Max Green, Director of Interactive at HMS, discusses his team's digital strategy and new website.

1. Digital Roundup Live
September 21, 2012
Max Green
Director, Interactive Media
Harvard Medical School

2. Overview
• HMS mission
• Web strategy
• A few issues we’re
dealing with
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 2

3. Communicating the HMS Mission
• The mission of Harvard Medical School is to
create and nurture a diverse community of the
best people committed to leadership in alleviating
human suffering by disease.
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 3

4. Aspects of HMS’s mission
• World leader in biomedical & scientific research
• Excellence in medical education
• Diverse community & inclusive culture
• Affiliate relationships
º 17 hospitals & research institutes
º Mass General, the Brigham, BI, Children’s Hospital, etc.
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 4

5. Harvard Medicine’s “personality”
Harvard Medicine is... Harvard Medicine is not...
•Game changer •Reactive
•Innovative •Stodgy
•Epicenter •Insular
•Nimble •Slow moving
•About serving patients •Justan educational or
research institution
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 5

6. Translating the mission into actionable,
communication objectives
• Two ways OCER serves HMS mission
º Steward its public discourse
º Defining & fostering the school’s identity
• Education vs. biomedical research vs. service
º Emphasis on biomedical research often a priority, even if not
reflected in Web traffic
• Audience
º Internal vs. external
º Includes researchers, students, prospective students, alumni,
donors & supporters, faculty, staff, news media, clinicians,
community members, consumers
º Varies by project
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 6

7. Web strategy
• Build HMS’s reputation via multiple channels
• Establish a unified brand identity
• Develop our Web infrastructure
• Use analytics to optimize content
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 7

8. Web strategy #1: Define & foster
HMS’s reputation via multiple channels
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 8

9. Phase 1 of Web site redesign launched
March 2012
• Home page, "About HMS,"
News, etc.
• Drupal 6 content
management system
• Other features: Events,
blog, and people search
• Successful launch
• High-caliber Web site
completed "on a
shoestring”
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 9

10. Since then we’ve been developing
our Web channels
• Web site 202,535 visits/month
• Mobile visits 11.5% of Web visits
• Facebook 42,643 fans
• Twitter 21,178 followers
• YouTube 4,974 subscribers
• Weekly e-letter 26,424 subscribers
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 10

11. Web team launched “Paper Chase,”
which searches PubMed
A section of the
HMS Website
that collects
publications
listed in
PubMed for
HMS, HSDM,
and our sixteen
affiliates.
Launch Date:
Sep 20
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 11

12. What can it do?
Allows visitors
to search by
keyword or
MeSH topic, a
technical
category
system used
by PubMed
and many
medical
journals.
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 12

13. Specialized Filtering
Visitors can
use the links in
the right
sidebar to filter
the list of
results by the
recognized top
ten journals
and by HMS,
HSDM, and
sixteen
affiliates
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 13

14. Mid-summer: launched HMN
e-newsletter
• Harvard Medicine News
was created as the new
vision of the HMS print
newsletter, Focus.
• A more timely publication.
News now delivered
weekly, not monthly as
before.
• A more digestible design
than the Focus
eNewsletter and widely
viewed vehicle for our
social media channels.
• Inaugural Issue
Jun 25
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 14

15. (An important tidbit: HMS senior
leadership are big on serif fonts!)
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 15

16. Challenges
• Designed and built
in-house
• Need to support all
major email clients,
browsers on both Mac
and PC
• Create a workflow that
works for both editorial
and interactive teams
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 16

17. The future
• Automatically
generated code
• More control given to
editorial team in
entering articles for
layout
• Flexible template to
accommodate extra
content (i.e.: a third
second-tier article)
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 17

18. Other Web channels:
From 700 to 30,000 fans!
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 18

19. We’ve had a few experiences with
“stewarding HMS’s public discourse”
• Gabrielle - 14 year
old freshman
• On August 30th,
"Make a Wish"
fulfilled her dream
of “attending
Harvard Medical
School”
• Same day,
Bloomberg wrote
story about
primate center
issue
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 19

20. We are exploring social media monitoring
process, based on Air Force assessment tool
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 20

21. One HMS channel that needs a little
attention:
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 21

22. Web strategy #2: Establish a
unified brand identity for HMS
• Redesigned HMS Web site creates unified brand
• However, it only extends to top-level sections of
the site – “Education,” “Research,” “News,” etc.
• Research department
Web sites have different
logo treatments, color
palettes, navigation
paradigms, etc.
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 22

23. Phase 2 of Web redesign project
to address research dept. sites
• Extend current HMS Web site’s look & feel to basic
research department Web sites
º Multi-site Drupal 7 implementation
º Custom logo based on HMS branding guidelines
º Main navigation customized to department
º 3 banner options and 6-8 custom theme variant options
º Restricted content areas using e-Commons credentials
º Faculty/student list & detail pages with tagging taxonomy
º Trumba for external and internal events
º Accommodation of existing databases
º Google Search Application integration & customization
º Blog landing pages
º Tag cloud
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 23

24. Web strategy #3: Develop our
infrastructure
• Drupal needs upgrade (6->7) to future-proof CMS
º Google Search Appliance upgrade needed to improve relevancy of results
º Enhancements to Drupal CMS' permissions model & content
management
º Implement Kaltura for video
º Optimize content delivery for mobile
• Intranet (“e-Commons”) needs significant upgrade
º Content not easily searchable
º Not easy to communicate events
º Piecemeal workarounds are non-scalable & sometimes non-secure
º Content to be displayed publically may not always be appropriate
º Causing scope increase in Phase 2 Web project, due to need for
restricted content areas
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 24

25. Infrastructure development: E-newsletter
uses Drupal API to pull content from CMS
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 25

26. Web strategy # 4: Use analytics
to optimize content
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 26

27. A few issues we’re dealing with
• Brand fragmentation & decentralization
• Establishing priorities within budget constraints
• Making data driven decisions
• Best practices for stakeholder approval
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 27

28. #1 Brand fragmentation: Phase 2 to
address “letting 1,000 flowers bloom”
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 28

29. Trying to sensitive research depts. to
untapped potential of their Web sites
• HMS brand doesn’t solely refer to visual aspect of
website, but rather a user’s total experience
• All components – messaging, navigation menu
titles, imagery & visual design – must combine to
form a solution that answers users’ needs
• If users don’t feel a site is meeting their needs,
they begin to form negative impressions about the
site and, potentially, the institution the site
represents
• Web sites should reflect HMS’ commitment to
excellence
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 29

30. By and large, Research Directors seem
mostly receptive to switching over
• Incentives we’re pointing out
º HMS templates with department-specific logo,
main nav & default search
º State-of-the-art CMS allows for easy updating
º Advanced functionality for calendaring, faculty &
student listing, content blocks, etc.
º Optimized for mobile, multimedia, social media,
search
º OCER to perform the content migration
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 30

31. #2 Establishing priorities: How do
achieve goals, given budget constraints?
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 31

32. #3 Data-driven decision-making
• Instant results from Web publishing can be a
blessing and a curse
• Still, it seems essential to connect to an audience
º Content is expensive
º Always important to show ROI
• In a politicized, decentralized environment, to what
extent are you able to effectively use Web
analytics to guide decision-making?
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 32

33. #4 Stakeholder approval: An
ongoing challenge for us
• The Project: Develop a video to accompany
Dean Flier’s “Welcome to the New Year”
email to the community.
• The Proposal: Produce an engaging piece
using the “Sideways” editing style.
• The Challenge: We operate in a complex
academic environment.
• Reframing the Conversation:
• How can we encourage stakeholders to
embrace innovative storytelling?
• What’s the best way to make the case for
fewer content points and shorter videos?
• Do you have strategies for managing
stakeholder involvement to keep complex
projects moving?
OFFICE OF
Communications & External Relations 33