#PSEWEB 2012 Canada’s University and College Digital Marketing Conference Kirsty Budd, Community Manager, Student Success Office Alison Gelata, Web & E-Communications.

#PSEWEB 2012Canada’s University and College Digital Marketing

Conference

Kirsty Budd, Community Manager, Student Success Office

Alison Gelata, Web & E-Communications Officer, Engineering

Conference overview

• Hosted in Halifax, Nova Scotia • July 15 to 17• 120 attendees

Conference overview

• Schools represented from coast to coast (including University of Toronto, Laurier, Ottawa, Guelph, McGill, Brock, McMaster, Dalhousie, Sheridan, Humber, Yukon College)

• A range of positions represented (Technical and Marketing/ Communications staff in PSE)

Sessions

• Building a low cost mobile presence

• Agile marketing: content strategy and content analytics

• Strategic digital media• Transmedia app generation• Keynote (Ken Steele, Academica

Group): PSE web trends and applicant stats

• Increase admissions with analytics• Usability: does your website pass

or fail?

• An invitation to conversation• Training a university community• Social media strategy and

engagement: why questions take you beyond answers

• Defining your success on twitter• Students as social media

ambassadors• Keynote (Shawn Henry, W3C):

Embracing accessibility

Key themes

• Accessibility• Mobile • Content strategy• Usability and user experience

Accessibility

Session• Embracing Accessibility

Background of speakers• Shawn Henry (worldwide education and outreach for the W3C Web

Accessibility Initiative)

Accessibility

• A fairly new topic on campuses• Institutions are all gearing up to meet accessibility standards

through training and added resources (varies across the board)• A shift in attitude from “we have to make this accessible” to “we

should want to make this accessible, how can we do it?”• Understanding accessibility principles helps to design better

websites (mobile strategy)

Accessibility

We asked:

1. Is your institution currently creating online content with web accessibility guidelines in mind?

2. Is your institution currently mass communicating the importance of web accessibility to staff and faculty?

3. Do you currently have access to resources and training for web accessibility on campus?

Mobile

• Sessions:– Developing a low cost mobile presence– Transmedia app generation– Keynote: PSE at a glance 2012

• Speakers– Terminal Four (CMS vendor)– Sheridan College– Ken Steele, Academica Group, Keynote Speaker

Mobile

• Stats – Tablet/smartphone users currently account for 15% to 20% of

traffic across PSE websites– Forecasting: Mobile users will account for 40% of site traffic by

spring 2013– Average # apps on a teen’s phone right now = 25, average for

late teen years (17-19) is 80-90 apps– PSE applicant data (Academica Group):

• 74% of applicants own a smartphone, 11% own a tablet• Spend an average of 28.7 hours per week online• 90% say they researched PSE online

Mobile

• Trends – Majority of Canadian PSE institutions currently have responsive

websites, not mobile sites – Good example of new mobile site launched:

Queens University of Belfast– Most popular framework for mobile development in PSE is

JQuery Mobile (HTML 5 based user interface, works with all popular mobile OS)

– CampusM (campusm.com), a mobile app development platform that helps create apps for student life

– Seamless mobile integration between social media platforms and web space

Mobile

• Best Practices & Guidance– Sites for information – Apps for tasks– m.sitename is best for SEO, not sitename/mobile– Develop non-native applications to keep down costs (aka

browser apps/ web apps), make available through all devices at the same time (write once, deploy to all)

– Plan the user pathway across platforms (mobile, social media)– Mobile navigation buttons must be easily accessed by touch

screen users (bars 30 pixels wide)– Utilize QR codes and web forms (make forms that are mobile

friendly and easy to submit)

Mobile

• Tips for planning a mobile strategy– Gather information: conduct focus groups, provide surveys and

find out what primary users search for/need access to through their mobile devices

– Conduct competitive analysis: what are other universities doing and why

– Preparation: Determine budget, what tools are required and how to deploy

– Educate content authors/maintainers on mobile presence, usability and functionality, and train them on how to create content for reuse

Mobile

• We asked:– Does your institution have a mobile strategy in place? – Is your website currently responsive?– Do you have a separate mobile site?– Has your institution developed any mobile applications?

• If yes, can you briefly describe what the app is for

Content strategy

Sessions• Agile Marketing: Content Strategy & Content Analytics• Take a Picture: 2012’s Content & Engagement Trend• Content Strategy: Can the PSE Sector Make it Happen?

Background of speakers• Hannon Hill (vendor)• Richard Ivey School of Business• York University

Content strategy

Trends• Content strategy is being used across multiple channels in multiple

ways: web, social media, video/photography, mobile, but not all institutions present as pseweb are using a strategy the same way

• Regularly updated content, not flashy graphics or videos with set deadlines

• Evergreen content• Content management systems are making content strategy more

appealing• Social connection = student retention

Content strategy

Best practices and guidance• “Chances are you’ve got pieces of a content strategy in your

workflow, you just haven’t defined it. It shouldn’t be a thing ‘to do’, it’s the purpose and process behind what we do.” (Laura D’Amelio, York University)

• Content strategy is an ongoing process and needs to be continuously updated, audit of legacy content is important too

• Build user-generated content into the plan (social media contests)• Analyze plan architecture content creation evaluation• Create templates

Content strategy

We asked:

1. Are you using a Content Management System (CMS) to publish your website(s)?

2. If yes, which one?

3. Is your institution using a consistent CMS for all websites across campus?

4. Are you using a content strategy to dictate web content? If no, is there a plan to use content strategy in the future?

Usability & User Experience

• Sessions:– “Increase admissions with analytics”– “Usability: Does your website pass or fail”

• Speakers:– ISL Web Marketing and Development

Usability & User Experience

• Trends– Common PSE web presence UX issues: complex URLs,

scrolling text, overuse of complex animation, orphan pages and inaccessibility

– Gaming and microsites are emerging in PSE to enhance specific marketing efforts (example: University of Calgary created a “heal the zombies” game to increase male enrollment in the nursing program. Result: Male applicants increased 47%).

Usability & User Experience

• Best Practises & Guidance– Optimize content based on user priorities (set 3-5 user priorities)– Plan the user pathway and review analytics – Global navigation should be present throughout the site, on every page– uWaterloo passed! Was included as a good example– Gold star for content goes to: University of Lethbridge– Have fun with page errors, use notifications to encourage feedback and

help the user find what they’re looking for– Advertisements must link to exact information– Plan for including social media throughout your site. Get used to

providing the user with the ability to share any piece of info on your website