Jennifer Chesney discusses the role and power of digital strategy in external portfolios. She explains that digital strategy impacts more external stakeholders than any other method and owns digital strategy, not IT. Digital strategy at the University of Alberta focuses on goals like championing knowledge sharing and empowering innovation. It has resulted in growth including 9 million pageviews per month on the university website and increasing digital donations over time, especially from mobile. Chesney's vision is for all Canadian universities to have digital strategy in their external portfolios and to collaborate nationally and internationally on digital initiatives.

1. The
Role
of
Digital
Strategy
in
External
PorSolios
Jennifer Chesney
Associate Vice-President, University Digital Strategy
Twitter: @JGChesney #UAlberta
Email: jchesney@ualberta.ca
St. John’s NF & L│ June 8-10 juin, 2013
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CCAE
Na6onal
Conference
St.
John's,
Newfoundland
and
Labrador,
June
8
–
10,
2013
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idées
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2013
1

2. Who owns Digital Strategy at your university?
A. IT
B. Everybody; we kind of wing it
C. An intern, when I’ve got budget for one
D. Don’t get me started…
Reality Check

3. Who owns Digital Strategy?
“The reality is some things will fail, but we need them to fail
fast. And then we can build it back up faster.”
“In that world, we have no value in a corporate CIO,
because all departments are different. We want to focus on
users.
“Agile shouldn’t apply just to services, but to the culture. We
want to look externally and see what we can deliver.”
- Stephen Kelly, Chief Operating Officer, HM Government
April 2013, PublicTechnology.net
From “Agile Government: What the Scrapping of CIO means to digital strategy”
http://www.publictechnology.net/features/agile-government-what-scrapping-cio-means-digital-strategy/37649

4. Who owns Digital Strategy?
You do.
Digital Strategy impacts more external (and internal)
stakeholders more frequently and more consistently
than any other method of engagement.

5. The Power of Digital Strategy
UAlberta.ca: 9M+ pageviews per month and growing

6. The Power of Digital Strategy
Numbers to ponder…
9M pageviews per month on @3M visitors
@100,000 visitors per day
100,000 visitors to engage, inspire, make proud
to study here
to work here
to give
Every. Single. Day.

7. The Power of Digital Strategy: Everything can be measured
Study here
Apply now  Accepted  Registered  Attended  Graduated
Work here
Apply now  Interviewed  Hired  Years of Service
Give to us
Give now  Online donation/call leads
Volunteer  Projects/time volunteered
Mentor  Mentee success stories

8. The Power of Digital Strategy:
More numbers to ponder…Social Media
Twitter Reach: 48 hours of one UAlberta event
Twitter Reach: total number of Twitter users who have received the tweet in their feed

9. Who owns Digital Strategy?
You do.
This isn’t IT.
This is sales, marketing, product development and
community engagement on steroids.

10. Founding Vision and Goals 2010:
To become one of the best examples of a
post-secondary digital learning environment
enabled by our web, mobile, social networks
and IT systems capabilities.
1. Champion interdisciplinary knowledge sharing
2. Empower student and staff innovation
3. Commit to audience-centric design
4. Build for the mobile, connected community
Come
Together
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Right
Now!
Sharing
ideas
on
the
changing
seascape
of
advancement
2013
CCAE
Na6onal
Conference
St.
John's,
Newfoundland
and
Labrador,
June
8
–
10,
2013
Rassemblons-­‐nous...
Maintenant!
Pour
échanger
des
idées
sur
les
courants
changeants
en
avancement
Congrès
na6onal
2013
St.
John's
(Terre-­‐Neuve-­‐et-­‐Labrador)
du
8
au
10
juin
2013
University Digital Strategy 10

11. Business & Academic Goals Fulfillment
Performance and Optimization
User Engagement & Loyalty
Web/mobile strategy
Digital analytics & advertising strategy
Social Media mash-up strategy
Digital learning environment & products
Come
Together
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.
.
Right
Now!
Sharing
ideas
on
the
changing
seascape
of
advancement
2013
CCAE
Na6onal
Conference
St.
John's,
Newfoundland
and
Labrador,
June
8
–
10,
2013
Rassemblons-­‐nous...
Maintenant!
Pour
échanger
des
idées
sur
les
courants
changeants
en
avancement
Congrès
na6onal
2013
St.
John's
(Terre-­‐Neuve-­‐et-­‐Labrador)
du
8
au
10
juin
2013
Digital Strategy Catalogue 11

12. University Digital Strategy Org Structure
Digital Analytics
Portfolio Management
Development & Design
Keep it lean. (small core team; contractors as needed)
Set digital strategy goals to help meet institutional goals.
Provide digital services at no cost to all faculties/units.

13. Leaders
Project Managers
Team Leads
Designers
Developers
User Experience
Quality Assurance
Analysts
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Right
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Sharing
ideas
on
the
changing
seascape
of
advancement
2013
CCAE
Na6onal
Conference
St.
John's,
Newfoundland
and
Labrador,
June
8
–
10,
2013
Rassemblons-­‐nous...
Maintenant!
Pour
échanger
des
idées
sur
les
courants
changeants
en
avancement
Congrès
na6onal
2013
St.
John's
(Terre-­‐Neuve-­‐et-­‐Labrador)
du
8
au
10
juin
2013
Digital Strategy Team Roles 13

16. Collect Data
Analyze Data / Report
Find an issue
Feedback
Investigate / Insight
Recommend Solution
Identify success metrics
Improve “?”

17. Responsive Design

18. Collect Data
Analyze Data / Report
Find an issue
Feedback
Monitor
success
metrics
Investigate / Insight
Recommend Solution
Identify success metrics
Build
re predictions
Strategies / Tactics
Improve “?”

19. So what?at your university?
RESULTS

20. UAlberta.ca Ecosystem

21. International & Organic Search Trends

22. Mobile & Social Media Visits Trends

24. Like sourdough starter…at your university?
Digital Donations

25. Digital Donations Trend
Focus on
conversion tactics
leads to increase
in number and
size of donations
via web and
social media.

26. Digital Donations Trend
Number of donations
via digital overall:
+ 84% 2011 vs. 2010
+ 45% 2012 vs. 2011

27. Digital Donations Trend
Significant jumps
in digital
donations 2012
vs. 2010
Huge opportunity
for:
Long Tail Giving
Crowdfunding
Microcampaigns

28. Digital Donations Trend - Mobile
Number of donations via
mobile:
+ 2,899% 2011 vs. 2010
+ 101% 2012 vs. 2011

29. Digital Donation Trend - Mobile
Mobile donations by Source
by Year:
• $73 avg per social media
• $106 avg per ualberta.ca
• $96 avg per direct link to
online giving form

30. 2010 International Digital Donations
Total by country

31. 2011 International Digital Donations
Total by country

32. 2012 International Digital Donations
Total by country

33. 2013
• Online Visioning Report
• Digital Learning Pilots R&D
• Pedagogy & Machine Learning Research
Memorandum of Understanding with Udacity
Coming Soon
• Synchronous blended learning best practices
• First MOOC: Dino101 (Dinosaur Paleobiology)
• Cross-university digital collaboration
Digital Learning Environment & Products

34. Digital Learning Environment & Products

35. My Vision Quest
Every Canadian university has Digital Strategy in
its external portfolio.
Digital Strategy units participate in provincial,
national, and international collaborations.
How do we get there?
What is holding us back?
How can we help each other?

36. Thank you
Jennifer Chesney
Associate Vice-President, University Digital Strategy
Twitter: @JGChesney #UAlberta
Email: jchesney@ualberta.ca
Come
Together
.
.
.
Right
Now!
Sharing
ideas
on
the
changing
seascape
of
advancement
2013
CCAE
Na6onal
Conference
St.
John's,
Newfoundland
and
Labrador,
June
8
–
10,
2013
Rassemblons-­‐nous...
Maintenant!
Pour
échanger
des
idées
sur
les
courants
changeants
en
avancement
Congrès
na6onal
2013
St.
John's
(Terre-­‐Neuve-­‐et-­‐Labrador)
du
8
au
10
juin
2013
36