Content Strategy in #highered: State, Impact & Advice by Donna Lehmann (@donnajl) from Fordham University

Donna Lehmann, Director of Director of Online Communications at Fordham University, is one of the 12 higher ed professionals presenting at the 2015 Higher Ed Content Conference (April 15).

In this 3-question interview, Donna discusses the state of content at her institution, how she measures content performance and shares some advice to create content for higher ed.

1) Would you say that content has now the place it deserves at your institution?

Everyone seems to have realized that care, thought, and expertise must go into creating appropriate, optimized content for the web.

Our challenge at Fordham and other universities is in meeting the demand both for the amount of content and the expertise. We have to find a way to transmit skills, provide feedback, and offer support to our editors, so they will feel confident in creating content and measuring its effectiveness.

2) How do you measure the performance and/or the impact of your content at your school? How does this help you with the content creation process?

With our redesigned site, we have a special opportunity to not only look at the impact of brand new content, but to put measurement processes in place that haven’t existed before.

We are just beginning our measurement journey.

3) Can you share the best piece of advice or lesson you learned about creating content for higher ed?

Stop lamenting the fact that most people won’t read your carefully-crafted content.

Don’t take it personal. Take it as a challenge.

How can you keep their eyes moving down the page? How do you get them to pay attention to the call to action? How do you strike a balance between giving them what they need and putting what you need them to see under their noses?