The Future of Communications in Higher Education Joseph Hice, APR, CPRC Chief Communications Officer Associate Vice Chancellor NC State University.

The Future of Communications

in Higher Education

Joseph Hice, APR, CPRCChief Communications Officer

Associate Vice ChancellorNC State University

Trends that affect us all•Accountability to our various

publics•Challenge from the competition•The rise of a new breed of

Chancellor•Changing role of

communications

Accountability• With increased competition for funding

and the need to justify our contribution or value to all of our stakeholders, communications will have to lead message development and delivery – Different messages for different groups

• Parents, students, civic leaders, business leaders, etc.

• How does giving help?

Challenge from the competition

• Public & Private institutions– Differentiate or die

• Point(s) of differentiation

• For profit organizations– Driven by the bottom line– Aggressive

• Kaplan’s “I’ve failed you campaign”– $20 million in marketing last quarter

• University of Phoenix Stadium– $60 million/10 year sponsorship– $250 million last quarter!!!!!

A new breed of Chancellor • Visionary

– Openly & Consistently articulates a clear vision for the institution

• Role model– Management by example

• An Advocate– Champion for the institution– Champion for advancement

A new breed of Chancellor • Business approach to running the institution

– Internal communications challenges– External communications challenges

• Media savvy– They recognize the power of the press (and the

changes) and want to capitalize– They represent the values, purpose, and the

integrity of the institution to key constituencies

• Fundraisers– A different kind of support

• Financial & Human capital

Changing roleof communications

• As a Counselor to the Chancellor and the university– Protect and enhance the reputation of the

institution

• Facilitate two-way communication with those who are key to your success

• Help establish the Strategic direction– Communications planning across boundaries– Ability to generate bipartisan support for the plan

Changing roleof communications

• Disseminate the Chancellor’s vision and enlist advocates in its implementation

• Engage the campus community in the communications and marketing effort

• Create the “dialogue” for long-term communications

Can we talk?• One voice, one message• The dialogue

– Long term discussion starting at Point A and ending at Point Z

– Planned out in the beginning. • Today I know what I’m going to say six months from

now, 12 months from now, 5 years from now

– Interactive communications – between you and me – is what differentiates good communications from great communications

Fundamentals• The tools

– Traditional•Print & Broadcast media/publications

– The Web– Social Media

•Facebook, Blogs, Twitter and tweets

The power of the Web• Appx. 70,000 people a day visit either

– www.ncsu.edu– www.news.ncsu.edu

• More than 25.5 million a year are making the choice to visit one of our sites and seek out news & information about NC State University– 60% of those visitors are from outside NC State

University (15.3 million)

• Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Foursquare, more

Social networking• 82% increase in time spent on

social networking sites over the past year.

• Sites like MySpace, Facebook and others are where prospective and current students, alumni, donors, etc. gather

• 206.9 million unique visitors to Facebook in Dec. 2009

Facebook • 90% of full-time U.S. college

students are members– 97% at NC State– 45,000 on NC State network

• Two-thirds visit daily• 300 million active users

Twitter Is Growing•twitter.com had about 5 million site visits in December 2008

•23 million in December 2009•75 million users (17% twittered last month)

Blogs and higher education• They’re everywhere• Admission, alumni, students, faculty

all have blogs on sites out there• Millions of “citizen journalists”

– Blogs (189 million around the world)

www.HiceSchool.com

It’s all about Influence!• Influence is directly related to your

following– Your following is your audience

• Massive influence online translates to massive influence off-line

• The goal is to become your own media channel, your own network– Today’s student/institution has started building

his or her online network– Where will you/they be in 5 – 10 – 20 years

Keep the web in your toolkit• Develop your strategies and

goals first– There is no magic bullet

• Know the technologies– Where is a new release or Blog

appropriate?

• Apply, measure, move on

Not everyone is readyto treat the WebAs a community

Questions to ask yourself

• Are you ready to make the commitment?– It takes time and hard work to make it happen

• Do you really want interaction and more transparency?– And does your boss?

• The entry costs are low – but the cost of not following through can be great.– Sustainability

Time for dialogue