OHO U: Content Strategy

Building Brand Engagement Through Content Strategy

Before the Widener University website redesign, the content experience was hindered by siloed platforms, redundant formats, inefficient processes, and a limiting design. This made it challenging to present their story to the right audiences at the right time.

This presentation will demonstrate how a website redesign presented a powerful opportunity to better engage audiences by streamlining the editorial process, reinventing the brand storytelling approach, and using the CMS to present stories in relevant context site-wide.

You will learn...

•  To understand how to practically apply your brand to serve your goals

•  How to make your CMS serve your branding objectives

•  Pointers on how to evolve longstanding communications approaches in favor of new ones

•  To understand how to evolve your editorial process to support new content approaches

Bridget Hilferty is a creative problem solver who produces award-winning websites. She serves as the director of digital communications at Widener University where she manages content strategy for the university's website and other digital communications platforms. Bridget is not just a team player, she is a team builder and valued leader at Widener. Working with key administrative staff and faculty, Bridget and her team oversaw the successful redesign of Widener's complex website and implemented a new content management system under tight deadlines. Having begun her career as a medical-pharmaceutical editor in the publishing industry, Bridget has a keen editorial eye and is known for her attention to detail and ability to juggle multiple projects. She later transitioned into online publishing when she joined a nonprofit literacy organization and created an innovative website for literacy teachers that garnered millions of visits each year.

Georgy Cohen has spent nearly 20 years wrangling digital content for universities, newspapers, and a host of other organizations. She is director of digital strategy at OHO Interactive, a full-service digital agency based in Boston, Massachusetts. Georgy previously worked at Tufts University and Suffolk University, in addition to running her own independent consultancy to higher education. She speaks frequently at industry conferences such as HighEdWeb, CASE, and ContentEd. Georgy's background is in journalism, including a three-year stint working in the fast-paced online newsroom of The Boston Globe.

Beyond the "Publish" Button – A Panel Conversation about Editorial Operations and Storytelling

Redesigning a website is a major lift, but the work is not done once you launch. Keeping your new website current with fresh content requires sustained, thoughtful effort. In this panel, we’ll speak with Tim Senft, Digital Communications Director for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, Cherrelle Nicholson, Social Media Manager at St. John's University, and Tim Nekritz, Director of News and Media Services at SUNY Oswego about how they maintain robust web publishing programs. 

You will learn...

•  The value of using data to drive editorial planning

•  How to define and evaluate successful content

•  How to handle requests that don’t align with brand or business goals

•  How to find the right balance for your media mix

Sarah is a content and digital strategist at OHO Interactive. Previously, she spent 11 years at Dartmouth College, working in the President’s Office, Web Services, and Advancement Communications, where she led digital communications strategy for a $3 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign. As the UX team lead for Web Services, she oversaw content strategy, user experience, accessibility, and support for more than 200 client sites across the institution. In all, Sarah has managed strategy for more than 90 Drupal website projects (so far). In her free time, she enjoys gardening, knitting, painting, and reading mysteries.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Cherrelle currently leads St. John’s University’s institutional and alumni social media strategies as Social Media Manager. While working to raise brand awareness, and support the university’s overall marketing communication goals, the social media team has received several marketing awards. 

Prior to joining St. John’s, Cherrelle was a Social Media Producer for “MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall” and worked on “The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd”. Upon Hall’s departure from MSNBC, Cherrelle worked as her Social Media Consultant. She collaborated with Hall’s talent management team (WME) and Disney/ABC to promote content and implement paid advertisements for the “Tamron Hall Show”, which is currently in its second season on ABC7. 

Over the past few years, Cherrelle has freelanced with small businesses and non-profit organizations to build their websites and develop their social media strategies. Additionally, Cherrelle has had the honor of managing her church’s media department (iLebanon) where she works to produce engaging media, and live services every week to connect the church family across the country.

Tim Nekritz is director of news and media at SUNY Oswego, leading campus news operations, a range of digital content development and the college’s main social media channels. An award-winning journalist in a previous century, Nekritz’s regular roles include writer, editor, planner, peacemaker, photographer, marketer, matchmaker, video producer and recruiter. As if that’s not enough fun, he also serves as chief editor of HighEdWeb’s Link journal and teaches a course in media writing at SUNY Oswego. He has presented multiple times at previous HighEdWeb, Canada’s PSEWeb, Confab Higher Ed and SUNYCUAD conferences.

Tim Senft is a writer and content strategist, currently the Digital Communications Director for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. For over twenty years, he has communicated to internal and external audiences for individuals, institutions, and academics  primarily through the web, print, speech, and social.