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Feature Friday Q&A Story Series

Photo collage of a musician playing guitar and singing, a photo shoot with a man holding an object over a small statue, and a a woman recording a presentation on a computer.

Where can I see the stories?

Check out the Feature Friday stories on the JMU Libraries News page and JMU Libraries social media.

Submit a Feature Friday story idea

Complete the Feature Friday Idea form to recommend a person or project for us to highlight.

What is Feature Friday?

Feature Friday is a story series that features the people and projects of JMU Libraries:

  • People include Libraries’ employees of all classification types. It also includes JMU staff/faculty/students or local community members not affiliated with the Libraries (but who have worked with the Libraries in some way).  
  • Projects may be created by our employees, patrons/community, or both. Sometimes projects will be the driving force behind the story. Other times, we may start with the person and seek an interesting project that was made possible because of their work. 

What is the goal of this series?

The Feature Friday series raises awareness of our work and uses the power of storytelling to:

  • Promote our services and resources to students, faculty, and staff.
  • Inspire donors to give to JMU Libraries.  
  • Demonstrate our value to JMU administrators.
  • Attract new students and new faculty/staff applicants to JMU.
  • Give context for future announcements (must be done strategically so that the content is relevant for our audience).

Why stories?

  • Stories are compelling and memorable.
  • Stories can be a powerful method of teaching and learning. [1]
  • Heartwarming stories are more likely to be shared/retweeted on social media. [2]
  • Stories can dig deeper and share an organizations’ values. [3]
  • Stories can help build an emotional connection in a time of physical disconnection. [4]
  • The “friendly expert” aspect of our brand personality can be communicated with stories about people.
  • Story messaging serves multiple functions: promotion, inspiration, demonstrating value, instilling meaning, humanizing an organization, and more.

What are the criteria for Feature Friday stories?

When selecting content for the Feature Friday series, we ask ourselves:

  • What is the relevance/value of the story to our key audiences?
  • Will the story appeal to multiple audiences, including the general public?
    • If the content is more relevant, clear, or interesting to one sector of our audience than to a general audience, what other channels would more specifically target the intended audience?
    • Not all stories need to appeal to the general public, but those that do help raise our visibility in the community, which includes prospective donors and prospective students/employees.
  • How does this story connect to a Libraries’ strategic goal or value?
    • Even if content meets a Libraries’ organizational goal, it must meet a need for our audience as well, if we want to maintain audience engagement with our channels. 
  • Is timing important?
    • Some stories will become stale if they don’t go out promptly.
    • Some stories are a good fit for a certain time of the year/semester.
  • Does the story have sparkle or a “Wow factor”?  
  • Are we maintaining an appropriate balance of demographics of the people we are featuring (including job classification and more)? 
  • Would this content be a better fit for a regular (non-Feature Friday) news story and/or social media post?  

How do I submit a story idea?

Use this form: Feature Friday Story Ideas.

Should I use this form to request general promotion?

No, please email someone from the Communications & Outreach team directly if you need help with promotion, and we can help create a communication plan.

  • Not all Feature Friday story ideas will be used, so be sure to email us separately to request help with promotion.
  • Feature Friday is just one of the many outlets we use for communication about the Libraries. Even if content is not selected for Feature Friday, it may be a good fit for targeted messaging or even for messaging to our general audience without the “Feature Friday” label. 

Please remember, we can help to create a communication plan for important content that isn’t selected for a Feature Friday post. Email anyone from the Libraries’ Communications & Outreach team to request promotion, and we will be happy to help you.

Questions?

Please contact Emily Blake at blakeed@jmu.edu with any questions about the series.