pages may see their reach, video watch time and referral traffic decrease. The impact will vary from Page to Page, driven by factors including the type of content they produce and how people interact with it. Pages making posts that people generally don’t react to or comment on could see the biggest decreases in distribution. Pages whose posts prompt conversations between friends will see less of an effect."

This change will most likely create a drop in engagement for almost all UQ Facebook pages, but know that this is a universal slump.

In order to reduce the impact of these changes it is more important than ever that content posted to Facebook engages audiences and the platform isn't seen as a one-way conversation.

Facebook data shows that video content continues to be the most engaging form of content on the platform, and will be essential to a successful and engaging Facebook page in the future.

Video content for Facebook doesn't have to be expensive and labour intensive. Footage taken (in landscape mode) with a smartphone will be just fine; the key is to capture interesting moments that will resonate with your audience.

However, if you do need high-quality, professional video, UQ has a panel of approved videographers.

UQ Life launches

Next week, UQ will launch a pilot program for the first few weeks of semester called UQ Life. This is a five-week, experiential program aimed at facilitating a sense of belonging among new students.

UQ Life has been designed as a progressive program of events, with each week based around a central theme.

Prep Week
Monday 5 February–Friday 9 February
Preparing students for study, based on the successful Jump Start Academic Preparation Program.

O-Fest
Monday 12 February–Friday 16 February
Running during what used to be known as Orientation Week, this week highlights a taste of UQ life through information, social and academic initiatives.

Events include:
· welcome to country
· welcome BBQ
· moonlight movies
· Market Day
· inflatable world
· giant lawn games event
· UQU wrap-up party
· daily campus tours.

Connect Week
Monday 12 February–Friday 16 February
Running during the first week of classes, this week is all about connecting students to each other, social programs, and their academic cohort.

Events include:
· the great picnic
· moonlight movie
· UQ big quiz (inter-faculty trivia competition)
· UQ Sports Day
· free come and try UQ Sports
· speed friending
· UQ Mates commences.

Culture Week
Monday 26 February–Friday 2 March
Running during the second week of classes this week celebrates the diverse cultures represented at UQ.

Events include:
· Aussie BBQ
· Latin American, Bollywood and Chinese cultural events
· departure lounge (UQ Abroad)
· Food on Forgan.

Success Week
Monday 5 March–Friday 9 March
Running during the third week of classes, this pre-census week is all about promoting the services designed to encourage and assist student success.

Events include:
· Student employability Lego pit
· Pop-up chill out zone
· International Women’s Day Breakfast.

A program of events and marketing collateral can be accessed here, and digital screens have been added to UQ life on Appspace.

eBird by any other name

An app that harnesses the powers of citizen science and big data is collecting information about wild birds across Australia.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, based at UQ, has negotiated to bring eBird to Australia and merge it with the existing and very popular database called Eremaea, started by Richard and Margaret Alcorn almost 20 years ago.

You can download the app on the App Store or Google Play.

For more information, contact Casey Fung.

Photo credit: istock/BirdImages

A new approach to research news

This month on The Conversation, Andy Tattersall from the University of Sheffield highlighted the importance of reporting research in ways that “break down the stereotypical image” of universities as ivory towers and researchers as “boffins”.

UQ researcher doing field work. 

UQ researcher doing field work. 

Our roles as communicators can be challenging when it comes to garnering media space to inform a public often drenched in information and suffering from expert fatigue, and it’s difficult to create and promote content that reflects the true impact our researchers have on the world.

Portraying our experts as the talented individuals and real people that they are is an important part of the mix.
Still and video images can help enormously, particularly when they contextualise the researcher with their work. See examples here, here and here.

UQ researcher doing lab work. 

UQ researcher doing lab work. 

Remember that landscape images work best. Professional shots are great, but smartphone shots can also work well. And don’t forget to consider video of researchers at work in the field or the lab. We also welcome good quality portrait shots to use as secondary images.

A list of UQ’s preferred supplier photographers and videographers is here.

Tools to boost your visual storytelling

Rich visuals are essential for creating effective digital stories. The best digital stories use a mixture of multimedia elements to complement storytelling, present the information in a more reader-friendly way, and make complex concepts easier to understand.

You should consider images, media and design from the very first planning phases of your story, and don’t be afraid to refine and change these throughout content development. Such media might include high-quality images, video clips, animated or interactive infographics, graphs, sliders, timelines, and a range of others.

Consider embedding assets from third-party visualisation tools such as:

Amcharts
Juxtapose
Soundcite
StoryMap
Timeline
Scene
Storyline
Canva
Easelly
The Noun Project
Venngage
Piktochart
Chart Maker
RAWGraphs
Datawrapper
Flourish
Kiln.

Want to recommend a tool or tell us about an amazing digital feature? Share your finds and creations with the OMC Publications team at publications@uq.edu.au.

Macquarie Dictionary announces its word of the year – 'milkshake duck'

Even if you don’t know the word, you know the phenomenon.

Milkshake duck is defined as a person who is initially viewed positively by the media but is then discovered to have something questionable about them which causes a sharp decline in their popularity.

The term was created in June 2016 by Ben Ward, an Australian cartoonist using the online handle @pixelatedboat.

Ward posted a tweet about a duck supposedly made famous for its adorable nature and habit of drinking milkshakes, but which is almost immediately discovered to be racist.

According to Macquarie Dictionary, milkshake duck stood out as being a much-needed term to describe something we are seeing more and more of, not just on the internet but now across all types of media.

It plays to the simultaneous desire to bring someone down and the hope that they won’t be brought down.

You may have already thought of examples of milkshake ducks (noun) who have milkshake ducked (adjective).

For more information, you can find some examples of milkshake ducking here and here.

February event alert

External events:
1–28 February: Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
1–28 February: Heart Research Month
2 February: World Wetlands Day
4 February: World Cancer Day
6 February: Safer Internet Day
6 February: International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation
12 February: International Darwin Day
13 February: Apology Anniversary
13 February: World Radio Day
14 February: Sweetheart Day
14 February: One Billion Rising
16 February: Chinese New Year
18 February: International Asperger’s Day
20 February: World Day of Social Justice
24 February: Teal Ribbon Day
25 February–3 March: Hearing Awareness Week
24 February: Rare Diseases Day

UQ events:
12–16 February: O-Week
19 February: Semester 1 classes commence

Other dates to watch:
The Federal Parliament is sitting on 5–8, 12–15 and 26–28 February. Queensland Parliament is sitting on 13–15 February. Parliament sucks up media oxygen, which is worth considering before issuing media releases in sitting weeks.

A range of events across Queensland is detailed at Events Queensland and Our Community. Check the calendar of internal UQ events here.

Please advise communications@uq.edu.au of any dates or events you think should be added to the next monthly calendar.

Marketing and communications staff update

Jessica Cruff has joined the HASS Faculty as Marketing and Engagement Officer (Recruitment) in the Marketing and Engagement team. Jessica was previously with the Office of Domestic Student Recruitment as Outreach Program Officer. Contact Jessica at j.cruff@uq.edu.au or on 334 60384.

Sophie Hatch has joined the OMC Marketing team in the role of Marketing Coordinator. She has extensive industry experience in copywriting and social media management, and joins OMC from the Queensland Rail Travel division. Her focus is on social strategy and community engagement and achieving this through engaging, on-brand copy. Contact Sophie at s.hatch@uq.edu.au or on 334 67685.

Amy Hunter has returned from maternity leave to the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences in the role of Marketing and Recruitment Officer, working from Monday–Wednesday. Contact Amy on amy.hunter@uq.edu.au or on 334 63038.

Angela McNeill has joined the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law in the role of Assistant Manager, Marketing and Communications, backfilling Amanda McHardy’s role while she’s on maternity leave for 12 months. Angela has previously worked in marketing and brand management roles at Churchill Education and Tourism and Events Queensland. Contact Angela at a.mcneill@uq.edu.au or on 334 60632.

Rena Yu has joined the EAIT Faculty Marketing and Communication and Development Team as Digital Marketing Coordinator. She has a Bachelor of Business Management and a Master of Interaction Design, both from UQ, with experience in marketing, web and human-centred design. Contact Rena at rena.yu@uq.edu.au

Trent Leggatt has joined OMC as Acting Marketing Manager backfilling Lindy White while she acts as OMC Deputy Director. Trent will be well known to most of you from his role as Marketing and Communications Manager in the EAIT Faculty. Trent will be with OMC four days per week and will spend Thursdays with EAIT. This arrangement will be in place until early April. Contact Trent at t.leggatt@uq.edu.au

New to UQ? Just moved to a new unit, or leaving us soon? Let us know for next edition.

New photos on UQ Images

UQ Written Style Guide

The online guide to written style at UQ is an authoritative guide for staff when writing any internal or external communications and marketing materials across all print and digital media.

To ensure the guide remains current, usable and relevant, a working group of staff members from units across UQ meets regularly to discuss style issues and queries that arise in their day-to-day work.

If you are interested in joining the working group, email the Publications team – new members are encouraged.

Further reading

Twitter bumps display name length up to 50 characters: The Verge
10 Ways to Distribute One Piece of Content (Besides Social Shares): HubSpot
Translating the magic of a campus culture: mStoner

View previous editions of The Network on the OMC website.

OMC welcomes your feedback on The Network. Send your comments or suggestions to publications@uq.edu.au. Send any stories or ideas by the second Thursday of each month.