University digital branding is a set of strategies that have the objective of positively influencing the reputation of universities, tending to improve institutional visibility and the growth of digital environments, designed as resources for members of the university community from the perspective of its use as spaces for academic research and socialization. The internet offers an almost unlimited amount of options for learning and sharing, and through this analysis, several opportunities for improvement will be identified that, with the application of appropriate and timely actions, can be used to increase visibility online.
TopIntroduction
The new technologies revolutionized the concept of learning, broadcasting, sharing, and educating. Berners-Lee, the father of the Web, summed up the following: “In December 1990, the World Wide Web was launched for the first time. It consisted of a website and a browser, running on the same computer. This simple configuration demonstrated a deep concept: that anyone could share information with anyone else, anywhere in the world. With this spirit the Web spread rapidly. Today, on its 30th anniversary, the Web is fully integrated into our daily lives.” (Schlaen, 2011)
The Internet is constantly evolving, today being one of the greatest means of dissemination and supply of goods and services as well, it is easier to publish, buy and sell every day without the need for stores or physical spaces for interaction between seller and customer; companies like Amazon, Netflix, Mercado Libre or Spotify are leading exponents of what we know as “digital economy”. In this context, and recognizing that the management of brands goes back many centuries in the past, since there is a need to differentiate the goods according to their producer or supplier, it’s observed that at the beginning of the 21st century the same need is maintained together with the obligation to establish parameters and rules of use for the implementation and dissemination of brands in digital environments, which adds value to goods or services, incorporates trends, and improves the customer experience.
Nowadays, and at a global level, educational institutions are changing the teaching-learning systems, in a permanent cycle of improvement and innovation, driven largely by the technological revolution, the flow of information found on the Internet, and the particularities of each generation. The use of electronic devices, the incorporation of virtual classrooms, and 4.0 environments drive the development of the fields of application and research in the educational field. Together with these changes, and in the context of higher education, the following questions arise: Is it correct to consider universities as service companies? Do university rankings influence student decision making regarding university or career selection? Should teachers be qualified through a ranking? Does online interaction improve communication with the student regarding the traditional classroom model? How do we manage student-teacher and student-university feedback to improve the teaching-learning process?
Universities maintain specific “clients”, with very particular and very demanding needs at the same time. These “customers” live immersed in the digital world, looking for the best options through online criticism, academic references, blogs or youtubers comments. They investigate their future professors, their competences, skills and any information they can find on the net about their academic and professional references.
The presence of teachers and universities in digital media, social networks, websites and the like, takes special relevance for students to inform themselves and decide on an university community.
According to David Costa, Country Manager of Nominalia “The brand is reputation, helps to retain our customers and, consequently, to improve our sales, registration is the only way for their owners to guarantee the full and exclusive right of use on the same. Registering your brand is making it unique, while increasing its commercial value in your reference markets. In addition, only registered trademarks can be included in the Trademark Clearing House, the only global database of registered trademarks authorized by ICANN and the most important brand protection service in all matters related to the launch of the new top-level domains.” (Merino, 2015)
Kotler makes a definition of what a brand is: “A brand—understood to be: a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, [that] is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, P. 1997, p. 443)
University brands were previously only used in legal documents, such as emblematic stamps, in uniforms or labels. In modernity, having a renowned award-winning brand and associated with world prizes makes it number one in the mind of the consumer, keeping it as the first option. All this and more, has generated a growing search to expand the correct diffusion of the brand, concerned about the applied design and where to place its exhibition.
Universities are not just companies, they are institutions of higher education, they are a system of trainers and knowledge generators, where future employers and employees, developers and researchers are formed. Over time, university brands must reinforce more than the brand promise, and reflect the effort they make to strengthen it.