Director of Web and Digital Strategy

The Director of Web and Digital Strategy is responsible for planning, developing, executing, prioritizing and coordinating the web strategy as an integral part of the College’s marketing functions. The Director of Web and Digital Strategy will provide leadership in ensuring brand consistency and uniformity for the College’s online presence (internal and external) in support of strategic institutional goals including student recruitment, fundraising, alumni engagement, institutional reputation academic affairs, fine arts, camps and conference services, human resources and crisis communications Institutional goals and priorities have been outlined as part of the College’s strategic plan, available here: https://www.northcentralcollege.edu/north-central-college-strategic-plan. This individual has strategic oversight for the main College website (northcentralcollege.edu), online alumni magazine in partnership with the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs (magazine.northcentralcollege.edu), and fine and performing arts website in collaboration with the Fine Arts Director (northcentralcollege.edu/finearts).
Additional strategic responsibility includes the Brilliant Future Campaign (brilliantfuture.northcentralcollege.edu), intranet and the College’s mobile app.

1. Support the development and implementation of a web communications plan that supports undergraduate and graduate student recruitment, fundraising initiatives, alumni engagement, fine arts season marketing, camps and conferences services enrollment, academic affairs and other activity related to the College’s Strategic Plan (https://www.northcentralcollege.edu/north-central-college-strategic-plan).

2. Construct and manage the College website applying sound information architecture techniques to support findability and usability with a mobile-first approach and to create a positive user experience. Possesses an understanding of the goals, audiences and information structures unique to the College’s entire public web portfolio, including the main website (northcentralcollege.edu).

3. Works with the director of marketing to integrate print materials and the website to communicate the College brand. Provides direction to the College’s graphic design team for graphics related to website development.

4. Consult with admission, alumni and development, athletics, academic affairs, student affairs and other key constituents to develop web content that maximizes the College’s identity and make recommendations for improvement.

5. Collaborate with Information Technology Services as part of a Web Team to manage the College’s online presence. Attend weekly Web Team meetings.

6. Serve as primary web support for special institutional projects and initiatives.

7. In collaboration with the editorial director, director of communications, director of marketing and associate director of marketing/graphic designer, create a videography and photography strategy in support of Strategic Plan initiatives. Assist with managing the creation of digital assets including video and photo content (both in house and with vendors) for use on the web/social media and with an eye for mobile devices.

8. Monitor statistical information and user trends on the College’s website and implement the use of metrics to inform future web planning within the Office of Marketing and Communications and across the institution (including social media inbound marketing).

9. Develop and maintain a search engine optimization and keyword plan to increase visibility and rankings on search engine results.

10. Play an integral role in the content strategy process within the Office of Marketing and Communications. Work collaboratively with the editorial director, director of communications and the director of marketing to identify editorial content, and maintain and execute an editorial calendar online and in print to ensure consistent content across all marketing and communications channels. Contribute and execute tactics that deliver meaningful content to target audiences.

11. Guide institutional web strategy through the development of a Web Strategy Committee strategically positioning the College using the website as a primary recruitment, marketing

communication, and fundraising tool. Provide information architecture leadership and offer best practices to content managers for the College’s internal and external websites.

12. Develop a collaborative approach to maintaining current information through the College’s Content Management System.

13. Partner with Information Technology Services (ITS), other departments and external vendors to ensure successful execution of web strategy to enhance marketing and communications. Provide leadership and direction in planning, developing and maintaining the web environment. Assist in creating short and long-range plans for website enhancements and improvements.

14. Serve as the liaison between the content and programming functions of the website. Manage, coordinate and execute web design changes with both marketing and ITS, with regard to written and visual content of the website as well as its technical interactivity and presentation. Serve as a primary expert for web communications on campus and participate in the ongoing phases of web development.

15. Ensure that the website adheres to the College’s standard for uniformity of style and message as outlined in the College Identity and Graphic Standards manual in addition to accessibility standards. Work closely with other members of the Office of Marketing and Communication to maintain and edit website content.

16. Direct the on-going development of College sites and maintain dynamic content for key landing pages.

17. Fulfill a leadership role within the Office of Marketing and Communications in coordinating campus and community notification of emergencies via the website, as well as ongoing updates to internal and external audiences. Assist with emergency response planning and preparation. Serve as an on-call resource for campus safety, student affairs and other offices.

18. Maintain knowledge of innovations in web communications, mobile sites, development tools and strategies, websites, video technologies and design trends to enhance the College’s efforts. Assess web needs and recommend enhancements. Work collaboratively and proactively with marketing team members and internal stakeholders to assess new technologies, user expectations, trends and opportunities.

19. In collaboration with the ITS Web Team, create and manage website documentation and training for content editors across campus. Develop systems for ensuring that content editors understand how to use the website and implement systems to manage feedback, bug reports and requests. Manage page templates and site architecture to assist content managers across campus.

20. Perform other related duties as appropriately assigned.

1. Proven experience in current web technology including HTML5, CSS3, XML/RSS feeds, databases including MySQL and PHP, Google analytics; working knowledge of search engine marketing/web site optimization and mobile websites; usability testing and tools; web servers and server-side

technology, HTML email tools; content management systems (in particular, Drupal or WordPress); proven ability to generate, analyze and interpret web metrics to inform strategic decision making. Knowledge of Photoshop required.

2. Excellent writing, organizational, judgment, interpersonal and communications skills, and a strong background in website management and information architecture; in particular, the ability to apply professional-quality organizational skills in the production of a high-quality website.

3. Ability to conduct routine analysis of web use by compiling, summarizing and analyzing large volumes of statistical data, particularly regarding web user trends.

4. Excellent project management skills, able to manage multiple priorities and work to deadline. This requires an individual who is well organized, detail-oriented, flexible and self-directed with good stress management skills. Experience with project management software (Redbooth, Basecamp) a plus.

5. Demonstrate outstanding interpersonal skills in dealing with persons internal and external to the College.

6. Manage effective relationships with vendors on behalf of the College.

7. Experience managing large-scale web sites and web publishing such as digital journalism a plus.

8. Knowledge of and ability to articulate College organization, operation, philosophy and vision for the future.

9. Demonstrate a strong sense of creativity and an ability to collaborate with diverse groups with diverse interests.

10. Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment where collaboration, communication and commitment to the College’s mission are valued.

The individual in this position is a member of the Office of Marketing and Communications and part of the overall team that markets North Central College to a wide variety of constituencies. This position requires a strong understanding of how to use the web to the College’s marketing and communication advantage, strong information architecture skills, ability to collaborate with the College’s web team to progress web marketing initiatives, knowledge of how to support inbound social media marketing initiatives with relevant content, possess strong writing skills and have the ability to create materials that reflect positively on the College.

The Director of Web and Digital Strategy will manage and expand use of metrics (e.g. Google Analytics) for assessing online marketing initiatives including SEO and tracking performance of paid and unpaid social media campaigns and other digital advertising initiatives.

Requires the ability to work well as part of the marketing and communication team and has the ability to display leadership through a high level of creative solutions.

In a forward thinking and ever-evolving role, it is important that this individual seek professional development opportunities within industry organizations to expand knowledge of trends and new technologies and identify ways to apply this knowledge.

Responsibilities include working during evening and weekend hours to perform a variety of duties that are time sensitive, such as making updates to communicate with campus constituents.

A bachelor’s degree is required, master’s is preferred.

A minimum of five years of responsible experience in electronic communications (high level of knowledge of internet technologies, website management, journalism, public relations, etc.) is preferred.