The handout for my presentation at the FIHE conference in Chicago, 2 May 2011.

1. FIHE 2011
Making the most of
your online presence
FIHE Conference, 2 May 2011
Michael Stoner
president, mStoner
michael.stoner@mstoner.com
@mStonerblog
mStoner.com
slideshare.net/mStoner
+1.312.622.6930

2. college search 1995
Cocktail party circuit
College Guides
Letters & phone calls
Viewbooks
Direct (paper) mail
Long-form videos
CD-ROMs
College search in 1995 was largely an offline affair. FTF, word-
of-mouth, was tremendously important. Though some
websites did exist, the primary communication between
prospective students and parents was through the phone,
letters, and print. Long-form, produced videos were
distributed on video cassettes. Cutting-edge colleges and
universities were experimenting with “interactive media”
distributed on CD-ROMs. Tulane began distributing “Discover
Tulane,” an imaginative “viewbook” on a floppy disk, in 1992.
One consequence of how the process unfolded is that
applicants were identified fairly in the process, allowing
institutions to track them over time and communicate with
them throughout the application process.

3. college search 2003
IM & chat
Direct email Lewis & Clark College
Google
.edu website
By 2003, word-of-mouth was still important (though by 2003, conversations
occurred over email as well as FTF) and, for teens, IM and chat. Direct paper mail
was being replaced by direct email in search.
But more important than either was Google. Typing in the name of an institution you
heard about somewhere into Google’s minimalist search box brought you directly to
its website.
At this point, a college or university website assumed enormous importance.
Depending on how well the site facilitated the search for answers to questions from
prospective students, they might apply or cross the institution off their list. Colleges
like Lewis & Clark began identifying students who could augment institutional
messages with their own insights into institutional life. Blog posts containing their
words began appearing on .edu websites, next to “official” content.

4. college search 2011
Facebook
Third-party sites
Stealth applicants
Today, word-of-mouth is facilitated, augmented, and amplified
by Facebook and a few other social channels. Many more
voices have become part of the conversation, among them
third-party sites like Unigo, Zinch, College Prowler. These
sites enable conversations about colleges and what they offer
(academic, social, etc.) in which anyone can participate.
There is little filtering here. Colleges can have a voice in the
discussion, but they are only one of many voices in the
conversation.
As a result of all the information available, applicants now
often appear in college databases when they apply — far later
in the process than in 1993.

5. changes?
more info available to more people,
faster
more voices, more opinions
many more channels
institutions lose control of the
message
These are some of the major changes that have occurred in
the past 20 years — more information from more people
offering more opinions delivered over more channels. Today,
institutions have lost control of the message as electronic
channels & social media in particular enable individuals to
communicate rapidly with each other.

6. Ne w real i t i es
for 20 1 1
So, given this landscape, let’s look at some new realities for 2011 that make
online communications significantly more important — and challenging — for
all institutions. Not just colleges and universities.

7. 1.
Everything
is connected
to everything
else.
bit.ly/9uemQS
This is Barry Commoner’s first law of ecology and mStoner’s first law
of branding. It’s essential to keep in mind when structuring
communications and marketing activities. Because of the way the
world works today, it’s easy for organizational anomalies to be
observed and amplified. Consistency counts. Not only in appearance
(do your communications look like they come from the same
organization?) but voice.
Furthermore, your online presence doesn’t occur in a vacuum but is
also connected to everything else you do:
People’s experiences with your staff when they visit your office.
A customer’s experience with your accounting department.
The condition of your buildings.

8. campaigns
a focused effort to achieve
goals using a variety of
channels appropriate to the
results sought
Given the new realities, it’s essential to think about your
communications as part of a larger ecosystem. You’ll use
multiple channels to market your institution and inform
important audiences about your brand. And various
campaigns will use multiple channels to achieve specific
results.

9. Search
ABOUT PBO
BLOG
ORANGE SPOTLIGHT
ALUMNI BUSINESSES
VIDEOS AND PHOTOS
GET ORANGE STUFF
BEAVER MARKETPLACE
PARTICIPATE Orchard View Farms MAP YOURSELF
87 students stopped by the MU chosen for this month's Orange Spotlight.
to share their PBO stories on OSU’S IMPACT
March 31. We know there are
thousands more. CAMPUS BANNERS
Share your story
OSU ALUMNI
ASSOCIATION
Our Impact
ORANGE SPOTLIGHT
Leading the Green Do you know a business that: From the PBO Blog
Revolution: OSU is a recognized
national leader in teaching, Is owned by an OSU alum April 9, 2010
research, service and Has lots of OSU alums OSU Press author Robin Cody
management practices enhancing working there releases first book in 15 years
sustainability and environmental
responsibility. The university’s Supports OSU April 1, 2010
progressive work in these areas Drives innovation Family Trees
are a major reason why Corvallis
repeatedly has been named Supports economic growth March 31, 2010
among America’s top green, Serves in the community Share your Powered by Orange
sustainable and livable cities, story
and why others in higher asdfasfasf
education look to OSU's
If you know a business that fits
authentic, holistic approach as a
this description then please nominate them for the Orange Spotlight. An
model for other campuses.
honor that will go to one business every month starting in April. At the
more on OSU's impact end of august we will be giving away two OSU Football season tickets to
one lucky person who has nominated a business.
Contact us with your comments, questions, and feedback
Powered by Orange v2.0
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon 97331-4501
phone: 541-737-1000
Copyright © 2010 Oregon State University | OSU Disclaimer
Oregon State University has done this exceptionally well with
its Powered By Orange campaign, which began as a way to
utilize social media to create buzz in Portland, OR, the state’s
largest media market and developed into a broad branding
and awareness campaign for the university. This is the
Powered By Orange blog, which is the centerpiece of the
campaign.
There’s a lot of detail about PBO in our blog post: budurl.com/
f5n6

10. channels
web website & blog
map Google Map w/PBO pins
other SM Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
merchandise PBO t-shirts & tschotskes
real world store signs, bus wraps, ads
personal meetings, displays,
OSU used a large number of channels in its initial launch in
Portland and continues to utilize multiple channels as the
campaign has expanded.

11. bit.ly/aSJZQZ+
Though it originally targeted Portland, the campaign expanded quickly. PBO evolved into a broader awareness-building campaign for
OSU. To make this shift, PBO initiated the Orange Spotlight in 2010. The feature invites nominations for businesses that are “Powered
by Orange”-—-“owned by an Oregon State alum, have lots of OSU alums working there, or are just friends of OSU. They also drive
innovation, support economic growth, and serve in the community.” Each month, a winning business is selected for the “Orange
Spotlight,” which includes a feature story on OSU’s website, promotion on its social networks, and inclusion in a campaign to push
OSU fans to featured businesses via Powered by Orange. People who nominate businesses are entered in a drawing for OSU Football
season tickets.
The result? David Baker, one of the architects of PBO, said, “We’re getting hundreds of nominations for businesses with some kind of
OSU connection.” The benefits can be real for businesses profiled. “We just spotlighted a vineyard in Napa Valley, Lamborn Family
Vineyards. Its owners are graduates of the OSU horticulture program and using sustainable growing techniques. Lamborn got great
publicity when WineBusiness.com picked up the story. This gave us a great story to reuse as we talk about OSU’s new wine institute.
It was a win-win for all concerned.”
The “Orange Spotlight” nominations have enabled OSU to gain detailed information on hundreds of businesses. Baker noted, “That’s
a pretty significant result for us.”

12. PBO themes and imagery carried over to OregonState.edu
when OSU redesigned its website last year.

13. 2.
It’s time
to get real about
social media.
Social media is an extremely important component of any
online presence in 2011 and there’s a lot of buzz about it in the
college and university community. Social media has
tremendous benefits to any institution: but this is a time for
realism, not hype. In order to be effective with social channels,
institutions need to be strategic in their thinking about them;
be clear about what social media is good for, and what it’s not
good for; connect it to other key marcom channels; fund it
appropriately; and set appropriate goals — and measure
progress against them.

14. #ETHIC_FAIL
If you don’t believe social media has consequences, here’s a
single tweet that damaged the reputation of luxury brand
Kenneth Cole, brought about a huge amount of opprobrium
and condemnation online and offline, and caused Cole himself
to apologize for his insensitivity on a blog post.

15. Here are some ways in which social media can be utilized for
different institutional purposes. What is your institution trying
to achieve with the social channels it’s using?

16. top strategic goals for social media
Goal rank (1 to 5)
Engage alumni 4.3
Create /sustain/improve brand image 4.0
Engage current students 3.5
Increase awareness/advocacy/rankings 3.5
Build internal community 3.5
Engage admitted students 3.2
Engage current faculty & staff 3.1
Engage prospective students 3.1
Engage the local community 3.1
Recruit students 3.0
mstnr.me/fIeZ9f
This is what schools, colleges, and universities around the
world are trying to acchieve through their social media
activities according to our research with CASE and Slover
Linett Strategies.

17. who are institutions reaching via sm?
Alumni 91%
Donors 75%
Employers 65%
Government Organizations 61%
Friends & Supporters 59%
Media 54%
Parents of Prospective Students 48%
High School Guidance Counselors 46%
Parents of Current Students 40%
Prospective Students 36%
Current Students 25%
Current Faculty & Staff 21%
mstnr.me/fIeZ9f
This is what schools, colleges, and universities around the
world are trying to acchieve through their social media
activities according to our research with CASE and Slover
Linett Strategies.

18. Social Strategists struggle with relying on engagement
data
We asked 140 Corporate Social Strategists: What measurements are
most important to evaluating the success of your program?
Engagement data: Retweets, comments, fans,
likes, followers, members
65.5%
Sentiment: Overall opinion of what people say 46.2%
Website Traffic 39.5%
Conversions or leads 34.5%
Customer satisfaction rates: Net promoter,
survey satisfaction
33.6%
Share of voice or total mentions 27.7%
Actual product revenue 21.8%
Other (please specify) 10.1%
0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0%
Source: Survey of Corporate Social Strategists, Altimeter Group, November 2010
© 2010 Altimeter Group
[source: Jeremiah Owyang, Altimeter Group]
Measuring the effectiveness of all this chatter is not easy and
schools, colleges, and universities struggle with it. Some of the
more sophisticated are trying to move beyond counting
touches such as Facebook “likes”, Twitter “retweets,” etc., and
attempting to explore how these translate into meaningful
engagement such as applying, giving, or otherwise supporting
an institution.
But social media is new and even well-funded commercial
entities struggle with how to measure its significance in
meaningful ways. This chart, from noted consultant Jeremiah
Owyang, summarizes what measurements corporate social
strategists use to determine effectiveness of their efforts.

19. 3.
A Facebook page
is not a social
strategy.
To many people, Facebook = social media. But having a
Facebook page is not, in itself, a social strategy. And despite
Facebook’s efforts to encourage other websites and marketers
to use Facebook credentials to log into their own sites,
adoption of this technology hasn’t soared. Many people
(including me) are cautious about using Facebook exclusively,
or too widely, because of concerns about too much
communication being forced through a single channel.

20. 81%
consumers who have “unliked” a
company on Facebook
on.mash.to/dJhx0R

21. 71%
consumers who are more selective
about “liking” a company
on.mash.to/dJhx0R

22. 4.
The net is in your
pocket, where
you are.
As mobile devices become more powerful and common, many
people are using them to access a variety of content. Social
channels — Facebook, Twitter, etc. — are being optimized for
mobile access. And a lot of new tools, such as so-called
“location-based services” or “geosocial” tools provide
information and other activities to mobile users focused on
the location at which they access the web. Examples include
Yelp, which offers reviews of restaurants and other
businesses; SCVNGR, a mobile gaming platform; and many
others.

23. content on mobile platforms
m.wm.edu
FIT mobile site
William & Mary “Dress
the Griffin” app
Colleges, universities, and businesses are responding by
developing mobile-friendly versions of their websites —
essentially slimmed-down versions of their sites. They’re also
developing “apps,” small programs that do something special
or fun for important audience segments, like this example
from William & Mary which allows fans to dress the college
mascot.

24. 5.
An online
presence doesn’t
just happen.
Of course, none of this will happen without focus, staff,
budgets, goals, and measurement.

25. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Theme: Question Facebook feature Sharing stories Women’s Equality Day Soldiers and Families
online
LOE: Strategic Environment Equip and Train Equip and Train Strategic Environment Soldiers & Families
Flickr: Pull 3-5 photos from various sitesPull 3-5 photos from various Pull 3-5 photos from various Pull 3-5 photos highlighting Pull 3-5 photos highlighting
sites sites women in the Army Military Families
Photo of day: “Convoy Fights off Insurgent “The Wall Hanger” “In the Early Morning Light” “Don’t Look Down” 6,086 Soldier/Family Oriented
Ambush” 6,075 total views 7,373 total views 3,888 total views total views
Facebook: #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day
#1: #2: Question: “Army #2: Highlight “Ft. Benning” #2: G/8 Video (Army #2: Women in Army History #2: Family Tour BCT
Inspiration” (over 1,330 #3: Promote Army Videos Modernization) (army.mil/women) (army.mil feature)
#2: comments) on iTunes #3: Promote Women’s #3: Personality Profile of #3: Question: Improvements
#3: Birthplace of National Guard Equality Day Women Soldier in supporting Military Family
#3: (army.mil)
Tweets: #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day #1: Photo of the Day
#1: #2: Trivia:7 Core Values (over 10 #2: Cross-promote “Ft. #2: Cross-promote Army #2: Trivia: 1st Women #2: Cross-promote Army.mil
responses) Benning” Modernization Video Generals? feature story
#2: #3: Question: “Army #3: Promote Army Videos #3: Promote Women’s #3: Shout-out to Female #3: Question: Improvements
Inspiration” (over 25 responses) on iTunes Equality Day Soldiers (about 20 in supporting Military Family
#3: responses)
Blog: “To Protect & Defend”-Army Army Blog Feature Bloggers Roundtable Personality Profile Photo Slideshow of “Welcome
Inspiration (Army Technology) (Unmanned Aircraft Sgt. Tyronda Dorsey Home” Celebrations
Systems) (over 1650 FB shares)
STAND-TO! Pain Management Soldier Athlete Initiative Comprehensive Soldier Women’s Equality Day Army’s Land War Net
Fitness
Goal: To educate & engage with To promote external Army To inform Soldiers & To inform/educate audience To engage Military families
audience initiatives & to inform audience of advances in on Women in Army History
audience Army technology
Measure of FB: 3 posts; 629 likes, 120 FB: 3 posts; 615 likes, 138 FB:3 posts; 1105 likes, 163 FB: 3 posts;1133 likes, 131 FB: 3 posts; 850 likes, 175
Effectiveness comments (aver. per post) comments (aver. per post) comments (aver. per post) comments (aver. per post) comments (aver. per post)
Twitter: 4 tweets; 42 re-tweets Twitter: 3 tweets; 47 re- Twitter: 3 tweets; 50 re- Twitter: 4 posts; 51 re- Twitter: 3 tweets; 56 re-
Blog: 3148 page views tweets tweets tweets tweets
Blog: 3190 page views Blog: 3,563 page views Blog : 3,010 page views Blog: 4,392 page views
Source: “5 day social media strategy template” by U.S. Army: mstnr.me/eI5b8c
Here’s an example of a template the U.S. Army uses to plot a
week’s strategy for its social channels. Note that they’ve
thought through how their messages will permeate all social
channels, who’s responsible, and how they’ll measure results.

26. b e i ng
succes s f u l
o nli ne
in 2 0 1 1
These next slides summarize some of the key points and takeaways
from our discussion.

27. institutional
well-organized website
appropriate technology & staff to
manage it
clear goals + measurement
multiple channels
multiple voices

28. socal media
specific goals
more planning, less spontaneity
institutional buy-in & support
in-house expertise
multiple SM channels

29. barriers to success
lack of staffing & expertise
lack of institutional clarity
slow pace of change
lack of commitment
uncertainty about SM usefulness

30. models
Bethel University:
bethel.edu
Northfield Mt. Hermon School:
nmhschool.org
Union College: union.edu
William & Mary: wm.edu
Aside from Oregon State, mentioned earlier, here are some
institutions that have done well with their online presence,
connecting their website with various social channels.
Northfield Mount Hermon School does a great job in bringing
social content from Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other
channels into its website via NMHBook (NMHBook.org).
William & Mary used social channels to conduct an award-
winning campaign to choose its mascot.