Digital Strategies for Dental Schools
Maryann BoyleJuly 15, 2012
Why Dental Schools?• Relevant• Need to promote themselves• Somewhat laggard in adapting to new technologies
• Interesting, with several separate, distinct audiences• Students• Parents• Alumni• External partners
• It’s my job
Schools for comparison• Tufts University School of Dental Medicine
• Harvard School of Dental Medicine
• BU Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine
Tufts Dental• Mission: • To prepare students to practice dentistry in the 21st
century
• Target audience• Students/prospective students• Alumni• Faculty/staff• Patients• Practicing dentists• Research subjects/sponsors
Tufts Dental: Homepage
Tufts Dental• Competitors• Harvard• BU• 72 other dental schools in US and Canada
• Audience Outreach• Website• Facebook• Twitter• RSS
Tufts Dental: Digital Outreach
Tufts Dental: SWOTStrengths A lot of content… Strong Continuing Education
segments
Weaknesses Text-heavy content Disorganized structure, navigation Broken links Out of date content Poor use of social media
Opportunities Hire dedicated web team Engage design consultant Cut down content for easier
maintenance, current material Embrace Social Media!
Threats Stale content will keep visitors from
returning BU has a fantastic site and social
media
Tufts Dental: Recommendations
• Scrap it!
• Recreate it• Get professional help• Hire Skilled staff• Embrace Social Media
Harvard Dental • Mission: • To prepare students to practice dentistry in the 21st
century
• Target audience• Students• Alumni• Faculty/staff• Patients
Harvard Dental: Homepage
Harvard Dental• Competitors• Tufts• BU• 72 other dental schools in US and Canada
• Audience Outreach• Website• Facebook
Harvard Dental: Digital Outreach
Harvard Dental: SWOT Strengths Useful, relevant, attractive homepage Clear direction toward targeted
information Text-heavy pages make effective use
of photos for visual relief Can drill deeply without getting lost
Weaknesses Sometimes best pages are buried
(alumni) Patients’ pages confusing Just Facebook for Social Media
o Only moderately active
Opportunities Drive alumni to their site; get them
involved Improve patient pages for better
marketing
Threats Missing out on people who use
Twitter, blogs Facebook page not interesting enough
to bring people back
Harvard Dental: Recommendations
• Clean U
• Re-design for Alumni
• Embrace Social Media!
Boston University Dental• Mission: • To prepare students to practice dentistry in the 21st
century
• Target audience• Students/prospective students• Alumni• Faculty/staff• Patients• Practicing dentists• Research subjects/sponsors
BU Dental: Homepage
BU Dental ?• Competitors• Harvard• Tufts• 72 other dental schools in US and Canada
• Audience Outreach• Website• Facebook• Twitter• RSS• YouTube
BU Dental: Digital Outreach ?
BU Dental: SWOT Strengths Clean, informative, dynamic website Active, comprehensive social media
program Up-to-the-minute content
Weaknesses With so much relevant and varied
content it’s sometimes hard to be clear about the context of some material (e.g., photos, videos).
Opportunities Reaching their goal of becoming the
premier dental school by communicating so well, so thoroughly
Threats Other schools will be poaching their
ideas; they need to keep being innovative
BU Dental: Recommendations
• Keep up the Good Work … and More
In comparison…
…there’s NO comparison!
Tufts Harvard BU
Website• Impact• Ease of use• Relevant Content• Current Content
1131
3443
5555
Social Media Tufts Harvard BUFacebook• Impact• Ease of use• Relevant Content• Current Content
3341
3433
4545
Twitter• Impact• Ease of use• Relevant Content• Current Content
2302
n/a 3345
Flickr• Impact• Ease of use• Relevant Content• Current Content
n/a n/a 3545
YouTube• Impact• Ease of use• Relevant Content• Current Content
n/a n/a 5555