Preparation is important
Imagine walking into a classroom on your first day of teaching and launching into an advanced lecture on Ophelia's fate in Hamlet, only to realize your students haven't even been introduced to Shakespeare yet. Without understanding where your audience is at conceptually, even the best content will fall flat.
Much like preparing for your first lecture of the semester, creating content for your website should be grounded in research. Before you begin writing, promoting your content, or even creating a content plan, you need to know who you're talking to and what they care about.
As a website administrator, you're the storyteller for your department or unit. Part of your job is to connect your offerings with the people who need them most. And the best way to tell that story is by understanding your audience.
Who are you trying to reach?
Your target audience is the group most likely to connect with and benefit from what you offer. To understand them deeply, classify their demographics and psychographics. Here are some factors that may be important when understanding your audience:
Demographics: Who are they?
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Education level
- Income
Psychographics: What drives them?
- Interests
- Activities
- Values
- Relationships
Start with the audience that matters most to your goals. Fill out these details as thoroughly as possible, using real data such as student surveys, enrollment records, or conversations with current students and their families. Working at a university gives you a significant advantage: your audience is often right outside your door.
Use this Audience Persona worksheet for a more in-depth review of your audience group.
What if you have multiple audiences?
That's to be expected in higher education. You may need to reach prospective undergraduates, graduate students, current students, parents, alumni, faculty, donors, researchers, and others. Don't let this overwhelm you. Using the analysis of “which audience matters most to your goals?” and the resulting persona sheets, you will have the baseline knowledge to help you understand each group separately, to allow you to serve them all effectively. You can't create effective content until you've clearly defined each audience and how to reach them.
The Iowa State University Web and Story Styleguide is a great resource to review if you need help understanding who you should be targeting.
At Iowa State, the primary website (iastate.edu) serves many audiences, but its main goal is student recruitment. Even content for other groups, like media contacts or job postings, should support that mission by maintaining a consistent tone.
Key audiences and what they need
Prospective Undergraduate Students
- Want to feel what it's like to be a student at your university
- Respond to authentic stories about campus life, academics, and student support
- Need an easy-to-navigate experience that reflects how they'll be welcomed on campus
Families of Prospective Students
- Need quick access to practical information (costs, safety, academics, housing)
- Respond well to clear, straightforward language and organized layouts
- Should feel confident they can find what they need without frustration
Graduate Students, Current Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni
- Need a direct path to specific information
- Respond to content that makes them feel part of the community
- Should feel invited to stay engaged with the university
Media and Vendors
- Need clear contacts to reach about a feature story or opportunity
Where does your audience spend their time?
Once you know who your audience is and what matters to them, figure out where they are online. Different audiences use different platforms and consume different types of content. A great place to start is by creating a list of every type of content you can think of:
- Social media posts
- Emails
- Videos – short form, long form
- Blog posts
- News articles
- How-to/Step-by-step guides
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Print resources/Worksheets/Brochures
- Workshops/Events
- Testimonials
- Podcasts
If you can think of others, add them to your list.
Match your content to the right channel
Not all content works in every format or platform, and not every platform serves every audience. Here are some examples of types of content and how you might plan to share them to reach your audience members:
- Social Media - Best for awareness and engagement. Use short, visual content to spark interest and build community. Each audience group has a preferred platform (LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube), so make sure you are posting where your audience spends time.
- Email - Perfect for building relationships over time. Segment your lists by audience type and where they are in their decision-making journey so you can send relevant, timely updates.
- Video - Share short, touching videos for awareness of your unit (campus life, student stories) and more detailed videos for evaluation (virtual tours, program deep-dives, testimonials). Videos can be shared on social media, through email, or on other video-sharing platforms.
- Blog Posts/News Articles/Guides/FAQs - Great for making your content attractive to search engines (SEO) and answering questions. Create content that addresses what your audience is actively searching for during their research phase.
- Downloadable Resources - Ideal for prospects who want detailed information to review on their own time or offline (program guides, financial aid breakdowns, or campus maps).
- Workshops and Events - Perfect when prospects want to interact, ask questions, and get a feel for your community before making a decision.
- Podcasts – Another great place to build relationships over time, especially for current students who are already aware of your value. Establishing a podcast takes long-term commitment; alternatively consider promoting your unit on an established podcast where you know your audience is already spending time.
Don't try to be everywhere, especially if you have limited team members allocating time to content creation. Focus on the channels where your specific audiences actually spend time, and create content that serves them best based on the persona you created before
Effectively creating content
There is a lot to consider when creating effective content for your audience. Performing audience research is a great place to start.
- Focus on priority audiences and target the audiences most critical to your goals, knowing that you can't effectively reach everyone.
- Know your personas and meet them where they already are.
- Communicate your value by creating content that highlights the benefits you can provide.
Understanding your audience is an ongoing practice that will enhance the efficacy of your content, be more engaging, and help prove your credibility to your prospective audience members.