Wikipedia... Important for your brand identity
Just finished reading the first of two aticles appearing in MarketingSherpa, "Special Report: How to Get Your Company Listed on Wikipedia, Part 1" at http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30116
This is "open access" until September 12. I'll add the next article here as soon as it appears.
Right now, it is likely that you have a Wikipedia entry and unlikely that you know much about who started it. But as this article notes, Wikipedia is the 11th most popular website in the world (and some report higher than that in the United States). Many if not most colleges and universities will find that a Wikipedia link comes up on the first page of Google and Yahoo search results, often among the top 5 returned. You should assume that people are going to visit your Wikipedia content.
Wikipedia and Brand Identity
What people find on Wikipedia will help shape your brand identity. Every college and university should designate a person from marketing and communications to monitor your content. What's critical is understanding what you can and can't do when you find something you don't like.
What's valuable about this MarketSherpa article is the basic guidance on how to become a recognized and respected member of the Wikipedia content community. Volunteers are very serious about protecting Wikipedia from false content and particularly from contributions from marketers that are blatent attempts at self-promotion. This article will let anyone new to the Wikipedia world some initial clues on what's accepted behavior and how to establish yourself with the Wikipedia guardians.
Let Wikipedia Know Who You Are
The most important element: identify yourself right away as a representative of your organization who plans to monitor contributions to the site and make factual corrections. Don't even try to turn your Wikipedia entry into an online version of your admissions viewbook, capital campaign case statement, or annual report. MarketingSherpa refers to this person as your "Ambassador" to Wikipedia. Be sure to select a person who is a diplomat and who knows how to negotiate.
One area that every college should attend to is making sure that third-party endorsements of your faculty (grants won, articles accepted, and books published) appear in the content. Similarly, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with listing the firms that take your students for internships and co-op placements. When in doubt, ask Wikipedia. And of course, make sure that the list of academic programs you offer is current. Establish an identity as a factual, regular contributor who can help build the reputation of the website.
Wikipedia is for International Students
Ready to check your listing now? Go along to http://www.wikipedia.org/ and use the search engine on that page. And note that Wikipedia articles are available in up to 10 languages now, with more on the way. Can you say "International student recruitment opportunity"?