Archive for January, 2009
In the summer of 2007, I created a survey about the state of print and electronic publications in higher education. At that time, more than 200 institutions took the time to complete this survey. Later, I produced a 5-page executive summary PDF file presenting the main results and wrote a column "Demand Print or Print On-Demand," published in October 2007 in University Business. Last week, I was interviewed about the digital future of alum magazines for an article to be published in the March issue of CASE Currents, and as I was discussing best practices, I realized that this topic...
Read MoreMy second UB column for 2009 is now available in the February issue as well as online (featured on the homepage of University Business today): "More with Less: 7 Ways to Survive the Budget Crunch" Here are the 7 ways/tips in a condensed form: Look more closely at your print publication budget Embrace (free) social media to reach your target audiences Try new performance-based advertising channels Fine-tune email marketing initiatives to supercharge their ROI Say "good bye" to new web servers and "hello" to on-demand cloud computing Don't discard the DIY approach Watch out for team morale by focusing on budget-friendly professional development alternatives including next week's 2-webinar...
Read MoreThis is the second installment of my new series dedicated to vendor deals and other bargains to help you survive and thrive with tighter budgets. After the first installment about a very interesting offer to send up to 10,000 email per month for free for institutions with non-profit status, this time we're talking about a discount on a conference fee for the next Xpert Summit taking place in Las Vegas next month. Organized by Brian Niles' Target X for their clients - mainly folks working in admissions offices or in charge of marketing/communications to prospective students, this conference is open to others,...
Read MoreOnce again I found in my inbox this morning a message from someone who wanted to register for the upcoming webinar series: “Saving Big″ (the initial registration deadline was yesterday at 9PM). As a result, I decided to postpone the registration deadline until next Friday (January 30, 2009) at 9PM ET. Register for Saving Big Webinars If you want to learn about a few creative ideas to save big on your publications and admissions marketing while getting great results, this 2-webinar series featuring Rachel Reuben (SUNY at New Paltz) and Joe Hice (The University of Florida) will be worth your time and...
Read MoreAndy Shaindlin and Elizabeth Allen from Alumni Futures has just published a very interesting white paper: Activating Alumni Networks with Twitter. This free 36-page PDF file includes a good primer about Twitter (aimed at the non-user), an overview about different uses, some recommendations as well as the results of a recent online survey conducted from January 6 to January 13, 2009 with 330 folks working in higher education. I read Andy's white paper this morning and so should you (download a copy and share it with your alum association). Here's an excerpt of what the practical-tip addict I am found the most interesting...
Read MoreFirst, let me start by a quick disclaimer, I might be a bit partial on this topic for 2 reasons: I've known and collaborated for almost 3 years on different projects (conferences, webinars, etc. including the upcoming "Saving Big" Webinars for which registration ends tonight by the way) with the blogger behind this blog - Joe Hice, AVP of Public Relations and Marketing at the University of Florida. I've shared a few pointers about blogging (including my 12-step plan for better blogging) with Joe when he decided to start his blog last Fall. Now that Joe's blog, Gator Grotto: A refuge from hastly...
Read MoreUnless you've been on a very, very long vacation (or are one of the lucky few), you are currently facing budget cuts at your institution. I know I wrote a lot about this lately, but I'm trying to find ways to help you weather that storm. In a few days, my next University Business column to be published in the Februay issue will even provide you with some very practical tips to do more with less. And, you probably know by now that you can also register for Saving Big Webinars scheduled on February 4 & 5 to listen to 2...
Read MoreAccording to the 2009 Horizon report, while mobiles and cloud computing are already well established on many campuses across the world, geo-tagging and the personal web should be widely used in higher education by 2012. Released yesterday by The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program, this report is definitely a must-read as it offers an interesting overview of the current trends and technologies that should impact the world of higher education in the near future: To create the 2009 Horizon Report, the 45 members of the 2009 Advisory Board engaged in a comprehensive review and analysis...
Read MoreOur good friends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project have just released a very interesting 17-page report about adults and social networks websites. The big news in this report is the increased interest shown by online adults for Facebook and Co according to the results of two different surveys done in May and December 2008. The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now,1 according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s December 2008 tracking...
Read MoreI'll be hosting a 2-webinar series for Higher Ed Experts about this topic early next month presented by Joe Hice, AVP at the University of Florida and Rachel Reuben, Director of Web Communications at SUNY - New Paltz: Saving Big: Winning strategies to get better results even with a crunched budget: February 4 & 5, 2009 "Saving Big" is a 2-webinar series that will show you how embracing the right digital approach can help you dramatically cut costs while still meeting the needs of your target audiences. It will show you why and how social media can become a very budget-friendly...
Read MoreUnless you were already on vacations or enjoying your office holiday party, you've probably heard about what some (and according to my sources, Andrew Careaga was the first to coin that term) have called "FacebookGate" A few days before Christmas, Brad Ward uncovered, on his blog, a scheme perpetuated by College Prowler and another company to create hundreds (more than 300 according to Brad's research) of Facebook "Class of 2013" groups under false pretense and using some trademarked material (logo, name, etc.) A lot has been written about the topic, but it looks like things have settled down on the Facebook...
Read MoreHappy New Year my dear regular readers (and casual browsers)! My first UB column for 2009 (actually it's the one that was scheduled for the December 2008 issue) is now available in the January issue as well as online: "Should You Twitter? Real and effective communication, 140 characters at a time" Here's a quick excerpt to give you a reason to read the column: Wondering why you should read a column about a web service powering the dissemination of 140-character messages? Here’s a short, 140-character answer about Twitter: It can help individuals and institutions reach out to their network to share info,...
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