the future of communications in higher education joseph hice, apr, cprc chief communications officer...
TRANSCRIPT
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