What is that funny little box?

We've probably all seen them, but maybe we weren't sure what they were. They look a bit like a bar code that you scan to get the price of a product, and to some extent, they are codes to be scanned. But these little box-like codes provide the average person with a lot more than just the price of a product, or maybe I should say they CAN provide a lot more than that.

Last week was the first time our student newspaper at Texas Wesleyan University, The Rambler, displayed a QR Code on the front page. The code or rather codes were displayed on the faceplate of an iPhone illustration, and when the codes were scanned with said iPhone, mine in this case, they took my browser directly to http://www.therambler.org/. Neat trick.

Unfortunately, QR codes aren't as well received in the United States as they are in Europe or other parts of the world. Too bad, because they can definintely help in marketing and providing folks with extra information.

To provide you with extra information, here's the QR code to one of my class blogs, which will directly send you to some great GoogleMaps created by my students. If you poke around on the blog, you'll find other interesting things.

If you don't currently have a QR code reader, you can download the Mobiletag app on your smartphone. Then just scan. For those of you who don't have a smartphone, click here.

Continued: The Rambler Marketing Plan and Increasing Online Presence

So last time we talked, The Rambler's staffers had put in a concerted effort to increase fans, followers, friends and e-mail distribution of The Rambler online.

We've continued those efforts, and since that time, we've also won several awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association from its annual convention, including honorable mention for general overall excellence for the web site--a great endorsement. Now, we're working to let everyone know about that and increase our valued readers/viewers.

For our campus community, we have a story in our online only edition of the student newspaper and a story just appeared in the campuswide newsletter. A specific e-mail was sent from me to several members of the campus community--our student publications board, the provost, my dean and my department chair. Next will be a story to our local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The announcement is also scheduled to appear on our social media entities, and will be added to our staff box for a recurring effect.

In the works, signs posted around campus, maybe a congratulations banner on our building, and some statement in our recruitment efforts for students.

We've put our alumni outreach on hold for a week or two, with a kickoff associated with our end of the year banquet.

Next up will be direct emails from me to department members from my own department and then departments within the School of Arts and Letters.

So to recap, we've taken the mass media approach (macro blasts) on campus, and now we're following up those blasts with more personalized e-mail blasts and papering the campus.

One wrinkle in the plan: we have two Facebook pages. Next week, we tackle that.