I am attending the CASE District II conference in Philadelphia and I took a bunch of notes in the sessions today and have a number of thoughts and observations. They are in no particular order and rather random but I thought I would share them tonight.
Ithaca College presented on the peer to peer communication approach. I was blown away by the comprehensive nature of their web/print strategy and how they engaged their students. I believe they said that they have 35 active bloggers in the community and quite a robust twitter and facebook page: http://www.ithaca.edu/
They also have a feature in their CMS that allows them to “recommend” content to other departments on campus.
Adelphi and Hofstra presented on how to boost the buzz of your brand by using key events on your campus. Some tips they recommended:
Use an Advisory committee
take photos of students with key speakers and post them for parents to download
Connect it to strengths you already have on campus
Think about how can different departments be involved?
Use social media and print
Barbara Brooks from Colgate gave a good presentation as well on communications in lean times. As she was talking I was thinking about LinkedIn and how to take better advantage of the data. Can we use the update feature to track when alums change jobs or do interesting things with their careers?
This year for Christmas I got an iHome system which allows me to play music on my iPhone through speakers at the house. Lately I have been listening to Kenny Rogers the Gambler quite often. (no comments on my musical tastes please) I was struck the other night how some of the lines are relevant to my everyday job.
You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
Almost everyday as a marketing professional I make decisions about any number of items. How pages might look, where links will be placed, how to implement the College brand, which video projects to pursue, what goes on the homepage, and who to profile on the web. I find myself constantly thinking about trade-offs. What projects are worth the time? What pages are most relevant and need my help? Which areas and offices are most important to the strategic mission of the College? In a nut shell I need to know when to hold’em and when to fold’em.
Then there are times when I am just not going to “win” and it’s time to just walk away from the table and let the chips fall where they may. However in order to last I also need to know when I am in a situation or project above my pay grade and how to skillfully “run for the hills” or at least not get myself in too much trouble.
But as Kenny Rogers sings:
“every hand is a winner and every hand is a loser”
Focus on ROI – how can we make sure that the time and resources we are putting into projects are creating value for my institutions
Keep an eye on mobile – mobile traffic will only increase in 2010 but how much do we do in the mobile world in 2010. I want to at least try a few interesting mobile projects
Communicate internally – making sure that our department website and communications are clear and concise is important
As the holiday season is in full swing, finals week is upon us, and we prepare for some time off I have a downloads section of the website on my mind. I have often wondered in an age of social media and a focus on interaction and engagement why don’t more schools give users the tools to use the school’s brand online. Allow users to download your logos and use them to create Facebook groups, on emails, and with their blogs. Naysayers will remind you of all the “bad” things that can happen. But for there are so many positive interactions as well.
The Obama campaign provides a fine example of just how far a downloads section can go. The campaign incorporated everything from yard signs, to individual state logos, to interest groups. I can’t tell you how many of my “friends” on Facebook had an Obama logo on election day as their picture.
The technology is there. The users are there. Why won’t we meet them there?
When it comes to marketing one of my favorite lines is when someone says “lets get an email blast out!” How do we as web professionals educate, collaborate, and assist the rest of the institution with best practices in e-communications?
Over the last four years I have found this to be a difficult question because there are so many components to an e-communication:
delivery system
body content
subject line
photo or banner
call to action
unsubscribe
Each of these of course has their own intricacies as well, which professional marketers spend time perfecting. In tough economic times not only is there not an opportunity to expand staff but in most cases web offices are being asked to cut or at least hold the line on resources. But web offices are not the only opportunity for institutional savings and we are seeing an increased interest in utilizing web based technologies including e-communications to communicate across our campus which results in an increased “email blast” effect.
I think there are a number of things you can do to help your community understand that you need to integrate e-communications into an overall strategy and plan in advance.
System
You need a good email system. We have used in-house systems, quasi in house systems, and now a vendor supported solution. Without a doubt the vendor solution has been a savior and allowed us to focus on best practices more instead of making sure the right lists load quickly.
Partner
Find your largest users and partner with them. In higher ed chances are good that your highest volume users are in development/alumni relations or admissions. Spend some time understanding their sequence and their needs. Having a partner early on helps when you want to work with other segments of campus.
Resources Chances are resources at your institution are tight and you might not be able to get money to help you outsource your e-communications efforts. Set up a meeting with your IT staff who are in charge of institutional email. Share with them some of the best practices that you are trying to communicate with campus and see if they have anything additional to add. These members of your community spend a lot of time trying to block spam and you can probably use this free in-house resource to help you “beat” the spam filters.
Collaborate
Bring the major players together once a semester and host an e-communications summit. Share best practices and have your users talk about what works and what they are struggling with. This will help you set priorities and allow for free knowledge transfer across departmental lines.
Posted by Paul Redfern 
