Archive for 2008
With the economic downturn, 'Tis the time to be thrifty. Most of you have probably been asked to kiss goodbye 10%, 20% or even more of your office budget for this year. Not yet? Well, I hate to say that, but it's probably coming your way for next year. So, I've decided to take on a new mission: hunt vendor deals and other bargains for you my dear readers. When I stumble upon a great deal offered by higher ed vendors, I'll make sure to let you know (and, here is your cue if you're working for a higher ed vendor...
Read MoreAnd, that's just the program for the months of January, February and March 2009. I've just wrapped up the upcoming webinar series for the first quarter of 2009, and I hope you'll like the result. With the tougher budget times we're all facing in higher education, I've decided to focus the next webinar series I design for Higher Ed Experts on topics that will help you do more with less: social media, saving big, going paperless with your publications and implementing effective analytics programs for your Web and email initiatives. As usual, places are limited, so it's always wise to register ahead of...
Read MoreIt's that time of the year to reflect about what was done (and written) during the last 12 or so months. In the past (in 2005, 2006 but not last year though), I compiled a few lists of blog posts for you. So, here is another one: the list of the top 10 most viewed posts that were published in 2008 on this blog - each of them was viewed more than 1,000 times, so I guess you might want to add them to your reading list if you skipped them previously. How to get a branded YouTube channel for your...
Read MoreI wrote about UM holiday card last year, so I guess that's why Linda Martin, Executive Director Web and New Media Strategies sent a link to the 2008 edition this morning: Holiday Greetings from the University of Maryland Like last year, the 2-minute video is also available on Youtube (56 views at the time of this writing): 'Tis the season (even though it doesn't feel like it sometimes with all the bad economic/budget news), so why don't you share with us the holiday card of your institution by posting a comment. If I get a few, I'll feature them in a future post.
Do you Ning? If you're not familiar with Ning, here's what I wrote about it in University Business a couple of months ago: Launched in October 2004, Ning is a social networking platform aimed at giving anyone the opportunity to create social networks for anything. Offered as a free web service-with some premium options for minimal monthly costs-Ning now powers thousands of niche social networking websites. With extended privacy settings and flexible state-of-the-art social networking features, this platform has gained some traction in higher education as a viable alternative to solutions offered by traditional vendors. Among the institutions using the Ning platform are...
Read MoreDon't know if you got a chance to read "Getting Consumers to Spend $150,000 With a Viral Effort," this article published Monday in Advertising Age, but I'm pretty sure we would all love to have our institution featured in such a positive way in any media outlet (minus the price tag in the headline, maybe, in these difficult economic times): I'm not in the market yet. But the other day, my 12-year-old, Morry, showed me this funny video clip he'd seen on one of the free online games he plays. (Yes, we're cheap and we're raising cheap kids.) It showed a...
Read MoreI'm currently working on my next column for University Business to be published in February 2009. This article will present 10 very practical tips to do more (or as well) with less (budget, people, time, etc), which explains why my main focus lately has been on the economic downturn and its consequences for higher education. Even though economic crises can usually translate into positive outcomes (increased enrollment with many laid-off workers going back to college to upgrade their skill set), I have serious doubts about it in this specific case. Didn't the whole thing started with a financing meltdown? The...
Read MoreI've been thinking about this for a while now: How can we manage to keep up with all the amazing content and interesting conversations taking place in so many higher ed websites and blogs? I tried the catch-up-date post a few weeks ago on this blog, but realized quickly they were also drawn in the sea of published content. So, then I thought about email (maybe because I was promoting the Email Marketing 360 webinar series starting tomorrow) Why not try to compile the best of the content published on all the sites we wish we could visit more often in a...
Read MoreOnce again I found in my inbox this morning a couple of messages from people who wanted to register for the upcoming webinar series: “Email Marketing 360″ (the initial registration deadline was yesterday at 9PM). As a result, I decided to postpone the registration deadline until next Friday (November 28 - I know it's the Thanksgiving weekend in the US, but I figured out that Canadians and Europeans might appreciate the extra days) at 9PM ET. If you want to learn how to do email marketing right and use it to reach your audiences in these difficult economic times, this 2-webinar...
Read MoreI had some time at the Chicago O'Hare airport before my flight and was lucky enough to find a power outlet and a $7 wifi connection. So, I took the time to write a couple of my thoughts - fresh from the over - after attending the AMA Symposium this week. Social media and applications have finally made it to the Executive Office Social media took its fair (large?) share of this year's program at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. While I haven't heard anything earth-shattering in the presentations I attended (minus maybe some of the results...
Read MoreSince it's been a challenge to get the list of all the AMA Symposium blog posts on what I thought could become the higher ed conference content aggregator, here it is for your convenience (if you were at the conference, blogged about it and your posts are not listed, just email karine@collegewebeditor.com). This is probably the first time that the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education has been covered so much by bloggers (even if we were just a handful blogging) and by twitterers. The blog posts are listed in reverse chronological order. Day 4 and beyond: AMA Symposium: Good...
Read MoreThis session is presented by Richard Hesel from the Art & Science Group. Why this research? studentPOLL is quarterly survey done since 1994 about different issues with a national sample. Now, sample is done through The College Board and their SAT takers database. 90% of every college-bound students visits social networking websites (97% of African American) 84% have a profile page (93% of African American) Why don't they have it? Parents 28% Don't have time 46% Facebook and MySpace dominate 79% on Facebook (55% for Hispanics), 69% on MySpace (Hispanics 88%) 60% Facebook the most often visited with MySpace far behind 38% 70% visit site at least once a day, 32% 3...
Read MoreThis session is presented by Deborah Maue, Assistant VP for Marketing Strategy at DePaul University. DePaul hired a Word of Mouth Marketing Agency to try to tell the story more effectively, using its internal audience more effectively as ambassadors. The WOMM plan was built on DePaul's core values. They decided to build a social community for people who had a strong affinity for DePaul. Parents were chosen for the pilot project. The Quad was launched in August 2007 and targeted to parents of undergraduates (first new freshmen, then deposited freshmen, juniors and seniors and in Jan 2009 DePaul will invite parents of admitted students) Why...
Read MoreThis session is presented by Young Shin, President of Princeton Review Marketing Services. 3rd annual national survey of webite use in undergraduate and graduate school search. Survey made during the active search (3hr/week) phase 20,000 students over past 3 years during winter. When did you start your search? Before 28% in junior year of HS 40% during junior year (from 34% - +6% increase) Active search starts well ahead of 12 months before application. Stealth applications (application as first contact with school) on the increase 43% will submit an app before any prior contact with the school. They spend a lot of time researching on their own. Top sources...
Read MoreAs the AMA conference chair, Elizabeth Scarborough explained in her blog post yesterday, Karlyn Morissette's session attracted a full packed room yesterday at the conference for her session about email marketing: Karlyn Morissette, Web Producer at Dartmouth, had a packed house for her session on taking email to the next level. She framed her presentation with Barack Obama's email campaign and talked about why it was so effective. I'm pretty sure Karlyn's session had the highest attendance of any track session so far. Missed this hit (or the AMA conference altogether)? Register by tonight for the webinar series, Email Marketing 360, including a...
Read MoreThis session is presented by John Roberts, director of Internal Electronic Communications at Furman University. Internal audiences (faculty, staff, etc.) helps institutions define their brand outside of campus, especially with the recent paradigm shift in communication. According to the Families and Work Institute, the main factor in employee satisfaction is "providing and understanding and supportive work environment." 10 years ago, Furman had a newsletter and communication took place in informal settings in the hallways, at lunch, etc. Then, they launched FUnet, an internal news website (I would give you the web address, but it requires a username and password - weird for a news...
Read MoreThis session is presented by Marilyn Kail, AVP of Marketing and Communications and Jay Brown, Director of Marketing for Web Communications. First, CMU started with web 1.0 by doing a homepage redesign with a content management implementation. The old design was done in the mid-90's and... it showed. The new design breaks with the traditional horizontal photo banner format. Interesting take on the traditional higher ed university homepage. Then, CMU moved into Web 2.0 They captured other users on Facebook, YouTube and iTunes U. Very efficient channels that don't cost a dime. Being known as the "robotic" university, they decided to create viral edgy humorous videos: the...
Read MoreAMA Symposium: Why higher ed marketing teams need to start focusing on web analytics and measurement
The opening keynote was presented by Karen Breen Vogel from Clear Gauge. She explained to the conference audience why it's important to set up and use a good measurement system on the Web. Financial people don't care about your marketing tactics, activities or campaigns. They want measurable results. It's all about ROI. The traditional marketing funnel: Acquire > Engage > Convert Visits > Interaction > Leads When you do e-commerce, ROI is very clear. But, most organizations/institutions are trying to start a relationship on the Web: to go from anonymous visitors to known prospects. First, make sure everybody on campus agrees on the definitions (leads, etc.) In the...
Read MoreHere are the slides and links for this workshop I gave on November 16, 2008 at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education Workshop Slides Blogging Boot Camp WorkshopView SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: higher ed) Workshop Links All the links Blogs examples Interesting articles UPDATE: after my workshop, I was invited by Tom Williams from Innogage to answer a few questions live on Ustream. Tom decided to cover the conference by broadcasting some live videos with speakers over his Ustream channel every day - There were a few people asking questions via chat and the session was recorded. I'm addressing a...
Read MoreJust a quick post as I'm packing this morning for the AMA Symposium for Higher Education. Karlyn Morissette and I will be live blogging/twittering as much as we can from the conference. We haven't agreed on a hastag for Twitter yet, so feel free to follow me and I'll make sure I let you know how to follow all the action from the conference attendees (although I'm not sure how active this crowd is going to be on Twitter). While I'm scheduled to present a workshop about blogging tomorrow afternoon, Karlyn will give a presentation on integrated email marketing on Monday morning....
Read MoreAfter blogs yesterday, today is the turn of email. This week, I guess I'm on a mission to rescue you from the sirens of the lost technologies casting the premature death of very good marketing/communication channels with great proven return on investment. So, let me put it this way right from the get-go: email isn't dead. Email marketing is still very relevant in higher education especially in these difficult economic times where ROI is going to become even more important. At one condition though, you got to do it right. Both speakers from the upcoming Email Marketing 360 webinar series, Karlyn Morissette...
Read MoreFor the past few days I've been busy wrapping up my presentation for the marathon 4-hour workshop I'll give this Sunday at the AMA Symposium for Higher Education. And, I can report that blogs aren't dead or "so 2004" as Paul Boutin would love his readers to believe after scanning his Wired article published on October 20, 2008: Thinking about launching your own blog? Here's some friendly advice: Don't. And if you've already got one, pull the plug. Writing a weblog today isn't the bright idea it was four years ago. [...] And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty...
Read MoreI've been following the print vs web issue for some time now - as many of you, I'm sure. It's a known fact that the newspaper industry is in big trouble. And, the decision for The Christian Science Monitor - a century-old paper - to go web-only, at the exception of a weekend magazine, is another proof that things are changing as explained in "Christian Science Paper to End Daily Print Edition," an article published yesterday on the NY Times website: Before The Monitor, a handful of small papers had shifted away from print. This year, The Capital Times in Madison, Wis.,...
Read MoreI'm currently wrapping up putting together my slides and handouts for the following 4-hour workshop I'll give at the AMA Symposium for Higher Education on November 16, 2008: Blogging Boot Camp: How to Start and Develop a Successful Blog Since I would have never been asked to present this workshop without this blog, I thought it might be a good idea to invite your input about its content. Hey, you're the readers and some of you are also bloggers! So, here are my questions to you: Is there anything you'd like to know about blogging in a higher ed setting? or, if you're a blogger...
Read MoreI wrote about UF previous campaigns and videos in the past. So, when Joe Hice, AVP for Public Relations and Marketing at the University of Florida, emailed me about their new Gator Nation ad campaign earlier this week, it didn't take me long to check it out. The TV spot (that I can't show you yet unfortunately - but I will update the post as soon as it's possible) will debut this Friday at Gator Growl and during halftime of the Florida vs. Georgia game on Nov. 1. What I found really interesting in this new campaign is the fact that it...
Read MoreLater today, I'll be hosting the second webinar of "PR School 2.0" presented by Andrew Careaga from Missouri S&T. Yesterday, Matt Herzberger did a great job with his session "Monitoring 360." Earlier this week, I announced via email the winners of the prizes drawn among the people who took the HEE/eduStyle/uWebd survey. And, I got a couple of email from people who wished they had won. This got me thinking about an easy way to make everybody a winner, cheer you up and fight the recession blues. If you register and pay for both last webinar series of 2008 offered by Higher Ed...
Read MoreIf you've read my last UB column -- "It's the Community, Stupid!" -- you know my take on how to develop thriving online communities and how important it is to empower what I called "super users," your most engaged community members. Here's a real-life example of what this type of members can do for your brand. Nick DeNardis, Assistant Director of Web Communications at Wayne University, has been a dedicated member of eduStyle, the higher ed web gallery managed by Stewart Foss, where he rated a lot of websites. A couple of weeks ago, Nick decided to share his passion for eduStyle and...
Read MoreMy fifth UB column for 2008 is now available in the October issue as well as online: "It's The Community, Stupid! A seven-step plan to raise and nurture any community online." This column is the written version of the closing keynote I gave at eduWeb last July, a live presentation that also included videos from 3 community managers working in higher ed institutions. If you're interested in more tips and tricks to manage your online communities and social networks, you should also consider attending "Social Networks MBA: How to Develop and Nurture a Thriving Community," a 3-webinar series scheduled on November 11,...
Read MoreMy registration deadlines are probably meant to be broken... Once again I received an email asking if it was still possible to register for next week’s webinar series: "PR School 2.0" (the initial registration deadline was yesterday at 9PM). As a result, I decided to postpone the registration deadline until this Friday (October 17) at 9PM ET. If you want to survive and thrive in the world of new online PR and communication, this 3-webinar series featuring Matt Herzberger (A&M Texas University), Andrew Careaga (Missouri S&T) and Geoffrey Mock (Duke University) should help. Institutions registered for this series include: Simon Fraser University Olympic College Gettysburg...
Read MoreAfter being away from this blog from some time - geez, almost 2 weeks, that's what work can do to you sometimes - I'm back with a new edition of my "Catch-up Date with Karine" series. Unless, you were leaving on an unconnected deserted island last week, you've probably heard about all the great things happening at the HighEdWeb conference in Springfield, MO last week. Whether you could attend or not the conference, you should check out the following links pointing to the presentation slides made available by the HighEdWeb organizers: Marketing, PR, etc. E-Cards: Using a Thoughful Tool to Communicate with Current and...
Read MoreMark Greenfield, the driving force of the Uwebd social networking website, Stewart Foss, the owner of eduStyle and myself (I'm the Higher Ed Experts/Collegewebeditor.com person) have been working on a very special community initiative. Instead of polling our respective members in our own little corners of the Web, we agreed to launch a grouped survey to find out what makes the higher ed web and communication community ticks and how our respective websites can better serve this group. This survey has about 25 questions (but depending on your situation, it might even be shorter). If you fill it out and provide us...
Read MoreNo post since the last edition of this series “Catch up-Date with Karine” aiming at fighting the information overload, I guess you can imagine how busy the past week has been. Anyway, here's what I got for you with this special edition about "all things Admissions." With NACAC's 64th national conference taking place last week in Seattle, it's "Admissions applications or websites" fest With so many admissions professionals gathered under one roof, this conference was the theater of several launches in the admissions web market including admissions.com (Monster.com's take on college search) and Unigo.com (launched by a young entrepreneur with connections in...
Read MoreI'm a bit late this week, but here’s the fourth edition of this series “Catch up-Date with Karine” aiming at fighting the information overload. Please let me know if you find it useful by leaving a comment or sending an email at karine@collegewebeditor.com. Mobile video social networking might happen sooner than we thought Penn State and Alcatel-Lucent will work together on a pilot project to create a mobile video social networking application (via Campus Technology). "The increasing demands of mobile phone users require the creation of more sophisticated services such as sharing videos with friends and family through social networks. However, the physical...
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