Can your web content strategy survive its course in higher ed?

Many times, leadership is not aware of the amount of effort that needs to be dedicated to content strategy, especially if we don’t have consistent methods to demonstrate the real value that it brings. This session will demonstrate how a plan for sustainable web content strategy involving leadership and follow-through may be beneficial.

Transcript

1. CAN YOUR WEB CONTENT STRATEGY SURVIVE ITS COURSE IN HIGHER ED? Presented by Terry Patterson (@vivistar) Web Team Lead, Purdue Veterinary Medicine
2. WORK TITLE: What I do: My Team: Editor / Web Team Lead Office of Advancement, communications & public affairs / Media Instructional and Information Technology (MIIT) • Web project management • Information architecture • Web user experience design • Web content strategy direction and management • Maintains the web content management system • Performs web development / programming • Social Media • Designs graphics • Produces promotional videos • Writes and revises web and print content • Deploys College Publications (web and print / external and internal)
3. PURDUE VETERINARY MEDICINE ‣Veterinary Teaching Hospital ‣Three academic departments ‣Six research centers ‣Two research facilities ‣Seven administrative units Student Population: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine: 302 Veterinary Technician: 88 (AS: 55; BS:33) Veterinary Technician Distance Learning: 275 Graduate/Intern/Residency: 124 Faculty: Veterinarians: 93 Non-veterinarians: 25 Board-certified specialists: 67 Graduate/Intern/Residency: 124
4. WE STARTED WITH THIS… Photo by Jeremy Simpson via Flickr
5. OUR DESIGN PHILOSOPHY “To design is to plan, to order, to relate, and to control. In short, it opposes all means of disorder and accident.” ~ Emil Ruder
6. OUR PROJECT CHARTER
7. FROM STRATEGIC PLAN: MAKING OUR LOCAL AND GLOBAL IMPACT KNOWN
8. FROM STRATEGIC PLAN: MAKING OUR LOCAL AND GLOBAL IMPACT KNOWN
9. FROM STRATEGIC PLAN: MAKING OUR LOCAL AND GLOBAL IMPACT KNOWN
10. WE PLANNED TO DESIGN AND WORKED TO REALIZE OUR VISION
11. WHO WAS INVOLVED? Leadership ‣Dean’s Office ‣Department Heads ‣Administrative Unit Directors ‣Center Directors Faculty ‣Clinicians ‣Researchers Administrative Personnel ‣Unit / Department Secretaries ‣Business Office Managers
12. NOT LIKE HERDING CATS Leadership ‣Dean’s Office ‣Department Heads ‣Administrative Unit Directors ‣Center Directors Faculty ‣Clinicians ‣Researchers Administrative Personnel ‣Unit / Department Secretaries ‣Business Office Managers
13. To advance specific mission To tell the College’s story Everyone worked toward the same goal, but slightly different motivation.
14. The challenge is to sustain our vision and work toward continuous improvement.
15. For continuous improvement we needed a plan to coordinate and manage continuous engagement. Committed Stakeholders
16. Leadership Team Committed stakeholders Web Communications Team Web Advisory Board Web Writers Group
17. OUR PLAN FOR CONTINUOUS ENGAGEMENT: • Engage committed stakeholders to identify concerns early and often • Keep stakeholders informed • Facilitate training / learning • Encourage accountability
18. ‣Is the current content strategy meeting the communication needs? ‣Are the communication and content generation workflows efficient? ‣Is the support system timely and responsive? ‣Are there specific technology challenges that need attention? Committed stakeholders identify concerns / issues early and often
19. What we do to identify concerns / issues early and often ‣Presence at the leadership meeting (at least once each semester) ‣Once a semester meeting with web advisory board ‣Once a month discussions with web writers group
20. ‣Our workflows and new initiatives are transparent ‣Web analytics are reviewed regularly Committed stakeholders are always informed Leadership Team Web Advisory Board Web Writers Group
21. ‣We have an internal web group site ‣We have an annual analytics report for the Dean’s office and College Leadership Team. What we do to be always informed Leadership Team Web Advisory Board Web Writers Group
24. ‣Brand guidelines ‣Copyright guidelines ‣Web accessibility ‣Web usability ‣Writing for the web ‣Search engine optimization ‣Social media guidelines ‣Web publishing technical skills Committed stakeholders are always learning Web Writers Group
25. ‣Short workshops at meetings ‣On-demand resources: ‣CMS Training ‣Branding ‣Usability, SEO ‣New training initiative: Digital Badges and Certificate of Accomplishment ‣Communicate availability of additional web related workshops on campus What we do to facilitate learning Web Writers Group
26. ‣For efficiency ‣For accuracy ‣For initiating dialog when something does not work well ‣For improvement ‣For quality assurance ‣For collaboration Committed stakeholders are always accountable Web Writers Group Web Communications Team Efforts are measured
27. ‣Communicating high level strategy and objectives ‣Supporting Involved Personnel and their commitment to the new web communication process and efforts Committed stakeholders are supportive Leadership Team Web Advisory Board
28. ‣Constantly promoting the engagement of committed Stakeholders Purdue Veterinary Medicine sustains its web content strategy by:
29. For a healthy and long-lasting web content strategy, leading constant stakeholder engagement is key.
30. QUESTIONS ? CatCase at Catster.com