Measuring the Effectiveness of Interactive Media

Introductions 

 





Paul Baker, Baker, senior communicator, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison www.wcer.wisc.edu EducationPR blog www.pbaker.wordpress.com Dan Karleen, director of new media products at Peterson’s http://www.petersons.com/ Syndication for Higher Education blog http://syndicateblog.petersons.com/wordpress/

1

Overview I. Overview of new media channels/ tools: examples, strengths, measurables, measurables, outcomes II. Communication planning: setting goals in terms of key audiences, influence level desired, time ranges, best new media tools III. Measurement tools: their uses, strengths, weaknesses IV. Evaluating outputs, outtakes, outcomes V. Discussion & Next Steps

I. Overview of new media 





We are seeing rapid changes in communication: Video, blogs, podcasts, news feeds (RSS), social networking and bookmarking, New Media press releases Students have grown up in the world of interactive media. Higher education institutions are adopting interactive media strategically to remain competitive.

2

Blogs

Blogs 







Strengths: transparency, immediacy, 2way communication Measurables: Measurables: # posts, comments, links, visits. Qualitative and quantitative (audience knowledge & behavior, attitudes & values) Goal: audience engagement

3

Podcasts

Podcasts 

  

Strengths: convenience of subscription, bypasses spam, personal appeal Measurables: Measurables: # subscriptions, downloads Quantitative Goal: Audience knowledge and awareness

4

News feeds (RSS)

News feeds (RSS) 

  

Strengths: opt-in, bypasses spam, focused content Measurables: Measurables: # subscribers Quantitative Goal: audience knowledge and awareness

5

Networking sites

Networking sites 





Strengths: internal email and messaging, images, videos, & sound, linking Measurables: Measurables: # friends, profile views, comments Quantitative and qualitative (comments)

6

Wikis

Wikis 





Strengths: collaboration tool, internal messaging, linkable Measurables: Measurables: More search/Google presence Goal: more audience knowledge and awareness

7

Bookmarking and tagging

Bookmarking and tagging 





Strengths: Linking, networking, new resources Measurables: Measurables: # shared links, fans, subscriptions Quantitative and qualitative

8

Flickr

Flickr

9

Flickr 



 

Strengths: hot site, comments, votes, linking, groups Measurables: Measurables: # views, favorites, comments Qualitative and quantitative Goals: knowledge & awareness

New media press releases

10

New media press releases 

 

Strengths: links to RSS feed, del.icio.us, del.icio.us, photos, video, audio, Technorati, Digg, Digg, customizable, Measurables: Measurables: quantitative Goals: public awareness and knowledge, media calls, links

Q&A Break

11

II. Communication Planning as the Cornerstone

Principles 



Your online efforts should integrate into your broader effort communication. You should not think in terms of two separate and independent campaigns. Consider your institutional or departmental goals, and the strengths and weaknesses of current communication strategies.

12

Principles 



Set realistic goals for new media tools. Consider the audience(s) audience(s) of interest to your institution or academic unit; the degree to which you wish to influence audience awareness or behavior; and in what time frame. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each of the above new media comm channels.

Principles 



You may already have access to more baseline data than you might have thought, from campus marketing surveys, focus groups, interviews, media monitoring, etc. If your unit has no baseline data, talk with your campus marketing staff, survey professionals, news office, admissions office, alumni relations, development staff, government relations office.

13

Examples of measurable outcomes: 





“Boost the percentage of applications from national merit finalists by 15 points in the next year” year” “Increase the perception of our campus as ‘the high quality brand’ brand’ in our state by 15 percent over the next year.” year.” “Reduce the percentage of students arrested for underage drinking by 20 percent over the next two years.” years.”

Principles 



What decisions do we want to be able to make as a result of our evaluations? What kinds of indicators do we need?

14

Indicators 



Common indicators of reach: percent of target audience enrolled, percent of target audience aware of service, participation rate. Common indicators of reputation: number of favorable reviews or awards; number of community partnerships.

Example: Admissions 



 

Audience: Prospective students and their parents Measurables: Measurables: More applications from high performing students Data source: long-term admissions stats Comm channels: blogs, videos, web site, email

15

Example: Public relations 







Audience: The news media, legislators, parents, other key audiences Measurables: Measurables: Favorable perception, willingness to collaborate Data sources: surveys, focus groups, opinion polls, clipping library Comm channels: RSS, videoblogs, videoblogs, podcasts, YouTube,

Example: Government relations  





Audience: state legislators Measurables: Measurables: Amount of change in awareness or visibility of an issue, key stakeholder groups engaged in an issue, legislation passed. Data sources: liaisons, lobbyists, legislative research bureaus, news clips Comm channels: web site, RSS, email

16

Q&A Break

III. Measurement tools for new media 

Overview, strengths, and weaknesses of each tool

17

Technorati

Technorati 

 

Strengths: almost immediate blog tracking, “buzz,” buzz,” top searches, top tags Qualitative and quantitative Weakness: limited to blogs

18

Google alerts

Google alerts 



Strengths: keyword and phrase tracking, very customizable, includes news media and discussion groups as well as blogs Quantitative and qualitative

19

Google Trends

Google Trends 

 

Strengths: Analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you enter, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. Weaknesses: limited to Google News Measurables: Measurables: spikes in media coverage

20

Blog stats

Blog stats

21

Blog stats

Blog stats 





Strengths: # visits, post views and favorites, referrers, out-clicks Measurables: Measurables: topics of most interest to your readers, both in views and in comments Goals: engage readers in dialog, boost search rankings

22

Flickr

Flickr 

 

Strengths: networking, comments, communities Measurables: Measurables: # views, favorites Weaknesses: More recreational than scientific, but some qualitative and quantitative information

23

Feedburner

Feedburner  



Strengths: lots of kinds of stats Weaknesses: just one of many measures of RSS feed reach Quantitative, not qualitative

24

Evaluating outcomes Your communication evaluation should:  Clearly identify the evaluation criteria.  Map communication flaws as well as appropriate practices.  Provide innovative responses for the organization to improve its communication.  These criteria are generic but their application to your organization will be unique.

Qualitative and quantitative outcomes 

 

Paul began blogging and podcasting to reach new audiences, increase awareness of WCER research, increase WCER’ WCER’s web presence Cross promotes each comm channel Podcast has subscribers and has received favorable reviews

25

Qualitative and quantitative outcomes 





Blog has subscribers, inbound links, comments Wikipedia entries appear in Google searches WCER web site ranked higher in Google ranks

Outcomes 





More email newsletter subscription requests per month New professional contacts with education media and business Conference speaking engagements; WCER presence at more K-12 events

26

Drawback 



Caveat: this all takes time away from other responsibilities Maintaining a blog can take up to 20% of one’ one’s time

Ball State U. student blogs 

 

Goal: to better portray campus life to prospective students and their parents Ball State asked 12 students to blog in fall 2005. Promoted the blogs with postcards mailed to high school seniors. A few months later the student blogs received more than 11,000 visits per day and resulted in press clips.

27





To evaluate blogs’ blogs’ effectiveness, staff interviewed prospects and parents during campus tours and summer orientation. “We have not tried to quantify our ROI but can say confidently that the value we have received has far outweighed our cost," says Ball State’ State’s web content coordinator.

Q&A Break

28

Next steps 





Talk with your communications team about your overall communication strategy. Weigh the benefits and costs (mostly person-hours) of implementing some or all of the new media we have discussed today. Take advantage of existing baseline data

29

Contact us 



Paul Baker Wisconsin Center for Education Research [email protected] Dan Karleen Peterson’s [email protected]

30