“It’s not about having your face on the

frontpage”- quote from staff to officer, circa July 2008

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Where we wereDecember 2008

• With a crap union website, frustrated and having tried to rectify issues and feeling let down

• Functioning venue site (53 Degrees) and entering into partnership with another union on a ticketing site

• Coming to the end of contract with website provider

• Knowing our membership were web-savvy and expecting us to have a good webpresence

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Key issuesLast few years

• Simply missing opportunities to communicate with members

• Unable to really deliver on online elections

• Projecting a disastrously poor image to prospective students, current students, past students, university and external stakeholders

• Inconsistent messages about the organisation

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Where we areDecember 2008

• Three new, effective and developing web presences:

www.uclansu.co.uk

www.53degrees.net

www.lancashiretickets.com

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Where we areDecember 2008

• Stripped down site to focus on core areas, easy navigation, more focus onmembership functions rather than commercial areas

• In a constructive partnership with the University and another Union

• Learning from analytics, regular stats reporting, finding out where ourtraffic is coming from and building relationships (both online and offline)

• Collecting data via the web and using it to target messages properly,potentially investing in a CRM (customer relationship management system)

• Changing the way we relate to students

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Some stuff we tried/didNew students section

Specific section for new students, on left hand navigation on the main page.

Included:

- Events- Advice- Maps- Registration/sign up for updates

Success. Great stats and feedback. Looking to expand for 2009 and to make a‘year round’ section to function with the UCAS process (we receive an average of3 views a day via UCAS).

Section received 22,625 views, with an average time on each page of 43 secondsand the section accounts for 10% of the total page views.

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Some stuff we tried/didMaking a boring thing a news story and making what the officerdid a story rather than the officer being the story

Student Written Submission submitted in August 2008 to QAA and University,very long document, very interesting to those who are interested by *yawn* foreveryone else.

Took key points. Made news story. Report available to download.

Follow-up story about what was being done in response to report. Whole campaignstarted based around reports responses.

Together both stories received 325 page views, with an average time spent on pageas 1 minutes and 46 seconds (they read the story) and the report was downloaded82 times.

Did the same with story about the minimum wage being increased and campaignsofficer praising it.

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Some stuff we tried/didMaking a social network just for course reps

Using Ning to create a social network just for course reps. Only trained course reps allowed, restricted access.

Fantastic resource. Helps officer. Great network to tap into. Over 200 now registered and 50% actively using the network and this number is increasing.

Doesn’t cost a penny. Just a bit of time.

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

Some stuff we tried/didEvent/service specific mini-sites

Created our Give It A Go event as a mini-site – www.uclansu.co.uk/giveitago

Similar design but new colours to reflect offline branding.

Events listed. Received 12,874 visits to date.

Ran blog alongside event fortnight, to provide editorial content.

Want to expand use of multimedia, online booking function, more reviews andInteractivity.

UCLan SU’s adventures in web land

What are you doing?We’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg…

We didn’t come here to boast.

We have made mistakes.

We wanted to share.

There’s a lot more we can do.

What are you doing?