Higher Editing: Educate your content contributors

Getting tired of making the same editing corrections to the same colleague's work, over and over and over again? There is hope.

Yes, in the short run, it's easier to just fix things yourself or write a quick proofreading mark. But those microchanges add up over time, and constantly bleeding red ink over others' work won't exactly help your relationship for the long term. Address the core problems — not just the symptoms — to improve the work product and efficiency of your team:

• Explain why you make your changes. Either through a written mark-up, email message or in person, it helps to coach content contributors on the reasons why you correct their work can help prevent them from making the same mistake in the future.
• Build your institutional style guide. Setting ground rules for common style issues, such as campus abbreviations, titles and locations, is an important place to start building consistency and consensus among your institution's writers and editors. If you don't already have a style guide, start one. Members of the University and College Designers Association can access an index of style guides from around the country on their website, or a quick web search will yield dozens of examples.
• Share resources. Read any great newsletter articles or blog posts lately on the issue at hand? Know of a helpful grammar or design resource? Forward these resources on to those peers who might benefit from them. Ragan Communications offers one of my favorite daily e-newsletters on all things PR, and many of their featured infographics are pinned to my office bulletin board. Feel free to add your recommendations to the comments section below.
  

Got no respect? Get research!

One of the pleasures of working in a university is the intellectual atmosphere, knowledgeable professors and talented administrators. Education is valued (obviously), and experts abound. Communication professionals without terminal degrees can face a challenge in getting their voices heard, even when it comes to our own areas of expertise.

While it's widely accepted that research is a marketing best practice, research takes a special place in higher education. Just as research informs teaching, it also informs good marketing—and academics respect it. Relevant research will instantly add credibility to any recommendation. Many people, academics or not, think that marketing is just good common sense, so research is particularly important if you're going against the prevailing opinion of someone with more academic credentials (even if those credentials aren't related to marketing).

Here are some low-cost ways to do your own marketing research:

• Online surveys: Gone are the days of expensive paper mailings with time-intensive data entry. There are a number of free and low-cost online survey programs (SurveyMonkey is my tool of choice) that make survey research a cinch. For quick questions, Twtpoll is another helpful resource that you can post on Twitter or forward to e-mail lists.
  
• In-house focus groups: For more in-depth information on a topic, focus groups are the way to go. There are many resources online about how to conduct them, and aside from staff time and refreshments, they're pretty inexpensive to conduct if you're not outsourcing it. (Not knocking professional research firms, who provide a great independent service if your institution can afford it.) The key is to have someone who is not invested in the project leading the group, so that your results aren't biased.
• Peer research/consultation: Discussion forums or professional e-mail lists can provide a great place to poll your peers about their experiences and best practices in a given situation. CASE coordinates lists for a number of higher ed specialties (my favorites are the College/University Editors group University Web Developer groups).
• Award competition Web sites: Check these out to get a quick overview of best practices in a variety of communications categories. While it's helpful to see examples of the best tactics out there, the real gold can be found in judges reports. These reports can provide an overview of the best—and sometimes worst—strategies.
  

Preaching Beyond the Social Media Choir

I'll admit—I was slow to jump onto the social media bandwagon. I wasn't against the concept, but I didn't feel that I had time to invest in learning it.

Michael Stoner's latest blog post on alumni relations and social media tells the story of an up-and-coming alumni relations leader discovering the professional benefits and promise of social media, a story that mirrors my own (minus the prestigious CAAE research opportunity).

More advancement professionals and college leaders need to hear stories like this, but how many of these leaders follow blogs or see the retweets on Twitter? The most convincing argument for learning the value of social networking tools is follow the Nike idiom to "just do it." But how can PR staff encourage colleagues to take the leap in opening their own accounts, sometimes overcoming smug or even hostile stereotypes against social media?

My plan is to do an intro to social media workshop for faculty and administrators, have them start their own accounts as a part of the training, and allow time for a potentially lengthy Q&A session. Perhaps showing a real-time example of the power of social media (like Brad J. Ward's recent Twitter seminar experiment) might be in order.

What suggestions do you have?

Introducing Social Media to Non-Marketing Colleagues

As higher ed marketing professionals, we are keenly aware of the fact that social media is rapidly transforming the ways we connect with our audiences. While most faculty and administrators have heard of the major social networking tools, there is a significant gap in understanding for those who haven't participated themselves.

To help bridge the gap between the Web 2.0 haves and have-nots, here is a list I created for social media newbies at my institution:

• Rule #1: Be professional. The ABA recommends the following common-sense rules: Be mature, be ethical, and read it again before posting. Assume that anyone--your boss, the news media, your grandma--can and will read it. When in doubt, don't hit the "publish" button.
  

• Learn the channel. The best way to learn how social media sites work is to use them. Join as a member, and if you're nervous, turn on your privacy settings to the highest levels (keeping in mind that you'll lose the benefit of building new connections). As long as you follow Rule #1, it will be hard to get into trouble. Just like any other social environment, the social norms may vary depending on the situation. Here are the major social media tools in use today:
  

• LinkedIn: This is the easiest place to get started. Primarily designed to build professional connections, the interactions here are very conservative and tightly controlled.
  

• Facebook: With more than 250 million active users, Facebook is the largest social networking site. Privacy settings allow Facebook users to be more personal in their updates, as most only allow "friends" to see most of their content (and these friends must be approved). One caveat—because of the more personal nature of this channel, you may want to think twice before trying to "friend" professional colleagues.
  

• Twitter: This popular "microblogging" site allows users to post updates of 140 characters or less. Twitter accounts can be made public or private, and users can "follow" or be followed by other users.

• Media sites (i.e., YouTube, Flickr, Picasa): These sites focus on sharing videos and photos, which can be tagged and/or commented on (depending on the user's settings).

• Blogs: Blogs vary widely on their content and levels of interaction and moderation. Some allow for anonymous comments, others allow for moderated comments (approved by the blogger/editor), and others don't allow comments at all.

• Discussion Forums and Wikis: These sites emphasize user-generated content and discussion around a common topic. They are generally self-moderating, in that participants report inappropriate behavior to the site's management when they see it. The information shared should not be considered authoritative in most circumstances.

• Consider the source. Discernment is key when following social media sites. Most savvy users can judge the difference between an anonymous opinion and statements made by a known authority. Don't give unattributed comments too much credibility, and if they need to be addressed, do so on the same forum where the comments were made. Try not to let violators of Rule #1 bother you unless they are in your immediate circle of influence (i.e., boss, employee, family member).
  

• Remember your e-mail rules. Most of the rules that apply to e-mail communication also apply to other forms of online communication:

• DON'T WRITE IN ALL CAPS–it is construed as shouting.
  

• Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person. (See also Rule #1.)
  

• Be concise. If a long discussion is warranted, try to do it off-line.
  

• Everything you say is permanent. Your messages can be shared or archived indefinitely.

• Take advantage of the benefits (off company time, of course). Social media sites offer great opportunities for keeping up with friends and family members, learning new things, and building your professional networks. So long as you use good judgment, participating in social media can be a fun and rewarding activity.