Managing our brand onlineAlison Kerwin & Phil Wilson

Web Services

September 2009 February 2010 June 2010 onwards…

Web Services Faculties

July 2010 onwards…

Initial Framework of Standards

Revised training programme

Closer links between Web Services and Faculties/School

Greater emphasis on strategic priorities and delivery of business value…

Pre launch

• Research / benchmarking; looking at our own statistics and evaluating similar websites

• Focus groups and/or beta tests; to test designs and principles

• User testing; navigation proposals, site architectures

Post launch

• Heat maps / user tracking• Analysis of statistics• Review and refine

How do we do what we do?

Measuring success

Increase in visitors to international pages to 15% – currently 10 per cent

All calls to action are used

Increase in traffic to features and key areas – eg. Study 5%, people searching for programmes, interacting with the features area (previously links to news articles with no pictures)

Lowered bounce rate

Set process for adding features and promos

Success criteria

Increase in visitors to international pages to 15% – currently 10 per cent

All calls to action are used

Increase in traffic to features and key areas – eg. Study 5%, people searching for programmes, interacting with the features area (previously links to news articles with no pictures)

Lowered bounce rate

Set process for adding features and promos

Success criteria

4% increase to PG

5.8% increase to UG

1.1 increase to International

Demonstratingsuccess

2010

2011

Note: On average a user spends 00:01:12 seconds per page when visiting our website

A look at the stats

Where can we go from here?

A note aboutresearch

Key facts

Research does not feature in the top 10 most used links from the homepageCompared to Study and Faculties & Departments the site gets few visitors

Key initiatives

New Web Content Editor (Research & Business) starts on 1st AugustHomepage features aim to drive traffic to /research or research related articles

… and social media, videos and blogs

Greater emphasis on research on department sitesResearch impact embedded across site

Maximising exposure of research

eProspectus screenshot

HE White Paper – the fight for AAB+ students

£9000 tuition fees and increased student expectations

Access agenda

Students wanting more information and more and more and more…

Responding to an (even more) competitive environment

In marketing it is recognised that one size does not fit all… this is very true of websites.

More targeting – blending our understanding of web behaviour with market analysis/business intelligence from OPP = tailored user users and/or targeted content in key areas (e.g. where a programme may be struggling and/or where we notice demand from a particular country)

Introducing conversion tools = Application Hub

Greater emphasis on promoting placements, career prospects and Open Days…

Responding to an (even more) competitive environment

Beyond thewebsite...

“They are the first generation to embrace and master technology, using it to democratise media, driving consumer power through Web 2.0. The power of social networking and blogs means charlatan brands and glossy spun marketing programmes will be exposed and the brands rubbished”

(Precision Marketing, 2008). 

Our current and prospective students are largely from Generation Y

forums and online communities blogs social networks multimedia sharing social bookmarking Digg RSS readers micro-blogging cloud computing

They use social media every day

73% of active online users have read a blog

45% have started their own blog

39% subscribe to an RSS feed

57% have joined a social network

55% have uploaded photos

83% have watched video clips

Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity – ahead of personal email

Figures from “What the F*ck is Social Media” by Marta Kagan

They use social media every day

“As consumers have increasingly become more sophisticated in their use of the internet, the importance of online communities has grown for marketers. It is recognised that consumers use them to seek advice, information and assistance prior to making a decision about purchasing a product or service.”

(Rowley 2000)

They like to talk and share

In 2011, social media will be THE top priority, according to a survey of senior-level PR

professionals

Vocus Research, PR Planning 2011

“Companies cannot ‘control’ or ‘harness’ conversations about their products, people, or

brand.”

Kodak Social Media Guidebook

Our 2010 UG Accepts Survey demonstrated that many of prospective undergrads viewed The Student Room as a key source of information.

It is all advice provided by students for students.

How can we respond?

The student voice counts more than ever…

… a brand can be destroyed by social

media so now more than ever the student

experience counts!

More, more, more…

More information from REAL students; forums, videos, opportunities to chat to them direct

More social media

Listen

Engage

What else can we do?