Google Forms: A success for the Libraries!

A great big thank you to Marlo Welshons, the Communications Director for the University Libraries. She answered my questions about Google Forms both for this blog post but also following the recent UMCF event about surveys. Our office uses a survey tool for a variety of purposes including RSVPs for events and Marlo explained how they use Google Forms for that purpose. Since Google Forms is more university-friendly than a third-party survey tool, I figured I needed to learn more about how that works! Her wisdom has been helpful for me in my department and I thought we could all benefit from her experience. Do others have helpful hints regarding RSVPs using Google Forms?

When did you start using Google Forms and why them instead of another program or service?

We started using Google Forms last summer for the simple reason that they were easily available now that we've all moved to Google Docs. We didn't research other alternatives, we just started playing around with the Google Apps suite to see how it worked and what was possible.

What are your primary purposes for using Google Forms (i.e., surveys, registrations, etc.)?

Although I have used Google Forms to create a few basic surveys to gather information from project groups I'm working with, the single most frequent use is providing a customized, online RSVP form for our many events.

I have to credit our graphic designer, Jen Peters, who figured out how to embed a Google form in a web page (when in form editing mode, select "embed" from the "More actions" drop-down). She created a form to let people RSVP to a retirement party for one of our senior administrators, and then embedded it in an HTML wrapper that looked like the HTML email invitation she had created for the event. Attendees really liked being able to RSVP online, and also that there was a field where they could write a congratulations message to the event honoree. We've since implemented this for nearly all of our Friends of the Libraries events.

You can see an RSVP example of this in an email we've developed for an upcoming poetry reading.

Who in your office manages your Google Forms?

We don't have a central manager for using these. For event RSVP forms, we create the form and give edit rights to the event organizer(s). We also give view rights to other staff who may wish to know how many people are coming, or if specific people will be in attendance.

What benefits do you see from using Google Forms?

The coordinator for our Friends of the Libraries events has seen a tremendous benefit from this new process. In the past, attendees were asked to RSVP by phone or email. The time saved by no longer processing those email and voicemail messages is huge, and she uses the spreadsheet created by the form to generate name tags and keep track of other details related to managing the event guest list.

Additionally, we ask attendees to provide us with an email address or phone number in case we need to contact them with changes to an event date or location. This has proven helpful because we can suppress the email addresses of those who have already responded from the mailing data when we send reminder emails. We have also on occasion used the email addresses of those who have RSVP'd to send a confirmation email with customized parking information and directions to the event.

Do you have some tips for other communicators who want to use Google Forms but aren't sure of how or why?

A couple of things we've learned from doing this:

1. Be sure to customize the submission confirmation message (access this from the same "More actions" drop-down for getting the embed code). We use the confirmation message to repeat the time and location information and contact information for the event organizer. For example, the confirmation message for the Pankake Poetry Reading email reads:

Thank you for your reservation.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. in Elmer L. Andersen Library, University of Minnesota, 222 21st Ave S, Minneapolis.

Please contact Lanaya Stangret at 612-624-9339 or stangret@umn.edu with any questions or concerns.

2. We make a copy of a previous RSVP form instead of starting from scratch with each new RSVP forms. If you do that, be sure to go into the associated spreadsheet and delete the rows that contain the information collected from the form you copied. If you simply delete the contents of those rows and not the rows themselves, then Google will insert the new data below the last row used by the previous form.

We learned this the hard way: we had a scare where we thought the form was not capturing the information from people who had RSVP'd, but luckily we thought to scroll down and discovered it all appeared starting with row 73 (72 people had filled out the RSVP form for the event that we'd used as the template for the new RSVP form).

A poll on surveys

Thanks to Christina Frazier from the Office of Planning and Analysis for sharing lots of helpful information about U of M survey policy and tools on Wednesday. It was interesting to hear about planning for the new U survey tool. The event had me wondering how many people are currently using UMSurvey and other survey tools.

A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps

As the new Marketing & Promotions Chair for the Communicators Forum, I've been having fun diving into the depths of Communicators Forum social media, especially Twitter. Social media has become an unexpected passion of mine over the last year or so, with daily use of it for my day job at Northrop Concerts and Lectures, and my side project, the literary website Hazel & Wren.

I've learned mostly by trial and error, and by watching and learning from expert tweeps as they grow with their following and gain momentum for their business or organization. But perhaps the most helpful for me are simple guidelines from other users that pop up in blog posts, articles, and more all over the internet, such as this one, which I stumbled upon last week, and passed on through the UMCF Twitter channel. And, as a bonus, here's a quick look at some things I've learned over the last year or so in my own guide: A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps. (Brace yourselves for the power of this knowledge.)

A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps:

1.) Follow like-minded people. This is the number one step to exponentially increase your number of followers. Search hashtags and topics to see who is talking about them, and follow them. Or, even better yet, find another organization similar in cause to you, and start following who they follow. Not everyone will follow you back, but the surprising majority do. (This means your description and recent tweets better be stellar, so these people are intrigued at first glance.)

2.) Curate lists. This has been the most helpful for me to not only more easily find quality content, but also for organizing my approach and to make sure that I'm diversifying my tweets. If you're unfamiliar with lists, what this means is that you create segmented categories of Twitter accounts that you follow, based on their content and/or area of interest. For example, I have a list for the Communicators Forum called "University Departments." Another could be called "Communications Publications." That way, you can just view the feed from that list's sources specifically, to narrow down and focus the constant stream of information coming in. You can make these lists public or private, and can call them whatever makes the most sense to you. These take time to curate, but are so worth it.

3.) Be smart with your retweets. Don't get overly click-happy with that retweet button. Yes, it's just so easy, but doing that too often can make it seem like you don't have any original content or thought, or, that you're just plain lazy. If you're going to retweet something, switch it up more often than not. Copy and paste the tweet into your own post, tag the owner with RT, and preface it with some your own commentary. This could be something as simple as "Especially agree with rule #3 RT @umcf: The Official Rules of Twitter Domination http://LINK_HERE". You can also start over completely with your own original tweet, and just tag whoever originally posted the link by ending your post with: "(via @umcf)." Just remember: your followers want to know what YOU (whether you are an individual, or the voice of an organization) think, not how many posts you can retweet in a minute.

4.) Use short links for original content. Here at the University, we have a fantastic link shortener, z.umn.edu. Why use short links for original content (i.e. your organization's blog posts, events, etc) specifically? Stats, my friends, stats. Through z.umn.edu short links (and others) you can then track who is clicking that specific link, and where those paths to your original content are starting from (Twitter, Facebook, emails, etc). This can be incredibly helpful when figuring out where your audience is getting their information. There are other link shortening services outside of the University, but many of them you have to pay for, especially if you want to customize your short links.

5.) Tweet at least 3-5 times a day. From what I've heard, tweeting about five times a day  (and not all at once) yields the most effective results. At that rate, you're not pushing people off the edge with endless tweets about your oh-so-amazing breakfast sandwich, and you're also making following you worthwhile with daily updates and insights. For some organizations, it can be tough to get up to five tweets per day, but just work in that direction. This doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) solely original content. The main purpose of Twitter is to embrace and engage with your community, whatever it is. Retweet insightful posts from fellow professionals, engage with your followers by asking questions and starting conversations, seek out articles and sources related to your field or area of interest, and share it all with your community.

That's all for now, folks. Happy tweeting, and may the force be with you.

Valentine's Day & Branding

A few marketing communication lessons, in the form of a link round-up, surrounding Valentine's Day and branding.

The brand of your business is just a word until people come along and give it meaning.

Real brand love, like in life, is reserved for a special level of brand engagement and emotional impact.

Creating an emotional appeal with storytelling makes messages stronger.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Telling a story. Or, "What Grog done."

A presentation on Feb. 8 at Walter Library brought Matt Jennings and communications professionals at several universities throughout the U.S. together via a web conference to talk about what makes a story. Jennings is a great writer, currently working for Middlebury College. 

But storytelling, no matter the medium--and these days there are many--essentially maintains similar elements. It likely always has, from the first time a story was ever told, somewhere long ago, probably in a cave. Maybe it went like this: "Grog got up tree. Hit the big thing with club. Surprise! Thing fall down. We eat. Full. Feel good now" (followed by, oohs, ahhs, and some small applause).

That's a story. Beginning, middle, end. Some element of tension. A plot. 

Jennings specifically called out a few key elements I found helpful to keep in mind when considering, first, whether a story is a story at all; and second, how to write it once you decide it's a go. 

First: is it a story or a topic? 

A topic, according to Jennings, is static, passive, and is about "things." "Bill Smith: Alumnus of the Year" is a topic."Alumni in Hollywood" is a topic. Topics by themselves are not stories, but dig deeper and they may become more. 

Elements of a story include characters, dialogue, plot, tension, and scene. Personally, I feel like you get the most out of dialogue and tension. Tension, especially...if you can find some emotional connection and convey that to your audience, you can transfer the emotion. That can mean asking your characters hard questions sometimes. 

A story, then, is active, about people (not things), and shows; it isn't all tell.

Jennings says to find out if you have a story, ask, "Why does this matter?" and "Will people care?" Then, find out the players and how to tell it. Think about visuals or artwork from the beginning, he says--about how to tell the total story. And when it comes to characters, he says, "Don't tell the story of the army. Tell the story of the soldier." Tell the story from a unique perspective and show the audience things they would not see otherwise. A recent story on Northrop Auditorium's renovation is a pretty good example here, as the photographer and I were lucky enough to get access to the interior during demolition. Do all that, and one gets the idea that in the end, you'll be telling the story of the army more effectively simply by telling the story of the soldier. 

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Speaking of storytelling, tell yours. U communicators meet monthly to share stories. Next meeting is Feb. 9, 3 p.m., 510 Morrill Hall.

Superbowl Ads

T-minus 2 days and 5 hours until Superbowl XLVI. Are you excited for the Giants v. Patriots rematch, or are you like me, and more excited to see the new ads? I love seeing what creative advertisements companies pay millions for - sometimes the ads are great and sometimes they, well, aren't great.

Get a sneak peek at some of the Superbowl ads by going to the following link:

http://journalexpress.net/cnhi/x2053730301/Sneak-peek-at-this-years-hottest-Super-Bowl-ads

Happy Superbowl Weekend Forum Members!

Awards Season is Nigh!

Greetings fellow Communicators! If you were at the Experts Insights with Cyndy Brucato on Monday, you heard some exciting news about the Awards this year! If you weren't there, I guess I'll tell you now...

But first! Our new members might be curious about what the "awards" are. Maroon & Gold awards are presented annually to University
of Minnesota Communicators Forum members whose work
best embodies the University's core values: excellence,
innovation, integrity, diversity, academic freedom, collaboration,
sharing of knowledge, accountability, stewardship, and
service. Awards are submitted annually, judged by an independent panel of outside experts in communications topics, and awarded during the annual conference.  Receiving an award is kind of a big deal...not only personally, but professionally. In this day and age where we are all justifying our value to our colleges and units, an award from the UMCF says to your leadership that you and your work are highly valued and respected.

Here is the UMCF Awards website, where you can read all about the categories, eligibility, etc. Please note that we are in the process of updating the pages.

So, the big news for 2012 is that awards are FEE FREE!! That's right! You do not have to pay a single cent towards awards submissions this year. That means you have no excuse not to enter all your fabulous work! The awards submission window is March 1-March 30. The one change to the process due to the free fees is that we had to do a little something different with the MIKE Award. The MIKE Award is the "People's Choice" award, voted on at the conference. In the past, it was an additional $5 fee for an already entered item. This year, we have decided to cap the MIKE entries at 30. Each college or unit may submit up to 2 entries to be considered for MIKE. These 30 entries are first come, first served, so don't procrastinate!

Our last bit of news is that we are adding a new subcategory to the Writing category. In the past, we have noticed that articles of a more technical nature were not receiving the recognition deserved because they weren't as "captivating" to the judges when compared to other work, like magazine features, etc. We feel that technical writing, while maybe not as glamorous as speech or feature writing, is very much worth recognition because when done well, it is really amazing. More information and criteria will be added to the website soon.

We'll be sharing more information on the Listserv once we get closer to awards submission month! Have a happy February!