Have you ever sacked a client?
Having just terminated a relationship with a client, David Moore considers the flawed client service model that sees the provider living on eggshells.
Right now I am feeling quite sick but strangely relieved. I’ve sacked a client.
I could have been nicer about it and I definitely should have done it earlier, but I still feel sick.
This decision represents at least a day of my life flying out the window for no discernable return other than angst.
You see, in the service game I mostly trade hours for dollars. So when I occasionally get to this point it usually involves cutting my losses for the bigger picture (i.e. less losses in persisting).
The amount of effort I have put into clients that they don’t pay for is staggering and, to be frank, stupid on my behalf.
There’s a raft of built-in “understood” when it comes to wooing and keeping clients. I feel like saying “more so in the computer business” but I’m pretty sure it just feels that way because that is where I am.
The problem with service is that some customers interpret the word as “I have you over a barrel because you want my money”. They don’t see it as “you are an expert and I am paying you to do something I cannot”.
The other problem with service is that, because you are trading time for dollars, you can’t spend too much time revisiting the same issue with any particular client. Humans tend not to change their mind all that often. If you find a client with a mind opposed to yours, you could do well to notice it early and politely decline. This is where I should follow my gut instinct more often. If I am honest with myself, I saw this coming.
Another problem with service is that it is not tangible and the results are entirely subjective. Finding the right pace at which to deliver the intangible is difficult. For me, when I find clients rushing me and pushing me down their train of thought I get flustered and tend to go into a default “satisfaction” mode (i.e. they seem to know what they want so I’ll give them that).This is dangerous. I throw away over 25 years of experience because someone I hardly know overheard their friends talking about something everyone should have.
I suppose this is a confidence issue. When I have more confidence and conviction than my client, then I allow myself to be an expert. If they have more, even if unfounded, then I don’t and can’t be bothered fighting it.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not pushing false confidence and arrogance. I am talking about acknowledging your strengths and detouring around boulders in the road.
When offering service in a complex industry, the lifespan of your relationship with the client is hard to predict. Let me give you an example as to why.
In the computer you are looking at now there are hundreds if not thousands of components, both software and hardware. Each of those components was probably created by a team. Let’s use the number 10 as a conservative guess at the size of the team. These teams come from many companies who have to communicate well to make things work. Conservatively speaking, there have been over 10,000 people provide input to its overall behaviour. Their level of care varies greatly. When that computer misbehaves, who do you call and who do you blame? When the problem can’t be fixed,whose expertise do you question? Do you believe what you are told? Why do you think your expert is lying to you? When will you end the relationship as a result?
I can’t provide you any pearls of wisdom to close this article. I am not questioning if service models are flawed, I am wondering how flawed. I’d love to hear your feedback.
Suddenly, I feel like I am five years old and in the playground telling a friend he’s dropped because I heard he was going to drop me. I’ll get over it…again.
Six Ways to Define Social Media Engagement
In the social media circles, there’s a lot of talk about “conversations” and “engagement”. “Conversations” is fairly straightforward but what does “engagement” mean, and what are the keys to doing it well? Here are some basic concepts:
1. Provide high-quality content. If you’re want to engage an audience, a great starting point is content – blog posts, tweets, videos, etc. – that capture their attention by providing interesting or valuable information or entertainment. Providing useful content sources at a time when there’s so much digital noise will keep people coming back, and in the process, build their relationship with you.
2. Answer questions: Social media is becoming a valuable resource medium. If you’ve got a question, there’s a good chance someone within your social media ecosystem will have an answer, which makes social media a good alternative to pecking around Google. If you want to engage, help someone by answering their questions.
3. Participate in conversations: Social media is also a platform to talk about what’s happening. In some respects, it is replacing forums as a place where active dialogue is happening. To engage with someone, have a conversation by offering your thoughts, opinions and knowledge.
4. Provide great customer service to customers and potential customers. When customers have a problem, more of them are going to social media as opposed to calling a 1-800 number. By responding to customers quickly and effectively, you can engage with them in real-time. As well, social media is a good way to engage with potential customers who may not be having an issue with your product or service but will appreciate you providing them with relevant and useful information.
5. Go Off-Line: If someone needs more helps than you can offer via social media, provide your e-mail address or phone number so they can provide you with more details in a private setting.
6. Meet in person: For all the power of social media and the digital world, there is no better way to connect and engage with people than by meeting them in person. This explains why conferences, meet-ups and camps are still popular.
5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page
1. Networking with other platforms
Building a large following requires a network of other platforms, working in conjunction to drive visitors to your fan page. One brand that does that well is Victoria’s Secret with their PINK line.
As you can see, on their PINK landing page they have a link to their Facebook fan page and their MySpace () profile. Victoria’s Secret leverages the traffic their home page gets and pushes them to their Facebook fan page.
Many companies lack this level of dedication, expecting their consumers on Facebook to find them automatically. However, that’s not usually the case.
When is the last time you went looking for a brand’s Facebook fan page? More often than not, a consumer will stumble upon the page, either through a friend or from a hub, similar to Victoria’s Secret’s PINK page.
Understandably, the fact that the demographic targeted by Victoria’s Secret PINK, aligns exactly with the demographic that is most active on Facebook, has helped grow the group as well.
Key Takeaway: Connecting multiple social platforms and a hub from the brand website, can help funnel consumers throughout the network.
2. Creating a resource
Some pages are used as connection hubs, but others offer information pertinent to their consumers. They use the information as added value to have consumers create a connection with the brand.
Dell has done a great job with their social media resource for small businesses. Understanding that small business owners buy computers, by offering them this resource, small business owners interested in social media keep Dell top of mind.
Although, Dell can’t explicitly gauge the success of this program in ROI, it is a branding exercise. Also, since they offer deals and updates on new products on the page – the page does have a chance to convert small business owners into Dell consumers.
Key Takeaway: Offering a resource page allows a brand to target a new demographic, outside of those that already know and love the business.
3. Creating contests that include participation
For brands that want fan pages to have added value (a reason for users to join the page, aside from brand loyalty), but don’t want to become a resource portal; offering contests and coupons specifically to Facebook users can entice consumers to join.
Sears offered fans a $10 coupon to use in stores, giving consumers a reason to join. Clicking on the coupon takes you to a page where Sears collects your information and sends you information about the coupon, deals, and offers. There’s no way to make sure the coupon is given to only Facebook fans, however like Sears, brands can require an email before receiving the coupon.
Key Takeaway: Offering something to consumers to join can help build a large community. Some examples of things to offer: Coupons, free shipping, weekly deals.
4. Empowering pre-existing pages
One of my favorite stories about social media involves the Coca Cola Facebook page. The fan page was created by two users who liked Coke. What started as a fan page for fun, turned out to be the largest product fan page on Facebook.
Coca Cola, instead of taking over the page and making it their own, rewarded the fans by bringing them to Atlanta and giving them a tour of the Coke facility. The fan page remains theirs, but now they have the blessing and help of Coca Cola.
By empowering the fans to keep their fan page, Coke ensures a passionate page owner.
The Coca Cola marketing team was also smart enough to realize that letting others know what happened here would work in their favor. The fan page creators were told to make a video of the history behind the fan page, and how Coke had reached out to them and rewarded them for this.
The video shows future ‘brand enthusiasts’ that creating successful groups around Coca Cola can result in rewards and recognition.
Key Takeaway: Taking over unsanctioned Facebook fan pages isn’t always the best idea. Instead, rewarding dedication can inspire others to do the same.
5. Targeting the proper demographic
Sometimes no matter what you do, your Facebook page won’t grow. This can simply be a side effect of Facebook’s demographic. There are just some brands that will not have a strong presence on Facebook.
Understanding the demographic present can help you decide if Facebook is worth it for your business.
From Quantcast estimates, we can tell that Facebook skews towards female youths. Interestingly, 53% of users have kids and a majority make over $60k a year salary. Obviously, over 50% are college kids. The demographics that make up Facebook are changing quickly, as more moms have begun to join and the college market has become saturated — so be sure to keep checking up on demographic changes over time. As Facebook changes, your campaigns may need to change with it for maximum effect.
Armed with this knowledge, Seventeen Magazine jumped on to the Facebook fan page bandwagon. Their brand targets the demographic most prominent on Facebook, meaning a fairly quick and organic growth.
For companies whose brand does not target the optimal demographic, finding a specific line that does, works.
Consider the brand mentioned earlier in this article, Victoria’s Secret. Instead of putting the entire brand on Facebook, they targeted the PINK line, a line for college students.
Key Takeaway: Some brands cannot expect huge followings on Facebook. Brands or product lines targeting the demographic most prominent on Facebook tend to see the quickest growth.
I purposely did not talk about using advertising to increase the size of a fan page, because although it can be useful to jump start a fan page, organic growth can help build a more engaged group.
Creating a Facebook fan page is simple, but getting it to work well takes time, dedication, and some planning. Don’t expect to create a page and then have a huge following instantaneously. Build good content, make it easy to share, and let people know about it, and over-time the community will grow.
CommSec latest to fall foul of SPAM laws
The Commonwealth Bank’s brokerage company CommSec has agreed to pay $55,000 and undertake an internal review after three complaints from the public led to an ACMA investigation.
The undertaking agreed to by CommSec and ACMA centered around marketing emails which did not contain an unsubscribe facility as required by the spam act. With businesses viewing email as one of the most important marketing channels, it’s a timely reminder that not including an unsubscribe facility can be an expensive enterprise. There were only three complaints from consumers to the ACMA from over six million emails sent by CommSec in the preceding 12 months.10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy
Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.
A few weeks ago, I wrote that your organization should have a social media policy, and one of the things I heard among all the great comments was: “Okay, but what should it say?”
There are generally two approaches to social media policy making. Some organizations handle social media in an evolutionary way. Chad Houghton, the director of e-media and business development at the Society for Human Resource Management, told me that he thinks, “it might be beneficial not to create some arbitrary rules without first seeing where the opportunities and risks really are.”
Other organizations, meanwhile, feel more comfortable establishing a clear policy from the outset. IBM, for example, has published their social media guidelines publicly for anyone to read. It’s a great policy, though rather long.
Whether you’re writing your social media policy from the get-go, or letting it develop organically in reaction to situations as they arise, here are 10 things you should definitely consider. These 10 tips will help you steer clear of pitfalls and allow you to focus on what’s important: engaging the customer.
1. Introduce the purpose of social media
All policies need to address what’s in it for the reader/user — what should the reader take away after reading the policy? One of the common themes I kept coming across in introductions to social media policies is the idea that the policy should focus on the things that employees can rather than what they can’t do. For those of us who have experience writing policies, this is a real paradigm shift.
But that’s the spirit of social media — it’s all about leveraging the positive. And that needs to be evident in the policy. Houghton agrees, “The old way of doing things is to create an unnecessarily restrictive model of engagement that prevents companies from leveraging new media appropriately.”
2. Be responsible for what you write
Oren Michels, CEO of Mashery, explains that “people tend to interpret having the ‘right’ to express themselves online as implying a lack of consequences when they say stupid things.” That’s not the case. Your organization and its representatives need to take responsibility for what they write, and exercise good judgment and common sense.
“Dooced” is an Internet expression that means to lose one’s job because of things one says on one’s website or blog. No one wants that to happen, of course, so using common sense and being responsible is important.
3. Be authentic
Include your name and, when appropriate, your company name and your title. Consumers buy from people that they know and trust, so let people know who you are.
4. Consider your audience
When you’re out in the blogosphere or Twitterverse or other social media channels, remember that your readers include current clients, potential clients, as well as current/past/future employees. Consider that before you publish and make sure you aren’t alienating any of those groups.
5. Exercise good judgment
Refrain from comments that can be interpreted as slurs, demeaning, inflammatory, etc. The Internet is full of varied opinions, and it’s okay to share yours, but you never, never, never want to be branded a racist or narrow-minded or an unstoppable hot-head.
Your employees should understand that companies can and will monitor employee use of social media and social networking web sites, even if they are engaging in social networking or social media use away from the office. Eric B. Meyer, an associate at the labor and employment group of Dilworth Paxson LLP, reminds us that, “employees should always think twice before hitting ’send‘; consider what could happen if your organization sees what the employee publishes on the Internet and how that may reflect not just on the employee, but also the company.”
Bottom line: good judgment is paramount regardless of whether an employee’s online comments relate directly to their job.
6. Understand the concept of community
The essence of community is the idea that it exists so that you can support others and they, in turn, can support you. You need to learn how to balance personal and professional information, and the important role that transparency plays in building a community. Your community shouldn’t be an environment where competition is encouraged or emphasized, but rather a platform where your customers or users feel comfortable sharing, connecting, and receiving help.
7. Respect copyrights and fair use
This should be a no-brainer, but just in case: always give people proper credit for their work, and make sure you have the right to use something with attribution before you publish.
8. Remember to protect confidential & proprietary info
Being transparent doesn’t mean giving out the Colonel’s special 11 herbs and spices used in KFC chicken or the recipe for McDonald’s Big Mac special sauce.
Those examples seem pretty self-explanatory, but Meyer, points out that, “employers may fail to make employees aware of any obligation they may have to protect confidential or proprietary information.” Transparency doesn’t give employees free rein to share just anything. Meyer says that every state has a law governing trade secrets.
Therefore, employees who share confidential or proprietary information do so at the risk of losing their job and possibly even ending up a defendant in a civil lawsuit. At the very least, companies will seriously question the judgment of an employee who shares confidential or proprietary information via social media. It’s a good idea to make sure all of this is clearly laid out in your social media policy.
9. Bring value
Social media will more likely pay dividends for you if you add value to your followers, readers, fan, and users. Michels, for example, said he’s used blog posts as a “means to frame the conversation around specific issues and make sure that our position is heard and commented on,” or as a way to build buzz for upcoming products or services.
Joe Homs, the CEO of Headset Bros., shared with me two instances where social media has provided an opportunity to bring customer value. Once, on Twitter (), they ran across a person who was looking for a recommendation for a product they sell. A simple message to her that was quick and relevant allowed them to make a fast sale.
Another time, on Facebook (), a customer complaint about not receiving an order led to the realization that their shipping company had lost the package. Sending the customer a new package overnight fixed the problem and they eventually worked out the problem with the shipping company as well.
Still confused about the different ways you can provide value using social media? Check out the video from Barry Judge, the Chief Marketing Officer at Best Buy, embedded below.
(Thanks to Christine Tierney for the heads up on this great video.)
10. Productivity matters
I asked Homs if he was concerned that his employees would lose focus if they were spending too much time on social media sites. His comment: there’s not much to balance. He told me, “talking to people (over social media or otherwise) is our ‘real’ job.” Headset Bros estimates that 90% of their business is communication with customers (online and by phone). To help with the rest, they’ve automated most of their other business functions.
But, your social media usage won’t get you very far if you don’t execute on the core competencies of your business. Remember that in order for your social media endeavors to be successful, you need to find the right balance between social media and other work.
What Coke Knows About Social Media That We Don’t
Thanks to Out Spoken Media for the interesting post.
I’ll make this quick.
I told myself I wasn’t blogging today. I love you all, but liveblogging PubCon has left me completely swamped. But then I came across an article in AdAge about Coca-Cola and how two brand evangelists (and Coke’s reaction to them) brought Coke a world of attention. And as I read it, I could feel my cold little blogger heart begin to flutter. It’s almost as if there is hope for big brands looking to succeed in social media. You don’t have to spam the damn thing to death, after all!
[swoon]
Do you know what I learned from that article? I learned that Coke has the second most popular page on Facebook, second only to Barack Obama? I also learned that Coke, the beholder of said second most popular page, had absolutely nothing to do with creating it and have instead, only benefited from the attention, increased engagement and buckets of awesome it delivers. That’s amazing.
God bless brand evangelists, doing your work for you since the advent of social media.
Here’s how it happened: Coca-Cola fans Dusty Sorg (coolest name evar) and Michael Jedrzejewski (hardest last name to spell evar) wanted to make their love of Coke official on Facebook. Only problem was that Coke didn’t have an official Facebook page, only 250+ lame looking ones. So the boys tracked down a high resolution photo of a Coke can (seen above) and created one themselves. Less than seven months later, the page now has more than 3.3 million fans. And even better, it has the full support of Coke.
Back in November, Coke had a choice. Facebook instituted a rule that regular users couldn’t create branded Facebook pages. Only those authorized by, or associated with, the brand could. Coke either had to take control of the page or allow Facebook to close it down. Coke was smart. They created a third solution: Let Dusty and Michael keep the page, but this time, work together.
It’s a story that grabbed me for two reasons.
- It shows a maturation by big brands. Not long ago, Coke publicly disapproved of the Diet Coke + Mentos viral craziness because they felt like it didn’t fit their brand image (whatever the hell that is). Now it’s 2009 and Coke’s been around the block a few times. They know that you can’t control your brand 100 percent in social media and that sometimes its better to embrace it.
- We’re seeing companies empower those who are empowering them. It’s the acceptance of brand evangelists and lifting them up to do great things in your name.
And just like that, the ice around my heart began to crack. Unicorns began grazing my apartment and a box full of puppies was dropped off on my doorstep.
Coke did itself a huge favor here. People want to interact with companies that care about them. When Coke had the choice to choose between corporate bureaucracy or its brand evangelists, it picked its brand evangelists. They didn’t just let the two fans keep the page, they flew them out to Atlanta and gave them a tour of the World of Coke museum. They brought them into meetings where they discussed how they could leverage the Facebook page together. They brainstormed ideas. They made them part of the company.
They showed these two guys, that behind everything else, they gave a shit. And that’s what consumers want. To know that their favorite brands give a shit.
I don’t care what size company you are, you need to empower those who empower you. We saw what happened when Ask.com turned their back on brand evangelists. It makes people stop caring about you. It makes them stop talking about you. It makes them move on. Coke could have done that here and arguably been justified in their actions. But they didn’t. Instead, they showed what happens when big brands learn how to play in social media — we all benefit.
And that’s something that can brighten anyone’s Monday. I don’t drink soda (carbonation freaks me out), but if I did, I know that I’d be buying a few dozen bottles of Coke right now.
Coca-Cola Launches New Social Media Policy
This is Adam Brown, Head Of Social Media at Coca-Cola, in a quick 3 minute interview on his new Social Media Policy for Coke. What a job that must have been! The thing I love about this, is that it’s a simple policy (3 pages long), practical and full of common sense while the best part is that Coca-Cola is empowering global staff to become part of the PR & Customer Relations teams.
Below I’ll list out the 10 Principles for Online Spokespeople & a link to download the new social media policy from Coca-Cola.
- Be Certified in the Social Media Certification Program.
- Follow our Code of Business Conduct and all other Company policies.
- Be mindful that you are representing the Company.
- Fully disclose your affiliation with the Company.
- Keep records.
- When in doubt, do not post.
- Give credit where credit is due and don’t violate others’ rights.
- Be responsible to your work.
- Remember that your local posts can have global significance.
- Know that the Internet is permanent.
Click here to download the new 3 page social media policy from Coca-Cola. (via ViralBlog)
Thanks to http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com for the post.
25 Excellent Social Media Sites for Teachers
Are you a teacher who wants to increase collaboration and skill development to students? Teamwork can increase these skills, as students can learn how to communicate, cooperate and compromise on decisions together. What better way to teach these skills than through social media?
The following sites provide a means for teachers and students to become more interactive. While you already may use some tools listed below, other networking platforms may offer new avenues to pursue in your goal to help students understand that social media can be used for more objectives than socializing. At the same time, in an age where boundaries between public and private life are blurring and personal reputations are defined by search results, you can have a hand in monitoring and defining a student’s online identity.
The following sites are listed alphabetically under two categories — one with links to share with students and another with links just for educators. In addition to the link to the social media site, some items in the list also contain links to tools that may help you transition to new platforms or help enhance the work you currently share with your students.
Share with Students
- Blackboard: You may not have thought about Blackboard as a social media tool, but it offers all the interactivity you can desire with students and with parents. Corporations and nonprofit organizations now use this platform to stay in touch with employees and members, for educational purposes and to increase organizational performance.
- Box.net: Connect and collaborate on a platform that seamlessly integrates with Google, Autodesk, Zoho, WordPress and Picnik.
- Cramster: If you don’t feel possessive about your students, then introduce them to this social media tool that is focused on tutoring and education in math, science, engineering and business topics. Geared toward high school students and higher, parents and educators also can get involved.
- Del.icio.us: Embrace your inner bookmarker with a tool that offers a way to share links as a means to help students learn. Social bookmarking, using keywords, simplifies the distribution of reference lists, bibliographies, papers and other resources among students as well. Introduce your students to libraries that use del.icio.us, and you can teach them how to use this tool as an information organizer.
- Ecto: Try this collaborative learning environment on for size. It is a student-centered environment that allows teachers and parents to participate. And, it’s free.
- Edu2.0: Use this free and easy way to teach and learn online. Teach private or public classes accessible from any Web browser, create and share lesson plans and more in over ten languages.
- Edublogs: Edublogs is a free blog hosting solution for teachers that runs on the WordPress MU platform, so teachers have access to all current WordPress features. Additionally, each blog comes with 100MB of free storage space for images and files and there are no limits on bandwidth.
- Flickr: If you haven’t used this social media platform for education, then you might want to visit FlickrEDU to learn how photographs can enhance an educational experience. Be aware that some school districts have banned photo sharing because of “objectional content” on some photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly, Snapfish and more.
- Google Docs: You might not think of a utility as a social media platform, but Google Docs provides a way to collaborate, share and discuss documents, spreadsheets and presentations in a private environment. Go to Google for Educators to learn more about how to use this resource and other Google educational tools.
- Moodle: This virtual learning environment is free to use, and it includes a myriad of ways to build ‘community’ in the classroom.
- Social Media Classroom: Known as SMC, this download offers teachers a way to build a site filled with blogs, wikis, RSS and video. This is an open source Drupal-based Web service. You also can created a hosted version of the SMC.
- TeacherTube: Add this site to YouTube as a means to share instructional videos. TeacherTube, however, is more inclined to provide a safe venue for teachers, schools and home learners. Also, try School Tube for more video sharing in a safe environment.
- Twitter: Do you use Twitter as a teaching tool? Learn how to use Twitter in the classroom and find resources and links to help define your project through Twitter for Teachers, a “collaborative effort to teach teachers about Twitter.”
- WikiEducator: Use wikis to plan educational projects and develop content for that project. When you create a WikiEducator account, you receive free wiki skills training. WikiEducator isn’t the only wiki on the block (note Wikis in Education as another example). Visit SHTM Teacher’s Wiki’s article, “A Naked Wikie: How to use Wikis for Teaching and Learning,” for more information.
- Zumeo: Help students get started with their careers on Zumeo. Geared for high school or college students, this site can provide information on jobs and internships as well as new connections as students discover their strengths.
For Teachers Only
- 4Teachers: If you want to learn how to teach with technology, or if you want to hone your current skills and teach others what you know, then this venue might be for you. Learn about new tools, get support and stay on top of your game.
- Classroom 2.0: Join this community to learn more about Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. Use peer support to learn more about social media tools listed here, or other tools that can enhance your teaching experience.
- EDU4DRR: Join this social network by and for teachers and educators who want to make a difference in disaster prevention education.
- Facebook: Face it — Facebook has come a long way as far as reputation is concerned. While concerns over privacy still exist for younger students, you can join Facebook simply to gain access to groups such as Social Media Guidelines for Educators, where you can join the discussion surrounding social media guidelines for schools and school districts.
- LinkedIn: Stay connected with peers in a professional environment that allows you to share your resume and skills. This site is a must for those who understand that few jobs last forever.
- Ning: Not only can you build a community using this platform, you can join any community that exists now. Search for your subject or for your grade level to find a community filled with supportive members.
- Promethean Planet: Billed as “the world’s largest interactive whiteboard community,” this site offers support for teachers through searchable resources, lessons, educational Web links and many more tools.
- ProTeacher Community: This is a community for school teachers in grades PreK-8. Participants mostly are from the U.S., but guests from around the world are invited.
- TeacherLingo: Tryout this educational community that connects teachers from every educational level.
- We the Teachers: Find teachers in your neighborhood or from around the world to share lesson plans and other classroom resources.
Are Classes in Your Toolbox?
Towards the end of 2009, we started a new survey of higher ed web professionals to take a look at one potential way that you are using the resources around you. The question centered on a fairly simple, central concept: odds are that on your campus you have classes teaching the creation of different kinds of media, are you leveraging them to add media to your web site? I have to admit the response surprised me. No. No you aren’t.
Before I dive too far in to what we learned, let me be transparent. I personally don’t feel we got enough responses to be statistically significant beyond the general answer of no. A total of 42 of you answered the survey, half of those were from schools between 1,001 and 5,000 students. Rather than throw away the survey, I do want to share some of the points that I think were of value. Just keep in mind the reality of some of this information might differ from the snapshot we got, so use care if you want to make a case for something and are citing this survey.
Despite the low return on responses, only 5% (2 people) said they do use content generated in courses on their site. That left the remaining 95% in the no column. No matter what, that to me was telling. It would definitely appear this is not a resource you are tapping, and that surprises me. However, out of those that said no, 44% said they had in the past, and 69% said that they would consider it in the future (that number goes up to 97% when including the ‘maybes’), the biggest barrier (34%) being inter-office communication. It would largely seem that the primary reason people aren’t doing this is that no one is getting together and talking about it. Concerns like the quality of results can be addressed if people got together and talked. But, that was barrier number two – according to 31% of you, you just don’t have a department on campus to talk to about this kind of content development, even if you wanted to. Obviously that’s a harder problem to solve.
The reason I started this survey is because it’s a concept I’ve talked about a little with some faculty on our campus. We have interest, we just need to coordinate the effort. As a university, it seems like from an academic standpoint we have at least some obligation to help kids get their feet wet in this environment. That doesn’t mean letting them redesign the home page, but why couldn’t they help with a student landing page, or marketing efforts? We let television kids produce shows on cable, journalists and photographers are printed, and broadcasting majors make commercials for local radio stations. Yet those interested in the web appear to be given no real chance to interact in a live market. I find that very interesting and a little sad.
From the results, here are a couple good comments folks made:
“Using student work is just too hit-or-miss and you have to use what they make or no one will want to do the projects for you next time. It’s like having a contest and using whatever you get in contest entries. You might get lucky, but more often you don’t because it’s a conflict of interests. The students’ objective is to learn the medium and get a grade. The university has marketing goals that don’t necessarily align with the class academic goals. Bottom line is, it looks like amateur work and that’s not the image we want to give in our marketing.”
What do you think, is this right? What if you used higher level courses with clear content objectives directed by the teacher? If quality was your biggest concern, it would seem clear communication and planning could help with addressing that.
“Our faculty are many years behind on technology, even our computer science instructors. It makes it hard for students here who know more than they do. They seem really afraid to even try anything new. They also seem to not even want to continue learning – just waiting it out to retirement.”
This is a more difficult, broad issue. How do you teach the best without the best teachers to begin with? This is one reason I advocate using our positions in higher ed to also be teachers when possible, even if it’s just a night course.
So, what can we learn from this? Well, if you aren’t using courses on your campus to generate campus, you are in the overwhelming majority. If it interests you, work on communication. Don’t be afraid to talk to people about ideas you might have, someone has to start the dialog after all. A lot of people are willing to entertain the idea, so don’t ignore the value this approach to content development might provide for you. Better still, if someone comes to you with the idea be sure to vet it properly. Good ideas for web won’t always come out of your office.
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