Bob Johnson's Blog on Internet Marketing

In the last few weeks as the list of colleges and universities with web content editor or similar positions has grown at the August 8 blog posting, people have begun to ask about job descriptions for positions like this. And so I've started to ask people about sending some of those along so that we can collectively build the information bank.

This posting today comes from Dan Lewis at SUNY Plattshburgh for the Web Editor position that's existed for several years at that school.

The Web Editor oversees site design and content development on a daily operational level, and evaluates readiness for publication.

The Editor's principal responsibilities require him to:

1. Assist campus stakeholders in building effective and strategic web sites, enhancing the look, content and user-orientations that the Web demands, and editing their proposed Web material to ensure greatest user satisfaction
2. Work closely with the Director of Marketing primarily to
   1. use the Web for building personalized, integrated, and strategic relationships between the college and external constituents;
   2. support recruitment;
   3. maintain a consistent image/identity representation for the college; and advance the greater strategic initiatives of Plattsburgh State.
3. Work closely with Computing and Media Services staff, particularly the Web System Administrator

"Content Providers" who work with Web Editors

You can also visit http://www.plattsburgh.edu/intranet/webresources/roles.php where you'll find "Roles and Responsibilities in the Web Development Process" for "Content Providers" and how those people relate to the Web Editor. Many of you will find useful info here to help you on your own campus.

Dan's email address is daniel.lewis@plattsburgh.edu if you want to ask questions about the Plattsburgh experience over the past several years.

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Longer ago than I remember, a reporter for the New York Times called to interview me about college and university presidents who blog. A long interview translated into a few comments at the end of the article just printed today. If you are persistent, you'll see them.

What's more important than my quote is the hope that an article like this might inspire a few more college and university presidents to enter the slowly growing group of those who blog. The article points out that some presidents are more serious (and daring) than others about what they write about. But all in all, it is indeed a positive move in Internet communications that presidents take the time to do this rather than limit their web presence to a "message from the president" and an annual state of the institution report.

The article covers the efforts of just a few. If a longer list is more likely to inspire your president, see the entries here under the "Presidents Who Blog" category.

Read the New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/22/education/22blogs.html?ex=1164862800&en=e189e8ac271db756&ei=5070&emc=eta1

And thanks to Kevin Kennedy at Marlboro College for sending along a note with the link.

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No doubt about it, Colgate University continues to invest heavily in print publications in the student recruitment cycle.

So far, 3 "viewbooks" in the recruitment cycle 

The latest example was waiting for me when I returned from two weeks of pretty continuous travel, so let's set the arrival date as early to mid-November. This third major publication sent is a 32-page full color "viewbook" on "Multicultural Life" at the university. I'm using the "viewbook" term here because it approximates in size the viewbooks used my many other colleges and is far more extensive than the usual "multicultural" brochure I've seen.

Also note that this was sent to someone who did not identify himself as a "multicultural" student, just a white kid from the Midwest. And the cover letter appears to recognize that, speaking to the advantages of "diversity" at Colgate in a way that will appeal to many Millennials looking for a college that reflects a significant mix of ethnicities.

Five topics are highlighted:

• Community
• Challenge
• Involvement
• Self-discovery
• Achievement

No integration with website content

One thing about this piece struck me as strange: I didn't see a single URL in the book until the general Colgate addrsss at the end. So this one won't serve as an example of integrating print and Internet content. A website search for "multicultural" and "multicultural life" brought up references to speakers and student activity events but doesn't lead to a website content section that speaks to the same subjects as this print piece.

On another note, the monthly email newsletters that started in May continue to arrive promptly. And the postcard series continues to unfold. All in all, Colgate is maintaining a "constant contact" system that keeps the university visible without seeming intrusive.

Posted by Bob at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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If you need an easy place to find definitions of most (but not all) terms associated with Internet Marketing, then you'll value the Internet Marketing Dictionary.

You can search by letter or within one of 14 categories listed at the first page:

• Advertising metrics
• Advertising specifications
• Affiliate marketing
• Business and ebusiness
• Community and etiquette
• Controversial marketing
• Domaine names
• Free website promotion
• Linking strategy
• Online advertising
• Search engine optimization
• Search engines and directories
• Web design and marketing

The dictionary accepts advertising from companies that offer services for various things you might be reading about, but it doesn't get in the way of access to the definitions themselves.

Curious omissions include Web Writing and Content Management. But all in all, you'll find an impressive array when you visit http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/

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Despite the regular searches I've been doing for college and university presidents who blog, this is the first time that this blog has appeared, although the president has been writing since May of 2006.

In a recent posting, President Martha Anne Dow introduces a revised version that now includes photographs and writes that she will "endeavor to always have visuals."

Scan the postings and you'll see that President Dow addresses some weighty issues. On October 23, for instance, you'll find a chart on budget revenue sources over the past 5 years that shows the decrease in state support and the increasing dependence on tuition revenue.

President Martha Ann Dow blogs at http://www.marthaannedow.blogspot.com

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Sitting in the New Orleans airport this morning after 3.5 hours of web writing tutorial at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. On to Chicago soon and a Friday web writing presentation at Carol Aslanian's workshop in Internet Marketing.

In betrween the presentations, here is a story sent along from Kristeen Bullwinkle, web content manager at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. She tells the tale of evolving responsibilities and changing administrative locations. People often ask questions about this at the web writing presentations. Best to hear the answers direct from those in the positions.

I'll continue to post as many like this as I can. Together we'll build an information bank that should help many of you move things at your college or university in the right direction.

Here's what Kristeen has to say:

"My job title and description has changed a bit, but I took this job because the college understood that the Web was a communication function back in the spring of 1999. I was housed in IT but reported to Communications. Now I'm housed in Communications.

I think my first title was Web communications specialist, then Web manager, and now Web content manager. IT has been taking over more and more of my functions as we now touch over 3,000 pages. I no longer worry about meeting ADA requirements, coding, running the search engine, or running the stats program.

My goals when I began are the same ones I still have. Make it accurate, up-to-date, and complete. I've never had time to worry about much more than that. We're hiring another Web editor just for student services and will soon be looking for a writer who will be working for the Web as well as print."

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A good Saturday morning to everyone. Leaving soon for the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. Reviewing the list of people signed for my Web Writing tutorial on Sunday, I've found another position for the growing list at the August 8 post at Laval University (Web Communications Manager).

And earlier in the week, Dan Lewis at SUNY Plattsburgh sent along an email note about his postion. Dan has been Web Editor at Plattsburgh since 2001 and that just might be close to a record for longevity.

So now when you visit the master list, you'll find 33 schools and titles waiting for you. Use them for leverage at your own place to get more resources moving in this important direction.

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A new frontier in recruitment communications is opening on MySpace.

In the October issue of Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter I included an item on the MySpace website created by Harcum College at http://www.myspace.com/harcumcollege

Not long after that an email arrived from Nick Venturella, an admissions counselor at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin, with news that Edgewood has had a MySpace website operating since November 2005. Nick included a detailed account of early successes and future plans and agreed to let me share that with you here at the blog. Best for me to just present events in Nick's own words. 

"I just wanted to comment to let you know that we too have had a MySpace presence since about last November (2005), and have found it to be a slow-growing, but a very useful tool to keep in touch with current students and prospective students at our school. What we're starting to see, that is wonderful (and we were hopeful would happen), is the current students are connecting with the prospective students with little or no help from Edgewood's faculty/staff linking the two.

I actually facilitate the MySpace page to allow any admissions questions to be answered, and I provide regular blogs about choosing a college, financial aid, and I will soon be starting another series about picking a major, and in the spring a blog series on dorm room essentials.

We have also used our MySpace page to garner feedback from current and prospective students to make improvements to our MySpace presence. For example, we were thinking about having current students facilitate our MySpace page to better connect with prospective students giving prospectives a genuine idea of what it's like to be an Edgewood College student...well, most of those who replied to our survey requested that we keep it facilitated by an Admissions Counselor, so questions about Edgewood College can be answered by someone who does, in fact, know the answer.  We plan on using these sort of surveys coupled with on-campus in-person focus groups of students to get to the heart of effective recruitment and retention as both are always growing and changing."

Visit the Edgewood site at www.myspace.com/edgewoodcollege to see for yourself how social networking is starting to unfold in student recruitment.

Are you ready for MySpace? Are your competitors? One more item to track on a regular basis.

As I said in my newsletter, this isn't a communications tactic for the faint of heart. Spend some time at either the Harcum College or Edgewood College locations and you'll see much that has never appeared in a college video or print publication for student recruitment.

But MySpace is an example of the ongoing inability of colleges and universities to practice "message control" in viewbooks and on websites. You really should be thinking now about how you are going to enter the new frontier and shape it to your advantage.

And a special thanks to Nick for sharing. To talk to him directly about the MySpace experience, contact him at nventurella@edgewood.edu

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I didn't expect the item on web writing and web editors in today's Your Higher Education Marketing Newsletter to creat almost twice the clicks as the next most popular item, but that's what happened. And that's a great and good thing, demonstrating that more and more people realize the value that better preparation and presentation of content can add to the marketing impact of their websites.

And people have sent along the names of their schools to add to the list at the original August 8 posting. I'll include the new ones here, and also add them to the "master" list.

Here are four new schools sent along today:

Concord Academy, Web Editor

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Web Editor

University of Denver, Web Editor (two positions)

University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Web and E-Communications Coordinator

The position at Concord (in Concord, MA) has been approved and a search is in progress. Tara Bradley, director of communications, welcomes inquiries about the position. Contact her at tara_bradley@concordacademy.org for more information. Tara writes that "our greatest hurdle has ben finding someone with web writing skills."

Posted by Bob at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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