You don’t need to wait until your flyer is approved through the UBR system to start promoting your event. In fact, you should consider whether you actually need a flyer at all. You should only create a flyer if you’re planning to print physical copies to display or distribute digitally via email. Flyers should not be shared on social media or in the college events calendar. More information about what you should do instead can be found in the sections below.
College events calendar
Make sure you add the event to the college events calendar: events.la.psu.edu. Adding events to the calendar will make more people aware of your event and will make the event easier to share. Since social media posts can only include so many words, it’s helpful to have a place to link to so that people can learn more about your event. Detailed instructions on how to add events to the college calendar are available here.
Undergraduate newswire
We send a newswire email to all undergraduate students in the College of the Liberal Arts every Monday afternoon. Departments, centers, and student organizations are welcome to submit content for the newswire via our Undergraduate Newswire Request Form. In order for content to appear in the next newswire, it must be submitted by noon on Friday. You will be asked to upload a graphic to go along with your content. Flyers and social media graphics cannot be used as an email graphic, but you can resize your flyer or social media graphic in Canva to “Email Header” in order for it to be the correct dimensions (600x200px). Only the event name and a couple important details should be included on the graphic. Please do not include a url, QR code, or the Liberal Arts mark. Please note that because the newswire is sent to all undergraduates, you should only submit content that is applicable to this wide audience. If you’re hosting an event that is just for students in your major, the newswire is not the best place for it. Instead, we’d recommend sending it out through your department’s listserv and social media accounts. Because of space constraints in the email, we cannot guarantee that your content will be included, but we will try our best.
Emailing staff/faculty
Send the event details to staff and faculty in your unit and other units. Make sure to use include an overview of the event with sample text that staff/faculty could use in their newswires and on social media. It’s also helpful to provide a link to a folder that contains social media graphics of varying sizes. You should not add the event flyer to the body of the email. The graphic is not accessible and might not download depending on the recipient’s email server. Sending large graphics in emails can also cause your email to go to someone’s spam folder.
Emailing students
Send the event details to students in your unit. We recommend emailing students through a service like Mailchimp so that you can create a visually appealing email and can track open rates and click rates. Mailchimp is also free if you have less than 500 contacts.
Digital signs
Please complete the Digital Sign Request Form for all digital sign requests you would like added to the rotation of images displayed on the monitors in the hallways of Liberal Arts buildings on campus. The preferable format for all digital signs is JPG, JPEG, or PNG files with a resolution of 1920×1080 px. Like social media graphics, digital signs should not be image versions of UBR approved promotional materials. They should contain the event title, date, time, location, and a QR code or shortened bit.ly link for students to learn more/register. The College of the Liberal Arts mark appears in a swoosh overlay in the bottom right corner of all monitor displays, so please leave that area blank and omit the college’s mark elsewhere in your digital sign. Don’t forget to specify a start and end date for your digital signs. NOTE: In order to access the digital sign request form, you must be logged in using your Penn State ID. Please click Log In in the top left corner of your screen.
Social media
Please do NOT post entire UBR-approved flyers and posters on social media. Instead, create a graphic that only includes the event title and a few important details. Add a few more details to the caption of your social media post, and then share the customized event calendar link (where people who are interested in attending can view the full details and learn more information).
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- Canva is a great online tool you can use to create social media graphics for free. If you need access to the shared Canva account, please email Kathy Swidwa at kea5102@psu.edu.
- An example of social media graphics that were used to promote a specific event are below. They are sized appropriately for their channel.
- QR codes should not be used on social media graphics. Instead, include the url in the caption of the post. That way, people can just click on the url directly.
- You can also create a Facebook event for your event. That allows you to see a list of people planning to attend, and it gives you a place to provide an overview and updates leading up to the event.
Square Graphic (1080x1080px) – Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter
Story Graphic (1080x1920px) – Instagram