As a MarComm leader, our world is constantly changing. There are new students, new technology, new social media platforms, and even new expectations. That means we must always be learning to ensure we stay current on trends and are leveraging technology to support our work.
After spending a few months playing with AI and chatting with a few others who were doing the same, I’ve put together a few AI use cases that I think higher education marketing and communications leaders should consider as they explore the tools further.
This will be a three-part series that I hope is valuable. Also — a huge thanks to Bart Caylor, Brian Piper and Jaime Hunt who have always been generous with their time to let me ask questions or brainstorm AI strategies and tactics.
10 Ideas for MarComm Leaders
1. Craft an email (especially when needing to give feedback) – ChatGPT is beneficial for crafting emails when you need to give feedback or provide alternative points for consideration.
Specifically, I’ve used the tool to articulate why we need to go a different direction and explain why something may not be a good idea. The tool does a nice job of articulating this in a tone that feels informative and supportive, which can be a struggle sometimes when having to tell some no for the millionth time.
2. Summarize long emails and meetings notes – TLDR is the worst. There are a few people I interact with who send long emails and who seem to talk in circles. ChatGPT does a nice job summarizing these conversations and providing action items that should be completed.
I have used ChatGPT (when there isn’t sensitive information) to summarize the email and action items for both myself and for the full team. If you’re in a Microsoft environment, CoPilot also offers this functionality. For meetings, other tool to consider is Read.AI, which can help summarize meetings and associated action items.
3. Assist in brainstorming marketing or advertising copy – This works best if you’ve build a custom GPT that can speak to your brand. Then, you can provide the GPT with needs around audience, tone, platform, etc.
I’ve used the custom GPTs I’ve built to help me draft marketing copy for a variety of situations. One thing to note is that only works as a starting point. I find I usually have 3-5 rounds of edits, and I may take several brainstorm iterations and combine them together outside of the tool.
4. Practice having difficult conversations – As a MarComm leader, it is important to have crucial conversations when needed. These are not fun and take practice; however, it can be difficult to run through possible scenarios without having someone to play the part.
I find myself using ChatGPT (without providing private information) to practice these conversations. It’s helpful to ask how I could better approach the conversation, work on framing possible responses, and run a real-time scenario of how the conversation might go.
5. Edit a long video into short for social media – I have found that OpusClips is a great AI tool for slicing long video content into multiple clips that can be used as highlights or promotional spots.
I have used OpusClips to take long clips and turn them into short soundbites that can help promote future events or provide quick highlight soundbites. The tool automatically generates multiple versions, giving choice to what best meets my goals. Additionally, in the paid version the captions can be branded, and multiple sizes can be downloaded with one click.
6. Brainstorm social media or email copy – When needing to write branded social media or email copy, using ChatGPT can be a significant time-saver. The tool (especially if using a custom GPT) does a great job at taking your basic information and creating a starting point that feels more marketing-focused than what I would have put together.
I have used this to create content for posts about upcoming events, emails about activities, and for finding a unique way to talk about the event time after time. One thing to note, this works better with a custom GPT and should be used as brainstorming. I usually then have to finesse the content to get it just right.
7. Develop a custom GPT for regular communication needs – If you’re regularly communicating on behalf of the university or on behalf of someone, a custom GPT is a must. With the custom GPT, it’s possible to upload prior content and build a GPT that gets fairly close to matching the tone and style that you regularly use.
As someone who sometimes responds as the voice of the university, I have built a custom GPT to make sure our responses remain consistent over time. In the process, I’ve been able to train the GPT to align to our brand voice of being helpful and informative.
8. Develop a custom GPT to help in student recruitment (or donor engagement) – Taking non-private data you have about your students and building a GPT with that information allows the GPT to give you feedback through the lens of that particular audience. The will allow you to, in effect, use the GPT as a focus group for feedback. If you’re interested in this, some possible data to include may be persona research, common data set information, or non-identifiable survey data about your students.
I think this holds great potential to test content and make sure it’s relevant and helpful for your student audiences. It become a built-in focus group to give you insight on what messages are needed, when a particular message would be most beneficial, and how the message should be executed. I could also see this working as a means to evaluating print materials and the website.
9. Share existing drafts and ask for suggestions – As a MarComm leader, sometimes I don’t have a place to get feedback on certain topics. My team doesn’t need to be brought in yet, which means I may not have a place to beta test an announcement, a process change, or any other draft.
I have used ChatGPT (no sensitive data) to review my drafts and make sure they are helpful. It’s also proven useful in brainstorming rollout plans or what I should consider on announcing something to minimize harm or confusion . Again, this only works in instances where there’s no private data, but it’s really nice to get feedback quickly on something that I’m not ready to loop people in on.
10. Review content for typos and clarity – Sometimes we are too close to a particular project and no longer see the mistakes. Using ChatGPT to proofread something for typos or clarity is an easy way to make sure we’re putting our best foot forward.
I have used this countless times, both personally and professionally, to make sure what I’m sharing is easy to follow and is free of typos. It also tends to make great suggestions about the organization of the content.
What Else?
The good news is this is just the start. I have two more lists of ideas for using AI, so I’ll be back in a few weeks with more insights.
Make sure you don’t miss that post — drop your email in the box below to get my weekly posts directly in your inbox.
Also — if there’s a great use case I’m not considering, please let me know in the comments. The more use cases, the better we all are!
And Carrie On 