Web Strategy for Higher Education

The other day I was listening to some marketing expert who said and I quote, “There is nothing like online marketing strategy, now-a-days marketing strategy has to have an online aspect, it is the new era marketing”. The advent of web 2.0 has made organizations rethink their marketing strategy…or…if we may call it…their web strategy.

Higher Ed institutions ought to have a very well defined web strategy as they are dealing with the first internet generation, the generation of Facebooks, Twitters, and Googles. It’s the time Higher Ed institutions realize the untapped potential of the web or be ready to miss the boat. In here, I try to identify few key factors that can help a Higher Ed institution to decide upon its web strategy;

1. Use the power of Social Media:- It is established through various online surveys that a large number of new and transfer student prospects use web as their primary resource for researching an institution of their requirements. The students are smarter than what we think. They probably will take opinions from their pals over social networks like Facebook or MySpace or read through some Higher Ed Blogs.

Higher Ed marketing & communications departments can consider making their institution’s official page over social networks like Facebook to penetrate into these student groups with targeted information. Doing something like Wofford College will make you realize the opportunity you had been missing.

With micro blogging tools like Twitter, students are already doing things like setting up reminders for their homework, schedules, trips and getting updates right into their mobile phones. Institutions can make their admission counselors initiate discussions over twitter, create targeted twibes keeping students and their objectives in mind while their search for the right institution.

2. Get the right CMS for your website:- For Higher Ed institutions it is very important that investment is made in the right website content management system. Good CMS systems would allow you to create content which is ADA compliant. Through workflows, it will allow different departments from within your institution to represent their department on the web and yet allow marketing and communications to control the publishing & make sure that market-able material goes out.

With a good CMS, Academics as a department can have its own News, Announcements and Events published at the Academics page on the website. Some good CMS tools even allow you to optimize your website for search engines, checking for meta-tags, ALT tags, Headings etc. Any good CMS system facilitates you with multi lingual & multi channel (mobile, web, desktop) capabilities which further allow any Higher Ed institution to broaden its’ reach.

3. Have useful tools on your website:- When new students or prospects come to your website they are particularly looking for self service web apps which can give them quality information without really delving deep into it. Some of these web apps can include;

• Calculators/Web Apps for Scholarships & Financial Aid
• Effective Search Utility
• Orientation & Testing Apps
• Transfer Students Apps
• Student Portals
• User Friendly App for Program & Majors

4. Have content & messaging strategy in place: - The web world is all about the right content. Whatever I mentioned above would be useless if the content is not targeted, if the messaging is not sticky. It’s just few seconds in which your messaging has to make an impact on the audience; another click and you might lose the lead altogether. The best approach is to engage a content strategist who will study your audience together with you, make use cases around that and help you develop an approach for generating content. Remember, for a prospect coming to your website, it's just the quality and value of the content that matters.

5. Tracking User Behavior: – The web today has become quite mature as a business platform. Web provides you mechanisms which further allow you to monitor and track the user behavior and interest on your website. Tools like Google Analytics & Optimizer not only allow you to evaluate the keyword based traffic coming to your website but also establish which content blocks are converting more leads to students.

Many standard CMS products also provide integrated components for user behavior tracking and relative content based user targeting.

Overall, the essence is that your website should engage its’ visitors, it should talk to the students, and your web strategy should involve students, their perspective. In this dipping economy, even more than getting new students, it is important to retain the existing students. The new web gives you the ways to know the direction and thought flow of your students and prospects.

Make your website a living piece; keep generating more relevant content on different online channels for your college; Give up that conventional college brochure website mindset…make it interactive..Develop a user experience……and see the difference.

by Muktesh Kandpal (muktesh.kandpal@edynamic.net)