UNB Marketing Blog
Tips and tricks from your university marketers
9 things to remember when asking for web updates
Lynn McLellan
Posted: December 2, 2020 3:00:00 PM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
Updating your UNB website is as simple as emailing digital@unb.ca. But sometimes we can end up exchanging more emails than necessary. Here are nine tips to make the process more efficient for all involved: 1. Include a descriptive subject line To distinguish your web request from others, we ask that you include the name of your faculty or unit in the subject line. For example, use “Faculty of Business website” rather than “Website.” 2. Include a link to the...
Introducing ‘UNB is here’
Sarah Martell
Posted: October 7, 2020 3:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media
UNB is introducing a new advertising concept this fall. Building on the success of the #OnlyHere campaign, we have developed an evidence-based, insight-driven integrated advertising strategy focused on the impact UNB faculty, staff, students and alumni are making locally and globally. The #OnlyHere campaign shared unique and differentiating aspects of the UNB student experience with high school students and parents. ‘UNB is here’ goes broader, creating space to tell our stories of...
How to create content people will share
Gina Alward
Posted: May 1, 2020 2:00:00 PM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
People love to share stories, news and information. We tell our friends about a great movie we’ve seen, chat with neighbours about unbelievable deals and gossip with our coworkers about changes in management. And according to Jonah Berger, author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, the things others tell us have a huge impact on what we think, read, buy and do. In fact, word of mouth is at least 10 times more effective than traditional advertising. Companies will always argue their...
Shooting a selfie video for Instagram
Gina Alward & Carly Jenkins
Posted: March 26, 2020 10:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
Creating a selfie video is a lot of fun and a great way to add a human touch to your message. And with today’s technology and the right lighting, shooting video on your phone can almost look as if it was shot by a pro. To ensure your first take is a wrap, we’ve compiled a list of simple tips and tricks to follow when creating a selfie video for Instagram: 1. Keep your phone vertical All video segments must be taken vertically to match the format of Instagram stories. 2. Keep...
Let’s connect! Stay on top of your LinkedIn game
Sarah Albert
Posted: March 4, 2020 4:00:00 PM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
LinkedIn is often described as an online resume, but it goes way beyond that. LinkedIn provides a platform for professionals to connect with each other, share industry news, job search, and much more. So how can you ensure you’re staying on top of your game? Personal profile The first step to LinkedIn success is having a complete profile. When first joining the platform, you will be taken through these fields one-by-one. Profile pages on Linkedin should only be used for your personal...
The Message Matrix Project
Lance Blakney
Posted: February 5, 2020 3:00:00 PM AST
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media
Consistent. Messaging. Centralized. There are so many amazing stories to be told in every corner of our campuses. As a leader in research and innovation since 1785, the world deserves to know who we are. As Canada’s oldest English-speaking university, it is important to unify our storytelling efforts to ensure consistency that will elevate the university as a whole. We can only move forward if we paddle in the same direction. That direction is made clear with the message matrix...
Refresh your UNB website in two weeks
Jean-Étienne Sheehy
Posted: December 4, 2019 8:30:00 AM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
Do you wonder how long will it take to refresh your UNB website? You’re not alone! Most units ask this question during their initial meeting with the Marketing Office. The answer varies and depends on many factors such as a potential timeline or your unit’s bandwidth. Good preparation and collaboration can ease this process and overcome potential obstacles. With our help, it’s possible to refresh your UNB website in as quickly as two weeks! Ahead of the refresh The refresh...
Social media contests: How to win every time
Sarah Albert
Posted: October 30, 2019 3:15:00 PM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
Organizations often turn to social media contests as an inexpensive way to increase traffic to their pages with minimal effort. This type of marketing is mostly used on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, and it feels like everyone is either doing it or participating in them. But before you go ahead and hop on the bandwagon, you need to keep three things in mind before you create a social media contest: the rules of your chosen platform, what type of contest best fits your needs, and...
#WeAreUNB: Share your story
Gina Alward
Posted: September 5, 2019 10:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
What makes the University of New Brunswick shine? The people who study, work and teach in our community! This fall, we are launching a new series called #WeAreUNB - getting up close and personal with our UNB community. We will be sharing photos and personal anecdotes from our students, faculty, staff and alumni on our social media channels and website. These stories will reflect the personal journeys of our community members, giving you an authentic look at the people of UNB. The hashtag...
Common web mistakes you don’t want to make
Jean-Étienne Sheehy
Posted: July 5, 2019 11:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
Do you want your content to appear on Google? Does your website follow UNB’s web standards? We’re here to help you fix common web mistakes, improve your user experience and optimize your content so that it’s not only tailored to your audience’s needs, but will also have a bigger impact on Google. Common mistake #1: You’re confusing traffic for audience Traffic is made up of people who end up on your website, namely anyone who enters your URL or finds your unit on...
Influencer Marketing: If you’re not doing it, you’re missing out
Sarah Albert
Posted: June 6, 2019 12:30:00 PM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
With the rise of consumer awareness, marketers are required to find new ways to promote their brand. Our audiences are craving a more personal experience, and our old ways of marketing often are not cutting it. The solution to this is rather simple: Social Media Influencers. These social media gurus are known to be using one or more social platforms to build a significant audience and promote a product, service or idea. Basically, anyone can become an influencer. But how can you recruit them...
Social media trends 2019: This time, it’s personal
Gina Alward
Posted: February 1, 2019 1:15:00 PM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
The marketing styles of days past just aren’t going to cut it anymore. Social media is constantly changing and we need to know what’s coming if we want to stay ahead of the game. While these changes don’t exactly come from out of the blue, it’s important that we let go of what no longer works in order to make way for more of what our audience wants. And this year, the brands that are successful in delivering personalized experiences to their audiences are the ones who...
How the UNB Alumni Office re-connected with 6500+ alumni
Associated Alumni
Posted: September 6, 2018 4:23:00 PM ADT
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media
Losing touch with alumni after they graduate and leave campus is a common problem in higher ed. Particularly in the first few years after graduation, when alumni relocate, change their email address and often times their name. In many cases we still have the email address they used when applying to UNB – catgurl45@hotmail.com anyone? The Alumni Office developed a comprehensive digital marketing campaign to re-connect with lost alumni using a character named Freddy John, who travelled...
Marketing Office Feedback Survey One year later
Marketing
Posted: March 21, 2018 5:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media , Marketing Services
Last year, the Marketing Office launched a feedback survey to members of the University-Wide Communications and Marketing Working Group (UWCMWG) — a bi-campus working group made up of various positions across UNB who have a role related to marketing and communications. The survey was intended to help frame areas of focus for the Marketing Office in delivering its services to the UWCMWG group and the university at large. We launched the survey in March, 2017 and the final results were...
Sharing our stories on social media
Marketing
Posted: February 28, 2018 4:00:00 AM AST
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media
The University of New Brunswick has a lot of amazing things to be proud of and that students are looking for from a university. We want the world to know who UNB is and what we stand for — but we need your help. After reviewing and analyzing data from UNB’s corporate (e.g. /uofnb) and campus accounts (e.g. /UNBFredericton and /UNBSaintJohn) over the last six months, it became clear that it’s time to adapt our social media strategy to meet the needs of our audience and...
How to fight the dreaded Facebook algorithm
Marketing
Posted: February 12, 2018 4:00:00 AM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
Have you ever wondered why your posts aren’t reaching your entire audience? When Facebook moved to a pay-for-play model it became increasingly difficult to promote your brand without shelling out the big bucks. But don’t worry — we’ve put together a list of best practices to help you extend your reach and engage your audience. Keep it short and sweet Just because Facebook allows you 63,206 characters doesn’t mean you should use all of them. The suggested ideal...
Curating the user experience on UNB.ca
Sean Sullivan
Posted: November 20, 2017 12:00:00 AM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
Website refresh update One of the primary goals of the University of New Brunswick’s website refresh project is making our sites easier to use. This extends beyond design, and includes creating meaningful and relevant content that’s simple to understand and navigate. That’s one reason why we’ve embraced content strategy as an important part of our website planning process. As Usability.gov explains, “Ensuring that you have useful and usable content, that is well...
#OnlyHere Year 3
Sean Sullivan
Posted: November 2, 2017 12:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
In September, we launched Year 3 of the #OnlyHere marketing campaign. The goal of our campaign is to deliver qualified prospects to Student Recruitment, using a three-tiered media strategy: building awareness, driving consideration and increasing application-driving behaviours (e.g. email newsletter subscriptions). This year, we’ve leveraged learnings and insights from Years 1 and 2 to fine-tune our media plan and maximize results — investing in the channels and tactics that...
Seven steps to social media stardom
Kelsey Seymour
Posted: October 2, 2017 5:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Brand , Web and Social Media
Want to raise the social media bar? This seven step guide is designed to set you on the path to success. You’ll learn to create engaging content that your audience will respond to, understand and implement social media best practices and start achieving results. 1. Strategy The first step to being a social media superstar is developing a well thought-out and dynamic strategy. Start by establishing what you want to achieve, then set measurable objectives to help you get there. Set some...
Don't click here: Words to avoid when writing for the web
Lynn McLellan
Posted: March 28, 2017 5:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
We’ve all done it. No one over 30 who’s ever edited a website is innocent. If we wanted to add a link on our page to another site or document, we said “click here” to tell users exactly where to go to learn more. Simple and effective, right? Not exactly. “Click here” is a throwback to the early 1990’s when many of us were still learning how to use a mouse and had to be told in plain language how to follow a link while “surfing the...
OnlyHere Instagram Contest
Marketing
Posted: January 19, 2017 4:00:00 AM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
The #OnlyHere Instagram contest is back! Tell us what makes UNB such an incredible place by posting your #OnlyHere stories to Instagram. We want to highlight the stories of creativity, innovation and community that you’ll only find here but we need your help. To enter the contest, post your photo on Instagram using #OnlyHere and #UNB. Every week until March 2 we’ll choose a winner from each campus who will receive a UNB hoodie (and social media fame!). We're looking for photos...
Social media strategy template
Marketing
Posted: January 19, 2017 4:00:00 AM AST
Category: Web and Social Media
Before launching your social media account it’s important to develop a strategy that identifies what you’re trying to achieve and how you're going to use your account to reach your goals and objectives. When developing your strategy, keep your overall marketing and organizational goals in mind so that your social media efforts drive toward your objectives. Use this social media strategy template to develop a plan for your account and reach out to us at socialmedia@unb.ca for...
The power of video marketing
Marketing
Posted: April 6, 2016 5:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Web and Social Media
When it comes to getting your audience’s attention, there’s nothing quite like the potential reach of a video. According to Cisco, online video traffic around the world will be 80 per cent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2019. YouTube has more than a billion unique users every month. That’s a huge potential reach. So for marketers in the digital age, videos are essential. For those of us in post-secondary marketing, videos are even more crucial. Our prospective student base is made...
Welcome and yay
Marketing
Posted: March 21, 2016 5:00:00 AM ADT
Category: Brand , Marketing Services , Analytics , Web and Social Media , Design and Creative Services
When you first walk into UNB's Marketing Office, this is what you'll see. What started as an inside joke has now become a way to reflect who we are as a team: enthusiastic, encouraging and always excited to partner up to achieve our collective goals. With that being said, welcome to our blog! (And, yay!) Here you'll find tips and tricks from your university marketers. We'll tackle topics like social media, web development, branding, design, analytics and marketing in HigherEd and beyond. Our...