Making the Case for New Media in Your Communications Program

Making the Case for New Media In Your Communications Program Matt Howard Renee Basick

Introductions

Matt Howard

Director, Chicago Media Initiatives Group, University of Chicago

Background in academic publishing, online learning, web production, blogging, podcasting

Renee Basick

Senior Producer, Chicago Media Initiatives Group

Background in broadcast and new media journalism; design, web development, video production

CMIG

Initiative of our Provost’s Office

Consult on new media and communications strategy

Overview

The Communications Divide in Higher Ed

Exploiting Web 2.0 for Communications

Blogs

RSS Feeds

Podcasts

Social Media

HTML Email

Integrating New Media in Communications Plans

I. The Communications Divide

The Communications Divide

How do students communicate today?

“ Social Media”

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn

Blogs

Instant messaging

Mobile device / text messaging

YouTube, Ziddio

YET

< 8% of higher ed marketers use such innovative channels to reach prospective students

e-mail remains medium of choice

(despite the fact students ignore them)

Survey* of 120 higher education marketers:

95% use e-mail marketing

62% use it to target alumni

< 50% use e-marketing to reach current students, faculty community, etc.

*recent survey by marketing firm Media Logic Inc.

II. Exploiting Web 2.0 for Communications

What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0* refers to a perceived second-generation of Web-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users .

social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn)

Wikis (Wikipedia)

communication tools (blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Ziddio)

Folksonomies (tag clouds)

*Adapted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blogs

What is a blog?

How big is blogging?

Blogging in Higher Education

Case Study: Law School Faculty Blog

Updating your blog

Blog functionality

What Is a Blog?

A blog (short for Web Log) is a user-generated Web journal

Blogs provide commentary on a particular subject

Blogging services, such as TypePad and WordPress, use a WYSIWYG platform so you do not need to code

A typical blog combines text, images, and links

Readers can add comments

The network of blogs is called the Blogosphere

In November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 57 million blogs.

How Big is Blogging?

39% of American adults (57 million) are blog readers (July 2006)

11 million people (1 out of every 17 Americans) have created a blog

Every 7.4 seconds a new blog is created

*From “Building Your Business with Video Blogging” April 2007, Event DV magazine

Blogging in Higher Ed

Admissions blogs

Informational, give taste of University

Ex: MIT Admissions Blog

http://www.mitadmissions.org/

Academic / public intellectual

Ex: Becker-Posner Blog

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com /

Campus blogs

Ex: UChiBlogo

http://uchiblogo.uchicago.edu

Alumni blogs

Course blogs

Student blogs

Case Study: Law School Blog

started in 10/1/05

academic content

Op Ed

Current ideas

Academic draft of article

First law faculty to collectively blog

Audiences

Prospective students

Students, faculty, staff

Legal academy

General public

Case Study: Law School Faculty Blog

Cost: $150 per year

Benefits

Branding / raising profile

Self-selection for prospective students

Commentary on works in progress

Visits

Total ...................... 426,968

Average per Day ................ 667

Average Visit Length .......... 1:28

Current Week .................... 4,671

Updating Your Blog

Blog Functionality

Post scheduling

Edit templates

Categories

Multiple authors

Photo galleries

Image uploading

File uploading

Comments

Pings

Trackbacks

Search

Blogroll/Lists

Moblogging

Social Bookmarks

Widgets

RSS / Atom

Widgets

a portable snippet of code, from a third party, that can be added any web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation

Common examples include:

Search box

Online poll

Calendar

Subscriptions

Adds functionality to your blog

RSS Feeds

What is RSS?

Who Produces RSS Feeds?

User Benefits

RSS Feed Services

Content and Technical Issues

Distribution Issues

What is RSS?

RSS is Really Simple Syndication

RSS is an XML-based format for content distribution.

Many news organizations and blogs offer RSS feeds for use in news aggregators, often called " feed readers ."

Browsers such as FireFox, IE7, Safari allow for subscribing to feeds

Feeds typically include headlines, summaries, and links back to the original article online.

Who Produces RSS Feeds?

Major media organizations

University news offices

Bloggers

User Benefits

News content is "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" out.

Automatically checks for and retrieves new content at user-determined intervals.

Eliminates user need to regularly check websites of interest for updates.

User has control (e.g., can subscribe or unsubscribe)

RSS Feed Services

FeedforAll.com

Helps you create and manage feeds

create RSS feeds & podcasts

edit RSS feeds & podcasts

manage and publish RSS feeds

create iTunes compatible podcasts

FeedBurner.com

Adds desirable functionality to your feed, such as integration with “social bookmarks” and “email this” ability

Provides “click through” statistics, number of subscribers, and your reach

Inexpensive at $5 per month

Content and Technical Issues

Consistency of University brand

Managing headlines

Publishing issues

Copyright information

Contact information

Standardization of formats (RSS 1.0, 2.0, ATOM)

Standardization of iconography

Software available to create RSS

Distribution Issues

Internal

Central University location for organizing campus feeds and podcasts

Example: http://feeds.uchicago.edu

Add metadata in html to enable “live bookmarks”

<head>

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />

<title>University of Chicago News Feed</title>

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="University of Chicago News Feed" href=" http://www-news.uchicago.edu/rss/index.xml ">

</head>

External

Submissions to RSS directories

Moreover

Syndic8

Technorati

Feedster

Podcasts

What Is a Podcast?

Podcasting in Higher Ed

Creating a Podcast / Vodcast

Setting Up Your Podcast

RSS 2.0 Media Enclosures

User Benefits

Content Issues

Distribution Issues

Value for Your College

Case Study: CHIASMOS

What Is a Podcast?

An RSS feed that includes direct links (called “enclosures”) to audio and video files.

Uses RSS subscription model to distribute audio and video programs via the Internet, playable on computers or handheld devices (iPod, mp3 player)

Video podcasts are often called vodcasts.

iTunes is podcast enabled, technology leader

Examples: http://feeds.uchicago.edu

Podcasting in Higher Ed

Course Delivery

Recordings of class discussions / lectures

Language (e.g., French) practice

Storytelling and Public Relations

Faculty interviews, university news

Public events / lectures in a series

Conference/Symposium Resources

Recordings from a symposium

User Benefits

Users who subscribe to a podcast are able to listen or view the content using free audio / video software--such as iTunes as well as through many feed readers.

As new content is made available, software automatically

downloads new content to your computer

“ synchs” to mobile MP3 and video players, such as the video iPod.

Content Issues

Managing headlines

Publishing issues

Fixity of errors

Enclosing media files

Copyright information

Contact information

Distribution Issues

Internal

Central University location for organizing campus feeds

(e.g., http:// feeds.uchicago.edu )

Links to RSS subscription page (e.g., in copyright footer)

External

Submissions to RSS directories, such as:

Podcast Directory

Podcast Alley

Odeo

iPodder

Podcast Pickle

Yahoo!

iTunes

Video iPod

Value for Your College

Questions for your college to consider:

Is there value in creating standards-and-use protocols?

Is there value in a centralized location for RSS and podcast feeds?

Is there value in creating (or investing in) a more robust feed generator?

2003, Center for International Studies (CIS)

began audio recording lectures

other area studies centers followed

CAN TV (public access) occasionally recorded events for broadcast, also providing audio and video files for the Web

Spring / Summer 2006

Volume of recordings created opportunity for outreach

Outreach mandated by the Centers’ Title VI grants from the U.S. Department of Education.

CIS communications / outreach staff made plan for CHIASMOS

Asked CMIG to provide recording and postproduction services (10-15 events per quarter)

Fall 2006

Names

Case Study: Chiasmos

World Beyond the Headlines

launched on iTunes January 2006

Began tracking subscriptions via FeedBurner July 28, 2006

Averaged between 200-300 subscribers until late November 2006, when it was featured as one Wired ’s five favorite higher ed podcasts; subscriptions grew to over 1000 by January 2007.

Now 1690 subscribers, 281 reach

88,013 downloads of 32 enclosures since July 18, 2006

CHIASMOS audio (master podcast of all audio files archived on CHIASMOS)

149 Subscribers, 28 reach

15,129 downloads of 111 enclosures since September 27, 2006

CHIASMOS video (master podcast of all video files archived on CHIASMOS)

35 subscribers, 9 reach

2,731 downloads of 49 enclosures since September 27, 2006

Human Rights Distinguished Lecturer Series (Sponsored by Human Rights Program)

Latin American Briefing Series (sponsored by Center for Latin American Studies)

Total downloads via podcast since July 18, 2006: 123,206

Project Costs

contracting with CMIG for their services, at between $185 - $250 (depending upon the complexity of editing, etc.) per event

estimate the total cost of recording and post-production at approximately $5k through the first two quarters of the project

additional costs include approximately 7.5 hours per week of CIS staff time for the construction and maintenance of the CHIASMOS website and podcasts (approx $14k annually)

Social Media: MySpace

124 million profiles in 2.5 years (10/06)*

Web pages that serve as

Diary

E-mail program

Photo album

Content shared with friends (whose pictures appear)

* From Washington Post “In Teen’s Web World, MySpace Is So Last Year”

Social Media: MySpace

Social Media: Facebook

7.5 Million users

2100 colleges

22,000 high schools

1000+ companies

90+% utilization*

Does Facebook own your campus?

*From study at University of NC

Social Media: YouTube

YouTube (GoogleVideo) now offers college pages

Videos vary in topic, student and college produced

Ziddio also has a “Facebook Diaries” program that integrates with Facebook

Social Media: YouTube

HTML Email

Strategic Communications

Identifying Unmet Needs

Creating Your HTML Email Campaign

Case Study: Participate Campaign

Strategic Communication

Use email campaigns as a means to change behavior

E.g., to give back to the University, to drive traffic to a Web offering

Use wisely (and not too often)

How often do you (and your staff) communicate with this constituent group?

Track the success of your campaign

Click throughs

Gifts

Creating Your HTML Email Campaign

Don’t do it yourself; use an industry vendor

Vertical Response

Topica

Both Vertical Response and Topica can work with your data

Provides tracking

Offers personalized print campaign collateral (e.g., postcards)

HTML campaign can include other types of new media

Audio and Video files, links to blogs, slideshows, etc.

III. Integrating New Media in Communications Plans

Integrating New Media in Communications Plans

Understanding your stakeholders

Identifying unmet communications needs

Understanding your organization

What is your communications mix?

Target and position

Communication process and vehicles

Recommendations

Understanding your stakeholders

Identify primary and secondary stakeholders

Alumni, donors, prospective students, current students, parents, community

Journalists; local, state, federal government; industry, prospective faculty

Demographics and psychographics

location, socio-economic variables, lifestyles, media use patterns, behaviors, benefits sought

Develop profiles

Identifying unmet needs

How well do stakeholders feel needs are being met?

Annual survey of random samples from constituents to identify strengths and weaknesses in your communications mix; track progress

How well coordinated are you in communicating to stakeholders to achieve organizational goals?

Infrastructure (centralized, decentralized), success measures, consistency across communication channels (look and feel)

How do you currently reach stakeholders?

Face to face, print, email, audio/video (DVDs, Web video)

Understanding your organization

“ Brand” value and perception

What is your mission?

Who do we serve? What benefits do we provide?

Sources of competitive advantage

Core competencies of the organization

Physical assets, intangible assets, capabilities, human capital

SWOT Analysis

Internal: Strengths Weaknesses

External: Opportunities Threats

SWOT Analysis of CMIG

Target and position

Perceptual Mapping

How do stakeholders perceive you?

How do stakeholders perceive your competitors?

Differentiation: Where do you want to be?

Creating Your Message

Message flows from

Target and Position

Desire to change your position

SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Opportunities

Survey Data

What resonates with your constituents?

Development Office campaign for young alumni

FY06 received under $4M primarily through phone

Instituted print, email, and new media (video) “Participate” campaign based on profiles of young alumni

By March 2007 already reached 85% of target $6M

November 2006, aggressive email campaign to young alumni

Giving in November increased

Communication Process & Vehicle Selection

Awareness

Press releases, Web site

Credibility

Faculty press mentions, quotes, rankings

Interest

White papers, press articles, conference presentations, advertising, blogs, event recordings

Preference

Information sheets, collateral, brochures, promotional videos, podcasts, blogs

Selection

Maintenance communications, RSS feeds, podcasts

Loyalty

Thank you emails , regular mail, phone

What is your communication mix? How do you currently communicate / interact? Are these communications “strategic”? Are they aligned to user needs?

Budget, Staffing, Schedule

Budget

Investment not a cost

Specific costs of types of projects

Invoicing: Freshbooks.com

Staffing

Need one dedicated production professional (senior producer, producer, assistant producer)

Interns, students

Schedule

Calendaring system: Oracle, Google Calendar

FreedBack.com, Wafoo.com (web form apps)

Recommendations

Establish task force of communicators / leaders for each stakeholder

Establish list of key messages, broken out by stakeholder group

Develop standard survey of stakeholders needs

Include measurement in every communication plan

Focus on the value of behavioral changes that can result from successful communication

Thanks!

Matt Howard

[email_address]

773-702-5071

Renee Basick

[email_address]

773-834-7955

http://cmig.uchicago.edu

http://research.uchicago.edu/highlights

Making the Case for New Media in Your Communications Program

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