1. Communications Survey
Thanks to my cohort of people who help revise the survey questions…
Steve Schultz from Princeton, Maria Kuntz from Colorado and Ann Lewandowski from Delaware.
Dawn S. McWilliams
July 8, 2019

2. Overall Size of Communications Teams and Reporting Structure
Overall average size of Communications teams is 4.6  
Reporting Structures
Reports to College Dean
67%
Reports to College Level Assoc. Dean
26%
Reports to Central University
.7%

3. Staff Workload Breakdown
Task
FTE Average
Website   
   .75 FTE
Social Media  
  .37 FTE
Writing     
  .70 FTE
PR          
.31 FTE
Publications 
.36 FTE
Advertising 
.12 FTE
Admissions work   
.07 FTE
Brand Work    
.14 FTE

4. Staff Workload Breakdown (cont.)
Events
.24 FTE
Graphic Designer  
  .47 FTE
Art Direction  
.14 FTE
Other
.56 FTE
Interns     
1.0 FTE
Scientific Illustration    
.02 FTE

5. Media Staff Size
Number of Dedicated Media Staff was an interesting one:
Interesting Media Facts
Avg. of full time employees for media (either at the college or central)
3.6 FTE
Only 11 schools did all of their media relations in-house out of 44
26%
All others use central university relations to augment
(and in many cases largely augment)
Only 6 of the schools report directly to the Central structure for media relations
23.6%
Average number of faculty per college supported
179
Media hits were all over the board:
968 (two outliers. 15 per year, and 13,000 -which is Cornell)

6. Top Audiences by Rank Order
Prospective Grad (31%) and Prospect Undergrad (31%) External and Peers (29%)
#2 Audiences:
Alumni ( 24%) and External and Peers (21%)
#3 Audiences:
Alumni (19%) and Corporate (21%)
#4 Audiences:
Alumni (23%) and Prospective Grads (17%)
#5 Audiences:
Current Students (12%), External and (12%), and Corporate (12%)
#6 Audiences:
Corporate (19%)
#7 Audiences:
Current Students (21%), Corporate (21%
#8Audiences:
Internal (21%), Govt.(24%)
#9 Audiences:
Govt. (30%)
*Basics Analysis by percentage

7. Budgets* Overall Budget Average $154,714 (outliers $500; $800,000)
Web Budgets Average
$ 17,142
Web Hosting
Not in anyone’s budget
Social Media Average
$17,967
Writing Budget Average
$10,285
PR Budget Average
$4,928 (in house- or central)
Publications Budget Average
$41,149
Advertising Budget Average
$38,462
Branding Budget Average
$36,419  (ties  nicely to the number on challenge. Brand Health)
Events Budget Average
$24,920
Other Budget
$3,972.00
Budgets*   
*These are all over the board since we did not have full participation on this in the survey

8. How We Spend Our Time Task Average Hours per Week Web 28.78
Social Media
6.41
Writing
15.15
Press Releases
29.54
Publications
11.3
Admissions Marketing
24.73
Advertising
6.69
Branding
8.63
Fundraising Communications
4.2

9. How We Spend Our Time (Other)
Tasks
Average Hours per Week
Podcasts 52
Photo/Video 21
Speechwriting
10-20
Administrative
28.25
Strategy 25
Events
12.5
Other
10.7

10. Other Duties as Assigned
Percentage
Centers, departments or institutes who have dedicated communications staff
35%
Centers, departments, or institutes with communications staff who report to college engineering communications
22%
Engineering school communications staff who are doing some sort of fundraising communications
24%
Many of us do additional work for areas inside the colleges not usually considered our “core” areas of work.

11. Alumni/Research Magazines/Print vs. Online
 44% Create a printed Alumni/ Research Magazine
57% Create an online Alumni/Research Magazine
70% Create both
Annual Report
35% Create a printed Annual Report
27% Create an online Annual Report
38% Create both

12. School Size-Student and Faculty
Average Size of Student Body
Number
School /Students
4147
Masters Students
467.9
Ph.D. Students
425.6
M.Eng. Students
143.4
Undergraduates Students
2890.5
Faculty
179

13. Measurement Tools for Overall Success
Student and Alumni Engagement
Metrics based Communications Plan
Provided by Central
Outcomes-Achievements
Quantitative Analysis
Philanthropy
Coverage
Reputational Surveys
Leadership Satisfaction
Dean Feedback
Stakeholder Engagement
Anecdotal
Enrollment
General Population Polls
Feedback
Qualitative Analysis
Tools
Media Hits
Google and Other Tools
Publications Produced
Audits
U.S News & World Report
Web Traffic
Strategic Goals
Websites Built

14. Web Measurement Tools Hits on Stories Time on Site
Four-Front Analytics
Page Views
Google Analytics
Site Visits
Outcomes
Appearance
Goals
User Focus Groups
Internal Feedback
Unique Visitors

15. Social Media Measurement Tools
Engagement
Hootsuite
Shares
Likes
Quantitative Analytics
Facebook Insights
Impressions
Twitter Insights
Sprout Social
Retweets
Reach
Hits

16. Writing Measurement Tools
Dean’s satisfaction
Peer Feedback
Web Analytics
Awards
Readership Surveys
Engagement
Leadership Satisfaction
Social Shares
Number of Articles
Page Views
Anecdotal
Media Hits
Story Count
Faculty Satisfaction
Evergreen Content, Repurposed Content
Total Number Published

17. Media Relations Measurement Tools
Readership
Cision
Number of Earned Media stories
Research Connections Established
Newswise
Hits on line
Meltwater
ADV
Altmetrics
Clips
Media Pick ups
Coverage
Tone
Quality and Quantity
Crowd Tangle
Number of Stories
Web Analytics
Google Alerts
Eurekalert
Social Media Shares

18. Publications Measurement
Readership Hits Online
Qualitative Analytics
Peer Award Competitions
E-pub Open Rates
Readership Surveys
Internal feedback
U.S. News Ranking
Clicks
Quantitative Analytics
Anecdotal
Outcomes
Feedback from Chairs and Deans
Awards/CASE Awards
ISSUU
Engagement
Alumni Feedback

19. Advertising Measurement
Quantitative Analytics
Click Through Rates (CTR)
Inquires
University Report
Media Vendor Analytics
Anecdotal
Meeting Established Goals
Ad Words
Impressions
Conversations
Lead
Conversions
Slate
Google Analytics
Click Through Rates for Admissions Marketing Campaigns
Applications

20. Brand Measurement Tools
Website Traffic
Survey of State-Wide Voters
Student Focus Groups
Internal and External Recognition
Alignment with Master Brand
Make Sure Same Family of Style
Contact Feedback, Internal Tracking of Usage
Compliance
Reputational Surveys
Qualitative Feedback of Increased Awareness and Name Recognition
Anecdotal
Feedback from Central
Reaching Targets for Ad Campaigns
Occasional Perception Surveys
Awareness
Harris Poll
Media Hits
Enrollment

21. Our Biggest Challenges#1
Staff (41%), Brand Health (30%) #2
Staff (30%), Expectations (30%) #3
Budget (35%), Expectations (26%) #4
Budget (42%), Brand health (40%)

22. Our Biggest Challenges (cont.)
Rank
Category
Percentage
# 1
Brand Health
30% #1
Staff
41%
Expectations
20%
Budget 1%
# 2
1.2% #2
21% #3
19%
26%
35% #4
40%
.02%
14%
42%

23. Questions??? Special thanks to:
Steven M. Schultz, College of Engineering, Princeton University
Maria Kuntz, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado Boulder
Ann Lewandowski, College of Engineering, University of Delaware
Nathan Kahal, Communications and Society Advancement American Society for Engineering Education