In general, a strong photo that shows action is going to be more effective on social media than a graphic with text on it. You want it to appear to be a natural part of social media, not an ad. However, if you absolutely must use a graphic, here are some guidelines to be more effective.

Use the correct size and orientation for your platform.

Every social media platform has unique specs depending on the type of media you are posting. Identify which platforms you wish to post to, what type of post it will be, and create a new design for each one. These sizes change periodically, so it’s a best practice to search online for the current dimensions before designing them.

Stay on brand.

If it is not on brand, it should not be on Wright State social media. Wright State’s colors are green and gold; those should be your primary colors. This provides an immediate cue to people scrolling through their feeds that your post is university related. You can find our colors, logos, downloadable fonts, and additional design guidelines in the university’s brand website at wright.edu/brand.

Like a billboard, keep the text to 3–7 total words.

Short. Concise. Impactful. Make sure it adheres to the university’s editorial style guide. Whenever possible, try to tie it to the current university messaging and existing campaigns. If there must be more than a handful of words, make two or three much larger and attention-grabbing, knowing the rest will only be seen by those who zoom in. All text should be repeated in the alt-description and body copy. Remember, your image will appear in conjunction with your handle/account name, so you do not need to put your name or individual unit logo/branding on your images.

Have a strong focus.

Do not use a photo of a crowd, collage, or other complex images. There should be an obvious visual hierarchy, such as featuring one or two people with everything else being clearly less important.

Use the 2x2 test.

When your graphic is viewed at 2 inches x 2 inches, can you still decipher everything in it within three seconds?

Do not use elements that are intended for print.

Print (posters, ads, flyers, brochures, etc.) and social media are not the same thing and are not interacted with in the same manner. For accessibility, all text should be in the body of the post, not in the image. In most cases, these things do not belong on a social media graphic:

• QR codes
• Detailed logos, graphics, charts, instructions
• Sponsors
• Email address
• Phone number
• Web address (if you must use a web address, keep it short! Request a custom redirect from the web team, e.g., wright.edu/redirect)

Let us help you!

The Office of Marketing has professional graphic designers, web designers, writers, and editors who can help your efforts be as effective as possible. Complete a project request form to get started.

Examples

1. Follow Wright State social media accounts. The more followers we have, the more credibility and respect the accounts get from the platforms. View the directory at wright.edu/social. You can click through and follow accounts directly from there.
2. Retweet or share our posts. This gains far more visibility for the messages than simply liking or favoriting the content.
3. Tag Wright State accounts in your posts that relate to the university. This helps others more easily see how to connect with us.
4. Comment on Wright State posts. The more you comment—especially on Facebook and Instagram—the more their algorithms will allow our content to be seen.
5. Regularly interact with the accounts and posts. Rather than sharing a lot at once, try to share a post each time you log in. This will help our content stay top-of-mind and not get lost in the volume and algorithms.
6. Add your own validation to the content you share from Wright State. Preface the post with your own experience relating to the story or message.
7. Be proactive; don’t wait for our posts. If you see a story about Wright State from other sources, share it and tag us in it so we can see it too.
8. Stand up for Wright State. If you see someone making false claims or badmouthing the university, counter it with good news or links to clear up the misunderstanding. If nothing else, ask them WHY they feel that way. You can also send a link and/or screenshot of the post to us at socialmedia@wright.edu so we may engage or monitor.
9. Tag influencers in Wright State content. If you know a particular school, guidance office, mayor, chamber of commerce, etc., would find value in the story or message, tag them or share the post to their account(s).
10. Be proud. People need repetition to believe you truly care. Don’t assume that by posting once, people will take your word on it. Consistent positive messaging shows that you are sincerely proud of Wright State.

Have questions? Would you like to learn more? Email us at socialmedia@wright.edu.

In the summer of 2019, Wright State University began to solicit ideas for a university tagline. A tagline is part of a brand’s identity, capturing its essence. While that process has been paused for the time being, the Office of Marketing still rallied behind the theme represented in dozens of suggestions. Many community members offered ideas that supported the momentum of moving into a new, positive era—a time of great hope, growth, and unity. From these inspirational suggestions, the new campaign Right Here. Right Now. Wright State. was born. This marketing campaign is a theme we can use in our messaging and advertising. It is not our tagline or our brand, but is a specific motivation, a rallying cry we can use to spread our Wright State stories into the world.

Launched in the fall of 2019, the Right Here. Right Now. Wright State. campaign supports Wright State’s institutional goals of improving recruitment, retention, and relationships. This includes undergraduate, graduate, and international efforts. 

When every school, division, and unit uses the campaign in their communications, this unified voice is powerful and conveys with amplification the excitement of the campaign. This campaign does not replace the Wright State University brand, but is used in conjunction with it as appropriate. Please visit wright.edu/brand to see institutional brand guidelines.

The Right Here. Right Now. Wright State. campaign dialogue represents our position:
Generations have come through Wright State, each making their own mark. Now is your time, your opportunity. We welcome you and your family to join us for the journey to take you from student to professional. You can find your passion, find your people, find your mentor, find your future. Right Here. Right Now. At Wright State.

The campaign mood is comprised of bold energy, motivation, immediacy, excitement, and anticipation, illustrating that this is your time, your moment to shine. Now is the time. Wright State University is the place to make it happen.

When sharing online the positive things happening at Wright State, use the hashtag #WrightStateRightNow to tie it to this campaign. If you encounter prospective students who are curious about Wright State, you can send them to wright.edu/now (undergraduates) or wright.edu/nowgrad (graduate students) to request information and learn why Wright State is the place to be right now.  

As Maya Angelou noted, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

To successfully implement this campaign, the entire community must adopt the upbeat, positive mood, incorporating it into everyday work and processes. Please contact Amanda Earnest-Reitmann (amanda.earnest-reitmann@wright.edu) in the Office of Marketing to request a copy of the campaign style guide. If you have brochures or other materials that you’d like to update to reflect the new campaign, submit your request now at https://www.wright.edu/marketing/services/project-request.

Wright State University has thrived for more than 50 years under the philosophy that our region and communities deserve the best higher education experience possible at an incredible value. We provide the opportunities to help cultivate lifelong learners and critical thinkers.

10 Things You Can Do Right Here. Right Now.

1. Talk to people about your positive experiences here.
2. Wear your Wright State apparel…everywhere! 
3. Celebrate #GreenAndGoldFriday within your department and classes. Wear your Wright State colors proudly every Friday and share photos online with the related hashtag.
4. Attend campus events to talk to visitors and share your Wright State story.
5. Promote your Wright State events, stories, and photos on your personal social media.
6. Invite people to Wright State events. Through art, athletics, symposiums, lectures, or admissions open houses, we want the public to see how much greatness is happening here.
7. Share Wright State newsroom stories (wright.edu/news) and social media posts.
8. Tell others about the success of your current and former students.
9. Check your college or department’s social media accounts. Are you following them? Are they active, listed in the online directory (wright.edu/social), and branded with the W profile picture? Help feed content to your current social media admin, or contact marketing for additional assistance.
10. Use Wright State hashtags online so we can engage with or share your content: #WrightState; #RoadRaiders, wearing Wright State apparel away from campus; #braggingWrights, points of pride; #WrightStateRightSchool, supporting admissions; #WrightStateRightNow, supporting our Right Here. Right Now. Wright State. marketing campaign.

Partner with Admissions, Marketing, and Communications

Admissions: jennifer.mccamis@wright.edu 

• Inform admissions of upcoming K–12 or community college opportunities you’ve initiated, accepted, or declined, whether on or off campus. These may include classroom visits, career days, or visits to your department on campus. Enrollment Management may be able to help.
• Request admissions materials to share at your next events, including academic information pieces, lead cards for prospective students to fill out, and invitations for upcoming events.
• Volunteer to help with their events. Prospective students and their families really love to hear directly from their future faculty and staff. These brief connections make a huge impression.
• Email contact information of students interested in attending Wright State, whether they are in high school, considering transferring here, or thinking about finally going back to college.
• Review wright.edu/visit to see if there are additional events that should be added or existing upcoming events you can help promote through your department’s communications.

Marketing: mark.anderson@wright.edu

• Visit wright.edu/brand to find downloadable PowerPoint and poster templates. Need a customized PowerPoint or poster template to help spread your Wright State story? Email amanda.earnest-reitmann@wright.edu to request one for free.
• Contact annette.mccoy@wright.edu to request free in-stock Wright State swag to distribute at high school visits or other recruitment-oriented events.
• Use the Web Support link, found at the bottom of every Wright State web page, to send corrections to or questions about your own program’s website or other Wright State pages.
• Add your Wright State events to the university calendar at wright.edu/calendar.
• Share your unique marketing opportunities and ideas! Marketing also welcomes your feedback on existing campaigns.
• Request access to Sprout Social for your department to schedule and monitor content on your Wright State social media accounts.

Communications: seth.bauguess@wright.edu

• Reach out to communications if you have expertise in a trending news topic and would be willing to speak to the media. 
• Respond quickly if/when you are contacted about a media opportunity; the media representatives are typically on very tight deadlines, often as short as hours or a day or two.
• Request media training or talking points if you are nervous or would like a more polished and sophisticated presence during interviews.
• Send story ideas, whether they are just a tip or a full, comprehensive account.

Your Stories, Photos, and Videos Are Powerful

Email news@wright.edu

Toot Your Own Horn 

Have a great story? Unique research project? Win a major award? We can’t tell everyone if we don’t know about it. Shed that modesty and let us know so we can help promote your work and accomplishments.

Elevate Your Colleagues

Sometimes a person is simply too shy or uncertain if their work is newsworthy. That uncertainty can cause them to not get the recognition they deserve. If you have a colleague who is deserving of the spotlight, let us know!

Promote Your Students and Alumni  

People like to read about those who they can relate to. We’re not always seeking the stories about the valedictorian who has climbed 30 mountains, had 10 internships, and can speak 12 languages (though that would certainly be impressive!). We want to hear about those everyday sparks, the moments and projects that bring the average student up to the next level. Students with interesting real-life experiences that pair unexpectedly with unusual or conflicting majors. Alumni who have found a new way of doing something ordinary or extraordinary.

Visually Compelling

Is there a project or activity that can generate interesting photos or videos? These are the best ways to capture an audience’s attention and make them want to read more. 

Admissions Fast Facts

• 13,000 students
• 110,000 alumni
• 13:1 student to faculty ratio

Quick Links

• wright.edu/admissions
• wright.edu/scholarships
• wright.edu/tuition
• wright.edu/visit

Trying to boost your attendance at an event? Get more people to register for your program? Generate awareness of your latest initiative?

Social media can be a very effective tool to supplement your marketing mix, which may include printed materials, email, website, event calendar post, and WINGS announcement. 

Some tips to help you get the most out of your organic (unpaid) posts:

• Match the message to the audience: Each platform has a unique audience. Make sure the event or program is appropriate to that audience and is promoted in a way that makes it meaningful to them. This means that an event or program with a specific target audience may not be appropriate to promote on a channel that has a very broad audience. 
• Have a single, clear call to action (CTA): Want them to visit your website for more information? Want them to register at a specific page? Tell them and provide the link. Don’t add multiple CTA’s (e.g., multiple websites or phone numbers) or they will be confused. Do not use QR codes on social media; use web links.
• Use photos or videos: Want your content to get seen? Add a compelling photo or video. Visuals catch a user’s attention. If the visual looks interesting, they will be more likely to read the content. The photos or videos should not have words or logos that cover more than 20 percent of the image in a grid format.
• Do not use flyers, posters, postcards, or other designs with many words on them: This includes most content created through Canva or similar products and most materials that were created to be printed and distributed. This is tough, because it’s so easy to just throw a digital file online, right? Unfortunately, this method dooms your post to failure. Facebook algorithms (which also extends to a small degree to Instagram) will flag your post and you’ll get a noticeable decrease in post views. On Twitter, the platform will only display a part of your poster, which will look choppy and confusing; users will not be inclined to click on it to expand.
• Make sure it looks like something that is coming from Wright State: Will your event be on Wright State’s campus? Is it a Wright State program or initiative? Then make sure it looks that way from a glance. Do not use pink, purple, orange, red, blue, or other schools’ color combinations. Use variations of green and gold with white and black accents. If you add our logo, do not squish, stretch, change the color, split up, or otherwise modify it. View our Wright State Brandbook for more info on making your promotions look more official: www.wright.edu/brand
• Choose your words carefully: Don’t just type the who, what, where, and when (though don’t forget to include them, either!). Make sure you include the WHY—why people should bother to attend, enroll, or participate. What’s in it for them? 
• Shorter is better: Social media algorithms and user preferences both demand shorter posts. Try to keep your copy to under 90 characters, if possible. That’s not always possible, but if you can user fewer words, do so.
• Use appropriate hashtags: Research hashtags before you randomly use them. Make sure the way they are being used online matches the tone of your event. Also try to always use the hashtag #WrightState if it will take place on campus. This also helps us to find your content to engage with it from the main Wright State accounts.
• Schedule multiple posts with increasing frequency as you approach the event: Start promoting your event as early as possible with a save-the-date post. Then do reminder posts about once every week or two until you are within two weeks of the event. At that point, start increasing your frequency to once every few days. Change the content each time so it does not look like you are spamming your audience, or they will stop following you. This is easy to do with the university’s social media management platform. Contact us if you need help getting started.
• Tell the social media managers group: The university's social media managers group (SMMG) is a vast network of campus social media admins who may elect to help broadcast your message if it is appropriate for their audience(s). Contact the social media team at socialmedia@wright.edu to request the email address for the SMMG.

Still need help? Or would you like more information on paid social media promotion? Email the social media team at socialmedia@wright.edu and let us know what you’re working on. 

Wright State University was honored to host the 2017 Science Olympiad National Tournament (SONT). Teams from around the nation represented their states at the highest level of academic achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math. The weekend featured intense competition among 120 of the best Science Olympiad teams in the nation, striving for honors in events like Electric Vehicle, Disease Detectives, and Hovercraft. Each of the 46 events requires in-depth understanding of rigorous science content, teamwork, and real-world problem solving.

The Office of Marketing was an integral part of planning and executing this complex event. We worked closely with the Science Olympiad organization, university leadership, Event Services, Nutter Center, IT (CaTS), Foundation, and academic units to coordinate the many details of this multi-day tournament.

Objective

An event of this magnitude has many moving parts. It required months of planning, working together with a wide variety of internal and external folks. The overall goal was to ensure that teams and visitors had a smooth competition and a great experience on our campus. From a marketing perspective, this was a fantastic opportunity to show off everything Wright State has to offer to high-achieving students.

Prior to the event, we needed to provide teams with all the information they would need to plan their trip and communicate competition-specific details to coaches and event supervisors. Once teams arrived, we had to ensure that they could easily navigate campus, find merchandise and food, and have some fun in their down time. We also needed to pull off two huge ceremonies in the Nutter Center with the same level of excitement and production value as a professional awards show.

The good news was that Wright State hosted the SONT in 2013, so we had a basic blueprint to follow. However, in 2013 the university was in a very different financial situation. We had to find creative ways to meet the same standards of quality with fewer resources. Many things that were done in 2013 by outside vendors were pulled in-house. It was a daunting task, but one that allowed us to stretch ourselves and try new things. We had a blast working on some types of projects we don't often have the opportunity to work on.

Visual Identity

The first order of business was to establish a visual identity for our tournament that fit harmoniously with the Wright State brand. We created a flag logo that utilized the official Wright State green and gold and included our university single line wordmark. This logo was the main branding element that was used on everything related to the tournament. We collaborated with the university bookstore to get this logo on several merchandise items that were sold leading up to and during the tournament.

We also created icons for each of the 46 unique competition events. The icon shapes were inspired by nautical flags and also used our official colors. These event icons appeared on signage, in the program, and on the official event T-shirt.

As we got closer to the tournament, we expanded the branding into a fuller look and feel. We took a map background and layered on the tournament logo, some artwork from the icons, and an airplane with a dotted "route." These elements were then adapted into the covers of our printed programs and maps, signage templates, web content, and graphics for the two ceremonies.

Print

The Office of Marketing created several printed pieces for the Science Olympiad National Tournament.

Early on, we created a document to help Advancement attract outside sponsors. It explained what Science Olympiad was and what would happen at the tournament. It also explained the two levels of sponsorships available.

Next, we created a small piece that had just a campus map and the competition schedule to help everyone easily navigate campus. This was designed to fold down small enough to fit in each participant and volunteer's name badge holder for convenience.

The final and most important piece we worked on was the tournament program. Not only did this piece need to communicate a lot of information, it was also expected to serve as a souvenir for students and their parents. It had to be laid out in a way that presented a wide range of detailed information without overwhelming the reader. The final 23-page booklet looked polished and also prominiently featured great content about Wright State University.

Web

We created an event site for the tournament that communicated a vast amount of information to both internal and external audiences.

The Plan Your Trip section gave visitors everything they would need to do just that. It had information on accommodations in campus housing or local hotels, meal plans and on-campus dining, local emergency resources and tourist attractions, etc. The Competition section included schedules, photos of the rooms each event would be held in, a roster of participating teams, and other event-specific information. The Additional Events section featured details on the Opening and Awards Ceremonies, team banquets, and the fun activities academic units had planned for students prior to the competition day. There was a Coaches Corner page where coaches could read FAQs that pertained to them and download the forms they would be required to turn in at registration. There was a section for volunteers that linked to a sign-up form. We also included pages to help visitors learn about Wright State and about Science Olympiad, as well as a contact form.

In the weeks leading up to the event, the web team made updates to this site nearly daily as more information became available. They made live changes during the event, posting the final results within minutes of the Awards Ceremony's conclusion.

Following the tournament, we've transitioned the site into an "evergreen" state so that it now serves as more of a historical record of the event. We've stripped out content that isn't relevant after the fact and changed verbs from future to past tense. The homepage now prominently features a highlights video and a link to the final results spreadsheet. We've also added a photo/video page so viewers can watch the Opening and Awards Ceremony videos, see a photo gallery, and purchase photos from the event from the university's SmugMug account.

Opening and Award Ceremonies

Perhaps the biggest task of the entire tournament was pulling off the two massive ceremonies that officially open and close the competition.

On Friday night, teams filled the Nutter Center with fun costumes and electric excitement. Representatives from each team marched into the arena during an energetic Parade of State. Several speakers then took the stage to welcome competitors and congratulate them on making it this far. Wright State reseacher Elliot Brown, Ph.D., gave the keynote address, presenting his latest work on terahertz radiation.

On Saturday evening, teams dressed in their best to learn who took top honors in the day's competition. Medals were awarded for the top six finishers in each of the 46 individual events and trophies were given to the top 10 teams overall in each division. Along the way, there were special scholarships and prizes handed out by sponsors and for categories like exceptional coaching and team spirit.

Both ceremonies needed to have the same production values as a professional concert or awards show. With attendance of more than 3,000 and thousands more watching the livestream, this was a great opportunity to further the university brand at a national level. The Office of Marketing worked with CaTS, the Nutter Center staff, and Purchasing to draft the ITN and evaluate bids for an outside vendor to bring in staging, lighting, sound, and large video screens. We coordinated with the chosen vendor, Communicore, as well as the local stagehands union for weeks to plan every small detail of the ceremonies.

Our office produced all of the graphics and animations used throughout both events. This included all lower third content for the livestream and graphics for all four screens that make up the scoreboard in the center of the arena.

We wrote the scripts for several portions of the ceremonies, including Doug Fecher's welcome address on Friday, which highlighted the similarities between Science Olympiad competitors and the Wright brothers. We also produced a "Welcome to Wright State" video to further show off all our university has to offer.

On both nights, teams would be milling about the Nutter Center for a few hours prior to the start of the ceremonies. We capitalized on this captive audience and used that time to market Wright State to these students. We curated several hours of existing video from the Wright State Newsroom and cut those segments together with trivia slides we created that featured fun facts about Wright State, the Dayton region, and science in general. We believe the final result was a preshow that was both informative and engaging.

Overall, the ceremonies went very smoothly and we received lots of positive feedback from coaches, students, and parents.

Results

The coordination of all organizations, materials, website, print, and digital showed a high level of integration across our university and elevated our brand on a national scale. The Office of Marketing is very proud of the outcomes produced by this event and looks forward to further opportunities to work on similar projects.

• The Opening Ceremony livestream was viewed by more than 800 worldwide and the Awards Ceremony streamed to more than 2,400.
• The PDF of final results from the tournament was downloaded from our website more than 4,000 times in just the first week following the event.
• Video and graphics assets produced for the tournament will be used in other contexts to maximize our time investment on this project.

An Important Lesson

In the Office of Marketing, we pride ourselves on our exceptional attention to detail. However, we're all human and occasionally mistakes do happen. In the weeks leading up to the SONT, our team worked countless hours to create the hundreds of graphics shown on the multiple screens throughout the two main ceremonies. We carefully reviewed each graphic for typos, paying special attention to getting the names of each speaker, team, and sponsor exactly correct.

On the night of the Awards Ceremony, three members of our team sat with the production crew backstage, prepared to spring into action and make changes on the fly if necessary. The event went perfectly smoothly. The winning teams were announced, the presenters thanked everyone for attending the tournament, and the house lights came up.

Just as we started to relax and pat ourselves on the back for a job well done, we noticed a tiny typo on the closing slide. "Final results are available at wright.edu/sont17." Just two transposed letters in a common word. For professionals who had just pulled off a Herculean task, it was a heartbreaking way to end an otherwise amazing event. But it was a great reminder to never let our guard down, even on the parts of a project that seem the simplest.

That said, the Science Olympiad National Tournament was a fabulous event and something that we are truly proud to have worked on. Nearly every member of our staff played a role in this project and our efforts helped Wright State University to shine on a national stage.

In the early summer of 2016, the Board of Trustees announced the start of a presidential search process to select Wright State University's 7th president. By mid-summer, the Search and Screening Advisory Committee (S-SAC) was established and a search firm had been selected to increase our candidate pool and provide confidentiality during the national search. 

Objective

The Office of Marketing and the Office of Communications both had staff selected to support the S-SAC. An S-SAC subcommittee focused on marketing was organized and worked closely with our teams. Our objectives were to create public-facing materials to attract potential candidates and to communicate as transparently as possible to the entire university community throughout the search process. This resulted in three significant products; a website, a search profile document, and a video.

Website

The presidential search website was the primary method of communication to a broad range of audiences, both external and internal to the university. It was decided early on that the primary audience focus would transition throughout the phases of the project based on the current activities of the committee. During the preparation phase (Phase 1) of the search, an initial website was launched that focused on communicating the processes and timeline to largely internal audiences. During the learning phase (Phase 2), the site advertised a series of internal and public events that were hosted to help gather requirements and attributes for the search profile. During the search phase (Phase 3), the site transitioned focus toward prospective candidates as we worked closely with our search firm to advertise the position nationwide. Finally, during the selection and onboarding phase (Phase 4) of the search, the site shifted back to focusing on communications with internal and external audiences. As part of the process of ensuring transparency, all communications that were sent through emails to internal audiences were archived in the news sections of the site. We plan to leave the site live as an archive of the process for some time to come.

 

Search Profile

The written profile is an integral component of a presidential search process. This document introduces the university to prospective candidates and highlights the opportunities here that might entice them to apply. The marketing subgroup started their work on the presidential search profile immediately. We developed an outline and then gathered previously existing materials that could be adapted to make up the majority of the search profile while the full S-SAC committee worked on finalizing the content for the Leadership Agenda and Qualifications, Experience, and Leadership Attributes sections. Once we had everything written, edited, and approved, the copy was laid out with photos and graphics to make it cohesive and visually appealing.

Video

At the first meeting of the S-SAC marketing subcommittee, we suggested doing something unique beyond the search profile and website most universities develop. With Wright State's recent challenges we wanted to make sure we clearly conveyed the incredible opportunity Wright State offered to potential candidates. We shot several interviews using a range of both long-standing and newer employees to discuss the potential they see in Wright State. The video was edited together with existing b-roll and placed on the presidential search website.

Advertising

To provide the largest possible and most diverse pool, we worked closely with our search firm we to advertise in the following publications.

• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Hispanic Outlook
• Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
• Women in Higher Education
• American Conference of Academic Deans
• Diverse Jobs
• Inside Higher Education
• Higher Ed Jobs
• Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences
• Higher Education Resource Services (HERS)

Results

A total of 61 applications were received by the December 5th deadline. The S-SAC was pleased with the size of the candidate pool, the quality of candidates, and the diversity of those who applied. The candidate pool included current sitting presidents, chancellors, deans, chief academic officers, university vice presidents, professors, and business leaders. Most candidates were external, but we also received several applications from within our university. In addition, most applicants possessed doctoral degrees, but we also attracted candidates with medical degrees, law degrees, master's degrees, and some with multiple advanced degrees. At least one candidate was a Rhodes Scholar, several international candidates had applied, as had several with experience in research universities, and the diversity of our pool according to gender, nationality, race, experience, and background was impressive. It was an excellent pool and highly competitive. 

Of these candidates, three were invited to campus for a series of open forums with stakeholder groups. On March 6th, Wright State University named Cheryl B Schrader as our president-designate.

The College of Education and Human Services website was migrated into our Drupal content management system (CMS) in 2014. Since that time, the Office of Marketing has worked on numerous college websites and completed user experience (UX) testing with multiple different groups of both current and future students. Utilizing what we have learned, we wanted to make the College of Education and Human Services website our first full 2.0 college site since migrating the site to the CMS.

Goals

• Integrate everything we had learned going through all college sites when migrating them to Drupal
• Improve user experience for future and current students
• Lead conversion
• Align site with current brand standards

Plan

User experience testing for different sets of users has had lead us to use quite different information architecture and navigation than when we built this college website in 2014. It was necessary to update to the latest standards while also aligning with a greater focus on mobile navigation and content layout. The new pages would be much more streamlined and flow better on smaller devices. To make this signifigant of a change, we ended up rebuilding and reflowing all content pages across the whole site. Though it was more work, this would also allow us to review content more closely than is normally possible.

Results

The resulting site is closely aligned with the most recent Wright State University top-level pages and homepage. The new college homepage—much like the university homepage—focuses on telling the success stories of the institution by integrating alumni, student, staff, and faculty profiles, targeted news stories, and social media. Though making all new pages for content was additional work it allowed us to create a much higher level of polish than would have been possible through a minor facelift. We will be executing the same technique as we work on the rest of the 2.0 college websites. Making all new pages came with their own challenges. We will be paying closer attention to user permissions and redirects when using this model in the future. We also learned we should take more screenshots of the existing sites before we roll new for documentation uses, like this blog post.

The RaiderConnect website is an integral part of the process for incoming student and current students enrollment services. RaiderConnect is a one-stop resource for student registration, bill payment, and financial aid. With such a large portion of our campus using this website on a regular basis, it is imperative we continue to iterate and improve the site for all target audiences. 

Goals

• Improve user experience for future and current students
• Align site with current brand standards
• Refine mobile experience
• Improve accessibility standards

Plan

With the assistance of the Enrollment Management Division, we have been gathering feedback using a few different User Experience (UX) techniques over the last year. For the RaiderConnect site, we used a technique called "card sorting" to help improve our information architecture on the site. Card sorting is a technique that allows the user to sort data into different groupings or create their own new groupings. This data is then used to improve the navigation and content organization of the site.

Results

217 future Raiders who visited campus participated in a card sorting exercise which resulted in many changes from the previous version of the site. Based on this data, a change to the navigation updates Classes and Grades on the previous site into two new terms Registration and Grades and Transcripts. The navigation item named Deadlines was changed to Academic Calendar to help highlight this highly sought-after content. Many other changes to information architecture and content were based off the data provided by the card sort. The resulting page is more user-friendly and much cleaner in appearance, especially on mobile.

The Theatre Dance and Motion Pictures department site was one of the first sites migrited to our content management system in 2012. With all other department sites now living on their respective college subdomains it was time to move Theatre Dance and Motion Pictures to its rightful home while also providing a much needed refresh.

Goals

• Improve user experience for customers
• Reorganize content to be inline with current brand standards
• Improve organization of performances
• Increase visual appeal
• Refine mobile experience

Plan

The Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures website was one of the first sites built in our Drupal platform in 2011. Since that time our brand, mobile, programmatic and esthetic standards have evolved greatly. This site was originally built on www.wright.edu and not its respective college specific domain (liberal-arts.wright.edu) which is now the standard for all academic departments across the university. A large portion of our planning also revolved around minimizing the effort and complexity for users with the college to be able to edit the site, especially the performances section which in its original state could be quite complicated. There was a lot of interest in making the pages more visually appealing with large photography.

Results

The new Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures website was built with collaboration between the academic department and the Office of Marketing on the college domain. The new site features a streamlined in brand appearance and refined navigation. Many issues the previous site had while being viewed on mobile have been addressed. Large photography was added throughout the site, with special attention paid to the academic programs and performance sections of the site. A new content type was built that allows for more granular control of the presentation of the details of each performance. Performances now include fielded data for show times, ticket availability, location, promotional materials, and an image gallery. The new performances content type was built to be reusable for the Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries section of the College of Liberal Arts which has similar needs and a current lack of refinement.

Undergraduate Admissions was the first site moved into our content management system in 2011 and was long overdue for an update.

Goals

• Improve user experience for Undergraduate Admissions
• Reduce and rewrite content to align with new customer relationship management (CRM) system
• Integrate Request For Information (RFI) forms into the new CRM
• Improve and simplify navigation from the university homepage
• Refine mobile experience
• Align with new branding colors, fonts, etc.
• Improve analytics

Plan

The Undergraduate Admissions website rebuild was directly aligned with the rebuild of the university homepage. This allowed for a high level of integration and focus on prospective students during the rebuild as a whole. The Office of Marketing web team worked on the redesign for a year, involving Wright State colleges, departments and units, the Division of Enrollment Management, the administration, and students in the process. 

Results

The new Undergraduate Admissions webpages offer an improved user experience for prospective students. Content, images, graphics, and navigation have all been selected with potential incoming students in mind. For instance, content on the main admissions webpage is now organized by audience, making it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for and get to Undergraduate Admissions quickly.

Undergraduate admissions webpages were redesigned and built to match the university’s new customer relationship management (CRM) system, a streamlined admissions process that includes a single application for all programs except the M.D. degree. 

With the CRM in place, analytics will track emails and other marketing efforts, as well as the website’s performance. This process will drive further iterations of the site and refine the admissions process.