With mass adoption of smartphones and social media, traditional public relations, or PR 1.0, has evolved into PR 2.0. The traditional rules of PR for building reputation in key areas and conveying values have fallen to the way side, and a new paradigm has emerged. Instead of relying on media relations contacts as gatekeepers for the select few, authority and expertise is now flowing from a groundswell of faculty, staff, students and alumni conversations. The voice of authority has been replaced by the voice of many peer experts. Mass communications has been replaced with personalized messaging. Today’s public relations 2.0 marketers need to employ and harness personalized, story-centered communications to steer their institutional brand: Create Buzz on a Person-to-Person Level In contrast with the mass communications style of traditional public relations, PR 2.0 brand journalists create influence by starting, joining and shaping one-on-one conversations. They rely on storytelling rather than press releases. They make the faculty, students, alumni and the … Continue reading →

After the second world war, cold war ushered the era of government sponsored research. Government funding built and sustained higher education institutions. Workshops, conferences and journals ruled. Few media giants made and destroyed brands. As cold war came to an end, he world order changed. Governments reduced their research budgets. Hundreds of media channels were born. Internet was privatized and commercialized, Google came into the picture, social media flourished, and smart phones revolutionized communications. Academic capitalism funded by diverse corporate sources took on a new urgency. Power was distributed. As the world order changed, a new set of rules emerged to build and manage the reputation of colleges and universities. Becoming known as a college of consequence now takes talent, discipline, money and digital smarts. Born out of our experiences in serving higher education institutions, here are the seven best practices for improving college/university reputation and brand perceptions in the digital age: 1. Invest in Branding Leading universities invest in … Continue reading →