2011 was fantastic in the world of higher education marketing. A good place to to see some of the major initiatives that occured this year would be the list of nominees for the 2011 International Brand Master award.
Another excellent list, more on the technology end, is The Chronicle’s top technology innovators in higher education.
The year had it all; from rebranded institutions to robust strategies and diverse tactics. It was fun to watch it all take place. Even after seeing these accomplishments, there are plenty of reasons why higher ed marketers should be even more excited for 2012. In this post I want to focus on 5 things that involve the continuing emergence of an institutions’ presence online. More innovative, more opportunistic, and more rewarding – to both the college or university’s brand and their bottom line. Social media evolves quickly and ducks are in a row for a lot of shifts to begin taking place. Here are four points to consider in social and tech as 2012 unfolds.
Advertising Will Be More Deeply Embedded
For better or for worse, I think 2012 is a year that online advertisers will be rather happy about. How consumers feel about the looming changes is another story. While it’s easy to blame the platform, the advertisers play with the cards they’re dealt and it’s ultimately up to them to create an ad or experience that the consumer values, no matter the environment. Facebook has already announced that Sponsored Stories will start showing up in the news feed in 2012. You might recall that Sponsored Stories were introduced into the Ticker in late November. A lot of how consumers will feel about these shifts deals with their age, according to Digital Media Analyst Carmi Levy. Mr. Levy says, “Younger people expect ads as part of the landscape and treat them in the same way as other forms of online content. “Older users tend to look at online advertising with more suspicion.”
In theory, it’s good news for higher education as online advertising continues to evolve.
Geo Matters, but Checking in Doesn’t
Check-in fatigue has already hit for many users and more people will certainly begin to feel it if the current check-in state does not change. The situation boils down to the fact that if there is no tangible incentive to check-in, there’s no point. While services such as Foursquare currently offer a bit more than the ability to check-in, such as tips and specials, checking in on its own for points and badges has lost it’s luster. What’s the true appeal of a mayorship, anyway? Do you get anything for that besides a digital pat on the back? While some establishments actually offer special treatment for the mayor, this practice is quite rare. This space will become more transactional in nature, with less emphasis on digital rewards and more on real, monetary ones.
Mobile! (…of course)
This isn’t the first time mobile has been mentioned in a year-end, forward-looking blog post, but 2012 is the year that if your institution fails to have a mobile website in place you will be severely behind the curve. You must be ready for this, but don’t make the process anymore complex than it needs to be. One of the best mobile resources is Dave Molsen’s blog, and he smartly points out (in reality, Jen Matson points it out to him) that search and links are the gateway for your content – no matter if the user is accessing your information by desktop or mobile. Simplify. Think of your mobile website as simply an avenue for diplaying content, period. Figure out the content, then make it look pretty. The aforementioned link contains some excellent smartphone stats as well, such as the fact that 77% of smartphone users use search.
Brands Use Specialized Media Services More
For an example of the types of services I am talking about, look no further than Instagram. Here are 5 brands using it effectively right now. Expect to see many, many more brands adopting Instagram and other similar media services in 2012. Does this mean less investment in Facebook? Probably not, but I still woudn’t expect overlap. Letting certain content shine on a service like Instagram is a great way to tap into more expansive features and the service’s audience. Again, powerhouse services like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ will continue to handle media just fine. Just expect that they could be used less in terms of being a main avenue of focus, like most brands use them for now.
Bonus Thought
Hopefully SOPA won’t pass! If the bill passes, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) will change the Internet as we know it, and would certainly have many implications for higher education. It’s difficult to even imagine what could happen. The bill is particularly disturbing becuase of its deceiving wording, which indicates the focus is seemingly on piracy. When in effect the contents really indicate the censoring of the Internet. Put simply, the legislation would impose a government-sanctioned firewall over the Internet. From a technical standpoint it’s a problem. From a free speech standpoint, it’s a much bigger problem. Ask China. When Google, Facebook, and 7 other Internet giants take the time (and money) to create a full-page ad in the New York Times and “stand together to protect innovation,” you know there are rather significant issues with the bill. Let’s hope that in 2012 we don’t see this particular bill passed.
