Jul 2nd 10 Posted by Matt Arnold in Digital, Featured Articles

Online Engagement Is Not About Technology

That headline may seem contradictory. Online engagement involves constituents interacting with our tools and technology, but that technology should not be our primary focus. Instead, we need to focus on the experience that we are trying to provide as we share our institution’s stories and drive prospective students to engage with us. We can engage them through storytelling. What does our site tell them about the institution and how do their interactions on our site build a compelling experience that makes them want to take the next step (inquire, apply, enroll, etc.) and further engage with your institution?  While there are a seemingly endless amount of tools and technology that comprise the interactive space, engaging audiences online is less about the tools and more about the experience.

When designing a user experience, make sure your approach is:

• Audience centered
• rooted in strategy
• enabled, not driven by, technology

When working to design or develop an online experience for your audience, do not lead with a tool solution. Instead, determine what you need to accomplish, why that’s important or valuable to the organization AND your audience. Then focus on bringing that process to life through the application of technology. In other words, what then how. Decision makers can be easily distracted by new tools or gadgets (something I refer to as the the shiny object syndrome); work to understand how the latest technology supports or enables your strategy.

At times, tools and technology, with their constraints and quirks, can be frustrating, but I don’t believe they are the reasons projects fail or sub-par experiences are delivered to our constituents. Projects rarely fail because of the technology, but often fail for more human reasons. Those human reasons may be internal turf battles or the lack of time, effort, or expertise to get at the root cause of an issue. These elements, in turn, are often translated into a sub-par set of requirements that the tools and technology will enable. A former boss of mine said, “There’s no need to automate a bad process; you’ll just mess up faster.”

Don’t be overwhelmed by the array of online tools out there; instead focus on designing and delivering experiences that engage your constituents in a manner that helps tell the story of your institution in a meaningful and engaging way.

Photo by roland