are we there yet? create, manage & measure your web campaign success
DESCRIPTION
Content is king but not all content is created equal. Social media has added another medium for this content but creating and analyzing this content requires the right context and the right tools. This session will focus on the evolution of website redesigns, managing content via a CMS, the advent of Google Analytics for visitor tracking and now what are keys to helping you maximize your web content and social media strategies.TRANSCRIPT
ARE WE THERE YET? CREATE, MANAGE & MEASURE
YOUR WEB CAMPAIGN SUCCESS
#pseweb
The Road Ahead…
In the beginning, there was the web
But Higher Ed websites were largely bad
The Website Redesign Movement
A look at the WCMS Phenomenon
Embracing Web Analytics
The Social Media Revolution
To be or not to be…Social Media ROI
Are We There Yet?
“The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”
- Sir Winston Churchill
Remember When….circa mid-1990’s
The internet was EVERYWHERE – WWW = Wild, Wild West
Every college or university started putting up a “brochure” website—”Look we’re on the web, we’re cutting edge!”
Not that anyone could find you…. Dude, Where’s My Car!
The web was an abyss of websites Difficult to find and categorize any
website
Lost & Found…
Web Aggregation & Search tools to the rescue!
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE!!!)
Then students found your site and…
Uh Oh! The pot at the end of the road was mostly gol…coal?
Dated designs with rudimentary tools
Uninspired use of available screen space and website real estate
Hello?! Does anyone live here?
The Website Redesign Movement Revamp Information
Architecture Audit & Remove bad
and out-dated content
Improve visitor experience on website
Better segment content for various audiences
Use latest technology standards (XHTML, CSS, HTML5)
Accessibility & SEO improvements
Consistent & modern branding “look & feel”
Increase targeted visitor traffic
The Website Redesign: Bonus TrackREALLY think this should be called Website
CONTENT Redesign….
Too often organizations focus on the “Web” and the “design” portion but the “site” and the “content” is what makes a difference
But that’s for another day and someone else’s presentation
The Website Redesign Movement
GOALS! OBJECTIVES!
OUTCOMES!
The Website Redesign Movement OBJECTIVES: What are you trying to
accomplish with your new website?
GOALS: What are the desired actions you want visitors to take?
OUTCOMES: What are the desired results you want to measure to determine your progress?
Goals & Objectives are S.M.A.R.T
Specific – “Apples” not just “fruit”
Measurable - “Double” apple yield not just “a lot”
Attainable – “100%” apple yield, not “500%”
Relevant – “Apples” not “bananas”
Time-bound – By next harvest
The Website Redesign Refine Option
If you’ve already done a Redesign, you might want to embrace these philosophies going forward…
REFINE, Don’t Redesign! From a recent presentation given by Lou
Rosenfeld:
“Website redesign must die”http://www.slideshare.net/lrosenfeld/redesign-must-die
Agile Project Methodology
The WCMS Phenomenon…
“It’s time to stop drowning in outdated web content, start thinking about a better content management strategy for your website, and choose to invest in the right web content management system”
- Karine Joly (collegewebeditor.com)
What a WCMS will do…
Streamline the publishing process Efficiently reuse content throughout your
website Eliminate the IT and web team
bottleneck for content updates Provide enforcement for branding and
style guidelines Serve as a hub to manage campus-wide
content reusable across web, print, mobile and social media channels
What a WCMS won’t do…
Replace a good content strategy Create relevant, useful and quality
content Resolve long-standing organizational
politics around web management or content strategy
Eliminate the need to determine Goals, Objectives & Outcomes for your website strategy
Solve all your web and social media challenges
WCMS…Create
WCMS….Manage
WCMS…Publish
WCMS…Multi-channel Publishing
How to choose the right WCMS… WCMS should support the current work
people do and simplify the process. Verify “fit” not just bells, whistles and
polished demos. How does each WCMS tool fit what
you’re trying to accomplish? How does each WCMS tool meet your
business objectives?
WCMS…So You’re Back to
GOALS! OBJECTIVES!
OUTCOMES!
WCMS…Don’t Forget
Support & Culture“You're not just buying technology, or just a Web CMS product – you're buying a relationship.”
-(Irina Guseva, Real Story Group)
Verify 5-year cost in addition to initial cost $0 initial cost + $100K Services/Support > 50K initial cost + $20K Services/Support
Recap…
Website Redesign or Refine – CHECK
Web Content Management System – CHECK
Now what?
Embracing Web Analytics
Why Analytics?
Content is King, But WHICH content? And is the RIGHT content being published out?
"We spend a huge amount of time in higher ed maintaining content that has little return on investment.”- Michael Vedders, director of Web services at Bethel University in Minnesota.
Web Analytics…
Outcomes matter, But the RIGHT outcomes matter
most!
The Data is Available…
But Data Needs Context
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
- T. S. Eliot
And we’re back to…
GOALS! OBJECTIVES!
OUTCOMES!
Web Analytics…
Start small by defining just a few measurable goals with specific “calls to action”
Measure conversions—macro and micro Focus on trends, not just raw data Segment data as much as possible Based on stated objectives, analyze the
data to inform your website content decisions.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Objectives => Goals => Actions => Outcomes
KPIs – Give context to outcomes so you know if you’re accomplishing your Objectives and meeting Goals # of page views & unique visitors # of campus visit forms completed online # of clicks on admissions form “Apply Now”
button # of completed admissions applications
Analytics & KPIs…Dig Deeper Average time per page visited
If you notice a visitor with lots of page views but short time/page this likely means they’re having trouble finding what they really want.
If a visitor has fewer page views, but is on each page for a relatively long time (let’s say 1-2 minutes) this means they’re probably getting to relevant pages easily--and you did something right
The Social Media Revolution
The Social Media Revolution
Conversations are important Engagement is important Quality content is still King Website user experience is still key This is a new medium with new tools but
remember the fundamentals haven’t changed…
The Social Media Revolution…
GOALS! OBJECTIVES!
OUTCOMES!
The Social Media Revolution…
Ask Why?
Everybody’s doing it!
It’s so much fun! To improve our
Klout score Do we have a
choice?
Support web marketing Goals, Objectives, Outcomes
Engage prospective & current students as well as alumni
Utilize another medium for your quality content
Bad Reasons Good Reasons
Why Social Media?
Why Social Media?
“How do you measure the value of a relationship?What is the ROI of a handshake? At the end of the day, that’s something that’s very difficult to measure. Schools need to tie ROI back to institutional goals rather than metrics for the sake of metrics. One hun- dred thousand fans doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t meeting your goals.”
- Mark Greenfield, Office of Web Services,
University of Buffalo
The Social Media Revolution
Social Media ROI or…
“How to help Administration support your marketing efforts”
Measurement Personalities Spectrum
-http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2010/09/commonsense-approach-to-measuring.html
Social Media ROI…
Naysayers: "What's the ROI on social media? I don't know,
what's the ROI on our phone system?”
Bean-counters “People who say you cannot measure social media
are lazy.”
Explorers “What is the ROI of worrying about ROI of social
media?”
Social Media ROI…
Social Media ROI…
S.M.A.R.T rules still apply
Segment and measure specific social media goals # of followers on Twitter or # of fans on
Facebook # of comments per blog post % of unique website visitors attributed to
social media post or tweet referral link # of subscribers to specified RSS feeds
Social Media ROI & Tools…
RSS Broadcast functionality Send once to multiple social media channels
Track each channel as a unique referral link Campaigns can now be measured independently on per
channel basis
Centralized social media management Listen and track conversations, create and manage posts
within a single resource
Create and manage conversion forms for calls to action
Social Media ROI and Tools…
Social Media ROI & Tools…
Are We There Yet?
Consider using Agile Marketing process Shorter marketing campaigns Allow for testing across wider variety of
channels Inspect, Adapt, Optimize Inherent ROI tracking Supports efforts for fresh content
Q & A
