Mar 20th 09 Posted by Fritz McDonald

What Winning Awards Means to Us

Stamats has won seven gold awards at the recent 24th Annual Admissions Advertising Awards. In addition, we surpassed the seven prestigious awards and catapulted to “Best of Show” status for Harvard’s Graduate School of Education student viewbook. We’re proud to announce this, of course, and equally proud of the in-house creative, sales, and consulting teams that pulled this off. It’s a big... read more

Mar 17th 09 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Your Web Site is Social: Part I

Many people think social media and Web sites are two different things for a simple reason: at first glance, Facebook and that boxy thing on your screen seem like different species of technology. Facebook is big and sloppy with content just barely framed in the conventional Web design sense-content the kids make. Your Web site is sleek, defined by clean lines, sharp photography, and institutional branding.... read more

Feb 26th 09 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Common Misperceptions About Social Media

Recently, B.L. Ochman, a leading social media strategist and author of the What’s Next Blog, published a piece for Businessweek.com called “Debunking Six Social Media Myths.” It was good, insightful business journalism and in a true 2.0 spirit of collaboration, I’d like to build off her riff and focus this topic for higher education. Here are, then, the 10 most common misperceptions about social... read more

Jan 15th 09 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Top 10 Digital Promises for 2009

1. I will work from a clearly defined strategy. During last year’s Stamats SIM TCR conference, I asked the audience to demonstrate by a show of hands how many of them were developing Web sites from a clearly defined strategy. About eight hands shot up. It’s high time for colleges and universities to take their Web development process as seriously as they take admissions. The ideal Web plan should... read more

Dec 23rd 08 Posted by Fritz McDonald

The Power of Creative Thinking

It’s interesting how often we turn to left-brain thinking when times get tough. We analyze what went wrong in-depth, chart the numbers and dissect the trends or business practices that led us to the breaking point. Unfortunately, we spend very little time fashioning a constructive vision for the future. In an uncertain economy, it seems almost frivolous to suggest that we need creative thinking now... read more

Dec 9th 08 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Wise Digital Moves in Hard Times

Earlier this month, Bob Sevier gave an outstanding webinar on what you should and shouldn’t be doing during this economic downturn. It’s chock full of great advice and insights from a leader in higher education marketing. In the digital domain, there are several things also worth keeping in mind. First, priortize your needs and don’t be afraid to focus on the basics. Many of you might... read more

Dec 1st 08 Posted by Fritz McDonald

What Social Media Isn’t…

Recently, Nike ran a promotion using a mobile application called NikePhotoiD. It was their attempt to start a “dialogue” with their customers and it worked like this: you take a phone photo, send it to a number Nike gives you, Nike “extracts” the two strongest colors from your photo, creates a pair of sneakers in those colors, sends you a photo of them and asks if you want to... read more

Nov 20th 08 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Social Media Homework: What I’m Reading

There are a number of excellent books on social media out there and many more on the way. I’ve read two recently that I think everyone should read: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations by Clay Shirky Both will help you make the case for integrating social media into... read more

Oct 21st 08 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Social Media Strategy

Many institutions are getting involved in social media—and this is a good thing. A 2008 study by the UMass-Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research states that colleges and universities are adopting social media tactics faster than Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, more than 700 institutional Facebook “Pages” launched by December 2007 shortly after the site opened its doors to corporations... read more