New Home, New Views

New Home, New Views

Jay Collier • Communications and Media RelationsSeptember 10, 2009

BATES ONLINE – PHASE 1

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Context for engagement

Process: Interactive engagement, bridging broadcast and interpersonal relationships

Result: Mutually-satisfactory exchanges of value facilitated by online experiences

Benefit: Meaningful impact

Timeline: Continues for a lifetime

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Vision for engagement• Start with

powerful universal ideas

•Deepen involvement toward greater commitment

•Ultimately: build personal relationships

Powerful, universal ideas

Personalized interactions

Ambivalence toAwareness to

Interest toParticipation toCommitment

TOWARD

FROM

Publishing to global audiences

Creating knowledge togetherLEARNING COLLABORATIONS

Exchanging value and commitment

SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS

TELLING THE BATES STORYThe most universal messaging

The most personalized

interactions

Informing interested people NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Online engagement at Bates• Start with universal,

persuasive messaging

• Learn what’s happening in areas of interest

• Visit public collaboration spaces and participate in the creation of new knowledge

• Make exchanges of value through online transactions

• Build personal relationships

Powerful, universal ideas

Personalized interactions

LEARNING COLLABORATIONS

SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS

TELLING THE BATES STORY

NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES

Powerful, universal ideas

Personalized interactions

LEARNING COLLABORATIONS

SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS

TELLING THE BATES STORY

NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Shift in perspective

• Engagement perspective• Functional perspective

Corporations,Foundations

CurrentStudents,& Families

ProspectiveStudents

& Families

Alumni &Friends

CurrentFaculty &

Sta!

GeneralPublic

ProspectiveFaculty &

Sta!

PhilanthropicPartners

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Lifelong engagement

• This deepening of engagement continues over time

• Each time a Bates person or partner enters a new role, they begin a new phase of engagement

• Continuity is important at those potential “speed bumps”

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Goals of Bates online

• Help Bates people connect with each other, across roles — student, faculty, staff, alumni — on campus or off.

• Help people connect with the ideas that interest them the most: scholarship, research, narratives, events, places, groups, and service.

• Draw constituents and friends into a satisfying and deepening lifelong experience of Bates that reflects and expresses core values.

• Make online Bates ultimately portable, so that people can participate from anywhere, anytime.

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Principles of effective online experiences

• Be dependable – anywhere, any time, any device

• Be intuitive – simple publishing, searching, finding

• Be useful – helpful information and instructions

• Be engaging – appealing, personal, immersive

• Be personalizable – up to date feeds on personal interests

• Be sociable – online spaces for intellectual collaboration

• Be meaningful – insight into what matters to you

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Indicators of success

• Increased length of average visit

• Increased number of pages per visit

• Increased number of actions, such as email subscriptions or clicks to donation URL

• Increased external use of content

• Improved response time for content updates

• Reduced technical skills required for content developers

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Timeline – 2007• January: Started prototyping

in Drupal, WordPress, and Expression Engine

• March: Began establishing Bates brand in social media, starting with Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter

• December: Began listening sessions with students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Timeline – 2008• March: “One Bates, Many Journeys”

• May: Collaboration with Cornell

• June: Full-time position from Bill Hiss

• September: Created prototypes for Bates Views, Explore Bates, and Dabble database for events, tables, lists

• October: Active development on prototypes by students

• November: Recruited new producer

• December: Home 4 sponsored

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Timeline – 2009• January 2009: Selected strategic

partner agency

• February: Hired and oriented online media producer

• March: Convened multiple strategy discovery sessions

• April: Completed final information architecture

• May: Completed first round interface design

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Timeline – 2009• May: Proposed visual concept

• June: Released clickable prototype

• July: Released campus-wide

• August: Copy & images edited, external sources, recoded for IE6

• September: Launched Home 4.0

• October: Release Home 4.1 and Views interface

• Content platform discovery, selection, configuration, production

Publishing to global audiences

Creating knowledge togetherLEARNING COLLABORATIONS

Exchanging value and commitment

SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS

TELLING THE BATES STORYThe most universal messaging

The most personalized

interactions

Informing interested people NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES

ONLINE ENGAGEMENT

Next phase• Home and Views

improvements

• Content platform discovery

• Proposed: Departments and Offices online strategy and site production

• Consulting on collaboration software (wikis, blogs) for groups and teams

Publishing to global audiences

Creating knowledge togetherLEARNING COLLABORATIONS

Exchanging value and commitment

SERVICES & TRANSACTIONS

TELLING THE BATES STORYThe most universal messaging

The most

Informing interested people NEWS, EVENTS, UPDATES

EVOLUTION

Thank you

Please help us continuously improve online Bates

Jay Collier — [email protected]