higher ed marketing

A couple of months ago I posed the question on this blog, Should universities tweet? and received a good response. (I also posed the question on Twitter and got a great response there, too.) More recently, Kyle James has explored the same topic, in more detail, and with video.

BTW, below are some of the responses from Twitter users to my query (warning: some profanity ahead). You can see that opinions vary.

—————-
Now playing: The Raveonettes – With My Eyes Closed
via FoxyTunes

Seth Meranda hates portals. That much is clear from this lovely rant against the portalization of higher ed websites.

To Seth’s way of thinking, portals are a manifestation of all that is wrong in academic administration. They are “a poor excuse of bolting on a silo of political process to a university’s website.”

Not only that, but:

Portals are not designed for the correct target audience (students), rather they are designed to enforce out-dated, non-user-centric workflows that appease [non]decision makers. Furthermore, portals fail to aggregate the student life experience. They do not combine all aspects of student interests (academic, residence life, involvement, advising, athletics), instead they primarily focus on only the academic side.

In addition, portals do not provide branding. Slapping your logo on the top and scheming the colors isn’t branding. Branding is entrenched into user experience. Branding revolves around your students’ experiences and expectations related to your institution. Portals cheapen brands by lowering user experiences and hindering expectations.

Seth goes on to advocate “a more holistic, user-experience-centric approach. ‘Experience Architects’ need to work with students (current and prospective) to determine online content and design. Student input needs to become the dominating impact on our future realignment strategies. … The ‘Experience Architects’ will hold the conversations with students, and both will work collaboratively.”

Ron Bronson tends to agree. Riffing off Seth’s post in an entry of his own titled Portals Aren’t Solutions, he writes: “If more innovation, collaboration and assessment of what students need was being done, we’d be able to go a lot further along in creating useful applications and leverage the talents within our own walls a lot better than we do.”

I can’t say I disagree with either Seth or Ron. But it would be nice, for the sake of debate, to hear a different perspective.

I wonder what Paul Redfern’s take might be on the topic. Paul presented a good session about merging portals with university websites at the CASE Communications, Marketing and Technology Conference earlier this month. Paul is the director of web communications and electronic media at Gettysburg College, he seems to have found a happy medium. Maybe he’ll join the discussion. Paul?

—————-
Now playing: The Raveonettes – Blush
via FoxyTunes

This video’s been making the rounds lately. Lori Croy @ Mizzou first shared it with me (it’s her department’s new theme song), then saw it on Seth Meranda’s blog.

Check out some other great new media hip-hop vids at Mo Serious TV.

—————-
Now playing: Basia Bulat – December
via FoxyTunes

Today is World Graphics Day.

Who knew?

Icograda, for one, because that’s the organization that sponsors the day. And the folks at How magazine, for another, because they told me so on their blog.

Anyway, the reason for World Graphics Day, according to Icograda, is to provide an “opportunity to recognise communication design, its role in the world and to celebrate Icograda’s anniversary. It has been celebrated internationally since 1995.”

On this occasion, designers reflect and hope that our international network can contribute to a greater understanding between people and can help to build bridges where divides and inequities exist.

Check the website for a list of World Graphics Day events.

—————-
Now playing: Talking Heads – Artists Only
via FoxyTunes

Had lunch yesterday at my favorite local Chinese buffet, and the fortune cookie said:

Who am I to argue?

I’m outta blogland for a bit to enjoy spring. Yard work and nature beckons.

Hope you have a little fun this weekend, too.

P.S. – Friday Five will probably return next week.

—————-
Now playing: Art Brut – Good Weekend
via FoxyTunes

The communications staff at Missouri University of Science and Technology (that’s where I work) recently created a del.icio.us account to keep track of our online news stories and blog posts. (We use Google Alerts and Technorati to find the stories in the first place, then we select the ones we think are the most important or most closely tied to our key messages to post on del.icio.us.)

Using del.icio.us makes it easier for us to keep track of media coverage, but we’ve also discovered a side benefit: del.icio.us gives us yet another tool for measuring and analyzing our media relations activities in the sphere of online social media.

del.icio.us shows you which stories are saved by others, which is an indication of popularity. If no one else is saving your stories, then there’s a pretty good chance that either:

1. the online world finds your stuff borng, or
2. the stories aren’t getting to the right websites

A quick case study: Last week, when the earthquake hit the Midwest, we touted one of our quake experts (J. David Rogers, the Hasselmann Chair of Geological Engineering) to the media. He spoke to 15 different media outlets that Friday, most of them from the Midwest but including our state’s two largest daily newspapers and a couple of TV and news radio stations. But none of the stories were saved by other del.icio.us users except for a LiveScience.com story that quoted Rogers and appeared on Yahoo! News. Now we know that 10 other del.icio.us users also saved that story. We also can find out who those users are and what else they’re interested in.

Another recent news release — about some research on biodegradable plastics bags — got picked up by Popular Science magazine’s blog PopSci.com, and that also was saved by 10 other users. (Another popular sci/tech blog, Gizmodo, picked up the story, and although no other del.icio.us users have saved it, a quick look at the comments shows a high level of interest among Gizmodo readers.

So, the takeaways here, I guess, are:

1. del.icio.us is a great, simple tool for posting and tracking your institution’s online news and blog mentions
2. del.icio.us gives you an opportunity to see who else is interested in the story, which could possibly lead to new connections and conversations with alumni, researchers, other academics
3. del.icio.us may give you insight into which online sites are most popular for niche readerships, which in turn may help you adjust your media relations efforts

—————-
Now playing: The Raveonettes – Blush
via FoxyTunes

As Karine Joly pointed out a few days ago, U.S. News & World Report — already the monster of the college ranking games — has unleashed a new Facebook application on the world, Gradzilla.

The magazine says this new app is designed to help students find grad schools by accessing data from the magazine’s rankings for graduate programs. U.S. News blogger Alison Go probably pegs it to Facebook culture with her post/announcement: “Keep track of schools, and—in that quintessential gen Y narcissistic way—tell all your friends about it. The polls are probably the most fun; designed for you to ask friends which school you should attend. But the polling questions aren’t limited to that (or anything, really). The possibilities are endless—and not necessarily so innocent.”

Will Gradzilla be a killer app for undergrads looking to further their education? Time will tell. But so far, according to the Gradzilla Facebook fan page, the tool isn’t necessarily tearing up Tokyo (30 users and 23 fans as of this morning). Perhaps this social media experiment will meet the same fate as so many other Facebook apps. To misquote Blue Oyster Cult, “History shows again and again how fickle social networkers point up the folly of apps.”
—————-
Now playing: Blue Oyster Cult – Godzilla
via FoxyTunes

Some items from the world of web analytics that web folk, marketers, fellow bloggers and even PR types (last bullet item) might find interesting:

It isn’t often I get to gloat. (I am a humble man, with much to be humble about.) So when the opportunity comes my way, I take advantage of it.

Such was the case when BlogHighEd recently posted some stats about its first two months. Guess who was No. 1 in the referrals category? Check it out:

Impressive, if I do say so myself. I mean, I even top Google, and Guy Kawasaki. What’s up with that?

The data clearly prove that you, gentle readers, are awesome.

So keep up the awesomeness and keep me at the top of the BlogHighEd referral list. Clicky clicky clicky. Thank you.

P.S. – Kudos to Matt Herzberger for winning BlogHighEd’s NCAA bracketology competition, the news of which somehow eclipsed the more important news about referral stats. Go figure.

—————-
Now playing: My Morning Jacket – Evil Urges
via FoxyTunes

If you use Twitter the way I do, you probably struggle to stay up with the stream of messages that come your way. Summize may offer a solution. It’s a new search engine for Twitter posts, and it appears to be facile and robust.

The service’s “About Us” section describes its mission as “to highlight the topics and attitudes expressed within conversational media.” The site pulls the posts from Twitter’s public timeline and gives a number of search options. For instance, you can:

• Find twitters from a user: from:alexiskold
• Find twitters to a user: to:techcrunch
• Find twitters referencing a user: @mashable
• Find twitters containing a hashtag: #haiku
• Find twitters with an attitude: : )
• Combine any of the operators together: jquery from:jeresig

You can also use a dropdown menu to do all of that. Plus, you can search for posts in 18 languages, and the site makes it easy to post your search results on Twitter.

Via @steverubel, about a week ago.

—————-
Now playing: Black Francis – Angels Come To Comfort You
via FoxyTunes

The original post contained some incorrect information about Caltech’s alumni base. This updated post reflects the correct numbers. The offending blogger has been duly reprimanded.

Once again I’ve fallen behind on my plans to summarize last week’s CASE Conference on Communications, Marketing and Technology. But you know how it is, once you get back to the office and get sucked in. So it goes.

Anyway…

Elizabeth Allen of the Caltech Alumni Association (and recent guest blogger in this space) put together a nice presentation on how alumni groups can use social networks to connect with alumni. She focused on three social networks Caltech Alumni Association is using– LinkedIn, Facebook and the photo- and video-sharing network Flickr. I was most interested in the LinkedIn angle, since that’s the network many people tap for connecting professionally.

Caltech Alumni started the LinkedIn group in 2005 without a lot of fanfare. According to Liz, Caltech sent two email newsletters to some 20,000 13,000 alumni with known email addresses, and also worked with LinkedIn to send a note to LinkedIn members who indicated they were Caltech alumni. (There’s also a link to and description of the LinkedIn group from the alumni association website.) From those low-cost efforts, Caltech Alumni has a LinkedIn group of 2,017, or 10 15.5 percent of the emailable alumni. (Update: Caltech has about 20,000 alumni in total, not 20,000 emailable, as I originally stated in this post. Caltech has email for about 13,000 of those alumni. Thanks, Liz, for setting the record straight.)

Why does this work for Caltech? In one sense, it makes the association more relevant, because through LinkedIn the association is facilitating global connections. Alumni from across the globe are part of the Caltech organization even if they live in regions where no alumni chapter exist. Also, using LinkedIn leverages that site’s mission of helping people build business and employment networks — something that’s important for a technological university like Caltech. (This is a model that could work for our campus, since many of our graduates also are in the science and engineering fields.)

Caltech also uses Facebook (with an alumni group and an alumni page, where Liz can send RSS feeds of events) and Flickr for sharing photos of events, etc. Caltech made a conscious decision to use third-party social networks instead of creating a separate, exclusive network hosted by the alumni association. The reasons: third-party validation (especially from LinkedIn, I would assume), and most alumni who are into social networks are already online in those venues, so why make them create yet another password and log in yet another time?

If anyone has questions about Caltech’s use of social networking, I’m sure Liz would be happy to respond. You may email her at elizabeth AT alumni.caltech.edu.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, and the university’s website is again a virtual shrine in remembrance of that day.

Inside Higher Ed looks at the impact of the Virginia Tech shootings, one year later.

Colleges and the country at large are still feeling reverberations from the gunshots on Virginia Tech’s campus, the massacre triggering national debates about gun control, mental health care, and campus security. In the past week, several colleges temporarily shut themselves down in the wake of threats to student safety.

An Associated Press report carried on the University Business website carries a similar tone. And with the anniversary fresh on our minds, now might be a good time to think about how well our emergency websites are functioning, and consider attending a webinar on that very subject.

Elizabeth Allen, one of the presenters at last week’s CASE Conference on Communications, Marketing and Technology, graciously accepted my request to guest-blog about the conference. Her post is below. Liz is assistant director of communications for the Caltech Alumni Association (that’s “Caltech,” one word, little “t,” as I learned last week), and she did a great job presenting about using social networks to connect with alumni. If you’d like to get in touch with Liz, email her at elizabeth AT alumni.caltech.edu.

+++++

One of the things I enjoyed at last week’s Communications, Marketing and Technology Conference in San Diego was the opportunity to interact with colleagues from a varied set of backgrounds, institutions, and geographic locations. Most remarkable (to me) was the diversity of the roles and departments of each of the attendees. This lively group of more than 140 consisted of web developers, communications coordinators, executive directors, writers, pr staffers, VPs, webmasters and designers. They represented departments such as Admissions, Public Relations, Alumni Relations, the President’s Office, Student Affairs and Campus Diversity.

Communications and technology positions have moved well beyond the “tech person” in a dark room filled with whirring servers, hammering out html code and java script. Today, communications and technology are an integral part of every event, program and service we provide to prospective students, current students, parents, alumni and donors. The diversity of participants in San Diego reflected this paradigm shift: regardless of their department or their role in it, everyone came to learn more about using technology to connect with their constituencies.

The faculty presentations reflected the change too. We each represent a particular segment of our institutions, but the solutions and ideas in our presentations apply to many program areas and departments. Casey Paquet showed an example of Eckerd College’s holiday card. Its primary function is a recruitment tool for the admissions office – yet it has proven very popular with current students, families, alumni and beyond. Colgate University’s Tim O’Keeffe demonstrated how a blog post with news of the passing of William F. Griffith (”Dean Griff”), is still generating comments, four months after it went live. The post was intended as general university news, but alumni have used it as a forum to share their memories and condolences for the beloved administrator.

Clearly it’s important to stay informed about the communications efforts across your campus, regardless of the department. Each of their endeavors may have direct connections and benefits to you and your division – and vice versa. Though technology has the power to bring us closer together, many of us still seem to be operating in a “silo” mentality. Instead, take the initiative: learn how you can bolster communications efforts on your campus, and think of ways other
departments can help you in turn.

Elizabeth Allen
elizabeth AT alumni.caltech.edu

This Rickroll meme is on a serious roll, well beyond the confines of viral web pranks and into the real world. It’s an interesting example of how a meme can take on a life of its own.

Here’s YouTube footage from a “rickmob” flash mob that gathered on Friday at Liverpool Street Station. CNN has picked up on the scent, commenting on how pranksters voted Rick Astley’s big ’80s hit to be the song as the New York Mets’ new theme cheer. The result: some loud “Bronx cheers” from the stadium crowd (h/t for CNN link: Eddie Merille via Twitter). There’s even a muppet rickroll (h/t: Matt Herzberger via Twitter). And t-shirt seller BustedTees hopes to cash in on the meme by offering a Rick Roll’d t-shirt.

I even tried my hand at a rickroll during the recent CASE conference, inserting this chart (among other joke slides) into a presentation on measurement and analytics. (Click image for larger version.)

I’m not sure the audience knew they’d been rickrolled. But if any of them are reading this, now they know. You’ve been rickrolled!

—————-
Now playing: The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil
via FoxyTunes

One outcome of the CASE Conference on Communications, Marketing and Technology was the introduction of at least two new higher ed blogs. (Another, more startling outcome: conference chair Tim O’Keeffe tweeted for the first time since Colgate’s big win over Bucknell. ;) )

Even after the conference, you cannot escape the lolcats! LOL!

In Friday’s post, I introduced one of these newbie blogs, Paul Redfern’s Higher Ed Web Marketing. Yes, it’s yet another play off the name of the one, the only, the original higher ed marketing blog, which we discussed in item 3 of a recent Friday Five. (But Paul’s new to blogging, so we’ll cut him some slack. Plus, he’s in good company with DW [in URL if not name] and Dennis Miller.) Paul is off to a good start with some posts about the conference.

Another new blogger emerging from the conference is Eddie Merille of Florida International University. Eddie’s posted some thoughts about the conference keynote presentation by Fritz McDonald of Stamats, and a good response to the question, How can web 2.0 help me market my institution? FIU is already leveraging some web 2.0 tools, like YouTube, Flickr and Issuu, for marketing. Nice work.

So, I’m pleased to welcome these two newbs* to the blogosphere. Blog well, blog often.

*Yes, that’s newbs, not n00bs; and there is a difference.

—————-
Now playing: Finest Dearest – Night-Blooming Flowers
via FoxyTunes