Communications and Marketing, summer 2021

Staff in the Division of Communications and Marketing began returning to work on campus the first week of June. The majority of staff began working on campus three days a week and continued to work from home two days a week. Those unable to socially distance with others when at their work stations rotated so they would not be at work on campus the same days. This schedule will be maintained until Aug. 1, when all staff is expected to revert to working five days a week on campus. The transition became easier in mid-June, when the New York State Department of Health updated its guidance so that vaccinated individuals no longer needed to socially distance or wear masks indoors or outdoors.

The updated guidance, as all COVID-19 information has been throughout the pandemic, was communicated to campus via Dateline, the web and social media. Major aspects of communications efforts revolved around assisting Undergraduate Admissions and the Division of Students Affairs with communications to students about vaccinations and returning to campus for the fall semester. A frequently asked questions page was developed specifically for vaccination information. Reaching out to international students was of particular importance, due to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mandate that all students must be vaccinated, pending final FDA approval of vaccines.

Additionally, revamping the Restarting Binghamton website and communicating to faculty and staff about the return to campus were priorities.

Statements from President Harvey Stenger

• April 19: A message from President Harvey Stenger about the pending verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial
• April 20: A message from President Harvey Stenger about the director of athletics
• June 18: A message from President Harvey Stenger about Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations and Juneteenth

Creative Services activities

The Office of Creative Services continued to provide support to the University’s admissions efforts that are crucial to yielding students as the pandemic eases, even as designers and web developers worked to redesign high-level publications and the BingUNews website for a fresh look and readability.

Major design and web projects that have been completed this quarter include:

• BingUNews redesign
• Bulletin copy editing the 2021-22 edition
• Slate development (Status checker)
• Emergency Communications website
• Summer Guidance ’21 website
• Undergraduate/Graduate recruitment email development and support
• Undergraduate/Graduate landing page development and support for ongoing online advertisements
• Maintaining the health of binghamton.edu (reviewing/updating broken links, meta data, spelling, grammar, OU account training, account creation, account deletion) and handling requests from campus partners

With Binghamton University celebrating its 75th anniversary milestone in 2021, Creative Services developed a brand for the anniversary, with a logo to be used on high-level publications and on the web. Two other milestone anniversaries are being celebrated this year, also with design and branding support: the 15th anniversary of the College of Community and Public Affairs and the 50th anniversary of Binghamton University women in athletics.

Major printed projects that have required design and production have included:

• Binghamton University Magazine - summer edition
• Confluence magazine for the College of Community and Public Affairs
• The Watson Review magazine for the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science
• Wrestling fundraising brochure
• Binghamton Fund Summer direct mail
• Alumni Life After Binghamton digital booklet
• Commencement programs for doctoral, undergraduate/master’s and inaugural School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences ceremonies
• Downloadable Commencement items (pennants, stickers, social media, window signs, yard signs, etc.)
• Self-guided tour stops - design installation
• Binghamton University Foundation spring 2021 donor newsletter
• 2021 notable alumni posters
• Financial Aid yield pieces (13 versions)

Undergraduate Admissions enrollment marketing efforts

Yield marking efforts

Admissions released all first-year decisions on April 1. Following the May 1 deposit deadline, Communications and Marketing began anti-melt efforts which include:

• Binghamton Buzz: a series of communications to incoming students sharing COVID updates, housing, billing, what to expect this fall and other important topics. There are currently 20 emails planned in the series.
• Parent Buzz: new this year, we have expanded communications with parents of incoming students to now receive a series of six emails with content direction coming from New Student Orientation, and Parent and Family Programs.
• Talk to a current student: In an effort to increase personalization and establish a stronger connection with families new to Binghamton, we created two separate digital campaigns that highlighted the ways incoming students and parents can talk with a current student using Unibuddy and/or on Zoom Live Chat. The Unibuddy platform had received an additional 2,000 questions since the campaign launched.

Prospective student initiatives

The high-school junior and sophomore inquiry and namebuy communication streams will conclude on July 31. We have met with admissions to review the current performance and made suggestions for revamping some of the more dated communications for the upcoming cycle starting Aug. 1.

Social media

The Undergraduate Admissions Instagram and Facebook accounts continue to see growth this quarter (Facebook: +8%; Instagram: +18%.) It was an exciting quarter of growth for our Instagram account. With National College Decision Day held May 1, we were able to run a week-long social media campaign where we partnered with the Bookstore for merchandise giveaways, Binghamton Trivia, photo contests and more. Our page saw growth from several incoming Bearcats and our inbox has been receiving a lot of questions regarding their arrival to Binghamton in the fall. We are now beginning to focus our attention back on inquiring high school students and will begin shifting our messaging this summer to sharing the three ways to tour Binghamton while guided tours are unavailable until late summer/early fall.

Recruiting materials

Communications and Marketing has started reviewing and updating recruiting print and digital materials needed for the upcoming travel season.

Media and Public Relations activities

Binghamton University faculty made a major impact in the media for their research and expertise during the second quarter of 2021, landing hits in leading publications such as The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and many more. From topics such as how to make “immunity passports” more ethical, to states trying to ban schools from teaching critical race theory, our faculty helped to bring Binghamton University into the spotlight and showcase their expertise and the quality of research taking place at the University.

Commencement 2021 was a major focus for the Office of Media and Public Relations. We broadcast the Virtual Conferral Ceremony live on Facebook and YouTube, garnering thousands of views and happy comments from parents and family. The total number of YouTube streams surpassed 80,000. We also posted photo albums to our accounts each day, as well as a Binghamton Buzz video spotlighting future plans and memories of our graduates. In addition, we posted blogs prior to and following Commencement, including “10 Things You Need to Know About Commencement 2021” and “14 One-of-a Kind Graduation Caps from the Binghamton University Class of 2021.” Our content had a reach of 195,698 on Facebook, 296,322 on Instagram and 100,088 impressions on LinkedIn.

We produced a video to celebrate the 16th annual Celebrating Women’s Athletics Luncheon, held virtually April 15. In “Harvey Keeps Up,” President Harvey Stenger toured campus to visit and participate with our women athletes during their practice sessions.

We hit major milestones on our biggest social media accounts in terms of followers. Over the course of the semester, we surpassed 70,000 followers on Facebook and 40,000 followers on Instagram. In addition, our LinkedIn account now has 110,000+ followers.

We rebooted our Wellness Wednesday series, posting weekly video updates to our social stories highlighting information, tips and resources about the “8 Dimensions of Wellness,” which help us live life fully by taking a holistic approach to our overall health and well-being. The stories each received thousands of views.

We hosted a workshop for faculty interested in publicizing their research and/or learning more about various writing opportunities offered through The Conversation. During these sessions, editors from The Conversation were on hand to discuss writing opportunities, walk through various topics, and workshop writing ideas and pitches given by faculty.

National/local news coverage

Total circulation in numbers: Over 1,136,400,000.

Binghamton in the News

Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor of computer science, was featured in Vanity Fair, Yahoo.com, NBCNews, MSN.com, AOL.com and other publications, where he discussed how Trump’s social media magic appears to be wearing off. Total circulation: Over 240.3 million.

Lina Begdache, assistant professor of health and wellness studies, was featured in MSN, Medical News Today, Yahoo!.com, The Conversation, The Hour, The National Interest and various other news outlets and publications, where she discussed how unwanted weight gain or weight loss during the pandemic can be blamed on your stress hormones. Total circulation: Over 221.4 million.

Kenneth McLeod, professor of systems science and director of the Clinical Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, was featured in The Conversation, Yahoo!.com, MSN, The Hour, The National Interest and various other news outlets and publications, for an article on how going back to the office could lead to weight gain due to the colder temperature. Total circulation: Over 139 million.

Anne C. Bailey, professor of history, has been featured in numerous publications, discussing various topics. Total circulation: Over 125.1 million.

In The Conversation, The Good Men Project Magazine, Yahoo!.com and other publications: Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery?

In The Boston Globe and other publications: Democrats push racial justice measures as some Republicans briefly seek an ‘Anglo Saxon’ caucus

Plamen Nikolov, assistant professor of economics, was featured on AOL.com, Yahoo!Finance.com and various other news outlets and publications, where he discussed how cash, along with 21 other items, will disappear as a result of COVID-19. Total circulation: Over 121 million.

Olga Shvetsova, professor of political science and economics, was featured in The Conversation, Yahoo!.com, The Hour and other publications, where she discussed how American’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states. Total circulation: Over 119.5 million.

Sarah Young, assistant professor of social work; Sean G. Massey, associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies; and Mei-Hsiu Chen, lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, were featured in Yahoo!.com, The Conversation and various news outlets and publications, where they argued that changes in young adults’ sexual orientation are not just a result of increased social acceptance of LGBT people — but also are related to feminism and the women’s movement. Total circulation: Over 95 million.

Lindsey Swierk, assistant research professor of biological sciences, was featured in Smithsonian Magazine, Nature World News, ScienceDaily and other publications for discovering how diving Anole lizards use bubbles to breathe underwater. Total circulation: Over 57.6 million.

Chengbin Deng, associate professor of geography, was featured in ScienceDaily, MSN.com and other various news outlets and publications, for his research that explores ways to detect deep fakes in geography. Total circulation: Over 13.3 million.

Adam Laats, professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, was featured in The Guardian and other publications, where he discussed how at least 15 states are trying to ban schools from teaching critical race theory and the 1619 Project. The reactionary movement stretches back to the 1920s and the KKK. Total circulation: Over 4.2 million.