Off to the Races Thursday Rundown

Posted on May 12, 2016 by brent

Good evening to you all. You have found the right place for the Thursday Rundown so let’s get started!

Snapchat Strong – Way back in November I mentioned that my mom had created a Snapchat account. Six months later, she is still improving that Snapchat score. Even though she struggles with using the video option, I don’t think I look forward to anyone’s Snaps more than my mom’s. Her “good morning” messages always help to make my day even better. Go ahead, follow her by searching “marykreser5.”

A great way to start your day is with a Snap from your mom.

Dressing Up For the Derby – This past weekend, Sidney and I attended a Kentucky Derby office party. As most people know, I don’t shy away from a chance to dress up so I went all-in with the derby theme. Although I know very little about horse racing, I did know that Nyquist was a 2 -1 favorite to win the Kentucky Derby. Luckily that is who Sidney picked in the pool we had. However, the biggest win of the night came when I was named best dressed. But this honor would never have been possible without a major assist from Sidney…she was the one who put together my whole outfit!

I brought my horse and everything!

Historical George W. Bush Photos – This past weekend I came across this link. The site showcased several photos, along with informative captions, of George W. Bush on 9/11. The images chronicle his expressions and whereabouts throughout the day. Despite the horrific events of September 11, I did find the photos interesting both from a historical and human standpoint. The history you can’t deny but the emotion you feel as a human being is something else. Put yourself in the shoes of a world leader when you are told that one of the most bloody and savage events in the history of the planet just occurred. How do you react and how do you go about the rest of the day? By looking through this photo album you get to see how someone of that stature navigated through the most awful day ever.

George W. Bush visibly shaken on 9/11. Follow the link for more photos.

Latest TV Picks – Back in the day I used to watch “Unwrapped” every now and then. Well, lately I have found myself watching the reruns from 2008. The other day I got to see how Red Vines and Cheetos are made! Yesterday I learned about what it takes to prepare lollipops. As for newer shows, Sidney and I started watching the Netflix series “Kevin From Work”. I won’t get into the plot but if you have Netflix and are looking for something to watch, you will definitely get a few laughs out of it.

“Kevin From Work” is the new show Sidney and I are watching.

Wedding Update #31 – Was my month countdown post not enough yesterday? I don’t know if I have too much more to update you on but we are now officially 30 days out from the big day! This weekend, Sidney’s relatives will host her bridal shower. Also, wedding presents have started to trickle in. It is fun to watch Sidney get really excited when she opens them.

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Have a great weekend! I have an idea floating around in my head for a fun Sunday blog post but we will see if I go through with it or not. I guess you will just have to check back then. Don’t Blink.

Not My Best Thursday Rundown

Posted on July 30, 2015 by brent

Thanks for coming back again my friends. I surely won’t give you the best Thursday Rundown I have delivered but I will do what I can. It truly must be the dog days of summer because I was reaching a little deep for topics tonight. Here we go…

#CCU Geofilter – The best news of the week for me definitely came on Tuesday when I received word from Snapchat that they had accepted our geofilter. For those who don’t know, a geofilter is an overlay (basically a cool frame) that Snapchat users can utilize only when they are in a specific area. The one I submitted on behalf of Coastal Carolina obviously covers the area of our campus. Thanks to the work of our graphics team, specifically the talented Dorothy, the filter was finally accepted and by Wednesday it was live on Snapchat. Our students greeted the development with the enthusiasm that is usually reserved for CINO Day or the cancellation of classes.

Our Coastal Carolina University Geofilter was accepted and it turned out great!

Hit the Showers, Tom Brady – I was delighted with the news that the NFL would uphold the entirety of Tom Brady’s suspension. The quarterback cheated, lied, and did all he could to sabotage the investigation. Those actions definitely warrant every game of his forced hiatus from the Patriots. I am so sick of Brady’s defiance and am dreading the fact that the circus will go on much longer due to his plans to take this matter to federal court. Tom Brady should just be thankful that he lives the life that he does, own up to his arrogance, and sit the games out quietly.

Restaurant News and Notes – T.G.I. Fridays is running commercials about endless appetizers for $10. Sidney and I went to our Myrtle Beach location on Saturday night to cash in on the deal only to be told at our table that the specific restaurant we were at had decided not to do the promotion. * I found my new favorite fast food ice cream spot. For the first time in my life last week, I tried a Sonic Blast. I can count the numbers of times on one hand that I have ate at a Sonic restaurant but give me a month or so and that will change. The ice cream was fresh and every bite I took of my peanut butter cookie dough blast was loaded with toppings. At this very moment, I think I can say that I would take a Sonic Blast over a Dairy Queen Blizzard. * I still need to try Pizza Hut’s hot dog pizza.

Disturbing – If my Thursday Rundown wasn’t so boring tonight, I wouldn’t share this horrendous story. Right out of South Carolina, news recently broke about an unfathomable method of child abuse. A mom left her 2-year-old son, who was unresponsive and bruised, inside her home away from medical care. Bad enough, right? It gets much worse. It turned out that the inside of this house was covered in garbage, feces, and dead animals. My stomach turns badly enough when I watch “Hoarders.” I couldn’t imagine the horror in this residence. Law enforcement said they discovered 48 dead rats, 10 dead pythons, and six dead tarantulas. This was in addition to multiple other animals that were actually still alive. Poor kid. How was I so lucky that I was born to good parents who lived in a nice, clean house?

Wedding Update #4 – Sidney and her mom have done such a great job wasting no time at all getting things squared away for our June 11 date. Our reception venue, caterer, and photographer are now all booked. As all of these developments became official late last week, it has allowed Sidney to relax a little bit more this week. She deserves it!

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There you have it. I wasn’t kidding when I said tonight’s Thursday Rundown would be a little watered down. I hope your weekend isn’t though! As always, thank you for your readership. Don’t Blink.

Successfully Bolstering Our Snapchat Account

Posted on March 30, 2015 by brent

Last week I excitedly wrote about a social media event I was holding called SnapchaNt. Having already established a solid Snapchat account for Coastal Carolina University I wanted to bolster it up a few notches. Before we started marketing this past Friday’s event we had 304 followers and for each snap we added to our story we received around 150 views.

I was a little nervous on how SnapchaNt would go.

The premise of SnapchaNt was simple. On March 27 we would shut down all of our other social media outlets and communicate with our audience solely through Snapchat. Because our family of social media networks would be absent of content for the day, we would make up for it on Snapchat by snapping interesting images/video all day long.

I didn’t know exactly how SnapchaNt would go. It is definitely not beyond me to create an event that turns out to be a dud. I didn’t know if I would receive a backlash from the folks whose only social media consumption is viewing Facebook from a desktop. Sure we already had 300 people following us but was that the cap? Did any more students out there really want to connect with us on Snapchat?

Although my fears were legitimate, they never materialized. The minute we started to promote SnapchaNt early this past week we had a steady stream of users adding us. By the day of the event, the steady stream had turned into a ferocious stream. Early Friday morning it became apparent that campus was on board with our Snapchat push. Between my intern Jada and myself, we added about 50 images to our Snapchat story. The only hiccup was about mid-afternoon when for whatever reason some Snaps wouldn’t upload to the story.

We sent out fun Snaps but we also sent out informative Snaps.

A couple really cool things happened. First, I ran a few contests where I would send a Snap out inviting our student body to visit my office for a free promo item. That morning I greeted numerous students who walked through the door for a complimentary prize. Second, also through a Snap, I asked students to send us #CCU-related Snaps. Once again, we received a heavy response.

Just a few of the Snaps we received from our audience.

Of course the best thing of all was the tremendous growth our account profited from. At the end of the day Friday, our account had grown from 304 followers at the start of the week to a whopping 851 followers. Better yet, the majority of our Snaps added to our story received well over 600 views.

As you can see from these numbers, SnapchaNt was a huge success.

I would recommend that all universities have a presence on Snapchat. From there, I would definitely encourage that one day be set aside to devote completely to Snapchat in some sort of fun way. I don’t get to say this with all of my events, but SnapchaNt was a massive success. Don’t Blink.

SnapchaNt

Posted on March 24, 2015 by brent

About ten months ago I wrote about the launching of our Snapchat channel here at Coastal Carolina University. I explained my strategy and I also talked aloud about how shocked I was that more universities were not on Snapchat. Almost a year later, if institutions still aren’t on SC, they have severely missed the boat.

I task my intern, Jada, with creating most of our Snapchat content. However, about three weeks ago I was logged in looking at our account. I was viewing the amount of users who looked at various snaps within our story. To my delight, all of these pieces of media had triple digit views. To know that roughly 150 people (mostly students) look at each image we send out via our Snapchat story is gratifying. It became very clear that we needed to leverage this service as much as possible. Thus, the creation of our latest #CCUSocialMedia event…

This Friday, we will hold SnapchaNt. On this day, we will shut down all of our other social media channels and communicate to our audience solely through Snapchat.

Our official SnapchaNt logo created by the wonderful Gwendolyn Washington.

We have a few goals:

1. We want to build our Snapchat following as much as possible. We already have 300+ followers*, I hope to double it by the end of Friday.

2. We want to continue to provide our #CCUSocialMedia audience with fun and creative ways to engage with us on Social. When have you ever heard of a university staging a Snapchat day? I am guessing never. We pride ourselves on being unique.

3. We want to generate fantastic user content! I am already excited for the snaps that our followers will send back to us. I will be screenshotting like crazy so I can create a gallery featuring the best of the best.

It will be fun! We will stage Snapchat giveaways throughout the day for students to cash in on. We will make our audience laugh. We will bolster our strong Snapchat channel even more. We will experiment a little. We will make one heck of a Snapchat story for all to enjoy.

Make sure to have fun with us on Snapchat this Friday.

Sure, we will alienate some traditional social media users who want nothing to do with Snapchat. But I know for a fact we will also convince others to join the service and follow us. The target market I am especially after, our students with accounts who just haven’t added us yet, will hopefully follow us in droves. It has actually already started to happen. After the announcement of SnapchaNt yesterday I spent five minutes Monday evening confirming new adds. I did the same this afternoon. Who knows what is awaiting our account right now.

In my opinion, having a strong Snapchat account is imperative. There is no faster way to reach students these days than through a simple Snap. Besides the practicality and necessity of having an active Snapchat account, it again just sends home the message to our social audience and specifically our students that we care about the social media experience we give them. Make sure to add us on Snapchat by searching “ccuchanticleers” and join us for some fun this Friday. Don’t Blink.

* I equate 300 Snapchat users to 3,000 Twitter users or 13,000 Facebook page likes.

The Creative Way I am Using Snapchat

Posted on January 13, 2015 by brent

Several months ago I wrote about how I made the decision to incorporate Snapchat into our social media strategy at Coastal Carolina University. Fast forward some 200 days later and I am now writing about how I have made the decision to incorporate Snapchat into my own personal branding strategy. To say that everyone supports this move of mine would be a little bit of a lie.

After experimenting with my own personal Snapchat account for quite some time, I finally solidified my plan on how to use it over the holiday break. No longer am I all about snapping random, low quality images like the other billion people on the service. No longer am I taking a photo and using my thumb to scribble a horrendously illegible word or two across it. No longer am I taking a video of the radio blaring in my car. Bottom line, my Snapchat account isn’t about random garbage anymore. Rather, it is about my brand and my blog.

I have changed my priorities when it comes to Snapchat. Now I am using my account to push my personal brand.

If you connect with me on Snapchat, and I highly recommend that you do (brentreser), you will notice something. About 90% of the snaps you receive from me will be strictly video messages of yours truly promoting brentreser.com. Hey now, stop making that disgusted face! I can assure you that while I am promoting my website, I am not shamelessly promoting my website. My objective is not to overwhelm and scare you with constant messages telling you to go read my blog. Instead, these snaps will only come each time I publish a blog post (so roughly 5-6 times a week). In the nightly aftermath of publishing my work, I will compose a video snap where I give a quick teaser on the topic for that particular night. I will send it to you personally and I will also post it to my story.

I write, post, and tweet about my blog often. However, very seldom do I get to talk about it. By going this avenue with Snapchat I have the luxury to explain in my own voice the latest happenings with Don’t Blink. I get to reach people who I might not normally reach through my other social media means. For the people who I do already reach and who will get hit again with my snaps it is my hope that this method might get through to them in a different way. If they weren’t reading before, maybe they will now. By composing these video messages I also hope to break up the monotony that Snapchat sometimes becomes. Perhaps people will appreciate a planned out video every once in a while as opposed to an in-your-face blurry selfie.

I already know that some don’t appreciate it, however. My brother and a friend have both voiced their displeasure over my latest tactic. They think it is self-promoting and spam-like in nature. Oh well, you can’t please everyone.

If you are on Snapchat, add me (brentreser). If you have other creative ways for how you utilize this service I would love to hear about it. Keep snapping my friends and always remember that no one is immune from a screenshot. Don’t Blink.

#CCU Social Media Adds Snapchat

Posted on May 15, 2014 by brent

As I am sure many of you are sick of hearing, I thoroughly enjoy my new job. Having the opportunity to develop a social media program at a different university from where I was previously has reignited my love even more for all things social. While I have implemented some of the strategies I used at Montana here at Coastal Carolina I have also had the chance to try some new things.

This week we introduced our #CCU Snapchat channel. Because of my workload and our audience, I never started one at UM. However, at Coastal Carolina University it just made perfect sense. With the mass amount of people using the service, an age demographic that aligns with exactly who we are trying to reach, and many mechanisms to creatively send out information it made perfect sense to utilize Snapchat.

Oh, one additional reason why it appealed to me? Not many colleges are on it. I don’t know if maybe they don’t understand it or if they don’t think they can communicate effectively with it but you don’t see many university Snapchat accounts. To get ahead of other institutions and reach out to the younger generation in the way they are communicating the most these days it was necessary for Coastal Carolina Social Media to establish a Snapchat presence. Thankfully our Vice President for Communication and my boss, Bill Plate, was well ahead of the game and reserved our social media handle (CCUChanticleers) on Snapchat long ago. With that piece already completed I launched our account simply by creating a graphic, doing some quick marketing on our social media channels, and then adding the users that instantaneously flooded our account.

#CCU Social Media opened up its Snapchat account for business!

I have participated personally in the Snapchat game for a long time now so I am pretty well versed in it but I was surprised by a few things while interacting with our audience. First off, they are YOUNG. Besides the college students that jumped on board with us there is an outrageous amount of kids that look nine years old who are on the service. Secondly, these young adults/kids are creative! I was laughing at and admiring many of the snaps that kept coming into our inbox. Besides the art that many of them can create on their snaps they are also witty and resourceful. Thirdly, they all have great appreciation for Coastal Carolina. I received a fair share of “Go Chant” snaps but I also received snaps from students stating that they can’t wait to get back to campus or that they are counting down the days until they get here for the first time. It was cool to see that pride over a social media outlet where I had never seen it before.

I really enjoy some of the creativity I have seen sent to our Snapchat channel (thanks to Admissions)

Over the first few days of utilizing the #CCU Snapchat account I have just had fun with it. I like to send our “friends” (as they are called on Snapchat) generic snaps wishing them good morning or updating them on the weather on campus. I have also sent useful messages notifying them about the posting of grades or how to access our other social media accounts. Last night I ran a little promotion where I asked our friends to snap a photo of any Coastal Carolina logo. The first person who did so would win a prize. We received around 30 responses. Even about two hours after that snap went out our account was still receiving logo photos.

Just a few of the great snaps we got when we asked our friends to send us a CCU logo.

I encourage you to see how Coastal Carolina Social Media is utilizing Snapchat by friending us by searching “CCUChanticleers”. There are lots of possibilities for higher education institutions to creatively connect with their student audience through Snapchat and I am glad that #CCU is on it sooner than later. Don’t Blink.

Don't Blink

By Brent Reser

Tag Archives: Snapchat

Off to the Races Thursday Rundown

Not My Best Thursday Rundown

SnapchaNt

The Creative Way I am Using Snapchat

#CCU Social Media Adds Snapchat