Mike Petroff, Associate Director of Digital Content Strategy at Harvard University, is one of the 12 presenters of the 3rd Higher Ed Content Conference.
In this 3-question interview, Mike shares a surprising outcome from content work, the biggest hurdle for content quality and a higher ed content dream.
1) What’s the most surprising outcome – in your work with content – you experienced in the past 12 months?
I can’t point to a specific outcome, but the most surprising trend in my content strategy work has been the increased collaboration on digital platforms.
Recent work like the Harvard Gazette’s series on Inequality required input from teams across our department, including writers, editors, photographers, and videographers, in concert with the digital strategy team. This collaborative spirit generated conversation about social media engagement, mobile user experience, detailed analytics tracking, and other aspects of content strategy that only existed at a much smaller scale in the past.
2) What’s the biggest hurdle for content quality at work? How do you deal with it?
A big hurdle is scale.
There are so many interesting stories at Harvard to tell, but like any other institution, resources are limited. We’ve used a model of aggregation and amplification to showcase content from within Harvard’s Schools and centers. We’ve also distributed our editorial content calendar to crowdsource ideas for future stories and opportunities.
Quality is incredibly important to us and we look to ensure continuous improvement, whether that be for our web properties, social accounts, or content optimization methods.
3) If you were given everything you need, what’s the first piece of content you’ll create for your school?
This is a bit of a moving target. A major goal is to create content that aligns with University priorities.
Last fall, we published a great microsite on Harvard’s efforts around the topic of Climate Change, and recently we’ve featured several amazing students in our #MyHarvardJourney Instagram series.
Whatever the priority, we look to tell that story in the best way possible using digital platforms that allow for high levels of engagement.
4) What role does video play in your content strategy?
The emphasis on video from a strategic perspective continues to grow.
Social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have placed a high level of importance on video as a medium for storytelling.
Video allows us to spotlight archival footage, seen here before the Harvard-Yale football game, or showcase unique student opportunities during Wintersession.
Video is going through an evolution with news feed autoplay, VR technology, and other format changes, and we always look for ways to incorporate new features into our content work.
