Letting “web people” manage web tactics

There is a civil war going on. You probably haven’t heard much about it. The combatants in this battle are traditional organizations who allow web practitioners to manage content and handle development, but don’t want to give up control of overall strategy.

On one hand, this is understandable. Marketing strategy is about more than just a plan for what you’ll do with the digital space. It encompasses print and a whole lot more, depending on the size and scope of the office charged with managing it.

The problems are more acute the smaller the institution and the stakes, because we find ourselves embroiled in turf wars that threaten our control over a certain budget, supervision of staff or some other prized asset we’re not willing to give up.

Despite the desire to hold onto what’s dear to us, we need to entrust the very capable people inhabiting the digital space to make bold decisions about where we take communications and marketing strategy in this highly communicative age. The talent exists, there’s little doubt about that. You can read their insights, see their statistics in their incisive blog posts and hear their perspectives at conferences all over the country. I often wonder what higher ed would look like if many of these innovators were given more than just a seat at the table, but an actual line item to work with.

Spreading the love: Evangelizing the web on campus

Because the web structure on many campuses is still new or hasn’t been as fleshed out as it ought to be, there are times when the “web person” is thrust into the role of “web counselor” or Dr. Feel Good. You’ve got to make people feel included, welcome and important as it relates to having their information current and part of the web infrastructure.

It’s something that when I began doing this, I never really factored in. Part of my problem was, I really cut my teeth in the military. So people were generally more accommodating, because at the end of the day, there was a veneer of “someone will make you do this, if you don’t cooperate” infecting all of our interactions. So people at that time, tended to defer to the “all knowing” web seers as oracles of information and knowledge as it related to IT and web matters.

Of course, AOL still mattered then too.

Fast forward a while and now the web leadership role on a campus can involve a great deal of evangelizing and spreading what I like to call the “Good News” of the web. While the trepidation for most as it relates to the web has dissipated (or at least is grudgingly accepted) there are still those who need to be cajoled into participating more fully. As in, “I’ll go along with it. But I don’t want to have to do anything.”

It’s a delicate balance of 1) applying force 2) delegating when appropriate, but 3) and more important communication that will “convert more souls” (ok, ok..I’ll stop) to the web effort.

Why does it matter? I’ve learned that no matter how great a codehack you are, no matter how much of a visual wizard you fashion yourself, without the people behind you, it’s nearly impossible to build an effective web effort. You have to understand what people want, how to communicate where you are headed and then make them feel comfortable about the process every step of the way.