{"id":4615,"date":"2013-08-22T08:35:39","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T12:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/?p=4615"},"modified":"2017-04-20T00:24:57","modified_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:24:57","slug":"a-higher-ed-content-strategist-survival-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetcontent.com\/blog\/a-higher-ed-content-strategist-survival-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"A Higher Ed Content Strategist Survival Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following guest post was written by Lisa Maria Martin, a content strategist and information architect in higher ed. Lisa Maria will be speaking at Confab Higher Ed in Atlanta, GA this November.<\/em>
\n

\"Life<\/a>
New to leading content strategy in higher ed? These lessons learned might be a life saver.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spent time in academia, and I\u2019ve spent time in content strategy, but never before had I mixed the two. <\/p>\n

Then, last winter, I began working at a large, private university, handling content strategy and information architecture for websites across the institution\u2019s online presence. Thus far, it\u2019s been a supremely rewarding adventure \u2013 though not without its challenges. <\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve broken in my role (we\u2019re finally past that awkward blister stage), I\u2019ve wondered: What have I learned so far? What do I wish I had known in those first few disorienting weeks? What could have smoothed some of my (ahem) less elegant moments?<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re like me, making the jump from agency life to higher ed, or maybe you\u2019ve just been given responsibility for your department\u2019s web content. What do you do now? What do you look out for? How do you make this transition with all the grace of a leaping, CMS-literate gazelle? <\/p>\n

You learn from my mistakes, my friend.<\/p>\n

1. Meet your real audience.<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re new to working in higher ed, you might already think you know your audience: students, duh. You were one once, so naturally you must know how they think. <\/p>\n

But which students are you talking about? Prospective students? New transfers? International graduate students? Returning veterans? Part-time working adults at the satellite campus? Rising seniors who live in McGill Hall? <\/p>\n

Focusing on \u201cstudents\u201d won\u2019t clarify your goals any more than focusing on \u201cstaff\u201d or \u201cfaculty\u201d \u2013 or, oh, \u201chumans.\u201d Your audience (and their goals) will be very specific, whether you\u2019re building a website to teach employees about their benefits or structuring content for the student housing office. The purpose of your site, the vision of your leadership, the attitudes of the student body, the values of the institution \u2013 all of this affects how you talk to, and develop content for, your audience.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s no excuse not to get to know them. In many cases, you might actually be living, eating, and working with your audience every day \u2013 a huge difference from other industries. The last time I needed a student perspective, I walked 20 feet from my desk to chat up the work-study kids who manage our office\u2019s front desk. They\u2019re right there.<\/em> Go talk to them!<\/p>\n

2. Think outside the boxes and arrows.<\/h2>\n

Beyond your audience, learn everything you can about your organization. You don\u2019t have to commit the org charts to memory (well, that wouldn\u2019t hurt), but it helps to understand reporting structures, value propositions, service offerings, relationships, acronyms, and all those other pesky details that go along with being part of an organization. In other words, learn the content.<\/p>\n

Not knowing your content can lead to some silly mistakes. Shortly after my arrival at the university, I got to create student personas based on user interviews. I assigned my fictional characters what I thought were appropriately diverse majors \u2013 until my boss pointed out that my freshman was in a program only available to grad students, and my grad student was in a program only offered at a different campus. <\/p>\n

The error was easily correctable, but I\u2019m lucky it was spotted. The personas were slated for use on an intense, long-term, multi-website project, where my \u201ctiny\u201d mistake could have snowballed into repeatedly misdirected content choices.<\/p>\n

With time, I\u2019ve not only learned our academic offerings, but begun to see content patterns throughout the university. Academic programs and university initiatives can cut across departments, span campuses, and market to multiple audiences; a simple content decision on one site can suddenly and unexpectedly impact others.<\/p>\n

It takes time to understand how all the pieces fit together, but it starts with actively consuming information \u2013 even when it seemingly falls outside your box on the org chart.<\/p>\n

3. Pace your \u201csuggestions.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Sometimes, in a new environment, it\u2019s easy to spot gaps in established processes \u2013 and it\u2019s tempting to rush to fill them (especially when you\u2019re new and eager to prove your value). <\/p>\n

But it takes time to absorb the full intricacies of the existing team\u2019s design and content processes \u2013 not just the steps on paper, but the invisible forces at work, the fringe cases that introduce new obstacles, the solutions that have already run their course, and so on. It\u2019s possible your techniques or deliverables have already been tested and tried. Our institutions have very long memories.<\/p>\n

If you push for change too quickly, you may not understand why things are the way they are. What you see as design or research flaws might be the result of resourcing issues or politics. Do you know how many hoops your boss has to jump through to get approvals for web surveys? Do you know the senior vice president\u2019s stance on responsive design? Do you know if the budget allocations exist to hire content creators? <\/p>\n

Every team has limitations. Don\u2019t assume they\u2019re borne of ignorance. The longer you\u2019re there, the more you\u2019ll see the boundaries and where you have leeway to push them.<\/p>\n

Make sure you\u2019re really listening, not just waiting for your turn to talk.<\/p>\n

4. Mind the politics.<\/h2>\n

Higher ed is a fantastic industry, but it\u2019s no stranger to the challenges that plague other industries. As in any large, established organization, you might experience painfully slow decision-making, boatloads of red tape, and territorialism. Personality conflicts, grudges, and everyday sensitivities can shape projects in ways that seem strange to outsiders.<\/p>\n

One of my earliest projects \u2013 which I joined midstream \u2013 was so tangled up in its own histories that I had to attend a meeting just to be briefed on said tangles: the phrases I should and shouldn\u2019t use, who to expect resistance from, and the complicated origins of the project tensions. <\/p>\n

My initial instinct was to ignore it. So some people are in a snit \u2013 so what? I won\u2019t be dragged into it! I can fix all the problems because I\u2019m new and different!<\/em> But the truth is, without having at least a cursory understanding of the project history, I would have had both feet in my mouth at the next stakeholders\u2019 meeting. <\/p>\n

Rather than holier-than-thou ignorance, be matter-of-fact. Treat politics as any other project constraint, like limited budget or an aggressive timeline \u2013 but a constraint that requires empathy and careful attention. Rely on trusted coworkers (who have been there longer than you!) to keep you informed and help you navigate potential conflicts.<\/p>\n

5. Find allies everywhere.<\/h2>\n

Reach out. Depending on where you sit in your institution, you might work very closely with developers in IT \u2013 or you might not even know who they are. You might have an entire team of marketers backing you up, or you might have to work through a far-flung media relations office. <\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t have others in your office who do what you do, where can you find potential support? Try your counterpart in other offices, a central web team for the university, or even your local content strategy meetup<\/a>. Don\u2019t assume that people outside your immediate reporting structure can\u2019t help you \u2013 or that people with other titles won\u2019t be able to champion the content strategy cause.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, I sat down with a \u201cDirector of Research Communications\u201d to discuss the website for her boss\u2019s lab. She\u2019d never heard of content strategy, but during the meeting, she said, \u201cWell, I want this site launched as quickly as my boss does, but I told him we can\u2019t even begin the process until we know what content we want on the website.\u201d <\/p>\n

I almost hugged her on the spot. And, wouldn\u2019t you know it, their website launched on time, with well-managed, well-structured, solidly written content. You just never know who\u2019s going to be in your corner.<\/p>\n

6. Hug it out.<\/h2>\n

Immerse yourself in your school\u2019s personality. Learn the history, the colors, the fight song. This isn\u2019t just a job that happens to be at a university \u2013 you\u2019re part of a community now. By embracing it, rather than keeping it at arm\u2019s length, you\u2019ll feel like you have a stake in it, too.<\/p>\n

So root for the mascot. Participate in their personality tests and team-building exercises and community events. Read their publications (even the student paper). Pay attention to what the local and national news is saying about your fellow Colonials, Bears, Terrapins, Hawkeyes, or Huskers. <\/p>\n

And go on the campus tour. You\u2019ll get to see what prospective students see, in all their nervousness and excitement and hope. (You\u2019ll also learn where they\u2019re hiding the library Starbucks. I cannot stress this enough.<\/em>) <\/p>\n

With less than a year into my position here, I know there will be more lessons to come (there are so many stakeholders whose toes I haven\u2019t even stepped on yet<\/em>). There will never be a day where I just know all the things and nothing ever changes again.<\/p>\n

But one of the reasons that I chose to work in higher ed was because of my background in teaching. Like our institutions, I place a lot of value on the learning process. The real lesson is in recognizing that the learning never stops.<\/p>\n

Photo by dirk1812 \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n
About Lisa Maria Martin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lisa Maria Martin has been a copywriter, a designer, a poet, a journalist, and a composition lecturer at several universities \u2014 which sparked her interest in higher ed web work. She is currently an information architect and content strategist at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She spends egregious amounts of time on Twitter (@redsesame<\/a>) and occasionally writes at thefutureislikepie.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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