My conversation this week was with Dr. Liz Gross, who founded Campus Sonar, recently acquired by the College Board, where she now leads strategic enrollment services. I have followed Liz online for years but this is the first time we’ve had the chance to chat, and she has spent her whole career on something most of us underuse: listening to what people say about our institutions.
Watch the full-length version on YouTube (57 mins)
Back in 2016, Liz was co-presenting on social listening at a higher ed marketing conference. The room was so full people sat on the floor, and afterward the line to talk to her was long, and everyone said the same thing: this makes complete sense, and here is why I will never be able to do it on my campus. “Listening and showing up really aren’t the same thing,” she says. You can learn what a community thinks without barging in to correct the record, and most of the time barging in is exactly the wrong move.
Liz is rigorous and refreshingly honest, no single metric to rule them all, no barging into every Reddit thread. But she is also optimistic that people are finding their way back to real community, online and in person.
Big Themes This Week
The most trusted voice about your institution is usually an anonymous peer, not your official account. Trust is transferable, and it moves in conversations you aren’t watching.
Listening and showing up aren’t the same thing. You can learn from a community without barging in, and often you should stay out.
Followers and reach are vanity metrics. Measure the conversations that matter, and whether you’re activating other people to tell your story.
Team Discussion Questions
Where are we broadcasting at people when we should be listening to them?
Which metrics are we reporting that don’t actually connect to our goals?
Who among our students and alumni are already telling our story well, and how could we support them?
Upcoming Member Events
Agora
Behind the Scenes of a Signature Alumni Event: Lessons from the Bentley Alumni Conference
A great alumni conference can do more than bring people together — it can create the conditions for relationships to grow, alumni expertise to strengthen the institution, and university priorities to become meaningful and relevant to graduates.
In this Agora, Allison Kerivan, Executive Director of Advancement Relations, will take attendees behind the scenes of the Bentley Alumni Conference, the university’s flagship professional development and networking experience, and share how it has evolved into a strategic platform for alumni engagement and donor cultivation.
Date: Thursday, September 3 from 12 - 1 pm
Faculty-in-Residence
For six weeks beginning August 17 - September 25, Speaking Engagement welcomes Mallory Erickson — executive coach, creator and host of the What the Fundraising podcast, and author of the book by the same name — as our inaugural resident. We’ll have a final live Symposium event for members on September 23.
