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28 August 2007 A new semester is opening and that’s always an exciting time for everyone. Congratulations to all of you who work hard to make these first days as successful as possible for your new students. The new academic year also brings a fresh cluster of opportunities to meet with your marketing friends and colleagues at professional events and conferences. One of my favorites, of course, is the Symposium for the Marketing of Higher ducation. Review the 2007 program at www.marketingpower.com/aevent_event24813.php. Register for my 3.5 hour Sunday tutorial, “Writing Right for the Web: Key Steps to Engage Your Visitors and Increase Your Search Engine Visibility,” and start giving new marketing power to your website. Use web conferences to involve people on your campus in best practice reviews as you plan how to strengthen your marketing program this year. I have two with Academic Impressions here that focus on improving engagement at your website and Writing Right for the Web. Participants get a special bonus: written answers to all the questions asked that usually run for several pages. Early in August I spent three delightful and productive days in Ireland meeting with Gerry McGovern and other business partners to talk about Customer Carewords research, usability testing, and the importance of task management to website effectiveness. We continue to refine the Carewords approach to help clients increase the marketing effectiveness of their websites. Review the Carewords process at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/customercarewords.html. And now, here are marketing news and notes for August. Facebook and Microsoft Join for Online Advertising Expect an increase in Facebook advertising starting this fall after a new agreement announced August 22 that makes Microsoft “the exclusive provider of banner advertising and sponsored links” for the social networking site. The announcing press release is at www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/aug06/08-22MSFacebookPR.mspx. Current advertising options for Facebook are at www.facebook.com/advertise.php. Pew Internet on Broadband Adoption in the Home An August 1 update from the Pew Internet and American Life project notes that the United States ranks a relatively low 15th among the top 20 countries for broadband access from a home location, with 19 subscribers for every 100 people. That compares to first-place Denmark at 31.9 subscribers and 20th place Italy at 14.8. That’s frustrating to marketers who anticipate increased opportunities for online marketing as broadband use expands. And it has expanded relatively quickly in the U.S. In 2007, about 47 percent of American adults had broadband at home, up from 24 percent in 2004. From this point forward, however, Pew estimates that the increase rate will slow based on factors that include income, age, and just plain disinterest. The 4-page report is available at www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/220/report_display.asp. Who is Editing Your Wikipedia Content? Thanks to Virgil Griffith you’re now much closer to knowing who changes content at your Wikipedia website. Griffith, soon to be a Cal Tech grad student, is already fulfilling his goal of making life miserable for public relations people at organizations he doesn’t like by revealing self-serving content changes designed to embellish reality. You can take advantage of his system with a visit to the “Wiki Scanner” page at wikiscanner.virgil.gr. Why should you care? Do a search for your college or university and see if your Wikipedia entry comes up among the first five locations returned. I’m finding that that happens more and more often now, partly from the value Google gives to links in determining search results. And Wikipedia is among the 10 most visited websites in the United States. Chances are good that someone looking for you with a web search may also end up visiting your Wikipedia pages. If you don’t already check your Wikipedia content at least once a month, assign that responsibility soon to someone in your public relations or marketing communications office. And have them track who’s helping you edit the content. Is Your Website Obsolete? That’s the question Sean Carton is asking in a August 20 column, “Do You Need an Actual Web Site?” at www.clickz.com/3626779. We can count on Sean to challenge conventional wisdom. This column should be required reading for anyone planning on investing in a major redesign of a “conventional” website. Here’s the heart of his argument about how people use websites today: “We query the database, find the information we’re looking for, and (hopefully) access it. We don’t read Web sites from beginning to end. We dip in, find what we’re looking for, and get out.” Sean is telling us that in the future our websites must be much more responsive to visitors who enter with a particular purpose in mind, use a search feature to get where they want to go, complete their task, and then exit the site. Whether or not a person comes back will depend very much on the experience of that first visit. Read Sean’s column. Then start thinking about how to match your website content and operation to what various audiences want to do when they visit. If you haven’t done audience research, consider the Customer Carewords option at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/customercarewords.html. Keeping Up with Google You can’t know exactly what’s being planned at the most popular search provider, but you can sign for regular reports from Google software engineer Matt Cutts posted on his blog at www.mattcutts.com/blog/. In an August 21 entry, for instance, you’ll find a posting on “Universal Search” including notes from Yahoo and Ask people on how to optimize your videos for search results. And you can read 24 comments on the posting. All in all, Matt’s blog stands out from many others as time well spent. Make it a regular read for better search optimization results. Recruiting Graduate Students If you recruit graduate students from today’s undergrads, you’ll want to pay attention to recent research reported by Harris Interactive and Alloy Media + Marketing about what to expect from the class of 2011. A detailed press release is here. A key finding for future recruiters is the growing importance of word of mouth recommendations. As you might expect, the wide use of social networking websites is expanding the reach of word of mouth beyond the “old style” family and friends to include new people gathered as “friends” on MySpace, Facebook and more. Thanks to Rich Vallaster at Creosote Affects for sending a note about the research report. Plan Now for Video Email The enormous popularity of YouTube has sent the clear message that video content is becoming more important in online communications. To maintain the effectiveness of email in your communication mix, you need to consider the right and not-so-right ways to use video with email. A good place to start is with Julian Scott’s DM News column “The age of v-mail — how video will transform email marketing” is here. The most important point: don’t try to make the video work directly from the email itself. Instead, take people to a landing page that includes the video feature noted in the email. Marketing on Second Life This isn’t about a college or university, but for the moment marketing efforts in the virtual world of Second Life are relatively scarce. If new frontiers interest you, you’ll want to read about the experiences of companies making these efforts and how they might fit into your future plans. This case reported by “1to1 Weekly” magazine is about a small gardening company. Among other comments, the company reports that feedback about gardening issues has been easy to get from Second Life members who seem more than willing to step back into their real lives if the subject is important to them. For higher education marketers, that holds promise of future discussions about ongoing degree options and career advancement and opens new qualitative research possibilities. Read the full report at www.1to1media.com/printview.aspx?ItemID=30387. Noel Levitz Research on Student Recruitment Practices Although differences exist among types of institutions (two and four year, public and private), the overall results of this June 2007 benchmarking report tell us that traditional recruitment practices are still the most frequently used in student recruitment and that new online activities that include podcasts, RSS feeds, instant messaging, and text messaging are not in widespread use. On the other hand, “electronic mail communication with prospective students” is rated as “very and somewhat effective” by over 80 percent of four year schools. The report also notes that while most schools have formal enrollment plans, many of them don’t hold their quality in high esteem. For details, see the research report on “Student Recruitment Practices at Four-Year and Two-Year Institutions” here. 8 College Presidents on YouTube For quite a while now I’ve been keeping a list on my blog of presidents who do the same. That’s up to 18 people. Now, thanks to a note from Brian Niles at TargetX about the president at Dickinson College, I’ve added a list of YouTube videos that feature presidents communicating at that social networking site. The August 23 posting starts with Agnes Scott College and ends with Sonoma State University. The list is at bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/. Do your president’s communication skills fit this format? Watching these might help you decide. Videos on YouTube aren’t for everyone. And if you’ve ever been perplexed by how to tie a bow tie, don’t miss that Dickinson College entry.
4 Key Elements in a Usability Report Rolf Molich is a Gerry McGovern partner from Denmark with more than 15 years experience in usability testing. Listening to him talk about his experiences is a guaranteed way to learn more about what to expect from usability research. If you can’t hear Rolf talk, you can read an interview with him on “Usability Testing Best Practices” at www.uie.com/events/uiconf/2007/articles/molich_interview/. The interview will help you set realistic expectations about the value of website usability tests. About half way through, you’ll find the four elements that you should expect in a usability report, starting with “Keep it brief.” My Upcoming Presentations in 2007 Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Hope to meet you at one or more of these events! September 24, Web Conference: Academic Impressions, “Improving your Website to Engage Prospects.” Outline and registration at www.academicimpressions.com/web_conferences/0907-website-engagement.php. October 1, Web Conference: Academic Impressions, “Writing Right for the Web.” Outline and registration at www.academicimpressions.com/web_conferences/1007-web-writing.php. November 11, San Diego, CA: AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, “Writing Right for the Web: Key Steps to Engage Your Visitors and Increase Your Search Engine Visibility.” Registration details for the Symposium and the Sunday afternoon 3.5 hour tutorial are at www.marketingpower.com/aevent_event24813.php. November 29-30, San Francisco, CA: The Aslanian Group, “Recruiting and Retaining Adult and Graduate Students.” Program and registration details are at www.aslaniangroup.com. December 5-6, Miami, FL: The Aslanian Group, “Everything Online.” Register now at www.aslaniangroup.com. December 10, Chicago, IL: CASE District V Conference, “Writing Right for the Web.” Link to the conference website available soon. Expand professional growth opportunities on your campus. Host a seminar to increase the Online Marketing skills of people on your campus and get a better ROI on your future investments. Schedule your presentation soon. Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com. That’s All for Now Be a marketing champion on your campus.
Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com) Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC I offer consulting services personally to colleges and universities and together with the marketing experts at these partner firms: Aslanian Group offers market research and enrollment management services to colleges and universities to increase their market share of adult students. Learn more at www.aslaniangroup.com. Creative Communication Associates is a 22-year leader in the design and implementation of marketing communication strategies for colleges and universities. Learn more about CCA at www.ccanewyork.com. Gerry McGovern offers unparalleled expertise in customer-centric website content and the Customer Carewords research program to identify what that content should be. More about Gerry at www.gerrymcgovern.com. mStoner helps colleges and universities with Internet strategies and website development to meet changing audience expectations, technologies, market pressures, and institutional positioning. For the details, visit www.mstoner.com. TargetX brings the power of the Internet to recruit students and communicate with alumni through higher education’s only integrated suite of online tools. Explore what’s possible at www.targetx.com. Newsletter Archive
2 December 2008 |