Higher Ed News & Whatnot 5/28/2024

Every now and then we find ourselves flooded with articles on digital marketing. That’s the case with this week’s blog.

The Five Cs of Digital Marketing

Sometimes, in the middle of a project, we lose sight of the larger picture. That’s why we were intrigued by an article, Mastering the 5 Cs of Digital Marketing: A Comprehensive Guide to Success, by LinkedIn. Here’s an overview:

1. Content: Content remains king in the digital realm. Engaging, valuable, and diverse content across various platforms—be it blogs, videos, podcasts, or social media—helps attract and retain audiences. It's about delivering the right message at the right time to the right audience.
2. Context: Contextualizing content is crucial. Analyzing audience behaviors, preferences, demographics, and the platforms they frequent enables tailored strategies. Leveraging data and insights ensures relevance and resonance.
3. Connection: Building strong relationships with the audience is pivotal. Engagement through social media interactions, personalized messages, and authentic communication fosters trust and loyalty.
4. Community: Creating and nurturing a community around your brand strengthens its impact. Encouraging discussions, user-generated content, and providing a platform for shared experiences amplifies brand advocacy and extends reach.
5. Conversion: Ultimately, conversions are the goal. Optimizing the customer journey and user experience, and employing effective calls-to-action are vital for turning interest into action, whether it's sales, sign-ups, or other desired outcomes.

Opinion: We like the idea that the whole conversation (there’s another “C”) begins with content. Even as we read this, however, we wanted to offer one reminder: It is the customer (yes, another “C”) that decides whether the content is valuable and worth their time. All of our good intentions, wishes, and hopes don’t matter if the audience doesn’t immediately engage with what we are writing/presenting/offering. Content is king…and queen.

Another article, by FinProv, offers the seven Cs of digital marketing, adding customer and cohesion to the conversation.

The two articles, taken together, provide a rock-solid foundation for any digital marketing strategy.

Primer(s) on Digital Marketing

As we poked around the digital marketing realm, we repeatedly ran across sites that identified Simon Kingsnorth’s Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing, as a must-read. While the irony of a book (analog) talking about digital marketing is not lost on us, we do appreciate any marketing book that builds on such foundation stones as the 7 P’s, Porter’s five forces, and customer lifetime value. One reviewer described it as an omnibus that focuses directly on the why of digital marketing.

At the other end of the continuum is Digital Marketing QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Developing a Scalable Online Strategy, Finding Your Customers, and Profitably Growing Your Business by Benjamin Sweeny.

Whereas Kingsnorth focuses on the “why,” Sweeney is all about the “how.” Looking over the table of contents we couldn’t identify a single digital marketing topic that was not covered.

The Kellogg School of Management

If you have the time and the cash, you might want to take a look at the eight-week certificate program offered by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. Kellogg, ranked number three, ahead of Harvard (number six) has an outstanding reputation in marketing and management. Think Philip Kotler and Don Schultz, the recognized “founder” of integrated marketing.

The online program, formally entitled, Digital Marketing Strategies: Data, Automation, AI & Analytics adds an important dimension, artificial intelligence, to the conversation.

Teens and Social Media

With all this discussion about social media, we thought it fitting to present some of the findings of a recent Pew study on how teens view and use social media. In a nutshell:

• Majorities of teens report ever using YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat
• TikTok use is more common among Black teens and teen girls
• Majorities of teens use YouTube and TikTok every day, and some report using these sites almost constantly
• More than half of teens say it would be difficult for them to give up social media
• Teens are more likely to say social media has had a negative effect on others than on themselves
• Teens are more likely to report positive than negative experiences in their social media use
• Many teens do not feel like they are in the driver’s seat when it comes to controlling what information social media companies collect about them
• Only around one in five teens think their parents are highly worried about their use of social media.?
• Nearly half of parents with teens (46%) are highly worried that their child could be exposed to explicit content on social media

Opinion: We strongly suggest that you read the entire article and look at the original research to get a more complete understanding of how students view social media.

We also suggest that you take a look at May 2023 article on LinkedIn, What Social Media Platforms Do Students Use in 2023 to Choose Their University. The article lists several major social media channels and then provides data on how students use those channels in the college choice process.

The research revealed that just over nine percent of respondents were introduced to the college they ultimately attended via social media. This suggests that social media might best be used a little later in the recruiting process. In other words, use social media to deepen or expand a relationship that has already begun.

Other Links Worth Noting

An interesting article on LinkedIn identifies what it believes are the most effective digital marketing strategies for student recruiting. The list includes website optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, online advertising, and analytics. Along with explaining the topic, the article links the topic to comments by various contributors.

Recognizing the importance of job placement after college, you might want to take a look at an article on how to improve your virtual college fair for prospective employers, by Radancy. The article arranges its recommendations around nine topics:

1. Understand Generation Z
2. Build your campus talent pipeline and nurture it?
3. Communicate early and often
4. Prioritize conversations?
5. Set clear expectations
6. Highlight your company culture (remote and in-person)
7. Showcase your DEIB commitment (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging)
8. Highlight professional development opportunities
9. Follow up to drive engagement?

Continuing with our theme of all things digital, Kirsten Weir and the American Psychological Association offer, Social Media Brings Benefits and Risks to Teens. Psychology Can Help Identify a Path Forward. According to the article, as youth mental health continues to suffer, parents, teachers, and legislators are sounding the alarm on social media. But fear and misinformation often go hand in hand. APA’s recommendations, says the article, aim to add science-backed balance to the discussion.

The Weir article offers a companion piece for parents: Keeping Teens Safe on Social Media: What Parents Should Know to Protect their Kids.

In late 2023, Sprout Social wrote an interesting piece on how to assess your social media strategy. As we read the article we realized how assessment has become both more important and the tools more effective than just a few years ago.

Everyone talks about its authenticity, but understanding how it is perceived and valued by different generations can be daunting. This is especially true in your social media strategy. In response, Sprout Social (the same folks who brought us the above link) wrote a worthwhile article on the importance of authenticity in social media.