The story behind the awards
On November 17, I was informed by my Marketing and Communications Director that our office had been recognized for a few awards in the Education Digital Marketing Awards.
Bronze Award - Social Media Content Campaign - Giving Day 2022 Campaign
Award of Merit - Instagram, Spring Commencement 2023 Campaign
Silver Award - Email, single or multiple - `Runner Report Redesign/Rebrand
When I took on the role as the marketing and communications specialist, I was very nervous because it was a step up from the last few positions I’d held. More responsibility, more work, the whole thing. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Starting was a whirlwind getting adjusted back to university life, transition with
BRONZE AWARD - SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT - GIVING DAY 2022 CAMPAIGN
While my director had mapped out our complete marketing plan for Giving Day, I was tasked with curating the social media plan. I got to work and made it happen - Pulling photos, working with our videographer to create social media video shorts, writing captions, creating stories and trying to engage with our audience, not only on the day of, but also leading up to the big event. It was an overwhelming day, with constant posting, check-ins on donations, texts and calls with the team, improvising when initial plans for challenges didn’t happen as we intended.
It’s such a big day for the university and learning that most of our earnings were made through our digital campaign was incredible. It made me feel like the work I’d done and the plans our team created had actually made a difference.
We’ve made a lot of changes to the upcoming Giving Day, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out. I’m ready for the challenge and a little nervous of what to expect with so many new aspects to the event. I have high hopes for it, though.
AWARD OF MERIT - INSTAGRAM, SPRING COMMENCEMENT 2023 CAMPAIGN
Commencement gives me a lot of freedom to create and play with new ideas. This was my first spring commencement back at the university. I did a lot of research and planning, mapping out my commencement season social media content, working alongside our commencement director for specific updates to grads, reminders for important dates, events and more. This was the first I’d really created intentional reels, utilizing audio trends, popular templates and more. I took all of the video, edited and found the perfect audio and transitions to use. I tried to show a variety of students, angles, moments before, after and during the ceremony. It was the most traction we’d ever received for videos, which was very exciting. People seemed to be enjoying the recaps and seeing themselves.
I feel this was the beginning of thinking outside the box and having fun with larger events.
SILVER AWARD - EMAIL, SINGLE OR MULTIPLE - `RUNNER REPORT REDESIGN/REBRAND
When our new director started last year, it was a time to reevaluate some of our programs, designs and systems. One of the items we reconsidered was the monthly e-newsletter. I took the lead on the project, gathering ideas for templates, designs and new segments we could include. I found examples and provided our graphic designer, Chris, with the ideas, working alongside him for the finished product. This included final proofs, header designs and specific sections before we finalized in our Emma newsletter system. We also voted on the renaming of the newsletter.
It gave the newsletter new life and has given me a more creative approach in how I put the content together each month, trying to find new pieces to include or “exclusive” content we haven’t shared anywhere else.
This information came at a time I was starting to feel discouraged and questioning the work I was doing. There were a few incidents that had taken place that left me feeling burnt out and uninspired. This news came as such a nice surprise and a Godwink to remind me to keep trusting Him, the path He has me on and to trust the skills I have and continue to grow in.
We’ve finalized more submissions for other awards, which we won’t find out about until March or April. It has me hopeful for what’s to come, but also not trying to get too caught up in that. Because when you get stuck on that, it can be too overwhelming to just create and forget what your WHY is.
Fingers crossed for all that is ahead in 2024! It’s going to be good.