University at Buffalo (UB)
Digital
Explore how the use of web, social media, online newsletters, email marketing, media buying, photography and video can elevate your communications efforts.
The Marketing and Communications Team can assist with applying digital communications standards and best practices, ensuring consistent and cohesive messaging and design that best exemplifies the College and serves to advance the UB reputation and our brand.
Our team provides technical support, training and content development guidance for all College of Arts and Sciences approved websites. Our goal is to create high-quality websites that meet the diverse needs of the College community and empower individual users to take an active role in website maintenance.
The Marketing and Communications team provides leadership, support and guidance for social media accounts that fall under the College of Arts and Sciences. Successful UB accounts have strong, well thought out strategies that meet the standards and practices required for all official university social media accounts.
Department newsletters are an effective tool for telling your department’s story. Our team works with departments to create online newsletters to communicate with alumni and friends with robust web-driven content.
Best Practices
Look at the best practices below before you collect and submit your content for your department newsletter.
- Provide the newsletter content at least eight weeks before the desired date you’d like to send it to alums and friends.
- All images must be high-resolution jpeg, png, tiff or eps files.
- Place images in your content document to assist our team in recognizing photo coordination with content. Note: This does not replace uploading images to UB Box and submitting the link in the communication work order.
- Please provide links to external videos, articles and stories along with text introducing the article and why you’ve decided to include it in the newsletter.
- Find department-related content to use in UB In the News.
- Content is at most three to six months old (current information).
- Content edits will be made for the UB style and Associated Press style guide. See the Style Guide Tips.
Sample visual of new Digest newsletter format.
Submit a request:
How to submit your content
Content must be created by the departments and collected in one Microsoft Word document that’s separated into desired sections. Please see recommended sections below.
- Message from the Chair
- Research/Department News
- Events
- Faculty News/Awards
- Student News/Awards
- Alumni News
Once all the content is collected, please submit a communications work order to start the process with a UB Box link to your content and high-resolution images.
💡 Pro tip: Arrange your “featured” stories at the top of each newsletter section. For example, if you want to feature faculty award winners, make that the first story in your faculty news section.
Email marketing is a cost effective way to communicate with your audience. Our team works with a third-party email platform to create properly branded emails.
Our team also coordinates email marketing campagins for alumni and friends through the central alumni system and database. Please contact us when you need to email alumni and we can assist you.
The Point
The Point is a monthly email newsletter sent to faculty and staff on the third Thursday of every month during the fall and spring semesters. It contains news and stories about the College of Arts and Sciences as well as top-level information for employees. The Point is produced and deployed by the CAS Marketing and Communications team on behalf of the College and the Dean.
To submit information for consideration in The Point, please fill out the news and achievement form.
Need to Know
Need to Know is a bi-weekly email newsletter sent during the academic semester to inform faculty and staff of pertinent news, deadlines, policies, events and more. Need to Know is produced and deployed by the CAS Marketing and Communications team on behalf of the College and the Dean.
To submit information for consideration in Need to Know, please email Jackie Hausler at hauslerj@buffalo.edu.
The UB Production Group (UBPG), located in the Center for the Arts, is a university service provider offering campus-wide production support. Contact the UBPG by emailing production@buffalo.edu for a customized production and video estimate and to request service.
UB Photo Database
The UB Photo Database is an excellent resource for all UB faculty and staff. More information, including guidelines for capturing the UB "spirit" in visual form, can be found on UB Photography and Videography.
Note regarding photo images: Photos must be high resolution (whether used for print or web) and large in size, e.g., 5x7, 8x10, etc. Small postage-stamp-size photos are not acceptable.
Other Recommended Photo Websites
The resource list includes sites to find free and low-cost images to use.
Stock imagery
- istock.com: offers photos, illustrations, videos and backgrounds
- depositphoto.com: offers photos, illustrations and videos
- https://tonl.co/: features diverse images, including disability, but is limited
Additional options
Users can download images, free of charge, from these public domain websites:
Tips on taking a photo from your smartphone
Taking a self/ie portrait:
1. Bring as much light as possible into the space, either by turning on overhead lights, opening blinds
2. Minimize background distractions (art, books, people, etc.) A blank, light-colored wall is ideal.
3. Hold your smartphone vertically (portrait) and about an arms-length away
4. Now you are ready to shoot
- Remember to keep your head straight or slightly tilted and face your phone screen
- Make sure that you have room above your head and that your neck and part of your shoulders are in view
- Take five or six shots and choose your best two
- If you need to send photos out, keep them in color, do not crop them, and send them ‘as is.’
If someone is taking a portrait photo of you:
1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
2. ‘Photographer’ should make sure that the person is in view with head straight or slightly tilted and within the frame of the phone screen, checking that there is room above the subject’s head and that their neck and part of their shoulders are in view.
3. Take five or six shots and have your student choose two.
4. If you need to send photos out: keep your photos in color, do not crop them, and send them ‘as is.’
If you are planning on engaging in any paid media or advertising, please contact us so we can help you maximize your dollars and follow proper university procedures.