Stamats Insights | May 2024

Analytics & Industry Insights

Last call for Universal Analytics: How to get your data

On July 2, 2024, access to Universal Analytics data will be removed. Most client sites haven’t been gathering data in Universal Analytics for over a year, but if you need access to your historic data, here’s how:

• Download from Google and upload to Big Query or another data warehouse. Two downsides: First, the expense of extracting data and then uploading it to the BQ storage platform. Second, the ongoing monthly cost for storage and access. In addition, if your team lacks skills using MySQL language, you’ll need to contract with a vendor to get the data back out of BigQuery. ?
• A less costly manual method is to access the data while it is still available through UA and export it report by report, and month by month, into a series of Excel spreadsheets.

Keep in mind the pandemic years 2020-2021 significantly changed how people use the internet. Online behaviors before COVID were often very different than behaviors after. What happened on your website in August 2019 may not be useful or relevant in forecasting what will happen in August 2024.

You can’t just be “unlinked”

It’s not uncommon that PDF content changes. A common issue we see is teams, especially decentralized teams, simply “unlink” the PDF. The PDF still shows in Google. One example is a school converted scholarships from static PDFs to an online process. They didn’t remove the PDFs from the server and hundreds of students filled out the old forms. The students had to redo everything, including their references.

You can’t just unlink PDFs to get rid of them. Unwanted PDFs must be removed from the server.

Does Google care about periods in titles?

No—to Google PhD and Ph.D. are the same. The recommendation is to choose one format or the other and use it consistently throughout a website to provide a good user experience.

What’s Changing

Dynamic URL Parameters in LinkedIn

You can now create dynamic URL parameters in LinkedIn rather than manually creating them. The dynamic parameters you select will automatically populate for tracking in your web analytics platform. See all the available parameters.

Recruitment Insights

Poorly configured campaigns can cost 150% more in ad spend

Google penalizes poorly configured campaigns by making them pay more for their ad clicks. OK, so it’s not that simple, but Google does levy an ad rank “fine.” And we know clients pay significantly more than they need to if they are not following best practices. Want a free SEM audit? Email Cory Cozad ([email protected]) to schedule your audit.

Research Insights

Do students understand the words you choose?

Recent interviews with high school students show these words are not easily understood:

• Liberal Arts
• Faculty (high school students don’t have faculty)
• Outcomes (They like to know where a program will take them—jobs, careers, transfer schools—but they don’t use the word “Outcomes.”)
• Undergraduate (they’re about to graduate from high school, which makes them graduate students, right?)
• Matriculate (even college graduates puzzle over this one)
• Registrar (The what?)
• Bursar (Hamilton may have helped some people understand this role, but keep it simple: Paying Your Bill)

Interviews with high school guidance counselors say students want:

• Job titles
• How much they will make
• Employers associated with the major/program/certificate

Continue to challenge yourself and team: Would a high schooler know this? Also, check your program web pages to make sure they include the data students want. Email us at [email protected] for more insights.

Recent Launches

Komen Tissue Bank

The Komen Tissue Bank?at Indiana University needed a refresh of their website - and a strategy for integrating with their parent organization, IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Building on previous success, Stamats worked closely with the two teams to craft a new design that builds both brands, while allowing the KTB team to maintain separate content creation, marketing, and governance.

Our ongoing partnership with IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center demonstrates the importance of a comprehensive enterprise content strategy. Stamats devised a long-term plan that's audience-focused, data-driven, scalable, and flexible. It’s the strong foundation that supports the cancer center’s marketing and IT teams in elevating the important work they do.

Galen College of Nursing

Currently in 20 cities and with plans to double in five years, Galen College of Nursing needed help to keep future students scrolling and clicking. Their current website was outdated with search issues, compliance-driven language, and confusing wayfinding.

Stamats recommended a focus on thought leadership and content addressing the interests of Galen’s personas. The Galen team bought integrated new types of components such as carousels, video features, and expanding cards to provide information in a visually engaging way.

Earlier this month, their new website went live and within two weeks, the organic search traffic had a 13% increase in new users and 56% increase in engagement over the same period the year prior.

Speaking Engagements & Conferences

NACCDO-PAMN May 20-23, 2024, in Salt Lake City | Candace Gwaltney of IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center joins Stamats AVP Mariah Obiedzinski Tang to present Make Your Blog an Earned Media Machine! How Inverted Pyramid Content Strategy Helps You Reach Patients, Donors, and Reporters. Stop by the Stamats booth for a free pashmina and a chance to win a Maui Jim gift card worth up to $500.

NACCAP June 3-5, 2024, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA | Michele Szczypka, SVP, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer will sponsor and present the session Differentiating Your School for Adult Students.

Florida ACE June 12-14, 2024, Jacksonville, FL | Sabra Fiala, AVP, Marketing will conduct a round-table conversation on Navigating the AI and Technological Frontier: Enhancing Student Success in Higher Education

Sirius Marketing Event 2024 June 19, 2024 | Mariah Obiedzinski Tang, AVP Content Marketing at Stamats, will take part in the 2:10 pm EST session on Cracking the Code: Getting Noticed through Algorithms as a virtual #SME2024 panelist.

Recent Blog Stories

• Campus Protests: 4 Tips for Crisis Planning: In these tumultuous times, we find ourselves grappling with complex decisions that impact the very essence of higher education—providing a safe and supportive environment for our students to learn, grow, and express themselves.
• How to Increase Application Yield: Increasing application yield is on everyone’s mind who works in higher ed. But what is the solution to increasing application yield? In short, it ensures the student has a five-star experience as they move through the recruitment funnel.
• Storytelling: Its Enduring Power in the Age of AI: There’s an awful lot of noise in the world of content marketing about the advent of generative AI. These products come with an implied threat of “replacing” the people who engage audiences to tell brand stories that inspire action. Some days, it feels like science fiction is becoming science fact.