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Higher Education Enters the Ring

Why it matters Yesterday’s announcement that Linda McMahon is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education ushers in a new era for universities and colleges. This signals a sharp pivot toward decentralization and pro-business policies, and it's expected that McMahon’s leadership will focus on dismantling traditional federal education structures, expanding school choice, and aligning education priorities with a business-first agenda. Higher education faces funding uncertainties, new accountability pressures, and the need to demonstrate its relevance in supporting economic growth. The Big Picture McMahon’s appointment reflects Trump’s broader strategy to reframe education policy in a way that prioritizes state control, entrepreneurship, and conservative cultural values. This will likely have significant consequences for higher education, including: Decentralization: Shifting control of education policy and funding to the states. School Choice Expansion: Redirecting public funds to private, religious, and homeschooling options. Economic Alignment: Pressuring institutions to support industry, small business, and workforce development through research, partnerships, and entrepreneurship/startup programs. Cultural Shifts: Rolling back policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion while emphasizing “patriotic” education. What’s at Stake Federal Funding Cuts: Threat: Research funding, Pell Grants, and other federal supports may face cuts. Reality Check: Congressional approval is required to eliminate funding streams like Title I, making complete federal withdrawal unlikely but changes and funding disruptions possible. Policy Shifts: Threat: Federal oversight will likely weaken, and policies favoring vocational and workforce-aligned education will likely put increased pressure on programs such as liberal arts. Universities will also likely face increasing pressure to align with ideological goals, such as restricting DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiatives. The new administration could wield considerable control over the school accreditation process, which has been seen by some to force ideological changes on campuses. There has been a movement to decentralize accreditation authority, reduce federal oversight, and align educational standards with conservative values. According to the Council for Higher Education, many of the ideas put forward focus on empowering states to authorize accrediting agencies and even serve as accreditors themselves, shifting control from federal to state governments. Action: Institutions must better identify their options amidst a rapidly evolving agenda at both the state and federal levels, develop strategies and secure the resources necessary. For instance, there are calls to prohibit accreditors from requiring institutions to implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies. Institutions also need to understand what the implications of a more diverse accreditation landscape could be, with standards varying significantly across states, potentially affecting the uniformity and transferability of academic credentials nationwide. Reputational Risks: Concern: Growing public skepticism toward higher education undermines enrolment and support. Impact: Conservative narratives favoring alternatives like apprenticeships and other programs that support the economy and job growth will likely gain traction. Preserving Institutional Independence: Pressure: Universities face increased scrutiny of their course curriculum and research priorities that may be deemed ideologically contentious. Opportunity: Institutions must tangibly demonstrate their value to society. The more they can do to break down barriers between “town and gown” and counter the narrative that paints them as too expensive, elitist, and out of touch. Demonstrating Economic Impact: Need: Universities must showcase their role in driving economic growth through research, commercialization, and support for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Opportunity: Institutions should communicate their relevance in relatable ways that engage with businesses, emphasizing tangible contributions to research innovation and job creation as a positive return on investment that can be messaged to taxpayers. Key Questions for Higher Ed Leaders Funding: How can we diversify revenue streams and reduce reliance on federal support? Advocacy: How should universities engage state and federal leaders to protect their interests? Reputation: How can higher education rebuild public trust and counter skepticism? Relevance: How do we better communicate the value of university research and its role in supporting a pro-business agenda? Adaptation: Can institutions innovate by expanding industry partnerships, online education, and workforce-aligned programs? Implications of Project 2025 Project 2025 is a comprehensive initiative spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, aiming to reshape the U.S. federal government through a conservative lens. Launched in April 2023, it serves as a strategic blueprint for a potential conservative administration, detailing policy proposals, personnel strategies, training programs, and a 180-day action plan. Analysis from the Brookings Institution states that "many proposals in Project 2025 would require an unlikely degree of cooperation from Congress, though others could be enacted unilaterally by a second Trump administration.” While we don’t know the full extent to which Project 2025 will be implemented, its agenda seeks to reshape federal agencies, including the Department of Education, with a significant impact on the sector. Key areas of focus include: Title I and Student Aid Proposals to give parents more control over federal funds could deprioritize public education. Tax Credits for School Choice Incentives to support private school tuition may shift K-12 pipelines, impacting university enrolment. Economic Realignment Universities will need to align with business priorities, emphasizing innovation, commercialization, and job creation. Diversity Equity & Inclusion Project 2025 explicitly calls for reducing federal spending on what it deems unnecessary or politicized initiatives, and DEI programs are likely to fall under this categorization. This could have wide-ranging impacts, including changes to school ranking systems that have a DEI component. Ranking bodies such as US News & World Report may need to adjust their methodologies to account for changes in diversity initiatives and data availability. With potential reductions in diversity-related data, rankings might place greater emphasis on other factors such as academic performance, faculty qualifications, and post-graduate outcomes. This also could extend to endowments, which direct funding toward diversity programs through scholarships and fellowships. For institutions that rely heavily on DEI as a cornerstone of their fundraising and donor relations strategies, they may experience reduced donor enthusiasm, particularly from philanthropic organizations or alumni committed to these causes. Regulatory Rollbacks There is the potential for significant changes to Title IX protections and federal loan forgiveness programs, creating legal and financial uncertainty. What Universities Can Do Now: Secure Funding Build relationships with private donors, businesses, and industry partners. Strengthen advocacy efforts at the state level to safeguard funding & other resources. Adopt proactive strategies to mitigate potential policy impacts, such as diversifying revenue sources, engaging donors with aligned government priorities, and ensuring compliance with evolving regulations. Reinforce Public Trust Explain complex topics in accessible ways to help the public and policymakers make informed decisions. Help promote and support faculty who can serve as credible sources for the media, countering misinformation and fostering informed dialogue. Strengthen community connections with your experts through public speaking engagements, workshops, and local events. Position the university as a hub for knowledge and innovation that benefits the community. Capitalize on the reach and influence of alumni. Highlight their successes to show how they benefitted from educational programs and research. Position them as important role models and advocates in the community who are contributing to economic growth. Demonstrate Relevance Showcase faculty and their research breakthroughs. Demonstrate how their work benefits industries, supports entrepreneurship and addresses societal challenges. Speak to real-world outcomes in health, technology, the environment, and more. Use accessible language to connect with policymakers, business leaders and taxpayers. Strengthen Advocacy: Partner with peer institutions to shape policy discussions. Position universities and colleges as vital contributors to a pro-business agenda. Innovate: Expand stackable credentials and micro-credential programs that are aligned with private and public sector requirements and emerging skills-based models. Look at new online education options. Embrace partnerships that connect academic research to real-world economic impact. Universities must deliver a more compelling, data-driven, yet humanized story about their institution’s contributions, fostering stronger relationships with government, the private sector, and taxpayers. What's Next This new era will most certainly challenge higher education to rethink its approach to funding, policy, and public engagement. For all institutions, both public and private, there is no place to hide. As they step into the ring, Higher Education leaders will need lots of support as they look to forge new paths for research, teaching, and community service while engaging their stakeholders in ways that more powerfully communicate their vital contributions to society. The bell has rung—are you ready?

November 21, 2024

6 min

Spotlighting Success: How ExpertFile Amplifies Organizational Expertise

Whether you are an industry leader looking to maintain your reputational advantage or smaller organization looking to enhance your reputation, a structured expertise marketing program should be a critical component of your marketing strategy. Traditional thought leadership programs that often focus on a few key executives are now being broadened by a more strategic approach that leverages the hidden expertise within your entire team. Global research conducted by Ogilvy in its recent report “The Global Rise of B2B Influencer Marketing” shows that many organizations are now setting up programs with their employees as Brand Ambassadors to demonstrate thought leadership in specific niches where they have skills and insights that appeal to their audiences. These employees have expertise that is often more relatable and authentic. Using social media platforms like LinkedIn, and networks such as ExpertFile, they can further amplify expert content to cut through the content marketing noise and drive more targeted engagement with media, sales prospects and other audiences. “Your employees are typically your most valuable resource. Identifying your employees that can be influencers themselves is a huge missed opportunity for one of the biggest ROI’s of all time.” James Baldwin Global B2B Influence Lead, Ogilvy To capitalize on this trend, many organizations are turning to more advanced solutions that deliver new digital publishing, distribution and workflow capabilities that extend the capabilities of their CMS (Content Marketing Systems). This also empowers clients and their agencies to achieve more efficiency and scale by better managing of employee content and audience interactions. The results include improved SEO PageRank and improved generative search results, increased site traffic and more qualified media inquiries and sales leads. Here are a few examples: With the ExpertFile platform, Vanderbilt University has streamlined its media interactions and presented more comprehensive information on their faculty enabling journalists to discover the depth of research and expertise that Vanderbilt has to offer for their stories. This provides a valuable boost of inbound inquires that help Vanderbilt stay top of mind, going beyond outbound media pitches. View Expert Center About Vanderbilt University is a distinguished private research institution known for academic excellence and innovation. With a rich history spanning over a century, it cultivates leaders, conducts pioneering research, and contributes significantly to society. Seeking to enhance its reputation and broaden its influence, ChristianaCare completely revamped its approach to showcasing their medical experts. Their Media Expert Center powered by ExpertFile doubled national media coverage,, earning the esteemed IABC Silver and Gold Awards for this exceptional communications strategy. ChristianaCare later established a Speakers Bureau to expand its program with ExpertFile, saving hundreds of operational hours and surpassing engagement targets by 400%. This innovative approach reinforced ChristianaCare's brand visibility, reputation while demonstrating its commitment to community service. View Experts Center View Speakers Bureau About ChristianaCare is a leading healthcare institution committed to delivering exceptional patient care and advancing medical research. With a focus on innovation and compassion, they strive to empower healthier lives and transform healthcare experiences for individuals and families across the region. With a goal of driving market visibility and increasing media coverage, University of Delaware leveraged the ExpertFile platform to regularly published research and insights related to topical news events, while also making it easy for journalists to connect with their faculty as media sources. Within the first 90 days, the university garnered 80 inquiries, capturing the interest of prestigious media outlets such as CNN, NBC, Newsweek, AP, Bloomberg, among others. This activity was made possible with ExpertFile’s automation, distribution and workflow features and seamless no-code integration with the client website. It all added up to massive results with no need to add internal resources to the University of Delaware team. View Expert Center About The University of Delaware is a renowned institution committed to academic excellence, innovation and community engagement. With a rich history and dedication to student success, it strives to advance knowledge and foster global citizenship through transformative education and research. Amidst a competitive educational market in the US Northeast, the University of Connecticut (UCONN) chose ExpertFile to help it amplify its faculty expertise and boost inbound inquiries from media, conferences, researchers and student prospects. The result is a more intuitive way to discover expertise and research across the UCONN campus that helps drive valuable connections that are vital to building institutional reputation and communicating the UCONN mission. View Expert Center About Amidst a competitive educational market in the US Northeast, the University of Connecticut (UCONN) chose ExpertFile to help it amplify its faculty expertise and boost inbound inquiries from media, conferences, researchers and student prospects. The result is a more intuitive way to discover expertise and research across the UCONN campus that helps drive valuable connections that are vital to building institutional reputation and communicating the UCONN mission. The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has consistently been rated as one of the most valued brands in the country. It’s focus on thought leadership by sharing its unique expertise on topics including “Canada’s Worst Roads” and “Cannabis at the Wheel” have helped them educate their membership, boost media visibility and advocate for important policy changes with government. The ExpertFile platform provides a central content platform enabling CAA to cost-effectively publish news releases and publish stories and expert profiles to multiple regional websites, all from a intuitive, centralized dashboard. View Expert Center About The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) advocates for motorists and offers essential services to members nationwide, ensuring safer and more convenient travel. With a trusted legacy, CAA remains committed to enhancing drivers' experiences across Canada. ExpertFile has streamlined the presentation and management of faculty directories with integration into over 20 sections of the Loyola Marymount University LMU website. With a robust collection of over 1,000 faculty profiles, this integration has not only provided a better way to present faculty directories but also delivered over 1 million expert views and generated thousands of media, academic collaboration and student prospect inquiries while enhancing engagement and accessibility to expertise across the university community. Faculty Directories About Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private university located in Los Angeles, California. Known for its rigorous academic programs, diverse community, and commitment to social justice. With a goal to attaining R1 research institution status, Villanova University aimed to boost the visibility of its faculty experts and showcase its commitment to academic excellence and knowledge advancement. It needed a way to better manage and leverage a lot of expert faculty research and information. With ExpertFile, the Villanova communications team now has a much easier way to publish and update faculty content that seamlessly integrates with the University website and also appears on the ExpertFile network searched by thousands of journalists looking for credible media sources. It all adds up to more market visibility and brand reputation with valuable audiences connecting with Villanova experts. View Expert Center About Villanova University, founded on Catholic principles, is a renowned research institution committed to academic excellence and ethical leadership. Grounded in its rich heritage, Villanova fosters a community of learning that embraces diversity and promotes the pursuit of truth and social justice. Carnegie Mellon University needed a better way to profile their expert faculty in the best possible way to meet the highest standards and researchers by launching a new Experts Center within 30 days. Their objective was to enhance both the appearance and functionality of underperforming faculty expert content areas, thereby better aligning them with the institution's prominence. Through use of the ExpertFile platform and collaboration with ExpertFile team, profiles were developed and integrated, meeting tight deadlines and resulting in a more polished and easily discoverable experience for those seeking expertise. Expert Center About Carnegie Mellon University is a prestigious institution celebrated for its pioneering research and interdisciplinary education. With a legacy of innovation, it remains at the forefront of shaping global education and technology. As a leading public research institution, the University of Florida aimed to enhance its capacity to connect experts with media opportunities. Faced with a challenging and proprietary content platform , the institution needed to provide a more user-friendly way for journalists to engage with faculty and research experts. Aligned with its mission of fostering academic collaboration and knowledge dissemination, University of Florida communications and digital team completely transformed its online presence using the ExpertFile platform. By prioritizing discovery, accessibility and user experience, their team has elevated the visibility and impact of their faculty research and expertise. View Expert Center About The University of Florida, a Top 10 public research institution in the US, fosters excellence in research, education, and service within a diverse community of scholars. Through collaboration and interdisciplinary initiatives, UF empowers students to drive positive change. Aston University in the UK aimed to elevate its online presence and showcase its faculty expertise effectively across various communities. Seeking to enhance SEO, generate valuable inquiries, humanize research and ultimately improve reputation and ranking, they turned to ExpertFile. Aston University now has a more intuitive, efficient way to profile its faculty and research and increase the awareness of its research with a more diverse global audience through ExpertFile. View Research Experts About Aston University is a prestigious institution renowned for its dedication to innovation and academic excellence. With a rich history of shaping future leaders and conducting cutting-edge research, Aston University continues to inspire and empower students to thrive in a globalized world To build more market visibility and engagement with its target audience, Western Carolina University (WCU) needed a more intuitive way to present its expertise. ExpertFile enabled them to quickly deploy a searchable directory of faculty experts and then focus on creating shareable expert content on their website and on the broader ExpertFile network to boost visibility. To further boost engagement, WCU has published regular posts complete with faculty interviews and vertical video clips for social media. These programs have helped raise the profile of WCU. boosted internal and external engagement and has been very well received by faculty. . View Expert Center About Western Carolina University (WCU) is dedicated to delivering outstanding higher education, fostering innovation, and inspiring students to realize their full potential through academic excellence and community engagement. In California's competitive academic environment, UC Irvine needed to boost the visibility of its strong expert faculty while leverage the resources of a small communications team. ExpertFile’s user-friendly platform including customizable workflows and automated tools for adding expert content to their website made showcasing experts easy. Being able to create detailed media-rich profiles and quickly share expert insights allowed UC Irvine to stand out among larger rivals and increase their media coverage. All without straining their resources. View Expert Center About UC Irvine is a leading public research institution known for its top-ranked academic programs and cutting-edge research initiatives. With a focus on innovation and diversity, UC Irvine is committed to advancing knowledge and addressing society's most pressing challenges. Multiple integrations across research and newsroom sections have significantly streamlined the presentation and management of expert content at Goizueta Business School at Emory University. A more efficient system with delegated permissions has increased internal collaboration, and custom training resources for faculty and staff boost engagement on the platform. The ExpertFile team also provides a range of services such as content updates to save Goizueta valuable time while ensuring its website remains current and engaging, for students, faculty, and visitors alike. View Expert Center About Emory University's Goizueta Business School is a prestigious institution renowned for its innovative curriculum and exceptional faculty. With a focus on experiential learning and global perspective, Goizueta prepares students to become transformative business. Showcasing the expertise at Southern Utah University has been a key strategy for its marketing team. While not having the advantage of being in a major media market, SUU understood they needed to be more innovative in developing thought leadership and positioning their expertise to build their brand. The ExpertFile platform with its advanced content features allows the SUU team to present a more engaging view of their faculty and their research. It’s helped them boost search rank and garner national media attention, plus it has also helped them engage student prospects. View Expert Center About Southern Utah University fosters student success and personal development through diverse academic programs and resources. Emphasizing innovation, inclusivity, and community engagement, SUU creates a dynamic learning environment for student achievement and societal contributions. As a top ranked institution, The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Engineering wanted to make its faculty research and insights stand out. Just designing a standard faculty directory didn’t meet the mark. ExpertFile enabled VCU to optimize its content resulting in a major improvement in SEO PageRank and website engagement. This improved experience has also boosted inbound inquiries for media sources, academic collaborations and student prospects looking for information on the VCU’s programs. View Expert Center About Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a premier urban, public research university committed to advancing knowledge and improving the human experience. With a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff, VCU fosters innovation, creativity and collaboration. As a recognized R1 research university, the communications team at Michigan State had the goal to better convey the strength of its faculty research in an effort to boost regional and national media coverage. With the ExpertFile platform their team was able to design a custom implementation fully integrated into the MSU website and streamline the content management and updates to hundreds of faculty profiles - all managed from an intuitive centralized dashboard that saves time for the MSU team. View Expert Center About Michigan State University, a leading public research institution, top in graduate school rankings, is dedicated to advancing knowledge and transforming lives through its commitment to excellence in education, research, and outreach. As a relatively new institution, Augusta University, the fourth largest university in the state of Georgia had a goal stand out by showcasing the expertise of its faculty and the medical staff within Augusta Healthcare - one of the state’s largest integrated health systems. The communications team at Augusta leveraged the ExpertFile platform, publishing more comprehensive expert profiles. Plus they released regular expert updates that demonstrated the relevance of their experts on topical news stories. The result was a huge boost in SEO PageRank plus regional and national media coverage. All without the need to add resources to their communications team. View Expert Center About Augusta University, a leading academic institution, combines excellence in education, research, and healthcare. With an integrated health system, it fosters innovation, advances knowledge, and improves the well-being of communities locally and globally. As an R1 institution based in New Orleans, Tulane University has many specialized programs led by their world-class researchers and faculty. The Tulane marketing team wanted to better showcase this faculty expertise to drive media coverage while designing a system that worked best for their faculty. Leveraging the ExpertFile Platform, they created a searchable online hub showcasing participating faculty experts offering more engaging faculty profiles complete with multimedia features and a more intuitive way for journalists to connect to Tulane media sources. View Expert Center About Tulane University, a renowned institution in New Orleans, fosters innovative research, academic excellence, and community engagement. With a rich history of interdisciplinary collaboration, it prepares students to lead and serve in a complex global society. Are you looking to join the many organizations that are leveraging their employee subject-matter experts as part of a thought leadership and content marketing program? Then consider how you will manage and scale this effort with solutions designed specifically for expertise marketing. ExpertFile has advanced content creation and management tools, customizable workflows, powerful search capabilities, AI features, and flexible integration options, all connected to a broad network of media and speaking opportunities. By streamlining the management and promotion of online expert profiles, we ensure each organization connects with their key audiences like journalists, potential clients, event organizers and many others. Tailored for various industries, ExpertFile addresses each client's unique needs, driving meaningful engagement and visibility for the organization. The spotlights above are just a small sample of how ExpertFile works with leading organizations every day to enhance expertise and broaden their market reach. Explore industry-specific benefits to learn how ExpertFile can help your organization enhance its market presence and thought leadership. Want to learn more? Visit expertfile.com/getstarted.

May 28, 2024

11 min

Unlocking Expertise: The Need for Flexible Integration Options in Profiling Your Organization's Thought Leaders.

In the crowded landscape of "experts," establishing a leading Thought Leadership program that gets your team noticed requires showcasing your organization's expertise on your website in a flexible, customizable, and SEO-compliant manner. As the demand for dynamic content and seamless integration grows, having various options to display your expert content can significantly enhance your online presence. At ExpertFile, we believe that embracing flexibility allows you to cater to different needs, preferences, and technical setups, ensuring your expert content is accessible, engaging, and easily manageable. In this post, we will explore the benefits of flexible integration options when profiling your organization's expertise, focusing on three key solutions: Customizable Embeds, WordPress Plugins, and RESTful API. The Power of Choice: Why Flexibility Matters Flexibility in integration options empowers organizations to tailor their online presence according to their unique needs. Whether you are a small business with limited technical resources or a large enterprise with a complex marketing stack, having a range of integration choices allows you to adapt and optimize your expert content for maximum impact. Without predefined, easy-to-follow, and well-documented integration options, organizations can face expensive and time-consuming integrations and development. At best, this results in sub-par integrations that fail to leverage your experts' insights effectively. At worst, your Thought Leadership program is abandoned before it even starts. Flexible solutions not only simplify the integration process but also enhance the user experience, improve SEO performance, and enable seamless connectivity with existing tools. These options also provide the flexibility to move your expert content quickly and easily to a new CMS if you decide to make broader changes to your website. Let's delve into the specific benefits and features of Customizable Embeds, the WordPress Plugin, and the RESTful API. 1 | Customizable Embeds: Effortless Integration for Any CMS Customizable Embeds provide a seamless and efficient way to integrate expert profiles into your website, no matter what content management system (CMS) you use. With our intuitive embed builder technology, creating custom integrations is as simple as a few clicks, eliminating the need for extensive IT support. This solution is perfect for organizations looking for a quick and hassle-free method to showcase their expertise. Key benefits include: Ease of Use: Embeds created using an Embed Builder guides you through the process of creating custom embeds, making it accessible to users of all technical skill levels. Whether you're a marketing professional or a web developer, you can effortlessly integrate expert content into your website. Versatility: Customizable Embeds work seamlessly with any CMS, ensuring that your expert content is displayed consistently across different platforms. This flexibility allows you to maintain a cohesive online presence without the need for extensive reconfiguration. Quick Implementation: With no heavy lifting or IT support required, you can quickly integrate expert profiles into your website, saving time and resources. This speed and efficiency are particularly beneficial for organizations with limited technical capabilities. ExpertFile Feature: Embed Builder: The ExpertFile Embed Builder provides an intuitive interface for creating custom integrations, enabling users to test drive the embed options and see real-time results. This hands-on step-by-step approach ensures that your expert content is displayed exactly as desired, generating an optimal user experience. Ask us about getting access to the Embed Builder View live Embed Integrations (University of Delaware, & Aston University) 2 | WordPress Plugin: SEO-Friendly and Visually Appealing For organizations using WordPress, the a WordPress Plugin offers a seamless and SEO-friendly solution to integrate expert content into your website. A plugin can provide users with an easy way to add valuable expert content to any WordPress site, ensuring a beautiful and modern presentation and is an easy to understand concept given the wide variety of plug-ins available today. Key benefits include: SEO Enhancement: The WordPress Plugin is optimized for search engines, helping your expert profiles rank higher in search results. By leveraging SEO best practices, you can increase the visibility of your expert content and attract more organic traffic to your website. Customizable Design: The plugin offers customizable design options, allowing you to match the appearance of your expert profiles with the overall look and feel of your website. This consistency in design enhances the aesthetic appeal and professionalism of your site. User-Friendly Integration: With an easy-to-use interface, the WordPress Plugin simplifies the process of adding expert profiles to your website. This user-friendly approach ensures that even non-technical users can manage and update expert content with ease. ExpertFile Feature: WordPress Plugin: The ExpertFile WordPress Plugin provides a straightforward and efficient way to integrate expert profiles into any WordPress site. With customizable, modern design options, you can ensure that your expert content is a beautiful addition to your website, enhancing both aesthetics and functionality all packaged in a common understandable plug-in form. View ExpertFile in the WordPress Plugin Store View live WordPress Integrations (Florida Institute of Technology & NJIT) 3 | RESTful API: Ultimate Control and Customization For organizations seeking complete customization and control over their expert content, access to RESTful API is the ideal solution. This powerful tool enables you to integrate expert profiles into your existing marketing stack, allowing seamless connectivity with CRM systems, CMS platforms, and other tools. Key benefits include: Complete Customization: The RESTful API gives you full control over how and where your expert content is displayed, enabling you to create a tailored and unique presentation. This level of customization ensures that your expert profiles align perfectly with your brand and marketing strategy. Seamless Integration: By connecting with existing tools in your marketing stack, such as CRM or CMS platforms, the RESTful API streamlines the process of managing and displaying expert content. This seamless integration enhances efficiency and ensures that your expert profiles are always up-to-date. Scalability: The API is designed to handle large volumes of data, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes. Whether you have a few expert profiles or hundreds, the RESTful API can accommodate your needs, providing a scalable solution for displaying expert content. ExpertFile Feature: API: The ExpertFile RESTful API offers unparalleled flexibility and control, allowing you to integrate expert profiles into your existing marketing stack. By providing easy connectivity with tools such as your CRM or CMS, the API ensures that your expert content is displayed exactly as desired, enhancing both functionality and user experience. Developers: Access detailed documentation View live API Integration (Vanderbilt University) Conclusion: Embrace Flexibility & Future Proof Your Integration In conclusion, the ability to flexibly integrate expert content into your website is essential for showcasing your organization's expertise in a dynamic and engaging manner. Without predefined, easy-to-follow, and well-documented integration options, organizations can face expensive, time-consuming integrations and development that make integration less likely and result in sub-par presentations. By not leveraging your experts and their insights in the best way possible, you miss out on significant opportunities to enhance your online presence. Whether you opt for Customizable Embeds, a WordPress Plugin, or the RESTful API, each solution offers unique benefits that cater to different needs and technical setups. By embracing these flexible integration options, you can enhance your online presence, improve SEO performance, and ensure seamless connectivity with existing tools. To learn more about how ExpertFile can help you profile your organization's expertise with flexibility and ease, visit our website and explore the various integration solutions available. For more information on promoting your thought leadership through the power of "Expertise Marketing" download our free guide.

May 21, 2024

5 min

Expertise Marketing and Content Marketing - Is There a Difference?

We often get asked the question about how Content Marketing compares to Expertise Marketing. It’s ironic that still to this day many of our academic clients don’t refer to what they do as “content marketing.” But corporate customers are well acquainted with the importance of developing content to build reputation, relationships and revenue. Adding to the confusion are all the names that are bantered about by marketing departments and agencies - There’s inbound marketing popularized by companies such as Hubspot. And there are more bespoke “Thought Leadership” programs that are often developed by outside agencies such as Weber Shandwick and Edelman. While there are a lot of common elements to these programs there are some important differences that we focus on when developing and launching Expertise Marketing programs with our institutional and corporate clients. Here’s a deeper dive to help you better understand the value of Expertise Marketing. Introducing Expertise Marketing Expertise marketing is the practice of making the knowledge and skills of your human resources more visible to your partners and audiences. It draws attention to the value that your people can bring as brand ambassadors and strategically leverages the work your experts are doing to tell a more personal story. In many cases, expertise marketing can also be used to showcase your strengths in research and innovation. Creating a stronger digital presence, expertise marketing more effectively uses your channels to connect with audiences such as media, customers, partners and donors. It builds a sense of trust with your customers and above all else, it helps establish your reputation as an industry leader. ex•per•tise mar•ket•ing 1. The practice of collectively promoting an organization’s experts as brand ambassadors to demonstrate their skills or knowledge. 2. Best practices to publish and connect The Value of Expertise Marketing Reputation - Positions research, client work, thought leadership perspectives and achievements in the context of relevant topics that are in the news. Market Awareness - Expertise marketing makes it easier for key audiences to find expert content and people in search engines and on the organization’s website. Audience Engagement - Provides more intuitive search features for visible content which can be expanded to include assets such as video, social, and publications to drive richer conversations with audiences. Metrics on performance in areas related to expert development, content contribution and audience engagement page views and inquiries can be tracked. Demand Generation - Increased number of direct leads/ inquiries from audiences such as: Customers/Students Industry Partners Alumni Donors Media New Employee Recruits Conference Organizers Talent - Better engage stakeholders, researchers & subject-matter experts in the development and distribution of content while improving recruitment and retention of talent. Internal Collaboration - Better coordinate the knowledge and resources across internal communications teams and other departments as they engage experts. Provide a faster, more efficient way to generate content for breaking news and events. Content Contribution - Increase the size of the organization’s digital footprint by aggregating more content and distributing it contextually to multiple websites and third-party databases. Efficiency - Help employees get their jobs done faster and more efficiently. Enable them to find information faster, speed up internal processes and foster collaboration among people in multiple locations. Leverage Current and Future Infrastructure - Properly integrated, new technology investments should integrate seamlessly to leverage existing/proposed infrastructure such as content management systems (such as WordPress™) and marketing automation systems (such as Hubspot) How is Expertise Marketing Different from Content Marketing? A More Human Approach: People buy from people. That’s why content that is more personalized and attributed to specific experts who are well-identified as expert sources is far more trusted than most company-sponsored content. A More Collaborative Process that Engages Employees: A more structured “win-win” model empowers experts to contribute their knowledge. Expertise marketing is a proven way to build culture and celebrate diversity which assists with talent retention and recruitment. An Efficient Way to Create More Content to Boost SEO & Website Traffic: Engaging your experts creates a larger hub of “owned” content that is proven to boost PageRank in search engines and site traffic. Expert content is used by organizations to enhance their “About Us” page, staff/faculty/physician directories, newsroom pages, research pages and speakers bureaus. Optimized Content Formats Better Connect with Audiences: A variety of short format, long format and visual content formats (such as expert profiles, blogs, Q&A and videos) are designed to engage specific audiences at various stages of the customer journey. Improved Calls to Action & Analytics Boost Demand Generation & Leads/Inquiries: Experts become more approachable as “lead magnets” that generate measurable inbound opportunities, avoiding common issues of lost customer leads due to poor processes and workflow. You might be surprised at how much value expertise marketing can bring to your organisation. The chances are, that the time you are currently spending on ineffective content marketing strategies will be greatly reduced with a redefined focus on expertise marketing. By putting the focus back on the skills and relevance of your experts, as people, you're not only making them more visible but also establishing your brand reputation which will simultaneously generate more leads and increase efficiency.

May 27, 2023

4 min

Levity Aside, the 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner Reminded Us of Our Mission

As expected, Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” did a fantastic job presiding over last Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. True to form, Noah didn’t hold back, delivering some clever comedy that poked fun at everyone - both on the right and left. No one, including President Biden, was spared. What’s notable is that it’s been a long time since the WHCA event was attended by the President. Six years to be exact. And while it provided a great platform to lighten the mood and share some laughs, it was the message on the role that a free press plays in a civil society that Noah spoke to that stood out. His speech also reminded us of the important role our university and corporate clients have in helping national and local media find and connect with credible experts for their stories. Here are some highlights of the speech: Noah reminded us just how fortunate we are to live in a society where the media plays a critical role in our democracy. “So as we sit in this room tonight, I really hope we all remember what the real purpose of this evening is. Yes, it’s fun. Yes, we dress nice. Yes, the people eat, they drink, and have fun. But the reason we are here is to honor and celebrate the Fourth Estate and what you stand for — an additional check and balance that holds power to account. And gives voice to those who otherwise wouldn’t have one." Noah went on to focus on the importance of local media: "I’m not just talking about CNN or Fox or any of the other major organizations. I’m talking about everyone.” “Every single one of you, whether you like it or not, is a bastion of democracy,” Then, Noah went on to underscore the importance of a free press by addressing the Ukrainian invasion and the way Russia has violently suppressed its media outlets and free speech. Noah said: “If you ever begin to doubt your responsibilities — how meaningful it is — look no further than what’s happening in Ukraine. Journalists are risking and even losing their lives to show the world what’s really happening. In America, you have the right to seek the truth and speak the truth even if it makes people in power uncomfortable. Even if it makes your viewers or your readers uncomfortable. You understand how amazing that is? I stood here tonight and I made fun of the president of the United States and I’m going to be fine. Do you really understand what a blessing it is? Maybe it’s happened for so long, it might slip your mind. It’s a blessing.” Noah then reminded us that we all have responsibilities by asking everyone in the room this important question: “Ask yourself this question. If Russian journalists who are losing their livelihoods and their freedom for daring to report on what their own government is doing — if they had the freedom to write any words, to show any stories, or to ask any questions, if they had basically what you have, would they be using it in the same that you do? Ask yourself that question every day because you have one of the most important roles in the world.” It was a very fitting end to an event that has in a lighthearted way since 1920 allowed us to laugh at our differences and come together across the aisle. I hope as you begin your week, you will remember that while the news is a business, our role in educating the public, countering mis/disinformation and speaking truth to power is something we can’t take for granted. President Biden in his WHCD remarks said it best: “I mean this from the bottom of my heart, that you, the free press, matter more than you ever did in the last century,” he said. “You are the guardians of the truth.” A link to the full broadcast of Trevor Noah’s remarks at the 2022 White House Correspondents Association is here:

May 04, 2022

3 min

SEO: Why Expertise Ranks Higher

When the internet took off in the mid-90s, finding content wasn’t for the faint of heart. There were no directories or search engines and if you didn’t know where you wanted to go, you weren’t going very far. In the wild west of URLs, it became abundantly clear that we needed a better way to search. Yahoo brought us our first directory but in a list of websites, everyone’s content looked equal. That’s when Google stepped up to the plate. Right from the early days of search algorithms, they understood that people valued expert content and we needed a way to rank the credibility and integrity of a webpage. Drawing on his academic background, Larry Page introduced the concept that links could act like citations in a research paper. The original idea operated like a voting system; the more links, the higher the rank. While Google still places tremendous value on expertise, their algorithm for search engine optimization (SEO) has become significantly more complex. We know that it’s combination of on-page and off-page factors but at the end of the day, it boils down to delivering the quality content people are searching for. Source: Search Engine Land Give the People What They Want Today’s audiences want to build more meaningful connections with the institutions and businesses they engage, and that requires information. It’s not enough to put out an unimaginative website or tri-fold brochure. While these tactics may have worked a short time ago, traditional marketing often fails to deliver the level of detail audiences need to make purchasing decisions. From transparency to accountability, they have high expectations for organizations and the content they provide. They want to know how a product or service will uniquely work for them and how your organization aligns with their vision and values. Most of all, they need expert perspectives and proof you can deliver results. If you want to remain competitive, it’s essential to keep up with these rising demands for easy-to-find, high-quality content and secure you a key spot on Google’s SERP. Climbing the Ranks with Expertise Organizations, particularly those in knowledge-based industries (academia, consulting, professional services, medicine etc.), need to pay special attention to how Google is tuning its search algorithm to index information that is attributed to experts. Factors like quality, keyword research and freshness are all on-page tactics that help webpages improve their rank. With this in mind, here are just a few ways your experts and their content are contributing to your rank on Google: Meta-Tagging: Meta tags are snippets of text or rich media that help audiences understand what’s on your webpage from the Google SERP. To ensure they deliver the most relevant search results, both Google and YouTube have been updating their meta tagging and schema options to allow expert content to be indexed more descriptively. This includes everything from author attribution to expert answers the prestigious Rank Zero which highlights the best possible result to users at the very top of the page. Freshness: The freshness of content is correlated with content relevance, and it’s something Google highly values when ranking search. Not only will outdated employee biographies and profiles on your site negatively impact your ranking on search engines, but failing to deliver timely, relevant content on trending topics will also hold you back. By regularly updating your website with expert content, you’re showing that you’re an active contributor to that topic – building trust your audiences and increasing your rank on Google. Keywords: Google collects and indexes searches from users every day, so the richness of your keywords is critical to your search ranking. In many cases, you’ll find that expert content has a holistic way of providing information about high-searched topics in your industry. When an expert creates content, they not only include the targeted keywords, but they naturally incorporate latent semantic indexing as well which accounts for related terms. This all feeds into Google’s desire to surface the most relevant content and who better to do that than your experts. All of these factors are important considerations for improving your organic search rank. As a key driver in inbound traffic, improving your organic rank will not only increase brand awareness, but it also delivers higher-quality leads. And by sharing expert content on your digital channels, you’re showing your audiences and Google exactly what makes you an industry authority and why they should engage your business. Download The Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing For a comprehensive look at how expertise marketing benefits the entire organization and drives measurable return on investment, follow the link below to download a copy of ExpertFile’s Complete Guide to Expertise Marketing: The Next Wave in Digital Strategy or download one of our tailored Guides for Corporate & Professional Services, Higher Education Institutions, Healthcare Institutions or Association & Not-for-Profits.

February 18, 2022

4 min

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O cassino do cassino online que aceita pix oferece o guia perfeito para o melhor cobre on -line para dinheiro real.

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Robert Carter

Peter Evans

Terry Foster

Justin Shaw

Dan Stanhope

Deanne Taenzer