- May 12th: Terry Flannery, American University

May 12thTwitterview with Terry Flannery
Executive Director, Marketing and Communications, American University

Here’s the transcript of the whole interview:

HighEdMarketing: Welcome Terry Flannery at AmericanU, a keynote speaker at eduWeb2010. We’ll be tweeting w/Terry today about higher ed marketing. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: Welcome Terry @aumarketing You lead marketing & communications at AmericanU… Tell us a bit about what you did before that.

@HighEdMarketing At #AmericanU for the last 2 years. Before that, at U Maryland for 22 yrs, 11 as CMO. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing When did you start at AU & what were your first marketing priorities. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Started at AU May 2008. Though research & brand strategy were priorities, they had already begun web redesign…#eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing You redesigned the AU website about a year ago (& won several awards). What was the scope of the redesign? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing AU was already a year into a major redesign. Site had not been redesigned in nearly 10 years. #eduweb

HiceSchool: Did you feel you had to continue in the direction that had been started, or did you have an opportunity to modify it #eduweb

@HiceSchool Thanks Joe. I certainly took time to evaluate the direction, but agreed that they had developed a smart strategy… #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing From start time to launch of the new site, how much time passed? Did that fit estimates of how long it would take? #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketingSo you didn’t feel you needed to leave your mark on it to help solidify your position on campus? #eduweb

@HiceSchool To continue, Joe, yes, I felt a lot of pressure to add value to what had been done. I thought sole focus on students… #eduweb

...was too narrow. Encouraged more consideration of internal and alumni audience users. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @eduwebconf Terry’s responses from @aumarketing are not appearing at #eduweb No idea why not. Follow @aumarketing

@HighEdMarketing Bob, last question: total time-2 plus years. I was on board for the last 10 months prior to launch. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Scope - very comprehensive. 5 of 6 schools, integration across audiences, new CMS, total migration of old site. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing What partners did AU have in the redesign process? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing 4 partners. HUGE Inc. for design. http://bit.ly/bFOuJt Realview for v-tour. http://bit.ly/aTEoNx ... #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketingWhat CMS did you use? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ... Paperthin for CMS http://bit.ly/cCAmak and Northhighland for migration change/MGT. http://bit.ly/c3pNGx #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing How do you maintain content on a large uni website like AU? How do you check for brand consistency? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Many tools and distributed publishing responsibility. We have more than 50 content publishers… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ... Flexible templates, training in web writing, editorial toolkit, and bi-weekly meetings. #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketing Any “traditional” agency support for branding and the like? eduweb

@HiceSchool When we turned to brand strategy, research had to come first. ScarboroughSimpson helped us greatly. http://bit.ly/cV4M3F #eduweb

@HiceSchool Since then, we’ve gone solo. Our in-house team has just delivered a slam bang homerun for brand concept. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing We have a high level steering committee. Campus-wide reps who focus on policy, priority, and resources. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing We use Webtrends and Google Analytics to understand who are users are, how they are coming to us… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...what content they want and how they interact. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Needless to say, it’s also important to monitor social media along w web activity in tandem with these metrics. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing Web governance was a major topic at the @jboye10 conference last week. Tell us how that works at AU? #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketing Any “traditional” agency support for branding and the like? #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @eduwebconf Reminder… @aumarketing responses are not showing on #eduweb so do a direct follow @aumarketing #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing What do you think are the most important things to track in web analytics? #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketing Any leftovers I can steal? #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing Is the primary importance of the website to student recruitment widely accepted today within the university? #eduweb

@HiceSchool A big, resourceful university like NC State doesn’t need any leftovers when they have Joe Hice. #eduweb

HiceSchool: @AUMarketing #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Yes. When you’re as heavily reliant on tuition revenue as many private institutions are, It’s job one. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing How can marketing & tech teams best work together to meet the varied audience needs at a higher ed website? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing We need each other, no question. The CIO and his team are partners w marketing and others… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...what we’re seeing is a blending of roles. The marketing team needs to be more tech savvy… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...and the tech team needs to understand and be savvy about marketing… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...two of my latest hires have been folks who understand both deeply. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing Will we hear more about developing a powerful website brand presence in your eduWeb keynote? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Yes. We are going to give the audience a sneak peak at the new brand concept… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...because we will rely heavily on web and social media strategies for adoption and rollout… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...stay tuned for other previews of the brand process and progress from this Twitter account. #eduweb #highered

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing What’s the most important thing about the web that marketers should pay attention to on a regular basis? #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing That your brand is everywhere. Not just on your own site. If you’re doing it right… #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing ...your customers are responding to your brand’s authenticity, interacting with it, and carrying it with them. #eduweb

HighEdMarketing: @aumarketing Terry, thanks very much for your time today. Looking forward to learning more at your keynote in July. #eduweb

@HighEdMarketing Thanks Bob, as always, you’re a pro. Keynote is going to be fun, smart, and provocative. See you in Chicago. #eduweb

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