Category: communication

Top edu marketing challenges: survey says…

[E]ven in hard economic times, the challenges for marketing communications people on campuses of all kinds are not that different than they are in flush times.

That’s the conclusion Michael Stoner draws from his recent survey of higher ed marketers. Michael worked with Slover Linett Strategies on the survey (which I posted about back in December). On Tuesday, Michael posted a summary of the survey results and a link to the full report (PDF).

So, in these tough economic times, what are the biggest challenges? Tell ’em, Richard!

The survey says:

  1. Branding and messaging
  2. Rethinking and expanding communication outreach approaches and formats
  3. Incoporating new media and/or technology strategies.

“What’s different now, of course,” Michael adds, “is that tactics and solutions are very much dependent on the economy (this was the fourth challenge marketers identified).”

More detail in the full report.

Social media usage in a presidential rollout

Last week was a busy one for Paul Redfern and his communications colleagues at Gettysburg College. On Friday, Feb. 6, Gettysburg announced the appointment of a new president, Janet Morgan Riggs. And based on Paul’s description of how Gettysburg announced the appointment. it was close to a textbook case for using social media to get the word out.

Paul and company used just about every web 2.0 resource imaginable — RSS, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, text messaging, Flickr — to spread the news. Judging from the number of comments received on the news site, it appears that the tools directed plenty of alumni and other constituents to the official announcement. Further analysis will show the full story, but I’d say Gettysburg did a very good job of using social media tools to engage alumni. It also appears that the new (and during most of the week, interim) president and/or her staff was heavily involved in working with the communications staff, which is critical.

Congratulations to Paul and the rest of the Gettysburg staff on a job well done.