The document provides tips for effectively migrating content from an old website to a new one. It discusses the importance of identifying stakeholders and point people, auditing existing content to determine what needs to be rewritten or moved, planning the writing and editing process, selecting appropriate tools, setting a timeline, testing the new site, and using analytics and user feedback to refine the site after launch. The overall message is that a successful content migration requires focusing on ownership, auditing, writing, tools, and implementation.

1. Email
Everything but the message!
Catherine Conway | Digital Strategy
June 12, 2014

3. Good email
● Targeted mailing list
● Strong, singular call-to-action
● Focused landing page aligned with the call-
to-action

4. Make it all worth it

5. 5 Tips for optimal delivery

6. 1. Recognizable sender
● Choose a familiar
sender
● Person or
organization

7. 2. Replies: a real person
● Build process in advance
● Set expectations for reply time

8. 3. Effective subject line
● Be compelling and relevant:
o ‘HarvardX for Alumni starts today’
o ‘Jack Reardon’
o ‘Enjoy your book, ’04’
● 45 Characters or fewer
● Start with most important
words
● Complement sender &
preheader

9. 4. Preheader
● Keep short
● Display varies
by platform
● Add a link if
applicable

10. 5. Optimize blocked images
● Repeat your call-
to-action
● Reinforce your
content
● Add link if
applicable

11. Email checklist
While the team is reviewing
the message, think about:
❏ Sender
❏ Reply address
❏ Subject line
❏ Preheader
❏ Alt-text & links

12. Thank you!
harvard.edu/guidelines

14. 1. #Hashtag
• Pick a hashtag
and do your
research
(Tagboard,
Topsy)
• Seed it with
content

15. 1. Jump on the band wagon!
• Don’t reinvent
the wheel
• A widely used
hashtag is your
friend

16. 2. Rally the troops
• Let others know what your
campaign is about and what this
opportunity can mean for them
• Be specific—share a defined
timeframe, explain what you plan
to do with content

17. 2. Sharing is caring

18. 3. Give love
• Recognize the great content others are
sharing by liking, reposting, and favoriting

19. 3. Brag about yourself
• When you participate, let the organizers
know!
• Send an email
• Show your team

20. 4. Build your hall of
fame

21. 4. Celebrate good times!

22. Good morning, Jon,
Mike and I wanted to extend our appreciation for your participation in the #HarvardinAutumn campaign. The Arnold Arboretum had some really
great content, and we think our audience really enjoyed it. It was great having you on board, and if there is ever anything our office can do to help
the Arboretum, please feel free to get in touch!
We are wrapping up the campaign this week, and thought you might like to see some of the final products:
Storify recap: http://storify.com/harvard/harvardinautumn (this is what we plan to share moving forward)
Rebelmouse: http://rebelmouse.com/harvardinautumn (the collection of photos as we went through the campaign)
Instagram: http://instagram.com/p/gYDvPXQObD/ (thank you post to the community)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Harvard/status/398090651692457984 (thank you tweet + link to Storify)
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151679768111607&set=a.158722856606.126506.105930651606 (photo + link to Storify)
All the best,
Becky
5. Offer shout-outs and gather
numbers
• Thank those who got on your band wagon—
you couldn’t have done it without them
• Measure success using metrics, and save to
compare to next time

23. Participation = More followers, more exposure, more engagement!
5. Collaboration is key

24. LEARN MORE AT HARVARD.EDU/GUIDELINES
B E C K Y W I C K E L
rebecca_wickel@harvard.e
du
Smith Campus Center 1037
harvard.edu
news.harvard.edu/gazette
K A T I E H A M M E R
kate_hammer@harvard.edu
Smith Campus Center 1037
green.harvard.edu
green.harvard.edu/report
@GreenHarvard@harvard / @harvardu

25. Posting video on the web:
Before & After
Ben Sharbaugh
June 12, 2014

26. Why bother?

27. Why bother?

28. Before you can post a video
Goals Who and what is this video for?
BREATHING ROOM WHENEVER POSSIBLE
Hosting Where will the video live?
Settings Who do you want to see the video and where?
Titling What will the video be called?
Tagging How will the video be found?

29. Goals
Who is this video for?
What does success look like?
• Do we want 50 of our supporters or 500 new people to see our video?
• Are we ok with people seeing the video and moving on? Or do we
want a click? A social share?
• Do we want this video embedded on other sites?

30. Breathing Room
Video publish takes time and fixes are difficult…never rush it.
• Uploading
• Reliant on 3rd party platforms
• Double check and triple check before uploading, then test every player
• Fixes take time
Best practice is to allow 3 days for publication of a video

31. Hosting
Options
YouTube: Free, mobile-friendly, embeddable, findable, but less elegant
(you might find your content up next to undesirable content)
● If you have video that would be interesting to a general, public
audience, Harvard’s central YouTube channel might be a fit
Vimeo: More elegant, but free option is limited, not findable
White Label: Incredible flexibility of design and functionality, but
expensive (Kaltura, Brightcove, Ooyala)

32. Settings
Options
Private: Only for a small group, typically password protected
Unlisted: Can be seen by anybody who has the link, usually friendly with
embedding as well
Public: Can be viewed by anybody anywhere

33. Titling
Artful vs Functional
VS

34. Titling
Artful vs Functional
VS

35. Tagging/Description
Tagging and descriptions will take place twice, once on the video itself
(YouTube, Vimeo, etc…) and once on your website. Both important.
Balance commonly used search terms with terms that are unique to your
video.
• “Harvard” tag is flooded, but when coupled with “European studies”
could help push your video to the top
• Tools like Google Adwords, Bing Keyword Research are helpful to
identify what keywords to use
Description text should use any keywords that you couldn’t fit in the title

36. After you post a video
Revisions Fixing a video takes time and hurts your numbers
Tracking How many people are watching your video and where?
Reacting What works? What doesn’t?

37. Revisions
Powerpoint vs PDF
• To edit a video, you need the “edit file”. You can’t just fix a video file
without the proper editing software
• Any edit requires a full re-export, which can be very time consuming
• Depending on what video hosting solution you are using, replacing a
video could mean losing all your views and SEO

38. Tracking
Views: most basic metric, how many people hit play
Playback location: where did people see my video? Embedded on
other sites? What device did they use?
Engagement: How much of my video did people watch? Did they hit
play and immediately close the window?
• Longer videos have lower engagement, but shooting for 10-15%
view time is a good goal

39. Reacting
Where did people watch? If a large percentage of your views came on
another website, consider going back to them next time
Engagement: Is your audience more interested in long-form video or
short-form video? Does video on your homepage get the most
attention? Or videos posted only on YouTube?
● Comments are very closely tied to engagement around videos. We
disable commenting on Harvard’s central channels given
moderation requirements, but if you have resources to dedicate,
they help increase engagement.
Marketing vs Learning: Are people more drawn to shorter, marketing
videos or more substantive videos focused on learning experiences?

40. Takeaways
Try not to rush Video is tough to fix...measure twice, cut once
Set a goal Who are you trying to reach and how? What do you want
viewers to do?
Titles & Tags If you want a lot people to see your video, make it easy
to find.
Learn How and where are people watching your videos? What kind of
videos does your audience want to see?

41. Guidelines
Harvard.edu/guidelines

42. Connecting the Dots with
content migration
or How to get there from here
Amy Lavoie | aalavoie@fas.harvard.edu | June 12, 2014

43. overviewFacing a website migration?
Focus on five areas to effectively port your content
Ownership
Auditing
Writing and Editing
Tools
Implementation

44. ownership
identify stakeholders
●Authors, Subject matter experts
●Business process owners
●Approvers
identify point people
●Who is accountable
●More stakeholders, more clarity

45. auditing
Scope of your content
● Map old to new: Redundancies? gaps?
● Rewriting or just a move
A purpose for each page
● User testing: Usability, focus groups
and interviews
● Personas

46. write/edit
Plan for your future state
● Start early! Set a timeline, segment
● Group like content together
● Roles & responsibilities
What is your big picture?
● What is your voice and tone?
● Messaging? Style guide?

47. write/edit
What are your parameters?
● Requirements of the text?
● Word count?
Hierarchy
● Headers and formatting of the page
● Keywords and SEO

48. College.Harvard.Edu - Before
All of our financial aid is awarded on the basis
of demonstrated financial need—there are no
academic, athletic or merit-based awards, and
we meet the demonstrated need of every
student, including international students, for all
four years. We invite you to explore our web
site for a detailed description of all aspects of
our aid program, including our Harvard
Financial Aid Initiative for low and moderate
income students…

49. College.Harvard.Edu - After
Your financial circumstances have never kept
you from great achievement, and they will not
keep you from Harvard. Applying for financial
aid will not hinder your application, regardless
of your citizenship. We provide the support you
need to get here by working closely with you to
understand your family’s individual
circumstances.

50. implement
Identify tools
● Collaboration & reviewing
Set a timeline
● Divide up the site, make it manageable
● Work backwards from your launch date.
Photos and media
● Selecting, editing & uploading

51. review
Make sure your don’t break anything
● Are you changing any URLs? Redirects
● Check your links!
User acceptance testing
● Do you have volunteers to review your beta site?
● What are your requirements for launch?
What is the post-launch wishlist/backlog?

52. post-launch
What is the post-launch wishlist/plan?
● Version 2.0
● Analytics: Review, revise, refine
● User Feedback

53. Style Guidelines and Best Practices
Harvard.Edu/Guidelines

54. Amy Lavoie
aalavoie@fas.harvard.edu | June 12, 2014
Thank you.