My Prediction for Higher Ed Digital Professionals in 2019
It’s the season of predictions, right?
While I usually try to stay away from games of chance, I’m going to make a single prediction for 2019:
If you – as a higher ed digital professional – don’t embrace strategic measurement in 2019, you will have a higher risk of burning out at work in the next 12 months.
Digital marketing is getting more and more complex.
Social media is increasingly demanding, tricky, time-consuming but also draining. The social fuel it runs on (emotions!) always has an impact on us, mere humans.
State of perpetual “upgrades” and patches, heighten hacking threats, but also new demands in terms of speed, security, privacy, search engine optimization, content quality, device diversity, usability and accessibility: managing your school website is about to become the “Rocket Surgery” Steve Krug told us usability testing wasn’t a few years ago.
If you factor in the current downward demographic trend for enrollment, the added challenges on the international admissions market, the next social media algorithm update (what will Facebook, Instagram and the others come up with to shake things up (this year, this month, this week?) and the overall pace of change, the next 12 months are likely to feel even more daunting for higher ed digital marketers and communicators.
The Silver Bullet?
True, your higher ed digital job won’t be easy in 2019.
But, you can still decide to make it easier by adopting a more strategic approach to digital measurement and implementing a sound measurement process.
Why would strategic measurement be the Silver Bullet that can kill the beast threatening your performance, stamina and sanity at work?
If you’ve seen any of what I wrote, presented or taught for the past decade, you know that I always tend to put measurement at the center of marketing and communication.
I keep on and on (and on ;-)) about analytics and measurement not (just?) because I’m obsessed by it, but for a far more simple and universal reason:
what gets measured gets done, because numbers drive action(s).
Numbers Drive Action(s), Choose Them Wisely to Reclaim Your Time!
Not just in marketing or at work, but everywhere.
Think about the impact of step tracking or calorie counting app on our behaviors: presented with a data point (daily step count or daily calorie intake) and a target, most of us will modify dramatically how much they walk, jog, run and how little they munch, snack or eat.
This is why the best way to reclaim your time, sanity and ultimately creativity this year is to adopt a sound measurement strategic process.
It’s not difficult to set up, but it does require to pause, reflect and make a decision.
It takes time, time you think you don’t have, time you think you can’t take.
*Technically* I do monthly dashboards and an annual report – but realistically it so often gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list and I never get round to it ?
— Katy Duddell (@katyduddell) January 9, 2019
Yet, your measurement process will be the best time management tool you can use: it will tell you what to do, what to stop, what to improve — and where you should focus your time, efforts and budget.
Need Help?
Don’t know where to start to set up your measurement process?
Need some form of accountability to take the time to set up your own process at work?
Our brand new Analytics courses will help.
They have been redesigned to walk you through all the necessary steps.
How?
These 4-week professional certificate courses have been designed to help you do — and learn by doing – what needs to be done with the help of:
- focused short video lessons designed and recorded just a few weeks ago
- collaborative brainstorming asynchronous sessions with your classmates all working in higher ed institutions
- practical assignments with individualized feedback from your instructor, Aaron Baker or Jessica Stutt, both full-time Analytics professionals working for an institution.
If you want to set your measurement process once and for all in 4 weeks, these courses can and will help you get it done.
Tags: Higher Ed Experts Faculty, Higher Ed Marketers Career Advice, Higher Ed News, Karine Joly