It’s already time for the third post on ways higher education leaders can use AI to help advance the work. Over the past month, I’ve had a couple of opportunities to talk about how I’m using AI. Those conversations have reinforced for me the importance that as leaders we need to create a culture that not only says it’s okay to use AI but also encourages it.
As leaders, we shouldn’t be using the tools in secret to help us do more, but we should be helping our teams critically think about how and when to use the tools and helping to develop best practices around using these.
In the third part of this blog series, I’ve developed 10 additional use cases for higher education marketing leaders to use AI in our work. For each idea, I’ve provided a little about the use case and more specific details of how I’m approaching it.
Also — if you missed the first 10 ideas for MarComm leaders or the second set of ideas, be sure to go back and check those out.
10 Ideas for MarComm Leaders
1. Summarize meeting notes and action items – There are several different tools that will summarize meeting notes and send a recap of action items. Read.ai, Gemini, and several others offer this feature, and it is often available at little-to-no cost.
As someone who often goes from meeting to meeting, this lets me be present in the conversation but also helps ensure I remember what was discussed and what things I’m responsible for. After the third or fourth meeting in a day, I need a way to keep organized.
2. Refine rough drafts – Whether a press release or a media plan, ChatGPT does a great job refining rough drafts and offering suggestions on ways to improve the provided document.
I have used this on press releases but also on upcoming media announcements to make sure the work I’m putting forward is polished and matches the brand voice and tone that I want. Using a custom GPT for this work really helps ensure refinements and suggestions align with the organization’s goals.
3. Enhance rough drafts – Similar to the above idea, ChatGPT also is phenomenal at taking an existing document and providing feedback about how it might be elevated or what blind spots should be addressed.
I have used this on brainstorming new media plans to make sure I’m not missing something that I should be considering but also get some creative ideas about how to enhance the scope of a project.
4. Evaluate possible decisions – ChatGPT can help with evaluating a tough decisions. Specifically, it can help in listing pros and cons of the what is being considered to help you think objectively about the it, the ramifications, and possible outcomes of the decisions.
I have found this helpful to think about office challenges and determining the best way to approach a few different scenarios. The big caveat here is this is only as good as the data that is provided. That means if the decision is personnel-related, it’s much harder to benefit from this use case because that personnel information should not be provided to ChatGPT.
5. Provide Next Steps – When working on big goals, one of my favorite uses for ChatGPT is breaking those goals into actionable next steps. ChatGPT can provide a breakdown of possible steps based on a specific timeframe to complete the goal, general suggestions of next steps, or using the snowball technique. All of these help get momentum and provide suggestions on how to get started on a goal.
Summer is the strategic time for MarComm leaders, and I have used ChatGPT to help make sure I’m aligned on the MarComm strategic plan and the MarComm maturity model. I’ve used ChatGPT to make sure we’re tackling the right tasks each year but also to provide some ideas to begin on the work.
6. Personal growth – One of my favorite ways to use ChatGPT is for personal feedback. ChatGPT can give you positive feedback, suggestions for personal growth, and also help you make fun of yourself. Depending on the situation, these are all helpful pieces of information to help us be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses.
After having a bad day, I asked ChatGPT about great things I had accomplished, and it was a wonderful pick-me-up. Additionally, heading into review time with my team, I asked it for ways I could be a better leader. This helped me to have meaningful dialogue with the team about ways I could better support them.
7. Building presentations – There are several tools out there (beautiful.ai and Canva) that offer help turning outlines into presentations. As someone who presents regularly, this is a tool I’m excited to use more.
I haven’t used this yet, but I am excited to explore how to quickly create presentations. I use presentations with lots of images and very few words, so I think these tools could help me create better presentations without spending as much time on them. I am looking forward to trying this on several back-to-school presentations.
8. Develop crisis table top exercises – As MarComm leaders, we are likely involved in crisis preparation for our university. I think one of the greatest opportunities to use ChatGPT is to develop crisis tabletop exercises that can help us more regularly practice and refine our plans.
I have used this to work on exercises for a broad tabletop exercise but also an exercise focused specifically for the MarComm team. I think having access to a tool that can quickly and easily provide scenarios can help our teams be better prepared for a crisis.
9. Write crisis messages – Using ChatGPT to help draft possible crisis messages for email, text and social media is a great way to use the tool. Specifically, the tool can create the same message and refine it for multiple needed lengths without much additional effort.
I have used this to create messages for several of the possible scenarios that the university could face in a crisis. It’s important to review the messages, as they needed some finesse. However, it saved me hours in putting together a starting draft of these.
10. Record a video in another language — Murf.ai and Resemble.ai offer the ability to record a message in another language. With students coming from all over the world, there are several use cases I can think of for a video in a foreign language including welcoming students upon their admission, providing more content for non-native speakers, and helping students feel welcome on campus.
The key to think about here is to make sure to disclose AI was used and articulate the why behind the decision to use the tool in this way. Otherwise, it may come across as creepy and inauthentic.
What Else?
Are there great strategies you’re exploring? If so, be sure to comment on the post.
Also, I’ll have another post in this series next month, so be sure to subscribe so you get the insights in your inbox!
Carry On!
And Carrie On 