A Content-First Approach to Your Events Calendar

Ah, the events calendar. One of the most ubiquitous components of a university website, and often one of the most confounding. From wrestling with feeds and technical configurations to simply getting people to use the darned thing, a calendar can be a headache. Time to schedule some Excedrin. With the right approach, though, that headache can become a valuable asset. An events calendar is not just a software application, after all—it’s a rich … [Read more...]

Keeping a Flexible Content Plan

Last week, Tim Nekritz, director of web communication at SUNY Oswego, tackled a great topic: content and serendipity. In it he shared an example of content that unexpectedly generated a record-breaking amount of engagement for the SUNY Oswego Facebook page: 275 likes, 48 shares and 28 comments. Not bad. This content wasn't a carefully planned editorial story or coverage of a campus event — and certainly not a report on the latest school … [Read more...]

Reimagine Content in Higher Education

Last week, the Content Marketing Institute blog asked contributors, "What is the most useful thing you learned about content marketing in 2011?" I chimed in and gave the badge to Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman for their lesson "reimagine; don't recycle," found in their book Content Rules. This is a valuable content marketing lesson, but it's also an important content strategy lesson. The idea is to not simply repurpose content … [Read more...]

New Semester, New (Awesome) Content

Soon, the quiet in the halls will yield to chatter and footsteps. The lines at the campus food court will become exponentially longer, and the frisbee will resume its flight path over the quad. That's right: students. They're baaaack. Or they will be soon, anyway. So how do we plan content to herald this annual rite? There are many aspects to the beginning of the academic year that present compelling content opportunities. I've got a few … [Read more...]

User Feedback, Where? Right There!

Understanding our users’ needs and evaluating the efficacy of our web content is an ongoing challenge. But sometimes the most relevant, valuable insights are right in front of us. In her post, "Revisiting the cliché, 'the customer is always right,'" Tara DeMarco reminds us to make use of everyday user feedback. Just like customers, our web users are always right when they respond to our content — such as a visitor … [Read more...]