Enabling global organizations to make the most of digital opportunities

Education InternationalThe Online Landscape of Education

Preliminary findings

TODAY’S OBJECTIVES

1. Show initial results of the digital mapping

2. First steps towards a strategy for EI

3. Key questions

intelligence & strategy

branding

storytelling & campaigning production

STRATEGIC CONSULTING

15 years working with leading organisations

on digital strategy

Digital as hub: Bringing information together and integrating communication

"Show me“ not "trust me”: Tell the story through and with third parties, show and tell

Enable and facilitate stakeholder dialogue: Engage with stakeholders on the issues

Community and mobilization: Uniting stakeholders and turning them into ambassadors

THE FOUR PILLARS

The mapping

WHAT IS A DIGITAL MAPPING?

• A step-by-step approach combining educated research, data analysis, qualitative independent research, and quality check by combining the information in order to deliver a realistic picture resulting into actionable business intelligence

A 2 phases approach

1) PICTURE THE ONLINE LANDSCAPE, ANSWERING CORE QUESTIONS:

• How salient is the education discussion online?

• What are the key stories that are making headway online?

• Who are the key influencers and initiatives around education? What is best practice?

• What’s the perception of the different aspects of the issue amongst key audiences

• What terminology is the audience using? On what devices? For which purpose?

• How are they communicating and/or engaging? Who are potential allies or content partners?

Map out the online landscape

BEST PRACTICES

SENTIMENT

ISSUE SALIENCY

TERMINOLOGY

POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES KEY CHANNELS

KEY PLAYERS

KEY STORIES

ONLINE BEHAVIOR

2) DEVELOP A STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION PLAN THAT:

• Responds to the relevant concerns and needs of the target audience

• Sends the target audiences the right information via the right channel

• Provides collateral players the right tools and content to help support our strategy

• Identified alternative content providers that will endorse and help disseminate our communication efforts

KEYWORD ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY

• A list of relevant keywords used in search queries is created

• It is submitted to Google to determine performance & search volume

• Keyword combinations are segregated into themes such as:• Parental queries - Parents looking for “best” + “schools” or “extra-curricular”

• Teaching queries - Teachers looking for “professional development” or “teaching resources”

• Political queries – NGOs / Politicians / Press looking for “literacy” or “legislation”

• Etc…

• These queries, through their tone and volume, reflect perception. They can be considered as a barometer for audience’s focus and online behaviour (e.g. in terms of terminology)

• The obtained matrix has been used to compare and generate the following charts and could be used to extract answers not currently addressed

Keyword Analysis

KEYWORD ANALYSIS

Last month, there were 101,000,000 queries containing the word “education”

That’s 1 search for every 3 Americans

department of education4,090,000

education jobs1,000,000

3. education reform90,500

1. education spending40,500

2. education budget60,500

education ranking301,000

education policy165,000

3quality education135,000

1

2

4. education crisis18,100

4

Education related queries:

education101,000,000

Sum of keywords from last slide5,900,600

quality education

employment*101,000,000

education101,000,000

1

1. climate change1,830,000

economy11,100,000

environment13,600,000

Iraq9,140,000

crime16,600,000

2

2. North Korea2,240,000

Education in relation to other significant keywords:

* jobs is the most significant keyword with 185,000,000 searches

best school2,240,000

private school1,220,000

school ranking1,000,000

teacher training

1,000,000

teacher salary

550,000

literacy2,240,000

extra curricular135,000 teacher qualification

40,500

teacher development60,500

teaching resources301,000

education legislation49,500

education budget60,500

education reform90,500

education policy165,000

Education – GOOGLE TREND DATAKeyword trend over the last 9 years - Globally

Education vs. Training – GOOGLE TREND DATAKeyword trend over the last 9 years - Globally

Public vs. Private Education – GOOGLE TREND DATAKeyword trend over the last 9 years - Globally

KEYWORD ANALYSIS

CONCLUSIONS• The enormous search traffic for education clearly shows the extent to

which people care about this topic.• However, the keywords associated to education also indicate a

divergence in the interests of stakeholders.• Parents, who form the largest demographic and account for keywords with the largest

search volumes, are most concerned with subjects that immediately concern their children - not policy.

• Teachers, the second largest demographic, look for keywords related to their profession and that offer tangible resources.

• The campaign could leverage both groups and create a powerful support base however, it will have to draw parallels to current behavior/motivations for it to succeed.

• Education International is right to be concerned about education. Over the last 9 years, the level of interest in education has dropped by 60%.

• The long term trend also indicates drops in interest are to be expected at Christmas and over the summer. The campaign should focus its activities in the spring and fall.

Keyword Analysis:Quality Education

QUALITY EDUCATION

Quality Education - MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUMEVolume of search queries mentioning “quality education” every month on Google (absolute values only)

Quality Education - MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUMEVolume of search queries mentioning “quality education” every month on Google (absolute values only)

Quality Education - MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUMEVolume of search queries mentioning “quality education” every month – around the world – in English, French and Spanish

“Quality Education” Globally – BRANDWATCH MENTIONSVolume of BrandWatch mentions found related to “Quality Education” over the last two months around the world

“Quality Education” vs. “vaccines” Globally – BRANDWATCH MENTIONSVolume of BrandWatch mentions found related to “Quality Education” over the last two months around the world

“Quality Education” Globally – BRANDWATCH MENTIONSVolume of BrandWatch mentions found related to “Quality Education” over the last two months around the world

WORLD n=31,000

South Africa n=292

USA n=21000UK n=1950

Australia n=456 India n=775

Canada n=1197

Quality Education is associated with Higher Education & University

QUALITY EDUCATION

CONCLUSIONS• Despite the level of interest for many education related keywords, “Quality

Education” is not a term that is searched for.• In addition to low search traffic, the level of mentions across various

channels is also very low. It is used mainly by the press, and is more closely associated to tertiary rather than K-12 education.• The definition and association of “Quality Education” to K-12 education may have been

confused by other uses of the term; this will make it difficult for the campaign to capture the attention / interest of target audiences.

• The campaign will have to either: allocate resources to generate awareness and reclaim the term, or use another term to rally support.

• Note that for maximum reach, the term and its definition should be translated into major world languages as, currently, “quality education” is principally used in English speaking countries.

Millennium Goals

MILLENNIUM GOALS

Millennium Goals - MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUMEVolume of search queries related to the Millennium Goals every month

Millennium Goals – BRANDWATCH MENTIONSVolume of BrandWatch mentions found related to the Millennium Goals over the last two months

Australia to cut aid budget

* Over the last 2 months, BrandWatch has only found 449 mentions related to the Development Goals. (138 were news items)

Millennium Goals are not a topic discussed by the general public.

MILLENNIUM GOALS

CONCLUSIONS• Millennium Goals still receive a significant share of search volume

however, when specific goals are queried, education and empowering women are the only two significant goals.

• This is re-assuring for Education International as education is closely associated with the Millennium Goals and could serve to make the point that the UN should continue to support education.

• On the other hand, the low level of mentions may be indicative that they need some rejuvenation.

Research conclusions

1. Education is one of the most searched and discussed topics online. This represents potentially a great opportunity to communicate, engage and partner with key influencers.

2. The term “quality education” is not heavily used online. This terminlogy issue should be addressed in the future.

3. Teachers are engaging online through forums community and blogs. This reveals a true willingness to address education related issues. However, teachers tend to discuss practical aspects of their work life, putting aside more visionnary concerns.

4. On the other hand, inspiring TED-like education content receives a lot of coverage and connects with the audience.

5. This fragmentation in terms of opinions and perspectives of the different stakeholders should be addressed in the strategic communication plan.

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS

First Draft of a Strategy

STRATEGY

FIRST THOUGHTS ON STRATEGY1. Define the initiative : why are we here, what do we want to achieve?

2. Define a common-ground message: rethink the wording of quality education

3. Enabling all voices via platforms• International platform (umbrella story)

• Localised platfoms (local topics, local languages) via members

4. Explore Millenium goal opportunity as potential gap

5. Find a call to action to engage key audiences (petition, manifesto) and create a community

QUESTIONS

KEY QUESTIONS

1. What are your local challenges, regarding quality education, any online direct experience?

2. What are your best ambassadors to convey EI messages, locally and internationally – especially online?

3. As member of EI, would you like to play an active part in an initiative to mobilize on quality education?