Newsletter #41: Reviewing the worst year ever; Scrapping the prospectus; Apple’s coming for your open rate
In case you missed it, you can now watch the recording of my and WeAreSmile’s webinar “Worst. Year. Ever: What happened to university marketing during the pandemic and predictions for the next five years”.
We covered A LOT, and feedback has ranged from "It's been a while since I listened to a presentation. In full. But I did today" to “I had to Google what NFT meant”.
We’ll take that 😅
Shout out to the universities we used for case studies:
University of Arts London - Degree show platform
University of Toronto - Direct to consumer teaching
University of Limerick - Use of TikTok
Harvard University - Use of content marketing
University of Missouri - Community-driven marketing campaigns
University of Iowa - Use of student profiles
Deakin University - Stand out virtual open day
Abertay University - Minecraft campus
University of York - Marketing that happens without you
Nottingham Trent University - Wellbeing calendar
University of Notre Dame - Wellbeing lawn
University of Gloucestershire - No printed prospectus 😱
MIT - Subscription-based revenue
You can watch the webinar on-demand or read more about each case study on WeAreSmile’s EduLab. If you enjoy reading my “What unis are doing” each week, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy Edulab too. Webinar | EduLab
📰 HE news
When I read about Warwick Uni's new “eco-park”, I pictured concrete to the horizon with sporadic trees. How wrong was I… Photoshop mockups make the development look like a pastoral fever dream. Sustainability and (plot twist) wellbeing are cited as the drivers for the project - it’s great to see a university doing good by its environmental strategy. Read
Net Natives released Student Pulse, which takes everything you liked about its Covid Tracker and presents it in a monthly dashboard. Brilliant idea. You get insights into student decision making, wellbeing and (my favourite) preferred media. Remarkably, it’s free. Read
💻 Digital marketing news
Google’s new page experience update is rolling out with marketers noticing an impact in search results. Content quality is still a primary ranking factor, but what Google calls “core web vitals” (page load speed, visual stability and page interactivity) will now contribute to its algorithm. If you’ve already done work to make your website WCAG AA compliant, you’ll have less to do here. Pay close attention to your site’s use of widgets and embeds - these are likely causes of poor visual stability and page load speed. Read
Facebook is working on a smartwatch. The only issue (apart from it being Facebook) is that smartwatches are designed to be second screens - you receive text messages, notifications and calls - all of which is powered by your phone. Facebook has no hardware, so what’s the sell? Reportedly, it’s two cameras and a heart rate monitor… Seriously? Feels like an expensive way to get around Google and Apple that likely won’t pay off. Read
Apple has sent a shockwave through marketing communities by blocking open rate tracking on emails - that’s likely a third to two-thirds of your list. If you are using “email open” metrics in your retargeting campaigns, my advice is to pause and review. Email open rate has never been that reliable - image downloading needs to be enabled to register an open - but my concern is that this has flown under the radar of most HE marketers. Read
🏫 What unis are doing
University of Oregon churned out a studio-quality livestream for its graduation ceremonies this year. It’s what you would expect - student speeches and senior academics dusting off their keynotes, but the mix of live and pre-recorded video helps deliver pace and variety. The humour lands too. Even the awkward dancing bit at the end feels thought-out. Look
When I heard that University of Gloucestershire was working on a “digital prospectus”, I instinctively reached for my red flag - however, I think I’ve been converted. By dumping its printed prospectus, the University has given students the chance to build their own digital hub. Select your subject area and course of interest; the site returns a customised page, detailing your campus, accommodation and course summaries… Beats having to upload an “interactive PDF” as a flipbook. Look
Nottingham Trent University’s “events and opportunities” calendar is a one-stop-shop for wellbeing support. Challenge: You’ve got loads of departments with “wellbeing” in their remit - how do you ensure students know where to find the latest events? Solution: Use tech that is widely understood (a shared Google calendar) and embed it on your website. Result: Thousands of monthly page views and a surprisingly high number of event bookings. You are missing a trick by only promoting your events on social. Have a central hub. Look
🧑🎓 What students are saying
“They're not teaching, you don't see them, they don't do Zoom, they don't have office hours. I've had office hours where it's completely text — I'm texting my professor, and waiting for her to get back to me.” Students on the new phenomena of “ghost professors”. Expect a Netflix documentary soon. Read
“What I found most upsetting was being told the thing I feel so strongly about is meaningless.” Feature in The Tab about how arts students feel when their qualifications are branded “dead-end”. Gets a bit Foucauldian at the end. Read
👾 Culture shock
Dubbed the “great resignation wave”, more than a quarter of employees are planning on quitting their job. Read
A man who recently survived being inside a whale does a Q&A on Reddit. Read
