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Promoting Your Group

Your group is one of 350+ student groups at Bristol SU. If you want to be recruiting new members for your group, then you need to be able to stand out from the crowd, make it really clear what your group is about and make yourselves memorable.

Use this page to learn about how to promote your group well and remember, you can always book a meeting with the Development team if you want to talk through any aspect of your role.

 

Branding Your Group

Branding is the art of becoming knowable, trustable and likable. For student groups, this means that students know who you are, they trust you'll give them a good experience, and they like you and are willing to tell their friends about you!

Why is brand important?

A strong brand can help with getting sponsors or other funding for your group as it makes you look trustworthy and professional. If you put the effort into how you present yourselves, it can help companies think you'll uphold your side of a sponsorship agreement and give them a good return on investment. 

You can also use your brand to promote your events and activities, both to your members and to an external audience. For example, if you're putting on events that need to sell tickets then you can use good branding and design to help you.

Brand Worksheet

Use our brand worksheet template to help you identify and create your group's personal brand. This can then be passed on during handover to ensure your brand is kept consistent year-on-year

Brand Worksheet

Using the Bristol SU Logo

As a Bristol SU affiliated group, you are part of a wider brand and it's important that this is demonstrated.

There are three things that we ask student groups to do in order to acknowledge your affiliation to Bristol SU and being part of our wider brand.​

  1. Mention your affiliation to Bristol SU in your social media bios (esp Instagram). The wording of this can be Supported by Bristol SU, part of Bristol SU, a Bristol SU student group etc
  2. Put the Bristol SU Logo on any event assets. This could be posters, flyers, graphics etc
  3. Add the Bristol SU Logo to any external websites you own

The main logo is midnight blue, but there is also a black version and a white version: Midnight Blue (PNG), Midnight Blue (JPEG), Black (PNG), Black (JPEG), White (PNG), White (JPEG).

Check out our Student Group Brand Guidelines for further information on using the Bristol SU Logo

Using Canva

We know many student groups are already using Canva to create design assets, particularly for social media graphics but also for things like posters and flyers.

If you haven't used Canva before it is reasonably simple to get to grips with. Canva have an excellent help page with lots of tutorials to get you started and it is far easier to use compared to something like photoshop. If you do have someone with experience of using Photoshop or other professional design software that can be great, but it does mean everything they create is then inaccessible to future committees so bear that in mind.

There is a free version and a paid version but I know most groups get by just fine with the free version.

Canva has loads of tutorials you can access to get you started. Check out their page here 

Social Media

There are so many platforms that you could call social media. A big part of getting social media right, is knowing which networks work for you. It’s better to have one platform that works really effectively than five that aren’t well maintained.​

Some questions to ask yourself:​

  • ​What is our objective for using social media?
  • Who is your audience, and where are they?​
  • Do I know how best to use this platform? Can I research or ask people?​
  • How would I use one platform differently from another one?​
  • How can I tell if it’s working? How will I know if it’s not?​
Social Media Training

Sharing Your Content with Us

We're always keen to hear about the amazing and interesting things our student groups get up to.

Remember to tag @bristolsu in your posts and we may pick them up to share on our own feeds!

Social Media Promotion Requests

Use this form to suggest any social media content ideas, flag any socials-worthy student group activity or to request a Student Group Instagram takeover.

An Instagram Takeover will give you access to our primary Bristol SU account. We suggest you request this when you have a large event, competition or other newsworthy activity that would show your group off in a positive way.

Please note that we do ask for at least 14 days notice for an Instagram Takeover and we cannot always guarantee there will be an available slot. Precedence is given to Gold-Accredited student groups.

Press Releases

For big news, the Marketing Team may want to write a press release on your behalf and post it on Bristol SU social media outlets.

If you have big news that you think we would be interested in, get in touch with the Marketing Team at bristolsu-marketing@bristol.ac.uk with all the details and a quote from a relevant person. Examples of big news stories we might cover include:

  • Nomination for national award.
  • Performance at large public event.
  • Outreach in the community.
  • Significant amount of money raised for charity.
  • Helping to raise awareness of important issue.

This list is not exhaustive, so please get in touch if you think we would be interested in your story.

Digital Screens

Around the Richmond Building and wider campus, we have digital screens promoting various events or campaigns Bristol SU is running at the time. We also have a small amount of advertising slots reserved for student group use.

Priority for this screen advertising space is given in the following order:

  • Gold accredited groups
  • New Groups
  • Silver accredited groups
  • Bronze accredited groups

Slots are reserved on a first-served basis and invitations are sent to group leaders at set points in the year.

We are unable to offer screen space to groups outside of the above and any ad-hoc requests will be declined. 

Merchandise

Being able to offer personalised merchandise to your members is a great way to build a sense of community and helps promote your group

The Bristol SU Basket

The Bristol SU shop, The Basket, offers a high-quality bespoke merchandise printing service. You can pay straight from your group's account and collect for free on-campus.

Merchandise includes t-shirts, hoodies, lab coats, badges, bags, books and cuddly toys.

Email bristolsu-shop@bristol.ac.uk to make an order enquiry.

Selling Merch

Bristol SU has its own Merchandise Hub that groups should use to sell their merchandise on. The Hub replaces the previous system of selling directly through the Bristol SU Website and aims to make the process simpler for you and better for the customer. It will also mean your items don't get lost amongst event listings.

Within the Merchandise Hub you can:

  • List and edit product listings
  • Track order/refund history
  • Copy a shopfront link to share on your group's website page

Sign up to the Merchandise Hub here. Once you have signed up you will receive login details to your group's current shared mailbox. 

Welcome Fair

The Bristol SU Welcome Fair is usually the single biggest opportunity you have to promote your group and sign up members.

Approximately 10,000 people attend and enthusiasm abounds as new students look to sign up for familiar interests and new experiences. 33% of all memberships are sold in the week following Welcome Fair and a massive 70% in the 3 weeks following the Fair.

This year the Fair will take place on Friday 22 September 2023

Training

We run a session about getting the most out of your Welcome experience at Committee Fest and Pre-Welcome Training. Keep an eye on our training calendar for new sessions

Stallholders Info Pack
Promotional Assets for Groups
Paperless Mailing Lists

We've created an easy way for you to create paperless mailing lists to get in touch with potential members of your group. If you take part in activities like Welcome/ Refreshers Fair, or anything where you'd like to get people to sign up to a mailing list we'd recommend using this system. It's:

  • More sustainable, helping you to reduce your use of paper
  • More secure, lowering the risk of losing student data
  • Works with our current systems, meaning you can use this to email potential members for free

To lear how to set up and use paperless mailing lists, visit our webpage

Give it a Go!

Give it a Go! provides a fun and friendly way for new students to get involved with Clubs, Societies, Volunteering Projects and Networks, allowing them to ‘road test’ groups before committing to membership.  From a Student Group perspective it’s a huge chance to sell your group to potential new members and get your events promoted to a wider audience.

Why take part?
  1. More Members. Groups who take part in GIAG frequently report an increase in membership directly afterwards. Having a  chance to 'try out' your group is a great way to show what you have to offer.
  2. Better Publicity. Groups who run sessions under the GIAG banner form part of the Bristol SU Welcome Programme. This means MORE publicity for your group via our central comms channels.
  3. Start Your Year on the Right Track. Running a taster session early on in the term is a great way to welcome back committee members and a way to work towards a common goal.
  4. Group Accreditation. Taking part in GIAG counts towards your group's accreditation status - our scheme for recognising Bristol SUs best-run groups.
When is it?

Saturday 20 January - Sunday 4 February 2024

How do groups take part?

The focus of your session should be to introduce people to your group and what it is you do. In most cases people come to a GIAG session to meet like minded people, learn a new skill or continue with something they have a passion for.

Keep your session relevant to your group but remember not everyone will be an expert like you. So make sure you keep your sessions simple and welcoming.

Once you have a clear idea of when your session (or sessions) will take place and you have arranged any space bookings needed you should complete the GIAG Registration Form.

This will get your event listed on the Bristol SU What’s On Pages and provide a place for attendees to sign up.

We’ll confirm with you once your session is live and provide details on how to access attendees.

How do we book a space?

If you run a regular weekly session, we would advise that your GIAG takes place within your regular booking.

For groups that don't have a regular room booking, you can use our ad-hoc booking system for spaces within the Richmond Building or Senate House 5th Floor. Further details on doing this can eb found here

If you'd like to use our Community Spaces (The Balloon Bar, Living rooms or the Bristol SU Loft) you will need to book by the 13th December. Details on these spaces and the booking form can be found here

GIAG Registration Form

What will Bristol SU do?

To give you the best chance of attracting and recruiting new members to your group we will do the following:

  • Promote Give it a Go! widely to new and returning students in the run-up to and throughout Welcome Week 
  • Upload your sessions to our What’s On pages/ Welcome Portal, providing a place for attendees to sign up and a place for you to manage them
  • Cover the programme of events on our social media output
  • Provide you with branding assets you can personalise to help promote your event
GIAG Branding

We ask that all groups use Bristol SU branded event templates. This ensures the wider Give it a Go! programme is consistent and recognisable to new students and allows us to give better promotion to the scheme.

The template can be accessed here. You should:

  • Upload a photo which represents your Give it a Go activity. If you don't have any photos of your group, use a stock photo. You can find some free stock photos directly on Canva, or try Unsplash or Pexels. There are examples on page 2 and 3 of this template. Do not add text or graphics.
  • There are several colour options to choose from. Drag the photo onto the pale blue background. It should automatically fill the space. You can double-click the photo to reposition it within the frame.
  • When you're happy with your design, delete the unused pages and download your design as a JPG file.
Can we charge for our Give it a Go! session?

We would generally advise GIAG sessions are kept free to attended as this will attract the most attendees.

If, however, your session includes an additional cost to the group (e.g. van hire, a particular piece of safety equipment needed) then you could attach a small cost as long as this was transparent to attendees.

Additional Support

Need some more help?

Development Meetings

The Development Team can support you with a wide variety of things including (but not limited to):

  • Engaging with members
  • Securing Sponsorships
  • Building Communities
  • Creating action plans

Book a meeting with the Development Team or email us - bristolsu-development@bristol.ac.uk

Design Meetings

Due to a staff change, we are not currently able to offer this service. Please contact the Development Team for assistance.

Promoting Your Group Whatsapp Community

Join our Promoting Your Group Whatsapp Community where you will receive updates and reminders to help you in your role

Get in touch with the Development Team

Book a meeting with the Dev Team

Send an email to the Dev Team

Check out training on the Bristol SU Learning Space