Choosing a Reputation Management Partner with AI in Mind
In the not-so-distant past, colleges and universities had tremendous control over how their brands were perceived. From glossy viewbooks mailed to high school students to well-crafted press releases, institutions shaped their reputations from the inside out.
The rise of digital media, the power of algorithms and now the proliferation of AI-generated content have fundamentally reshaped the reputation landscape. Today, your institution’s brand is built not just by what you say, but by what others say — and how machines interpret it.
This major shift was a focus of our recent webinar, Reimagine Higher Ed: Connecting Revenue and Reputation for Sustainable Growth. If you missed it, here’s a summary: Forward-thinking leaders recognize that reputation shapes not only enrollment outcomes, but philanthropy, faculty and staff recruitment, media visibility and institutional resilience. Take heart: You can manage and strengthen your institution’s reputation with the right approach and partners. First, let’s take a brief trip down a reputation memory lane.
A Historical Look at How Reputation Management Transformed Higher Education
The 1980s–1990s: Print and Prestige
If we look back to the 1980s-1990s, when some of us were around (I will admit it) to help tell it, the story one told was the story the public heard. Colleges curated narratives via brochures, campus tours and alumni magazines. Prospective students and parents rarely heard as many counterpoints to what a college wanted them to hear. The media coverage was more limited to local newspapers, occasional coverage in national outlets and at least one higher ed publication you may have heard of: The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Rankings began to chip away at this monopoly. When U.S. News & World Report published its first college rankings in 1983, Special Projects Editor Mel Elfin introduced a powerful player in the perception game. Institutions adapted begrudgingly, and many eventually developed strategies to boost their standing. Reputation was still primarily within institutional control, but cracks were forming.
The 2000s: Rise of the Website
By the early 2000s, the college website was the brand’s central hub. Information had to be continuously updated, visually compelling and accessible to increasingly tech-savvy audiences. Students and families could compare dozens of institutions side-by-side, all without speaking to an admissions officer. We referred to it as people doing their “stealth research.”
Still, institutions owned their domains, literally and narratively. Marketing teams curated words and images, yet they were certainly no longer the only storytellers.
The 2010s: Social Media Disrupts the Narrative
Social media decentralized brand authority and reputational control even further. A single tweet or post could go viral, or a family member’s or alum’s Facebook rant could spiral into a local news headline. Yelp and RateMyProfessor gave voice to myriad opinions, no matter how informed or unfounded. Remember when that was one of the worst things to happen, a bad rating on RateMyProfessor?
Reputation was co-created. Marketing teams needed to monitor, engage and adapt. Reputation management moved from sending press releases and posting web stories to real-time response.
For higher education, the stakes became exceptionally high. Campus incidents that may have once stayed local or at least close to internal could quickly play out nationally and globally. Institutional values, leadership decisions and student culture became fair game for public scrutiny and judgment. All laundry could be aired, and anonymity made it even harder.
The 2020s: The Machines Are Interpreting Your Brand
If social media “democratized” storytelling, AI is mechanizing it.
Search engines, generative AI tools and digital assistants now synthesize information from thousands of sources to summarize, even simplify what your institution appears to represent. AI scrapes your website, news articles, Reddit threads, government databases and third-party rankings. Go ahead and enter this overly basic and now common prompt, “Is my [fill in name of your college here] college a good college?” and prepare to see what we mean.
These AI tools are increasingly the first line of engagement for prospective students, donors or reporters. So, what does the digital world say about your institution? Do you know what’s out there? Are outdated rankings or older controversies showing up in summaries about your institution? Is your website giving the right signals to large language models? Is the content you prefer to share getting picked up, or is it buried?
The Right Reputation Partner Pays Off
This is a defining moment. The institutions that adapt now will build durable brands and resilient reputations. Those that don’t may find others writing, rewriting and rewriting their narrative again.
We work with campus communications and marketing teams that are doing more than ever, including working on enrollment, advancement, student engagement, crisis response, and day-to-day storytelling. Modern reputation management is an interdisciplinary, 24/7 task. It requires real-time media monitoring, data analysis, content optimization, stakeholder engagement and increasingly, AI fluency. That’s where the right partner comes in.
An effective reputation partner does more than defend against crises. You’re often kept busy with that, to be sure, but what about proactively monitoring sentiment, amplifying your institution’s wins, ensuring alignment across your digital footprint and preparing your team for the fast-evolving reputational challenges ahead?
Key Qualities of an AI-Ready Reputation Partner
When evaluating potential partners to help manage your institution’s reputation in this new landscape, consider these crucial qualities:
- Specific AI Capabilities
Do they leverage AI for sophisticated sentiment analysis, predictive analytics to foresee potential issues, or to help you understand how AI models are interpreting your institution’s online presence?
- Comprehensive Data Integration
Look for partners who can integrate and analyze information from a wide array of sources—news articles, social media, review platforms, and your own digital assets—to provide a holistic and accurate view of your reputation.
- Proactive Monitoring and Strategy
Beyond simply reacting to crises, a strong partner will offer tools and strategies for proactive monitoring. This allows you to identify emerging trends, address minor issues before they escalate, and seize opportunities to amplify positive stories.
- Human Expertise and Oversight
While AI is powerful, human insight remains indispensable. Inquire about their process for ensuring that AI-generated insights are reviewed and validated by experienced professionals to provide nuanced understanding and prevent misinterpretations or “hallucinations.”
- Scalability and Adaptability
The digital and AI landscapes are constantly changing. Your partner should offer solutions that can scale with your institution’s evolving needs and adapt swiftly to new technological advancements and shifts in online behavior.
Take Back Your Narrative
Colleges and universities never fully owned their institutions’ reputations, but they once controlled more of the variables. Today, this equation is far more complex. What hasn’t changed is the ability to set the tone, guide the conversation and invest in the tools and partners to shape your institution’s future resilience.
Your institution’s story is being written and rewritten daily. Make sure it is one you want to read and repeat.
Discover how we help institutions proactively shape their narrative in an AI-driven world. Contact us at RW Jones and EducationDynamics for a personalized discussion.