University Business - June 2012 - (Page 86)

internet technology The Rise of Analytics-Driven Decisions Relying on web analytics in decision making By Karine Joly H ave you heard about the analytics revolution in higher education? Ready or not, it’s coming to your institution—if it isn’t already there. Whether you work in an academic, business, IT, marketing, or web office, the data-driven movement is slowly but surely making its way in to the hearts and minds of top executives faced with serious strategic and financial challenges. Think this is just wishful thinking from the higher education online analytics evangelist I’ve become over the past two years? Educause begs to differ. In October 2011, Educause launched a new initiative, using a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, to advance analytics at U.S. colleges and universities. It shares some common objectives with the “higher education online analytics revolution” I put in motion two years ago with a series of columns, a few conference presentations, several benchmarking surveys, and, more recently, the launch of a four-week online course on web analytics. By developing education, resources, and professional development programs and conducting a major benchmarking study of the state of analytics in higher education, Educause is going to make sure the analytics issue finally gets the attention it deserves in higher education. When I launched the first online survey about the state of web and social media analytics in higher education in May 2010, my goal was to find out if a change in attitudes toward analytics was necessary. This year, I conducted its third edition a bit earlier, to share the results during The analytics resources needle is moving very slowly, but in the right direction. my UBTech conference presentation this month in Las Vegas. Completed by 344 professionals working mainly in the marketing, communication, and web offices of their institutions, this voluntary online survey about the state of web and social media analytics was filled out from March 30 to April 18, 2012. It was publicized online only through several different channels (email listservs, email newsletters, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other professional networking websites, etc.). As a consequence, it doesn’t rely on a scientifically determined dataset. However, the resulting sample of surveyed institutions seems fairly representative of the Carnegie Classification breakdown. It is also consistent enough with the samples from the 2010 and 2011 surveys to allow comparisons. Survey HigHligHtS Web and social media data tracking in higher education has kept increasing over the past two years, from 95 percent in 2010 to 97 percent this year. During the same period, Google Analytics (GA), the free yet very powerful analytics application, has consolidated its dominance of the web analytics solution landscape in higher education by increasing its market share from 92 percent of the institutions tracking web data in 2010 to 97 percent in 2012. The 2012 survey results also reflect the incredible increase in social media analytics usage by institutions. While 36 percent used Facebook Insights and 24 percent used YouTube Insight in 2010, 62 percent and 40 percent, respectively, now rely on these platforms to track the performance of social media activities. Colleges and universities have also started to allocate more human resources to analytics, as well. Two years ago, only 25 percent of respondents indicated they spent more than two hours per week on analytics. That proportion has steadily grown to reach 38 percent this year. More than a quarter (27 percent) of 2012 survey respondents still spend only two to five hours per week, but a very small number of institutions, including ithaca College (N.Y.), have started to hire fulltime analysts. The needle is moving very slowly, but in the right direction. Aside from other data points (which can be reviewed in the full “2012 State of Online Analytics in Higher Ed” report available online), this year’s survey Karine Joly is the web editor behind www.collegewebeditor.com, a blog about higher ed web marketing, public relations, and technologies. She is also the founder of the professional development online community at www.higheredexperts.com. universitybusiness.com 86 | June 2012 http://www.collegewebeditor.com http://www.higheredexperts.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - June 2012

University Business - June 2012
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Ad Index
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Marketing
Independent Outlook
Special Section: Thinking Green
4G: Is It Time for an Upgrade?
Unified Security: All Together Now
Collaborative Workflow
Campus Finance News
3 Student Aid Myths
Deepening the Donor Pool
Keeping Tuition Within Reach
Internet Technology
End Note

University Business - June 2012