{"id":2231,"date":"2011-12-05T06:33:36","date_gmt":"2011-12-05T11:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=2231"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:12:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:12:06","slug":"content-entrepreneurship-a-commitment-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/content-entrepreneurship-a-commitment-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Content Entrepreneurship: A Commitment to Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Innovate
This guy's got the right idea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a common refrain: we\u2019re so busy. We have so much on our plates. It\u2019s hard, or impossible, to try new things when we can barely keep our heads above water with our existing CMS, channels, deadlines\u2026 the list goes on.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s time we realized that innovation and experimentation are not nice-to-haves. They are the core functionality that allows our online channels to thrive and evolve over time \u2014 not to mention keep us professionally engaged and satisfied.<\/p>\n

As Dylan Wilbanks implored in his best-of-conference HighEdWeb 2010 presentation<\/a>, \u201cTry. Experiment. But learn to discern.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Need for Change<\/h2>\n

Communications is evolving at a rapid pace, and it\u2019s a pace that we are not setting. For higher ed to keep up with the rest of the web \u2014 and our audience\u2019s expectations for online user experience \u2014 we can\u2019t be complacent. There are a lot of new content ideas and platforms out there (for example, here are a few niche social networks recently covered by Mashable<\/a>), and we need to carve out the time in our workday to not only read about them, but to explore how they might work for us.<\/p>\n

Mark Greenfield is a frequent speaker on the future of higher ed, the inevitable \u201cflattening\u201d he foresees<\/a>, and what that means for our web marketing efforts. Change is coming, says Greenfield, so what does that mean for us? It means that, one way or another, The Way We\u2019ve Always Done It won\u2019t be the same for much longer. All the more reason to find efficiencies, demonstrate value and explore new models and channels.<\/p>\n

Inspiration from Mainstream Media<\/h2>\n

The newspaper industry has contended with its share of woes in recent years, what with declining ad and subscription revenue (and the resultant budget cuts and layoffs) and an ongoing struggle to keep up with how the web is changing communications. Higher ed can empathize on both counts. <\/p>\n

However, even in this challenging climate, The Boston Globe<\/a> and The New York Times<\/a> are not shying away from investing in innovation. Both newspapers have set aside physical space in their buildings to create labs dedicated to it. The labs are not for pie-in-the-sky projects, but for ones that have a real chance of making it to market within a year or so.<\/p>\n

As Nieman Lab put it<\/a> (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n

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In an era where money is tight and newsrooms have shrunk, why carve out room for experiments that may not turn into anything? \u2026Because the traditional business model is in such disarray that it makes sense to invest in ideas that could turn into something bigger.<\/strong> In order for BostonGlobe.com and Boston.com to grow and thrive as online properties, the Globe is counting on its lab to create the kind of products and ideas that will help each site succeed. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI think in many ways it\u2019s perfectly legitimate for an organization like a newspaper to rely on outside vendors and outside companies to track innovation,\u201d Globe creative technologist Chris Marstall told Nieman Lab. \u201cBut I think it\u2019s probably better for us to have some inquiry we do on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

How are we any different?<\/p>\n

A Challenging Proposition<\/h2>\n

Ideas are easy. We can sit down for 30 minutes, throw out a topic \u2014 say, improving a majors and minors page \u2014 and come up with a dozen cool ideas. The challenge is getting from \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea to \u201cThat\u2019s a great page that we launched that has had these measurable results.\u201d How many great ideas have you seen left on the table after a brainstorming session? How can we better capture, evaluate, eliminate and implement? <\/p>\n

The other thing to keep in mind is a product life cycle. Real entrepreneurship isn\u2019t just launching a bunch of things \u2014 whether it\u2019s a departmental Twitter account or a new photo-a-day feature on the homepage \u2014 and then abandoning them. Real entrepreneurship is commitment to change, openness to ideas, and improvement of a status quo; it\u2019s about seeing things through. As Boston-based marketer Mike Troiano put it, \u201cLaunch is for amateurs<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how do we balance the need to innovate and experiment with the need for sustainable content practices? We need to plan for innovation, incubating new ideas within a sustainable framework. We must carve out and protect the space where we can safely play and learn. <\/p>\n

Be a content entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

Making Content Entrepreneurship a Reality<\/h2>\n

How do we translate an entrepreneurial attitude into practice? Here are some ideas:<\/p>\n