transforming higher ed institutions to social businesses

There was a time, back when we walked ten miles uphill in the snow to get to school, that traditional marketing combined with recruitment fairs and fundraising campaigns meant steady university revenue. No longer.  

Students, as "customers", are informed and influenced by a social community and by our adaptability to their needs, not by recruitment officers with shiny pamphlets. Donors, as "partners", rightfully demand information sharing, engagement and value, just as they would of the companies they invest in and purchase from.

How can we give them what they seek? Enhance what we already do well -  knowledge sharing and community building - with the evolution of social media, social marketing and, wait for it...social business.

Social business, as defined by SideraWorks is:

"the creation of an organization that is optimized to benefit its entire ecosystem (customers, employees, owners, partners) by embedding collaboration, information sharing, and active engagement into its operations and culture. The result is a more responsive, adaptable, effective and ultimately more successful company."

source

Isn't this what higher ed institutions are good at (or at least aim to be good at) naturally? Our researchers constantly look for inspiring cross-discipline and industry collaborations. Our core mission is effective information sharing with students and the community. Engagement of students, alumni, employers and donors is at the core of student service and advancement offices.

The only stretch is now to do all of these good things in a more strategic way, on a much bigger platform, and for a much wider audience.

But it takes work.

• It means a heck of a lot of transparent internal communication and installing the right technology platforms to do it with. 
• It means educating leadership on the benefits of empowering all employees to solve problems, share insights and connect with each other and directly with our customers and partners in order to adapt and evolve.
• It means involving our customers in forming what the product they are paying for will be.
• It means a shift in thinking by the marketing team to publish content that is consumer and partner-centred, instead of news celebrating our own achievements and credentials. 
• It means convincing faculty members that giving their time to speak at public seminars and blog about insights into industry or society will pay off for them in the future with more funding for their work. 
•  It means listening to what our alumni need to improve their lives and then giving it to them, instead of flooding them with emails to attend events that may not be meaningful to them.
• And it means directing financial and human resources to take advantage of new social technology and opportunities. 

The result of this effort is surely worthwhile. Adapting our organizations to a social business model will strengthen brand reputation and relationships since value, service, authenticity and transparency will resonate quickly with our audiences. We will become a true community, not an institution.

And the revenue will follow. More importantly, that revenue will be more purposefully directed to the projects and programs that have direct impact on growth - because it will come from partners and customers making informed choices due to engagement with the people who are creating change.

Demonstrating value, connectivity, and collaborative innovation is what will transform an institution into a social business, and thereby drive advancement success.

Note: another good resource on how to build a social business is at Social Business Forum.

why content marketing is key to higher education reputation and revenue

The explosion of content marketing is great news for higher education institutions trying to build reputation and increase revenue streams. For two reasons:

1. We have lots of content. Sure, it may take more effort to encourage and help faculty blog about their research and teaching, but the information they can share is the stuff that starts conversations. We also have students doing incredible things like experiential learning and community volunteering, and we have successful alumni who have wisdom to share about their industry. The effort spent by university marketing and communications folks on building editorial calendars, sparking ideas, and editing articles written by our stakeholders is so much more effective than simply reporting on faculty or alumni success. Articles and blog posts written by the experts themselves are genuine and they elicit discussion, advocacy and action.

2. It's cheaper than traditional marketing. Most universities don't have the budget these days for advertising, so it's beneficial to us that our target audiences pay attention to social media marketing. According to Hub Spot's 2013 Report on Inbound Marketing, inbound marketing-dominated organizations experience a 60% lower cost per lead than outbound marketing dominated organizations. What's more, social media and blogs are proving to generate real business, not simply brand awareness, delivering "54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound leads." 

So what do we need to do? 

First, we need to enhance our digital and social presence and find out what channels our target audiences are using.

Second, we need to encourage our faculty, students and alumni to provide us with content about the experience and knowledge they have gained, either directly or indirectly from being associated with our institution. We need to help them understand the payoffs for them -- writing credits and experience, but more importantly, reputational gains that will lead to long-term new revenue invested back into the school, which only boosts their work and credentials even further. 

Finally, we need to direct traditional marketing budgets and human resources into building mobile friendly sites and acquiring data analysis tools and training so that we can become even better at content and inbound marketing. 

Higher-education institutions are ahead of the curve when it comes to content marketing. Let's take advantage of that to build our level of success. 

To inspire your team, take a look at the great infographic on the anatomy of content marketing, from Content Plus. 

from donor pyramid to advancement pyramid

I'm a big fan of advancement shops over separate marketing, alumni and development shops. And here's why. It's almost impossible for marketing and alumni folks to directly connect their good work on a daily basis to the ultimate goal of revenue if they do not see strategies and tactics and results that move people from conversations and engagement to giving. 

Everyone working in higher education these days knows that universities and colleges are struggling to make ends meet. University leadership is therefore very focused on the bottom line, in order to meet the mission of high-quality research output and knowledge transfer to students and community. 

The best way to boost the university bottom line is by bringing in new revenue. A complete advancement shop whose many resources are all tasked with adding revenue creates a clear and inspiring goal for staff to work toward. 

Does that fly well with marketing shops who are working on building reputation or alumni shops who are building relationships? In my experience, yes. It inspires them to do even better work because they clearly see how reputation and relationship building are critical for new revenue generation and enhancing the university's impact on society. 

Here's how my shop has done it. We've gone from using the traditional donor pyramid to adding a conversation pyramid and an engagement pyramid as well. This "advancement pyramid" reminds us that it takes the whole team working toward the same goal to make a significant impact.

What do think? Do you agree with a shared advancement mission of revenue generation? I'd love to hear from you if have any other models that work well. 

remember to listen...then engage in a meaningful way

Our alumni demographic is changing with each graduating class. Young alumni have different needs than graduates ten or twenty years out. Most of our grads are so busy with career, travel and family that communicating and engaging with them has become a complicated exercise in tactical manoeuvres. But is is really that difficult?

All we really need to do is ask and listen. They tell us all the time what they want. They tell us through open rates on emails, click-throughs on websites, and attendance at events. They tell us through LinkedIn and Twitter connections. And they tell us through boasting publicly about their degree and where it is from. I believe our alumni do want to engage with us, if we do it on their terms.

We need to really hear what they are telling us by analyzing the data we already have, and by going out and personally talking to them, whether in a one-one meeting or at an event they are already at. Face-face connections are invaluable. Listen to the data, find out where they are and go there. Ask them how they want to engage with us, and let them know they have been heard.

In our digital world, it's not hard to customize engagement opportunities based on segmented groups- whether by age, affiliation or industry sector.  Once we understand what a particular group wants and needs, we can give it to them in a content-rich and quick-to-absorb communication piece, through a student interaction, or at an event. We can make it valuable and meaningful for them, and also enjoyable!

They will appreciate being heard, and we will see the return on our investment of time.