UTSA UCM Annual Report 2016

Office of University Communications and Marketing

2016

ANNUAL REPORT

UNIVERSIT Y COMMUNIC ATIONS AND MARKETING

Mission and vision take shape K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

34,029,222

191,582

246,338,910

Total utsa.edu views

Total social media followers

Total advertising impressions

T

he UTSA Office of University Communications and Marketing (UCM) raises awareness of the university’s mission and its continual progress toward becoming a nationally recognized research institution. To build support for UTSA and increase engagement among its stakeholders, the UCM team articulates messages about UTSA’s world-class research programs, top-tier education, and economic and community contributions using a variety of channels. UCM also provides leadership and strategic counsel to UTSA stakeholders across the university to support the university’s overarching strategic plan as well as college, departmental and other university goals.

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MISSION

VISION

To earn respect, admiration and credibility for UTSA and the distinct characteristics that make it a university of excellence.

To protect, promote and advance the UTSA brand through strategic messaging, compelling storytelling and creative integrated marketing solutions.

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UNIVERSIT Y COMMUNIC ATIONS

Strategic messaging and storytelling KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

370

6,583

421

Unique story topics pitched

Print, broadcast and digital news placements

Incoming media inquiries

U

niversity Communications and Marketing conveys strategic messages and shares news that demonstrates UTSA’s commitment to excellence and its ascent to Tier One status. In 2016, UCM told compelling stories about the UTSA community’s remarkable achievements in academics, research and community outreach and the university’s impact as an economic engine for the city of San Antonio. Many of those stories provided insight into UTSA’s ongoing work in cancer, cybersecurity, literacy and brain health, areas aligned with Chancellor McRaven’s Quantum Leaps. At the same time, UCM shared compelling stories about the unique achievements of its students and alumni, a diverse community of individuals aspiring to make a difference for themselves, their families and their communities. These messages were shared on the university’s owned communications channels and with local, trade and national media.

STORY BY MEDIUM

S T O R Y BY D E S I G N AT E D MARKET AREA

STORY BY TYPE

n Online

n San Antonio

n News article

n Newspaper

n Outside

n News Brief

75.8% 6.6%

n Broadcast 2.8%

n Other 14.8%

17.4%

San Antonio 82.6%

43.9% 35.1%

n Expert

source mention 18.1%

n Other 2.9%

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UNIVERSIT Y COMMUNIC ATIONS

Raising Awareness of UTSA Nationally T

o support UTSA’s aspiration to become a nationally recognized research institution, the University Communications and Marketing public affairs team spent significant time raising awareness of UTSA outside of San Antonio. The team established new relationships with trade and national reporters who were interested in topics aligned with UTSA’s academic and research strengths. It also generated credibility for the university by sharing compelling feature stories with a national network of media and by offering expert sources to help journalists report on breaking and trending news topics. As a result of those efforts, UTSA earned more national news coverage during 2016 than any prior year.

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DATE HEADLINE

PUBLICATION

Jan. 5, 2016

Black hole caught ‘burping’ galactic gas supply

BBC News

Jan. 6, 2016

Scientists spot burping black hole in nearby galaxy

NPR

Mar. 1, 2016 Want a Creative Workforce? It Starts with Leadership

Business News Daily

Apr. 4, 2016

How Religion Can Help Explain the Wage Gap

New York Magazine

Apr. 21, 2016

Harriet Tubman: Former slave who risked all to save others

BBC News

May 5, 2016

This is Harriet Tubman, Who Will Appear on the $20 Bill.

Accept No Substitutes.

New York Times

Jun. 17, 2016

‘Mexican Nationals’ Are Transforming San Antonio

Forbes

Jun. 24, 2016

One fan’s trip to author Ernest Hemingway’s newly accessible Cuban abode leads her to a new appreciation of humble furnishings

Wall Street Journal

Jun. 28, 2016

New non-invasive method to terminate cancer tumors

WorldHealth.net

Jun. 28, 2016

New method can wipe out cancerous tumors in two hours

Business Standard

Jul. 9, 2016

How do I teach my son to stay alive? The collective trauma after violence

Washington Post

Jul. 19, 2016

What to do when you feel as through ‘no lives matter’

Washington Post

Jul. 20, 2016

How to Cope with a Terrifying Planet

Vice.com

Sep. 22, 2016 Ever Higher, Ricardo Romo

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

Sep. 28, 2016

University of dreams offers entire class on Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’

Mashable

Sep. 29, 2016

This University is Teaching an Entire Course on Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’

ABC News

Nov. 8, 2016

Here’s how hackers might mess with electronic voting on Election Day

PBS NewsHour

Nov. 10, 2016

How to Cope With Post-Election Stress

The Atlantic

Nov. 12, 2016

If We Voted With Our Music Tastes, Hillary Clinton Would Have Won The Election

Forbes

Dec. 9, 2016

New Implantable Capsule for Killing Tumors, Managing Chronic Diseases

MedGadget

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UNIVERSIT Y COMMUNIC ATIONS

Expanding social media engagement S O C I A L M E D I A AT A G L A N C E

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Facebook followers

4,500

13,214

25,319

35,706

46,782

Twitter followers

9,587

15,565

23,575

37,305

Instagram followers

328 4,060 9,236 16,500

LinkedIn followers 90,995

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niversity Communications and Marketing raises awareness of the UTSA brand and engages its many stakeholders by providing compelling digital content on its official social media channels. The UCM team currently manages an official UTSA presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. In 2016, UTSA strengthened its social media interactions through communications and marketing strategies that included a greater focus on the student perspective, a nimble response to trending topics and breaking news, the development of weekend posts and new content series, and improved branding. Additionally, UCM provided strategic counsel to faculty, staff and students across the university, laid the groundwork for the development of a social media collective and tested content on LinkedIn to prepare for the implementation of its 2017 strategy.

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UNIVERSIT Y COMMUNIC ATIONS

Building an internal culture Researcher develops new, non-invasive method to wipe out cancerous tumors K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

Art collector Hubert Watson donates two contemporary prints to UTSA Libraries

Students witness history with front-row seat during D.C. inauguration ceremony

878

1,334,439

UTSA Today stories

Total UTSA Today page views

A

UTSA TODAY PAGE VIEWS 2016 total San Antonio

1,334,439 999,161

Houston 50,678 Austin 29,542 Dallas 21,744

s UTSA’s agency of record, University Communications and Marketing shares strategic messaging and impact stories that enable faculty, staff, students and alumni to serve as brand ambassadors for the university. In 2016, UTSA strengthened its UTSA Today news channel, Meet a Roadrunner series and Expert Source Guide by building upon quantifiable insights and industry best practices.

These channels provided a deeper awareness of UTSA’s many accomplishments and demonstrated the benefits of building a Tier One university that boosts San Antonio’s community and economy.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Visibility at the core of marketing K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

246,338,910

164,616,238

34,029,222

Total advertising impressions

Total outdoor impressions

Total utsa.edu page views

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n 2016, University Communications and Marketing created and sustained new reputational awareness advertising campaigns, supported the integration of the UTSA brand in communications and collateral created by various internal departments, developed a brand compliance strategy and continued to introduce the UTSA brand to new audiences. Particular focus was placed on strategic messaging and improving the quality of the internal and external projects, including the highly successful UTSA Summer campaign and an updated Finish in Four campaign.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Advertising makes huge impressions U

niversity Communications and Marketing’s mission and vision statement goals were met by amplifying UTSA’s reputational presence and driving prospective students into the admissions funnel at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

UCM continued to maintain share of voice in San Antonio, Houston, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley through strategic use of targeted messaging.

DIGITAL IMPRESSIONS San Antonio

TELEVISION IMPRESSIONS 29,590,848

Time Warner Cable

3,209,000

Houston

19,972,434

KMYS

111,800

Rio Grande Valley

20,526,461

KSAT

657,900

Austin*

3,099,529

KLRN

2,049,600

Total

73,189,272

Total

9,389,420

* 5-MONTH FLIGHT

OUTDOOR IMPRESSIONS Outfront Lamar Clear Channel Total

46,882,928 7,836,888 109,896,422 164,616,238

RADIO IMPRESSIONS Texas Public Radio

2,505,100

Total

2,505,100

TOTAL IMPRESSIONS

246,338,910

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Website gains UT System recognition K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

5,762,761

4,072,245

3,282,000

Total utsa.edu homepage views

Total utsa.edu unique users

Total utsa.edu mobile sessions

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he Office of University Communications and Marketing received the 2016 Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Excellence in Digital Strategy, the first UT System institution ever to receive the honor. Two years ago, UTSA conducted research to better understand how utsa.edu was used. A series of assessments led to the determination that, while many different audiences view utsa.edu, the primary audience should be prospective students and parents. With that goal in mind, a web redesign was undertaken, developing more streamlined navigation, more appealing imagery, more focused content and stronger visual branding. A large part of the redesign project included the creation of thematic slides and spotlight pages, highlighting key messages in admissions, academics, research, outreach, and campus life. The same approach was taken with second-level pages: Admissions, Academics, About UTSA, Community and Campus Life to develop a site with improved navigation, content and imagery. Since the start of the digital redesign, UTSA has seen a 50 percent increase in mobile traffic for the redesigned web pages. Industry leaders have also offered high praise for the website.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Brand stands strong in major initiatives T

he Blueprint UTSA strategic plan, “Finish in 4” marketing campaign led by UTSA’s Graduation Rate Improvement Plan (GRIP), UTSA’s continued partnerships with Mexico and other countries, seasonal advertising and promotional campaigns and additional high profile activities defined UCM’s major visual brand work.

Careful efforts were made to give each project a distinctive look while adhering to UTSA’s strong brand identity and presence.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Supporting UTSA’s first bowl game U

TSA Football made history when the Gildan New Mexico Bowl announced that the Roadrunners would play against the New Mexico Lobos in Albuquerque. In just its sixth season of play, UTSA matched the NCAA record for the fastest program to reach a bowl game equaling South Alabama (2014) and Georgia State (2015), which both earned bowl invitations in their sixth campaign. UCM provided outdoor advertising and collateral for bowl game events, further raising awareness of the university both in Texas and New Mexico.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Summer campaign targets enrollment K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

11,878

69,975

11%

Total student enrollment after campaign

Total semester credit hour enrollment

Total enrollment increase over 2015

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n 2016, summer sessions at UTSA became an even greater priority as a means to maximize student enrollment and support student success and timely graduation. The summer marketing campaign focused primarily on current students and was designed to encourage incorporation of a class or two into normal summer activities. It advertised that replacing a traditional summer activity with a summer course could make all the difference in finishing a degree plan on time. The images evoked a sense of fun recreation while the words told the story succinctly and cohesively using the phase “Hot Summer, Cool Schedules, More Choices.� In the end, the campaign proved to be a definitive success. Student enrollment totaled 11,878 — an increase of 11 percent over the previous year and total semester credit hour enrollment was 69,975 hours.

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UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Visual projects focus on brand identity K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

9,063

7,978

Total impressions for Halloween graphic

Total impressions for National Taco Day graphic

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fforts to use visual branding to increase UTSA awareness and encourage engagement were executed across multiple platforms in 2016. Handmade social media graphics for National Taco Day and Halloween were designed, hand-lettered and photographed for display on UTSA’s official social media channels. They created a sense of nostalgia with former students and engaged and envigorated current students. The Halloween graphic garnered 9,063 total impressions while the National Taco Day graphic received 7,978 impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The marketing and communications team also explored new ways to increase visibility and engagement on social media channels and reputational pages by creating videos and livestream challenges which resulted in increased online engagement.

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UNIVERSIT Y PUBLIC ATIONS

Introducing a modern, bold look K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

I

170,000

163,700

24,107

Magazines Printed

Direct-Mail Circulation

Online Page Views

n 2016, University Communications and Marketing revealed a fresh, more modern design for Sombrilla Magazine in print.

Additionally, strategic content planning and budget efficiencies enabled UCM to tell even more stories proportionally per page over prior years.

T O P LO C AT I O N D R I V E R S San Antonio 53% Houston 6% Boston 4% Austin 3% Dallas 2%

ONLINE SOCIAL DRIVERS n Facebook 72%

n LinkedIn 12%

n Twitter 12%

n Other 4%

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UNIVERSIT Y PUBLIC ATIONS

Sombrilla expands audience reach K E Y A CCO M P L I S H M E N T S AT A G L A N C E

+6.3%

+22.2%

+176.5%

-12.2%

Circulation

Pages Per Issue

Articles Per Issue

Cost Per Issue

W

ith the benefit of more advantageous new printing options and a revamped editorial plan, UCM capitalized on cost savings and strategic article packaging to tell even more of the university’s stories within the confines of the print format.

PRINTING COSTS Average cost of magazines (according to a study by Middlebury College)

$1.85

Sombrilla Magazine (Spring 2015) $0.78 Sombrilla Magazine (Spring 2016) $0.74 Sombrilla Magazine (Fall 2016)

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$0.65

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COMMUNICATIONS

Joe Izbrand Associate Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Chief Communications Officer

MARKETING

PUBLICATIONS

Christi Fish

Courtney Clevenger

Enrique Zarate

Brett Calvert

Joan Duncan

Erin Moring

Michael Edwards

Michelle Mondo

Executive Director of University Communications

Assistant Director of Internal & Web Communications

Multimedia Manager

Executive Director of Marketing

Project Manager

Marketing Manager

Managing Editor

Multimedia Editor II

WEB SERVICES

DESIGN SERVICES

PHOTO/VIDEO SERVICES

University Communications and Marketing Staff

MEDIA RELATIONS & SOCIAL MEDIA

Jesus Chavez

Joanna Carver

Shashi Pinheiro

Joaquin Herrera

David Deering

Public Affairs Specialist II

Public Affairs Specialist II

Associate Director of Web Services

Creative Services Manager

Producer

Kara Mireles

Erika Bruno

John David Garza

Maria Castro

Mark McClendon

Public Affairs Specialist II

Social Media Specialist I

Webmaster

Multimedia Designer I

Photographer III

Eric Ramirez

Emanuel Rodriguez

Courtney Campbell

Web Developer

Multimedia Designer II

Photographer II

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

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Olga Salinas

Carol Hogan Kindred

Joni Shaum

Administrative Services Officer I

Senior Administrative Associate

Administrative Services Officer University Communications and Marketing

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Office of University Communications and Marketing

utsa.edu/ucm