If you’ve spent any time reading about the web, you’ve probably heard the term “responsive design” being mentioned. In fact, it’s been quite the buzzword for the past decade or so. Unfortunately, many still don’t really understand what this type of design truly is. More importantly, others fail to recognize why it’s critical that every higher ed website be set up this way. If you fall into this category, not to worry. We’ll explain everything below.

There’s an old expression that says you can’t please all of the people all of the time and sadly, it’s true, even for higher education providers. There will always be a few people who, whether legitimate or not, will feel they had a bad experience with your brand, and thanks to the internet, these folks have a direct outlet through which they can share their thoughts with the masses. The way you respond to negative reviews can either help protect and uphold your reputation or tarnish it further. That being said, let’s take a look at a few tips for making sure it’s the former.

In today’s digital world, a college or university’s website is the focal point of its interaction with students, alumni and faculty. Because of this, the content contained within must be of exceptional quality and compelling enough to attract, engage and convert. That’s why leveraging a content management system (CMS) is so important. If you’re not completely sure that this type of platform is truly necessary, here are 5 reasons that just might change your mind.

There’s plenty of talk about content and how important quality content is for online marketing, including the higher ed industry. Yet, many content managers fail to recognize the importance of visual tools within the content realm. The fact is, people process visual data at a rate of 60,000 times faster than text. There have also been studies conducted that indicate social posts containing pictures perform exponentially better at garnering engagement. That said, let’s take a look at why your higher ed website absolutely, positively must contain pictures.

What makes a good content marketing strategy? While every industry may have its own objectives and direction, there are certain key elements that can be found within just about every successful content plan. To find out whether your higher education institution has these 5 core characteristics, consider the following list.

We all know you can’t get something for nothing. Obviously, in order to leverage the benefits of a quality content management system, you will need to make some type of an investment. But it’s also important to point out that not all CMS products are created equal. It’s even more critical to note that the cost alone is not always an indicator of how good the product is. That said, let’s take a closer look at the true costs behind a content management system and how you can use this knowledge to maximize your ROI.

Cornell Center for Materials Research has officially decided to make the shift to the AcademicsWeb content management system, joining the growing list of higher education institutions that recognize the value of an industry-specific, dynamic CMS product to manage and optimize their online content.

Like it or not, social media has become an integral part of our lives. It’s also changing the way students interact with higher education providers. Studies show that the majority of prospective students now use social media as part of their college assessment process. What does this mean for your institution? Well, it means that if you’re not placing enough emphasis on developing and implementing a social media strategy, your school is going to lose ground. To follow are some basic guidelines to help you get an SMM plan in place.

Larger colleges and universities often have dozens or more subsites for each campus, division or department. Problems arise when the manager of each of these subsites maintains control over the look, feel and functionality. For instance, the content manager of the athletics department may prefer to use a completely different color scheme, page layout and even an old logo. Think it’s no big deal? Think again. Here are just a few ways inconsistency can negatively impact your higher education brand.

You can allocate as high a percentage of your budget as you want to content marketing for your higher ed institution, but unless you’ve taken the appropriate measures to optimize that content, nobody’s going to read it. This process is as much about how you write as what you write about, and it’s really important. Let’s take a look at some things you can begin implementing today to start seeing improvement in your ROI.