Beyond.ubc.ca is the University of British Columbia’s (UBC's) content marketing microsite, powered by UBC Brand and Marketing. We created the concept to highlight UBC experts as thought leaders in areas relevant to people’s daily lives. The microsite aims to make academic research relatable. It focuses on “news you can use,” providing a deeper understanding of today’s issues and solutions to help shape a better world. This reinforces UBC’s brand proposition, establishes UBC as a credible source, engages audiences, and builds brand trust. Beyond is the website arm of Brand and Marketing’s larger digital marketing strategy. Our marketing includes audience and search-engine optimization research; social media content creation; paid social media promotion; and media pitching. In 2023, we focused on finding content for the microsite that other university faculties and communicators had already created, in addition to creating original content. This made best use of our limited resources. Results include over 525,000 views, an average of 3 minutes time on page, and 47 page-one keyword rankings in Google search engine result pages.
From the Judges
A clean, user-friendly site that was well planned out and executed. The concept and general design are eye-catching and keep you engaged. Overall, a great microsite with clear and well-researched goals. A 20% increase in views over the previous year is impressive, as is the variety of story formats: listicles, how-to, do's and don'ts, etc.
