Rationale content creation
For my project the client was the Hertfordshire Business school, who have advertised a position for a student to help create content for their social media platforms. I was expected to produce a portfolio showcasing abilities in designing visuals, copywriting, motivating my creative decisions and showcasing my understanding of content creation theory. This is in the form of three pieces of media: Social media mock-ups, a blog and a video. For my mock-ups, I chose the subject of mental health as I believed I could illustrate the strongest message across through visuals for students to reach out. For my blog, I chose the ‘Go Herts’ award, where I used my copywriting skills to persuade perspective students and for my video. I chose Herts Business school so I could use my vocal and editing skills to motivate and inspire perspectives.
Social media Mock-ups
As mentioned in the introduction, my social media posts are upon the theme of mental health and how students can seek help and support at the University. This is aimed at current students at Hertfordshire Business school and takes place in the form of visuals and short form content, so it quickly and effectively gets the intended message across, with a call to action being the aimed outcome. As The Business school wants to increase its followship on social media, I contributed to this objective by creating eye-catching visuals along with strong, punchy headings to attract and interest my target audience of on all three of Instagram, Linked-in and Twitter. 1) Waters (2020) adds to this idea, by expressing that if the content that you are planning to produce does not have a use or any emotional resonance to the audience then it is questionable as to whether it should be published at all. Specifically, I covered the student wellbeing centre along with the different options for support and managing stress surrounding exam season.
I used a mix of 2) Handley (2017) copywriting formulas, the first being the 4 U’s formula – this one uses an emotional trigger which creates the reader to act quickly, ideal for students who are feeling burdened with their mental health. Similarly, the second is the ACCA formula, where my audience must comprehend the message in my visual, where they will be persuaded to seek a call to action from seeing a solution to their issue.
To inform me on the ideal word count for each social media platform, I used 3) McLachlan (2022) theory which suggests that an organic Instagram post should have 138-150 characters, as it is a visual platform people want clear, concise and punchy captions before the audience scrolls. Linked-in has a suggested of 25 words, before a “See more” button appears, and Twitter 71-100 characters. I used various hashtags including Mental Health matters to maximise my audience reach.
For my design principles, I tried to incorporate space and the rule of thirds with the intention of making my audience feel relaxed and as if they will have better ‘peace of mind’ and a clearer head once they take a call to action from my post. I used the idea of Hierarchy with my text, from the biggest and boldest headings acting as the overriding message that I want expressed, to the smaller writing that supports the main idea. I made sure to incorporate the Universities brand toolkit, by using their chosen colours along with their fonts, so I could keep closely aligned to my client’s proposition and to maintain their style and purpose.
Blog post
For my Blog post, I chose the ‘Go Herts’ award as my theme and zoomed into what it involves and how it has positively affected student lives. As Meerman Scott (2011) comments, a blog is a special site maintained by someone who has passion for a subject and wants to share it with others. Blogs are long-form pieces of content which allows a marketer to expand on their expertise in the field along with driving intended organic traffic to the website. In terms of Search Engine Behaviour, I ensured that my subheadings and key topics were relevant to the research I had done upon what people were most commonly asking questions about, in attempt to optimise my content for both readability and search engines.
The copywriting method I used for my blog was the ‘FAB Formula’, as I strongly believe it fitted with the type of content I was producing. This is because this formula that Hadley (2017) produced highlights what the award has to offer whilst providing the results it gives at graduation, which the reader would find engaging if they have taken an interest in it.
Waters (2020) describes storytelling as being fundamental as a form of communication to the reader, as it drives memorability. Therefore, I used my story of ‘Chloe’ within the blog to inspire perspective students of the possibilities they could experience if they become a part of the award. To fit in with my brand guidelines, I followed the Universities’ “Brand Toolkit” which aided me as to what fonts and colours I should use. Particularly in my heading design image, using Canva I combined their ‘bright violet’ with their ‘bright yellow’ and ‘grey blue’, which worked well in Harmony together and stood out as eye-catching to my audience against the white background with black text for the body.
Video promotion
I chose to create my promotional video on the Hertfordshire Business school, this being aimed at perspective students rather than current ones. My proposition was to create inspiration to these potential pupils, and I did this by emotively narrating my personal experience at the school so far. Therefore, as with the blog I used a form of storytelling to depict this sense of personability to others and drive them to choose this University over other competitors. Meerman Scott (2017) adds to this by stating that video creates a connection with the audience in a way that no other form of content can, through visuals which us humans can relate with, rather than seeing content and advertising as a ‘Business to Business’ transaction. Additionally, Kotler (2017) and Scheafer (2019) argue that marketers should think ‘all things human’, if aiming to producing quality content. This comes from studies of psychology and from the belief that an audience will want to feel belonging, and value applied to themselves and this should be included especially in video to make a great impact on people.
Using the PESO framework and Meyer (2021) work, I understand that a promotional video would take place in the form of paid media. This is a method where organisations can promote content through sponsored multimedia, videos, display ads and more and can reach audiences they most likely wouldn’t have been able to without. Looking at the 3H model, my promotional video would be an example of ‘hygiene’ content. This is content that Walker (2021) describes as being short and attention grabbing for potentials, and aiding steps towards a call to action; but not being the ‘hero’ piece of content that has the greatest impact.
The core message of my video is that the Business school is that it is ideal for a someone who like me, has a passion for the topic like the community here does, and can get a learning experience that is better than other business specialist universities that may also be in the top 25%. Along with enticed and inspired, I would like my target audience to feel almost comforted, as. I am a first-year student they can hopefully see that I have settled in well there and am enjoying my experience there. I used iMovie to edit my video and add voiceovers, and I included background music to bring the video together to make it seem more professional. Talya (2021) comments that subconsciously, the right background music affects experiences and moods whilst watching something, and I believe a created a sense of familiarity and comfort with mine to project onto my target perspective student audience.
References
Handley, A. and Wiley, J. (2017). Everybody writes : your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content. New Delhi: Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.
Kartajaya, H., Kotler, P. & Setiawan, I. (2017), Marketing 4.0, LID Editorial.
McLachlan, Stacey. (2022) https://blog.hootsuite.com/ideal-social-media-post-length/
Meerman Scott, David. (2011) The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use social media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, Edition 3, pg60
Meerman Scott, David. (2017) The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use social media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Jacking and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, Edition 6 2017, pg96
Meyer, Kelsey. (2021) https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/earned-owned-paid-media-lead-generation
Talya, (2021 )https://www.ambie.fm/blog/insights/music-in-business/the-ultimate-guide-to-background-music-and-why-it-matters-inbusiness/#:~:text=This%20is%20because%20music%20subconsciously,especially%20within%20the%20hospitality%20industry.
Walker, Stuart. (2021). https://yellowtomato.biz/what-is-hero-content/#hygiene
Waters, Adam. (2020) Confident Digital Content : How to Create and Manage Amazing Social Media and Web Content for a Futureproof Career, Kogan Page, Limited. ProQuest Ebook Central. P.g : 45 https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/herts/detail.action?docID=6336493.
