iThink Blog

Have web services like Amazon and Google rocked your online world?

Welcome to “Cloud Computing” — where the power of the Internet gets unleashed to provide unprecedented access to the information you need and want most.

Not familiar with the term?  You will be soon.  Cloud Computing is changing the way companies (and admissions offices) do business.

And since our Student Recruitment Manager (SRM) gets its power “from the clouds,” it’s important for me to try and make the concept a little less, well, cloudy;)

Allow me to break it down for you.

In its simplest form, Cloud Computing just means that we no longer need costly, complicated servers and software to run the applications we need to do our jobs.  In the clouds, we ...

Lately I’ve had lots of conversations with clients interested in chatting about blogs and whether or not they are still an effective part of the recruitment mix.

If you’ve got similar questions, don’t miss Newt Barrett’s “Six Reasons Why Your Blog is Your Most Important Social Media Tool.”

In his post for Sys-Con Media’s Web 2.0 Journal, he argues that your blog is “the most important weapon in your social media arsenal,” and that blogs are “much more powerful than those young whippersnappers Twitter and Facebook.”

Barrett made great points about blogs creating a “rich reservoir of information” that readers “don’t have to join a special club to access.” He also made sure to note that blogs can be the ...

Attention TargetX Email users: New features are available to you at no additional cost. Have you checked them out yet?

Since it’s my job to keep you guys up to speed, today I thought I’d let you know that SRM Email is out of beta and that we’re ready to start helping you plan for the transition to the new platform. Consider yourself upgraded — minus the multi-year commitments and pushy salespeople.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the things you’ll be able to do with the new tool:

• Design messages using pre-made templates (including newsletters).
• Send automated emails based on distinct communication tracks.
• Save queries for later or regular use.
• Build your own custom reports within the system.
• Assign individual user permissions (limit ...

Move over “rose-colored glasses” — seems these days everyone prefers to see green.  Green initiatives on your campus, that is.

In honor of Earth Day this week, I thought we’d take a quick look at the “greening” of higher ed.  And from what I’ve learned, there’s no shortage of stories to tell.

At Albion College in Michigan, they’re encouraging students to exchange a bag of recyclables for reusable tote bag.  Scripps College in Claremont, California is researching transforming the soccer field into the College’s first green roof for an underground parking garage.  Furman University recently received an award in recognition of their sustainability practices.

I even read today that “Over 2/3 of incoming freshman care what their ...

I’d definitely put Karlyn Morissette in the category of “web ninja” — especially in the realm of email marketing (not to worry, dinosaurs — that’s a compliment;)

In a post on her popular blog this morning, she filled us in on how she goes about implementing successful email campaigns.  Her “Email Marketing Framework” is a must-read for any of you struggling with email strategy and execution.

Karlyn’s main idea?  “Make your template nice and clean, but don’t spend hours on it – it’s just not worth the time as long as the rest of the components – timing, value, segmenting, customization, call to action and message – are all there.”

As someone who reviews email messages on a regular ...

…I’d have a century!

My dear readers, today marks a very special occasion: my 100th Xpert Tip. I’ve been at a loss for weeks trying to think of a creative idea or interesting way to mark this momentous occasion.

Originally, my plan was to do some sort of “Top 100 list” of things I love about working in higher ed or ways to improve your admissions marketing efforts.  But listing one hundred things is a pretty tall order (not to mention the fact that you’re all busy people with not much time to be reading through a list that long).  Perhaps we can start one here sometime and collaborate on that;)

A friend suggested I do an analysis of topics covered and how ...

Wow. What a fantastic time we had in Las Vegas with everyone who joined us for this year’s Xpert Summit.

Around here, we haven’t stopped talking about how much we learned and how great it was to get the chance to have some face-to-face time with so many cool kids (yeah, that’s you;)

One of the biggest highlights for all of us was Friday’s “Conversation on Yield.”  We all picked up more than a few tips — and many of you rated it as one of your favorite parts of the event.

In the spirit of that dialogue, I thought I’d do a quick “wrap-up” post to give us a place to keep our conversations going.  Now that you’ve had ...