MARKETING BEST PRACTICES

Promoting the festival is a collective responsibility! The Manifest Team is responsible for mass marketing within the Columbia community. Manifest Liaisons are responsible for targeted marketing for your events and showcases.

See below for a breakdown of roles, as well as suggestions for targeted marketing and social media best practices.

Manifest Team's mass marketing responsibilities:

  • Student newsletters
  • Print mailings
  • Manifest website
  • Social media promotion
  • Engage Portal announcements
  • Posters and handbills
  • Day-of signage
  • Day-of program
  • Day-of building greeters

Manifest Liaisons are responsible for targeted marketing. This could include:

  • Department/org social media
  • Posters and handbills
  • Canvas announcements
  • Department/org newsletters
  • Class meetings
  • Mailings
  • Student committees
  • Invites to alumni and industry professionals

General Social Media Guidelines

  1. Here is a great article for getting started with social media. Think of guests to the festival as customers, and the "product" you're selling are your showcases and your student's work.
  2. Invite your students, faculty, and staff to follow your department accounts.
  3. Post works-in-progress throughout the semester to build excitement leading up to Manifest.
  4. Share/tag alumni work from past years leading up to Manifest.
  5. Use social media to direct viewers to your showcases before and during Manifest.
  6. Encourage followers to tag you in posts and share these posts to your stories/feeds.
  7. Tag @cccmanifest and use festival hashtags (#CCCManifest, #BreakthroughManifest) in all Manifest-related posts!

MANIFEST 2024 HASHTAGS:

#CCCManifest

#BreakthroughManifest

Facebook Social Media Guidelines

Instagram Social Media Guidelines

  • Be sure to include captions in Instagram stories as well as feed posts.
  • Avoid using IG Live, if possible. Consider using Zoom, Twitch, or another accessible option.

Twitter Social Media Guidelines

  • Provide recaps of Twitter Chats.
  • Use Twitter threads for captions and image descriptions.
  • Link to accessible content if needed.

Accessibility Best Practices

  1. Use capital letters for compound hashtags. For example: #BreakthroughManifest as opposed to #breakthroughmanifest. This allows screen readers to read hashtags easier.
  2. Use Plain Language in all captions. A checklist for writing in Plain Language can be found here.
  3. Create Image Descriptions for all images. Describe, in detail, what is happening in the image. See the example to the right. Note - do NOT use "alt text" on social media sites. Alt text is not supported on some social media platforms, and captions allow you to go more in depth.
  4. All videos should be close captioned. Here is some recommended software: Rev.com, Subtitle Horse, OverStream or GBH and a link to caption videos using YouTube captioning: https://www.accessible-social.com/audio-and-video/captions. If captioning is not possible, an alternative is to request an ASL interpreter through Duriyah Wilborn, Manager of Interpreting Services at dwilborn@colum.edu, office phone: 312-369-8295. Please provide her with as much notice as possible regarding your needs.
Meet Neil! Neil is new to our organization, but they're excited to be joining our team!

Nell, a light-skinned person with short black hair, is outside on a bright day. They wear thick, black-rimmed glasses and smiles at the camera. They also wear a white and dark-colored quatrefoil collared shirt and a black and gold diagonal stripe bow tie.

More Resources

Social Media Accessibility Toolkit Hackpad -  a little outdated, but still a good source! https://digital.gov/resources/federal-social-media-accessibility-toolkit-hackpad/

A practice form for writing image descriptions from the American Anthropological Association. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScow49pNuUAF0RiYTFG7KT90UMbZifi-C9dP7TSsk5w0OV3Aw/viewform

Please visit our Accessibility Guidance page for more that can be applied to social media and / or longer form content.