Faber College DiscoveryShort and Sweet

We•Conducted 50+ interviews with 120+ internal stakeholders •Produced 250 pages of transcripts and notes•Ran online surveys and got 1,000+ responses•Spelunked into your current web ecosystem of faber.edu’s55,000+ assets and the 40+ sub-domains

We boiled everything together and we talked amongst ourselves & this is what we think :

Your Web Presence Stinks

• You are a fantastic school with a horrible web presence

• You are better than that• Stop bickering • Stop talking amongst

yourselves and ignoring the world

• Start thinking strategically• Create a plan• Make it happen

The Primary Purpose of YOUR external web communications is

• To attract prospective students and convince them to attend Faber College

• To establish and elevate the Faber College brand

• All other purposes and audiences are irrelevant

Go make your executable web

• Reflect the priorities of the University

• Reflect your strategic direction

• It’s the University’s most important external communications vehicle

• Stop catering to pet projects

Define the mission

• See slides 2 and 3

• Done that? Good.

Define your governance model

• You’re hiring a Director of Digital Communications

• Their mandate comes from the college President• This Director is responsible for the web• Alone• Not a committee• This person will have a team of rock stars• Responsible for multiple projects• Difficult objectives to reach• Of quantifiable metrics

Cowboy Up

• Give that web team the bodies

• Give them the budget

• Give them the technology

• Give them a timeline

• Get everyone else out of their way

Break The Mission Down into Manageable Chunks

• External Audiences– Faber College.edu– Alumni platform– Syndication Layer/Social Media

• Internal Audiences– Intranet– Course Registration

• External/Internal– Calendar– Single Sign On– Search

For Faber College.edu

• New information architecture

• New Interface design

• Develop Republishing and Syndication content layers

• QA Fixes

• Testing & Usability Plan

• Communications Plan

• Deployment Plan

You’re going on a Content Diet, Faber College.edu

• Radically downsize your content from 55,000 pages/items to 2,500

– Throw it out or

– Migrate it to the intranet you’re going to build

– Focus on content that drives users to their (and your) goals

– Focus on your strategic messaging

One University, one platform, one voiceYour external web presence will reflect user needs, not

departmental structure

Standardize PlatformsYou provide the medium; your stakeholders will provide

the message

Don’t Be Afraid of HeresyCreate social media guidelines and a robust moderation system –

and let the conversations happen

A Business Tool for A Business School• Dump Harris (Your alumni already have)

• Use LinkedIn (Your alumni already are)

Define How You Measure Success

• Don’t say “Establish best-in-class interfaces with internal and external stakeholders that leverage and synergize Faber College’s strengths” That’s an aspiration, not a quantifier

• Say “We will increase our online inquiries for school admissions from 1,200 in FY2009 to 1,500 in FY2010.”

• You can measure that.

• You train accountants, for Pete’s sake!* taken from the 5-Year strategic plan

There is no Voodoo to This

You just have to hop on your horse and ride

You need to get out of your bubble

And create an online experience of symmetry and beauty

That truly reflects Faber College