ANNUAL REPORT 2016
UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
Mission and vision take shape
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
34,029,222
Total utsa.edu views Total social media followers Total advertising impressions 191,582 246,338,910
The 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.
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.
UUNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Strategic messaging and storytelling
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
370
6,583
Unique story topics pitched Print, broadcast and digital news placements Incoming media inquiries
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.
421 STORY BY
STORY BY
STORY BY
Raising Awareness of UTSA Nationally
To 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.
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 Wall Street Journal Cuban abode leads her to a new appreciation of humble furnishings
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
Sep. 22, 2016 Ever Higher, Ricardo Romo
Vice.com
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
UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Expanding social media engagement
University 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.
878
1,334,439
Art collector Hubert Watson donates two contemporary prints to UTSA Libraries Students witness history with front-row seat during D.C. inauguration ceremony
UNIVERSITY MARKETING
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
246,338,910
Total advertising impressions
ITotal utsa.edu page views 164,616,238 34,029,222
Total outdoor impressions
Advertising makes huge impressions
UNIVERSITY MARKETING
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
5,762,761
Total utsa.edu homepage views
T4,072,245 3,282,000
Total utsa.edu unique users
Total utsa.edu mobile sessions
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.
Brand stands strong in major initiatives
The 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.
UNIVERSITY MARKETING
Supporting UTSA’s first bowl game
UTSA 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.
UNIVERSITY MARKETING
Summer campaign targets enrollment
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
11,878
Total student enrollment after campaign
In 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.
Total semester credit hour enrollment
69,975 Total enrollment increase over 2015 11%
UNIVERSITY MARKETING
Visual projects focus on brand identity
KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
9,063
Total impressions for Halloween graphic
E7,978
Total impressions for National Taco Day graphic
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.
UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS
IKEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS AT A GLANCE
170,000
University Communications and Marketing Staff
