Communications and Marketing, summer 2022

For the beginning of the second quarter of 2022, the Division of Communications and Marketing was focused on supporting the launch of the University’s $220 million comprehensive gifts campaign — EXCELERATE: Moving at the speed of Binghamton, held April 9, on campus.

Later on, the focus turned to ending the semester well, with a great deal of effort put into Commencement activities, including writing and promoting graduate profiles, covering the ceremonies as well as helping to prepare scripts for the 10 ceremonies.

Additional work included drafting and/or editing a wide range of messages for the campus including about Ramadan, the shooting in Buffalo, and announcements of the appointment of deans for the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of Management.

More than 65 stories were published in BingUNews during the quarter, providing a solid base of stories to push out to readers each Saturday morning. Meanwhile, the Binghamton University Magazine hit mailboxes, as did the Watson Review. Confluence, Reaching Higher and Harpur Perspective school magazines are well underway, in the copyediting and design stage.

The communications manager for each school continues to work on communications plans for the 2022-23 academic year, and the division is working with Carnegie and Undergraduate Admissions on Binghamton’s PERSONALITY DEFINITION STRATEGIC POSITIONING + MESSAGING DEVELOPMENT that should be revealed in late summer.

Creative Services

Creative Services was kept busy during the second quarter with preparing four different programs (undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences) for the 10 Commencement ceremonies, as well as print materials for the upcoming College of Community and Public Affairs gala and the Binghamton University Forum gala that was held in June. In addition, a great deal of effort was put into materials for the EXCELERATE campaign launch, graphics for the lobby of the Health Sciences Building and materials for the first in-person Orientation sessions held after the pandemic curtailed campus activities. The department also worked with writers and editors to design and have printed the spring issue of the Binghamton University Magazine, and the annual Watson Review.

Work on the web included personalizing content based on the audience for the Undergraduate Admissions homepage, Google Data studio reports for BingUNews and blogs, Slate portal updates and work on the EXCELERATE campaign website. Websites were developed further for occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language pathology, and the Motion Analysis Research Lab. The department provided built the structure and provided support for the 2022-2023 Bulletin, provided email development and support for undergraduate and graduate student recruitment, and continues to maintain the health of binghamton.edu by reviewing and updating broken links; meta data; spelling and grammar; OmniUpdate account training, account creation and deletion; and handling requests from campus partners,

Enrollment marketing efforts

Anti-melt communications

Communications and Marketing supports all anti-melt efforts, which include targeted messaging (email and social media) for first-years, transfers, international and Binghamton Advantage students, plus parent communications.

Fall 2022 recruitment

• Preparing print materials, emails and digital campaigns for the 2022-2023 admission cycle

Prospective students

• The high-school junior and sophomore communication streams continue with monthly emails sent to these cohorts.

Counselor visits

• We provided the invites and agendas for a domestic counselor visit as well as for a visit from counselors from India.

Social media

The Undergraduate Admissions Instagram and Facebook accounts both saw a gain in followers this quarter (Facebook +5%, Instagram +13%). The pages have been sharing content about food/dining, academic offerings, academic awards/achievements, research, clubs, life on campus, appealing updates and interactive content (giveaways, trivia, polls, Q&As, etc.). We created a National College Decision Day campaign for the week leading up to the May 1 enrollment deadline. We partnered with the Bookstore and Dining Services for a giveaway post that achieved increased follower activity: 1,120 likes and 959 comments. We saw a substantial increase in activity flow: 50k accounts reached (which was double last year’s campaign) with an increase of 745 new followers. We have also completed several interviews of current students for #HumansofBinghamton posts and have had several Instagram takeovers, “day in the life” content and Q&A sessions led by Binghamton students with success rates exceeding 1,500+ views with 25+ DMs/questions. In the upcoming months we will be sharing new student content starting with an Orientation Advisors Q&A takeover alongside an Orientation giveaway. We will also hold a Move-in-Day live Q&A paired with another giveaway.

Media and Public Relations

Binghamton University faculty made a major impact in the media for their research and expertise, landing hits in leading publications such as The New York Times, Forbes, USA Today, Fast Company and many others. From discussing pushback against racial and gender studies in American schools to a study that shows how spiders use their webs to extend their hearing, our faculty helped to bring Binghamton University into the spotlight and showcase the expertise and the quality of research taking place at the University.

Commencement featured prominently on the University’s social media this semester. Each ceremony was broadcast live on YouTube, garnering thousands of views and excited comments from parents and family. We also posted photo albums and galleries to our social media accounts each day, as well as a recap video. In addition, we posted two blogs prior to Commencement, “A Bucket List for the Binghamton Class of 2022” and “Your Guide to Commencement ‘22,” as well as 10 student profiles.

The University released the Binghamton Buzz video series, in which host Owen Holland conducts “man-on-the-street” interviews with students about various topics. This semester, Holland produced a video spotlighting the return of Spring Fling and another featuring movies and TV shows made possible by Binghamton alumni.

National news coverage

Total circulation in numbers: 1,240,600,000

Binghamton in the News

• Adam Laats, professor of history, was featured by Forbes, USA Today, Yahoo!.com, NPR and The Associated Press, where he discussed pushback against racial and gender studies in American schools. Total circulation: Over 393.5 million.
• Kenneth McLeod, professor of electrical engineering, was featured by The Conversation, PBS.org, CBS News, Fast Company and Yahoo!.com, in an article that discussed how going electric lets homeowners help slow climate change. Total circulation: Over 208.9 million.
• Patrick Madden, associate professor and program director of MS Information Systems for computer science, was featured by Reuters, Yahoo!Finance.com and MSN Money, in an article that discussed Google’s internal battle over research on AI to speed chip design. Total circulation: Over 116.2 million.
• Steven Jay Lynn, distinguished professor of psychology, was featured in Time Magazine, Yahoo!.com and Yahoo!Lifestyle, in an article that examined how hypnosis works. Total circulation: Over 98.7 million.
• Lindsey Swierk, assistant research professor of biological sciences, was featured in The New York Times, Mother Nature Network, Yahoo!Entertainment.com, Popular Mechanics, Men’s Health, Nature World News and CNET, for observing a tropical spider that was able to spend 30 minutes underwater to avoid predators. Total circulation: Over 96.5 million.
• Scott Craver, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was featured in The Conversation, Science Tech Daily and Yahoo.com, where he discussed how keys open locks. Total circulation: Over 87.3 million.
• Ron Miles, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering; and Junpeng Lai, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, were featured in Yahoo!.com, CNET, Daily Mail, Nature World News and Science Daily for a new study that shows how spiders use webs to extend their hearing. Total circulation: Over 74.3 million.
• Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor of computer science, was featured on NBC News and Yahoo!.com, in an article that examined how LGBTQ abuses have spiked online, fueled by an intensifying culture war. Total circulation: Over 69.4 million.
• Mark Lenzenger, distinguished professor of psychology, and Emma Clementine-Welsh, PhD student in clinical psychology, were featured in Forbes and Psychology Today, for co-authoring an article which revealed that a higher level of charisma in psychopathic individuals may make them more successful. Total circulation: Over 63 million.
• Kevin Hatch, associate professor of art history, was featured in an article in The New York Times about an exhibition featuring the work of Latino artist Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Total circulation: Over 22.4 million.
• Ann Bailey, professor of history, was featured in The New York Times and Newsweek in an article that discusses how descendants trace histories linked by slavery. Total circulation: Over 9.2 million.
• Bryan Kirschen, associate professor of Spanish and linguistics, was featured in an article within Inside Higher Ed and The Academic Minute that examined how the Ladino language is finding a revival online during the pandemic. Total circulation: Over 1.2 million.