Defining Target Audiences: Who Are We Talking To, Really?

When I ask higher ed web teams who their primary audience is, inevitably the answer is "prospective students." Makes sense, right? Since higher ed websites are such an important marketing tool, most people will agree prospective student is an appropriate primary audience. Yet, when you navigate college websites, how well does content speak to this audience? And what about other audiences? How do they fit in? The reality is we cater to … [Read more...]

Talking Silos and More with Amanda Costello

The Mississippi River begins in Minnesota and snakes its away down to through Louisiana bayou and into the Gulf of Mexico. While it remains to be seen if she will take a riverboat, University of Minnesota content strategist Amanda Costello will make her way to New Orleans as one of the keynotes for Confab Higher Ed this November. Costello, who works at the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development, will speak about … [Read more...]

Meghan Casey’s Tips For Time-Stretched Content Managers

Don’t look now, but there’s a great new content strategy guide for content professionals in higher ed. Meghan Casey, lead content strategist at Brain Traffic, authored a practical guide for getting on track with content strategy: “The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right.” As her book just hit bookstores, we asked Meghan if she’d share some of her content strategy tips for our higher ed friends … [Read more...]

Ask Me Anything: How Can Higher Ed Use Reddit AMAs?

The following guest post was written by Ryan Morejon, social media community manager, and Angeline Evans, former digital media manager, at Florida International University. You never want to dive into a new social channel without a strategy just because it’s new or just for the sake of being there. That’s why, at first, we were hesitant to experiment with Reddit at Florida International University. For one, we didn’t know much about it, … [Read more...]

Making Change at Confab Higher Ed 2014

Last week, a bunch of smart higher education content professionals landed in Atlanta for the second annual Confab Higher Ed cake party. Er, rather, the second annual Confab Higher Ed conference. More than just a project show-and-tell, the conference presenters used their accomplishments and experiences to touch on some of the pervasive themes that inform all of our work. These include trust, internal communication and collaboration, and how to … [Read more...]