Many of us work at institutions without top-down content strategy and may be “lone rangers” when it comes to content at our respective schools or departments. It can even be lonely at the top (a.k.a. central administration) if we’re not in the loop with others around campus. But if we look beyond our own dusty saloons, we’ll see many folks just like us, trying to bring the rule of law to the wild west of content. The challenge—and … [Read more...]
Aligning Content Online and Offline
July 6, 2011 by
Traditionally, we have viewed offline and online experiences as two separate things — complementary, perhaps, but separate. Today, the distinctions between physical and digital are dissolving — campus events are experienced both from the audience and via the hashtag — revealing themselves to be two sides of the same experience. This begs the tough question: Are we aligned? On June 12 and 13, I delivered a presentation at Penn State Web … [Read more...]
Higher Ed Live Recap: “A ‘Content-First’ Approach to Higher Ed Web”
June 23, 2011 by
On June 19, we appeared on Higher Ed Live with Seth Odell to talk about a "content-first" approach to higher ed web. It was a great discussion about why content matters and how we can make it the center of our conversations about the web in higher ed. We'd like to share the episode with you and flesh out some of the ideas we discussed with Seth. Why "Content First"? Content should always come first because we need it to support all … [Read more...]
Why Should We Care About Your Twitter Account?
June 10, 2011 by
One of the things we've learned about managing social media is that the sooner you begin planning your social media content strategy by asking "why?" the better off your plan will be in the long run. But while we may have done a good job of answering the "why?" question internally, have we done a good job of answering our audience's "why?" question: Why should I follow you? What will I get out of this? What content will you give me? What value … [Read more...]
What Does Your Legacy Content Say About You?
May 31, 2011 by
Remember that timeline you created for the sesquicentennial? Or that page with thumbnail profiles of students engaged in public service? How about the photo gallery of new campus buildings... that happens to be missing the two dorms built last year? Sometimes, content that we create -- whether because a higher-up suggested it, because the idea struck us on a slow summer afternoon or because of a content plan that later goes awry -- ends up … [Read more...]