Executive-level training, management, and mentoring for digital and marketing team leaders, especially those in higher education and non-profits. Read by 450+ colleges & universities. More about mattklawitter.com.

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Google+ for Universities

November 28th, 2011 | Posted in Marketing, Tactics

With the addition of Google+ Pages for organizations, several hundred colleges and universities are now venturing onto Google+. Not only has Google given access to such large institutions, but it is encouraging them to leverage Google’s robust network to connect and share content. The Google+ 101 guide is a sign of Google’s investment in higher education.

Google+ 101: Introduction to connecting online for college and universities offers specific ways for universities to organize, promote, collaborate, and find content in Google+. It features specific examples of universities already purposefully adding this social network in their content strategies and communications. Among these highlighted universities is Washington University in St. Louis, which shares important and relevant campus news and event information.

If you are responsible for or can influence content strategies for your college or university, I encourage you to take a moment and review Google+ 101. It will help you determine how you can best integrate Google+ into your social media efforts.

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/universities/

Note: mattklawitter.com provides strategic support and digital marketing communication consulting to Washington University in St. Louis.

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Digital Marketing Consultant

October 10th, 2011 | Posted in Marketing

I am pleased to announce that I have decided to officially offer my services as a digital marketing consultant.

The past ten years in higher education and digital marketing have been challenging and rewarding. I have been privileged to serve many fine organizations, especially two very prestigious universities. I believe that the depth and range of my experiences make it possible for me to significantly contribute to the formation and execution of digital marketing strategies.

I seek partners in higher education and not-for-profits.

I will be based out of Chicago and will share more details in the coming weeks. For starters, please read my portfolio. It details two of my most recent digital marketing accomplishments.

If you are interested in collaborating, please contact me.

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Let’s Play Catch Up

September 29th, 2010 | Posted in Marketing

First, I want to share a personal message.

Here we are. The end of September 2010. I cannot begin to fully describe the events and emotions of this year so I won’t try. Those of you who know me personally know that I have experienced and witnessed life-changing events since February; namely, the sudden passing of my father-in-law, the birth of my second niece, and my marriage to Erin in June. I feel that I have gained the wisdom of a decade in just six months and am grateful to family, friends, and colleagues for their support. Most importantly, I am grateful to my wife, Erin, for her love, courage, and authenticity. I continue to be in awe of the Flynn and Klawitter families and their community of friends. It is a privilege to now be part of both families. I am proud to see our families come together.

Now on to business.

On August 10, 2010, our Digital Communications Marketing (DCM) team in the Public Affairs division at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) launched a brand new website for the University. http://wustl.edu

The entire project was conducted in-house. Our process spanned over six months of collaboration with communications professionals at WUSTL, contained a detailed analysis of user patterns and trends, and was informed by focus group testing. We created a 50-member subject-matter-expert group; interviewed numerous leaders; and drew upon the institutional wisdom of organizational visionaries. DCM planned, designed, wrote the copy for, and executed the project strategy for the new site. We delivered on time.

The effort was, and continues to be, the most collaborative and purposeful web project of which I have been a part in my career.

The work is not over.

As I’ve been know to say, a website is never complete. We continue to monitor and observe performance of the site, listen to feedback, and plan for future enhancements. Never before have I seen such scrutiny and commitment to keeping the site relevant. This means daily review of traffic patterns, and weekly DCM team discussions of ideas and suggestions. We believe that the stewardship of digital communications is important and we take our charge seriously.

Over the coming weeks and months you will see constant improvements and change. As a still relatively new office at Washington University in St. Louis, we have worked very hard to get to this point but we are not finished. Expect us to promote opportunities for focus groups and surveys and trust that we monitor social media and feedback.

WUSTL.edu is a much improved resource, and we know it is crucial for us to never settle or stop our progress. I look forward to the months ahead and imagine how we will look back upon these moments in our history. If experience has taught me anything, I know that success is a behavior, not a moment in time. It takes great care and passion to reach greatness– and, as I have personally witnessed in my past– success can be fragile.

I thank WUSTL and its community for the opportunity to contribute to the creation and growth of DCM and the resulting websites that we create, especially wustl.edu. I am excited for DCM’s future and its commitment to greatness for the university’s digital communications.

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Brightkite Rides Shotgun

April 20th, 2009 | Posted in Marketing

I moved to St. Louis, started a new job at Washington University in St. Louis, and got engaged. Beginning November 2008, I traveled back-and-forth from St. Louis and South Bend, Indiana every weekend until now. If you are wondering why, please read the first sentence above again.

Sidebar: if you need to know anything (anything) about Illinois Highway 55, just ask. I’ve seen some interesting sights.

My immediate family is spread out across the midwest and east coast. We are a very tech savvy group—each using Twitter for many years, Flickr fans, and iPhone handlers. We use web services to keep in touch, share information, and update each other on our travels. This has gotten more and more mobile in the past few years. Thank you, iPhone.

My family is wired.

For the past year (or so) we’ve started using Brightkite to keep each other informed of our locations. We move around a lot. A lot. I will not explain how Brightkite works, go see for yourself. Lately, on my weekend trips back to South Bend, I checked-in with Brightkite on my iPhone during the drive. It keeps people posted on my whereabouts, progress, and arrival times. It lets others know when I can speak on the phone. That is, when I am on the long stretches of beautiful, Illinois prairie. No joke—it’s beautiful country.

Sidebar #2: If you ever stop for gas or food in Lexington, Illinois, be nice to the gas station clerk. He’s friendly. And, be sure to wave to the state trooper who parks there all the time. Those guys work hard.

Brightkite has been invaluable to me and my family. I feel like we are keeping in touch—little by little—via this amazing service. And, it makes the world seem smaller and accessible. I know that may sound cliche, but it is true. And, I am learning so much about my travel patterns.

This all made sense to me recently when I looked at the “map view” of my travels during the past five months. It is amazing to see all of the check-ins from the road between STL and SBN. Each of these orange markers represents a time when I sent a message to my family/friends from Brightkite. Each time, telling them where I was and how I was progressing during the trip in real time.

To me, it is so much easier (and safer) while driving to “slide to unlock” my iPhone, hit the Brightkite app, let it find me, and then check-in to update my family than it is to try and do the same with Twitter or any Twitter apps. This is not a value judgment, just a fact. And, I love Twitter.

I do not usually gush like this, but I want to officially state my impressions of Brightkite. I wish them much success and thank them personally for making the world smaller and closer for me and my family.

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Recent ND.edu Press

October 8th, 2007 | Posted in Marketing

It’s been well over a month since the launch of the new ND.edu website. We’ve gotten plenty of feedback, made some tweaks, added content, and continue to post new carousel spaces on a very frequent basis. Overall, the site is holding up strongly.

Recently, we have received some press. For starters, the site was featured on October 5, 2007 as Adobe’s “Site of the Day.” I added a screen shot in my ND.edu Redesign Flickr set.

Also, John Nagy of the Notre Dame Magazine wrote an interesting article about the launch of the new site. The article was published in the Autumn 2007 issue, and it can be read online.

I am pleased to see the news work its way not only inside the Notre Dame community but also outside to the general public. We’re working very hard to add new features to the site in the coming months, and there is a staff of dedicated people who have been keeping the site current with news, information, and video.

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