Objective → Provide updates on the project through personal commentary. Give the reader the feeling that if they keep the reading they will overcome a challenge or be able to add value to someone else by sharing.

Content ↴

• Approach: Blogs should generally be written for all audiences; if the blog is for a specific public, it should clearly be stated in the introduction or through tags. Blogs should use tags, like the lab’s and project’s keywords and the audience the blog is meant for. Blog posts discuss updates on project activities, findings and events. Topics should not be over-explained, the reader only gets the information they need.

• Lengths: 350-600 words posts, which means between 2 and 5 minutes reads. Paragraphs should be short, maximum of 100 words approximately. Sentences should be short and easy for the reader to digest

• Structure: Start with a catchy headline (surprise factor, clear benefit, SEO keyword, etc) Second, write a hook or answer a big why for the reader. Then, the body post should split the ideas into sections preceded by subtitles. Conclude summarizing key points of the post or highlight something the reader can put into action.

• Other: Include at least two or three high-resolution free (or original) visual resources. Include links to external sites.

Recommendations ↴

• When brainstorming blog posts, imagine you are outside of the project and think of the information you would like to learn if you were your audience.

• Ask project members and stakeholders, and even experts outside the project, to contribute.

• Material will be updated regularly.

• Make sure you have permissions to use the visuals resources you chose to your blog post. Read some legal considerations in the Pictures Page.

Tools → This is a selection of useful tools to check while writing a blog post.

• Uber Suggest → Here you can check suggestions for keywords related to a topic, see the websites ranking in search engines for that topic, and get ideas and insights from popular blog posts related to the topic.

• BuzzSumo → Here you can check the most viral articles regarding a certain topic, this is very useful for inspiration, to see what works best and understand why they’ve been so popular. Normally the idea is to try to make it better than #1, so we can gain some traffic.

• Similar Web → Discover similar websites to a reference you already like.

• Feedly → Discover new articles on the topics you choose.

• Social Animal → Find and analyze top-performing content for any topic or competitor.

There is a difference between the level of interest of each media outlet. Diversity of audiences means targeting your communications to meet diverse needs. Identifying actors in a local, regional and project level media landscape is crucial. The media actors can be organized on three levels:

• News Agencies → News agencies have a huge impact on setting the global media agenda and telling the rest of the media what's newsworthy. One gateway to many media at the same time with global reach. They provide a baseline of reliability. But if your content is on regional and local topics, then news agencies are not your media actor.

• Traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers) → Generalist media satisfy the citizen basic information needs. They play between the daily news agenda and some outstanding information. If you want to reach some success when reaching them, pitch them concrete and framed stories.

• Digital media → Digital media mean content specialization. Find the best digital magazines and blogs for your content, take into account their content quality (specialized, well written, verified and trustfull information). Check where your competitors, stakeholders and theme-aligned projects have already been published.

Events promotion on Social Media

Objective → Learn how to narrate the life of the project in real time, emphasise project landmarks, which anchor the other types of communications and raise awareness of best practices and resources from the project.

Content → Writing for events promotion on social media should differentiate between upcoming events, happenings and past events. Some examples on the below:

• Upcoming events - Make sure to look for us [on X program][at Y conference/fair] - Join us on [date] at [platform] where we will be discussing [topic]! - [Tomorrow/next week/etc] we will be at [conference/workshop/etc]. Tickets are still available at [link]. We hope to see you there! - Are you coming to [event]? Let us know and sign up here[link]!

• Happenings - Today we’re at [event/activity]! Stay tuned for live updates - We’re currently talking to [person/industry leaders/group] about the [pilot] industry. Join the conversation! - Stop by our booth at [conference/event]. We’ll be here [time period]! - Share your questions about [topic] with [person/industry leaders/group] by using #

• Past events - Yesterday, we talked with [name] about our organisation’s participation in [event]. Check it out here [link to page/content] - Did you miss our workshop on [topic] yesterday? Find the recap here [link] & follow us on social media to find out about future events. - Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday at [event]! Tell us what you thought in the comments :)

Recommendations ↴

• Tone → Don’t deliver the same copy through all the platforms. Use the adequate tone for each platform:

  • Instagram: Informing, catchy, welcoming and empowering

  • LinkedIn: Informative and expert

  • Twitter: Informing, exploratory and curious

  • Facebook: Friendly, welcoming and encouraging

• Tags ↴

  • Hashtags (#) to get more engagement

  • Mentions (@) to get reposts and reach a wider audience

Legal Considerations → When sharing images of live events or past events, make sure you are not violating copyright laws and attendees have signed off their image use rights. See Pictures page for further info.

Objective → Communicate the project to the media.

Content ↴

• It should be suitable for journalists including key text and high-resolution visual resources about the project, the events, actions and happenings, and results.

• It should be focused on a concrete and framed story. Choose one topic that is of public interest.

• Catchy and short headline

• Introductory paragraph answering the 5 W’s of communications.

• It should use the project’s keywords and key messages.

Recommendations → Written in the local language with translation to English.

References → Project owners should build a list of media contacts, to whom all publications should be sent by email, it can be built collaboratively and should be maintained constantly.

Sharing ↴

• Write the email in the language you are writing the press release.

• Try to send a personalized email (addressed to the name of the receiver) to each contact.

• Write a catchy, not standard email subject.

• Add the most important link/s (website) to the email body.

• Attach images to be downloaded.

• Attach one editable version of the press release (Word) saved with editing restrictions; and one PDF version.

Template

Tips to make video to share on social media

Objective → Being able to produce good media/visual content to connect with your audiences. Digital content includes photos, videos, animations, infographics, visual essays, etc. We'll focus on recorded videos.

Recommendations ↴

• Starting point → As with written content, start by building your visual content around the identified needs or interests of the target audience.

• Materials → It is always better if you use a professional camera, but nowadays you can also get outstanding photos and video on most phones.

• Shots → It’s better to use different angles and shots, instead of recording the whole thing in one position.

Content → Non-professional videos require humane content.

Technical specs ↴

• Duration ↴ Facebook: 2 min. length Instagram: 1 min. length (30 sec recommended) | IGTV 1 to 10 min length Twitter: 30 sec. length

• Dimensions ↴ Facebook: 1280 x 720 (landscape aspect ratio 16:9) Instagram: IG 600 x 315 (16:9), 600 x 600 (1:1) or 600 x 750 (4:5) Twitter: max. 1280 x 720 (16:9) or 640 x 640 (1:1)

• Formats → .MP4 and .MOV

• Light → Natural better than artificial. Harsh lighting will create dark shadows. The window should be in front of you when filming in the interior with natural light.

Tips to add subtitles and closed captions

Objective → Adding subtitles, or closed captions, make your videos more accessible to a wider audience.

Recommendations → The easiest way to add subtitles to a video is by using YouTube. If your video is on YouTube (or you are willing to upload it there), YouTube can automatically create your subtitles.

2. From the left menu, select Subtitles.

3. Click the video you’d like to edit.

4. Click ADD LANGUAGE and select your language.

5. Under subtitles, click ADD. Play the video and enter your captions. Don't forget to add text describing other sounds happening in the video, like [applause] or [thunder] so viewers know what's going on in the video.

6. Repeat step 5 for additional captions, then click PUBLISH.

1. Click the three vertical dots (⋮) on the fourth column. See previous image.

2. Click Actions on the top right and download the .art file.

3. Open the file, copy the text and translate with Google Translate. Copy into a new text file.

4. Click “Add New Subtitles” and select “Upload a file”.

5. Select “Subtitle File” from the popup menu. Upload your file.

6. Adjust your subtitles

7. Publish

We also want to communicate our activities to a wide audience beyond the project to bring attention to the awesome work being done. Often the intention here is to promote a specific discourse or idea, particularly when we approach media.

Creating and using a forum

There are other forums available, but this one will use Discourse as an example.

Objective → Knowledge or information dissemination through a channel which encourages internet discussions among others. Often internet forums focus on the element of community and self-moderation to defend itself from trolls, bad actors, and spammers.

Content → You can use forums as a mailing list, discussion forum, long-form chat room, and more! Make sure to set some form of 'community rules' to direct the users on what and what not to do with the forum - be civilized!

Recommendations ↴

• Tone - Learn from other forums! If you have seen a forum that you like and inspires you, understand what it is about that forum and why the forum has inspired you.

• Tags - You can tag specific people in forums to start, or continue the conversation.

• Forums are built on trust - This is, in the end, a community - so keep that in mind and help any new comers join and use the space effectively!

Troubleshooting → This uses Discourse external links as an example, although you can use other forums.

The universal rules of civilized Discourse. About Discourse. Discourse features. Adding emojis and emoticons to your discourse.

Legal Considerations → When sharing images of live events or past events, make sure you are not violating copyright laws and attendees have signed off their image use rights. See Pictures page for further info.

Sharing pictures: some legal considerations

Objective → Understand briefly what the law says about sharing publicly images. Not only pictures taken by others (copyright), but pictures taken from others (image rights).

Content ↴

• Copyright → It is a protection that gives every author the exclusive right to use or reproduce their work. Every image obtains its copyright upon creation. Only images that grant a free license, such as creative commons, or offer them in the public domain, can be freely used.

• Image Rights → People that are in a photo don't have any rights to it in terms of photo publication and use. However, images of people (smalls groups and individuals) are likely to constitute personal data and you will need to establish a legal basis for processing personal data.

Recommendations → Use only:

• Original visual resources created within your organisation and/or project team.

• CC-licensed materials by following the license conditions and attributing sources (image title, image author and image license code).

• Free stock photos from, for example:

  • Pexels

  • Burst

  • Picjumbo

  • Pixabay

  • Unsplash

• Photos taken within an event context in which you have provided the participants with privacy information, making sure that they are aware that their image would be taken and the context in which their image would subsequently be used by signing a consent. See consent agreement template to share with your event participants.

Image sizes For social media image sizes see here. A general rule when dealing with image sizes:

Print Hi-res images are at least 300 pixels per inch (ppi). This resolution makes for good print quality, and is pretty much a requirement for anything that you want hard copies of, especially to represent your brand or other important printed materials.

Online The standard resolution for web images is 72 ppi (often called “screen resolution”). Images that are between 1500 and 2500 pixels wide are recommended for use online. Images smaller than 1500 pixels may appear blurry or pixelated when they stretch to fill larger online surfaces, such as banners. You do not need 300 ppi images online - these will be heavy and may take a while to load. 72 ppi is best.

Check the size of your image file:

Open the image in Windows Explorer to check dimensions and file size.

1. Open Windows Explorer.

2. Find the image you want to check.

3. Select your image. The dimensions and file size appear at the bottom of the window.

Open the image in Mac Finder to check dimensions and file size:

1. Click Finder on your Dock.

2. Find the image you want to check.

3. Control+click (ctrl+click) your image. A menu appears.

4. Click Get Info. A window appears.

5. Expand the General: section to see your image's file size.

6. Expand the More Info: section to see your image's dimensions.

See image file formats and their differences here.

Accessibility guide for design

Inclusive communication

The attached documents can serve as a reference to ensure actions are inclusive.

UNICEF Inclusive Education Module:

Guidelines for using gender-sensitive language in communication, research and administration developed by Reutlingen University

Instagram

IMAGES - grid 1-10 images per post. square 1:1 ratio or 4:5 aspect ratio

VIDEOS In the Grid: Up to 60 seconds. square 1:1 ratio or 4:5 aspect ratio

STORIES Images or video Vertical 9:16 ration

IGTV videos Can last longer and have the same dimensions as stories.

Focus on sharing high-impact images and short (15 sec) video.