Alex Parraga is the chief digital officer at University of California, Santa Barbara, a position he’s held since 2014 when he first joined the university. He oversees university branding and digital strategy and is leading the charge to build marketing capabilities across campus. Prior to joining UC Santa Barbara, Parraga spent the majority of his professional career in the advertising industry. That’s where he originally found his passion for brand building and integrated marketing communications at agencies including Ogilvy and BBDO and with client partners such as Mars Chocolate, General Electric, and American Express. He’s a graduate of NYU’s Stern School of Business where he earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and management.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Alex’s background in advertising sparked his passion for brands and storytelling, and how he uses it in his current role at UC Santa Barbara
- How Alex’s career led him to work in higher education marketing and how he has worked to build up the institution’s digital presence
- How Alex and his team tackled making significant changes to their institution’s marketing by targeting quick-win goals first to demonstrate progress
- How Alex defines strategy and how he helped UC Santa Barbara devise a content strategy to better focus their social media content
- How cultural and lifestyle differences between the East Coast and West Coast matter for higher ed marketing
- How Alex and his team launched an award-winning video series, “Research in 60 Seconds”
- How social media channels are the most efficient, effective, and far-reaching way to get a message out, even with the decline of organic reach
- Why metrics and analytics best inform if an audience outreach initiative works and provide insight to iterate on ideas
- Why Alex looks outside of higher education marketing to find new approaches, ideas, and trends that may work in higher ed
- What advice Alex would offer to anyone who needs to work with minimal or nonexistent budget but wants to achieve results
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