Alumni Relations 2.0

[Allegra Giorgia]

The changes in the economy and the administration are causing major shifts across industries. In communications, corporations are shifting their budgets to digital strategies (yea, Kellog has it right!) and demanding ROI, and the new administration is fully embracing the power of technology to distribute messages and change the way governments have communicated in the past.

Times are changing. The US and Global economy is weak and people are feeling it across the board. Including our academic institutions. As the New York Times reported earlier this week, colleges are struggling to preserve financial aid due to shrinking endowments.

As a result, Colleges and Universities are looking to cut costs, reallocate sources etc. My hope is that they aren’t scrapping their communications programs. Why? Because now more than ever they should be leveraging the inexpensive methods on the Web to create a comprehensive digital strategy to raise funds for their institutions.

Alumni have appetites for information and engagement from their alma mater and what better way to leverage these appetites than Web 2.0 tools?

Universities need to look beyond email blasts to engage alumni and solicit donations. They should embrace an approach that focuses on providing value to alumni through useful tools, engaging alumni at places where they are already present, and encouraging alumni to create and pass along information to leverage the power of word of mouth among a loyal base of graduates.

People are more likely to give when they feel personally connected to a cause of institution (Hart, Greenfield, Haji). So how should Universities connect with their alumni? Some initial thoughts:

Web site. A University should have a Web site not only for prospective students and current students but for alumni. A University site (or micro site) for Alumni should be a place where alumni to connect with the University and with each other. It should not only be useful in terms of professional networking but also to remind alumni of why they love their school (and should donate!).

The following considerations (among others) need to be incorporated into the design of an alumni Web site (or any social tool for that matter).

• why people are coming to the site (Is it for Professional networking, social networking, event information?),
• who they are (are they recent graduates, are they 50+) and
• what actions are they going to take on the site (sign up to volunteer, get newsletter, join social network)

As Porter’s AOF model highlights, these steps will help prioritize the design. Any alumni site or tool needs to be designed with the social web in mind because with alumni it’s all about staying connected. With people dispersed globally, insitutiions need to think about how to continue to provide value to their alumni through the lifecycle (graduate, young professional, 50 + etc) and not just at a select stage of life.

Social Networks. Connect with Alumni on the networks where they are already hanging out. Facebook, Linked In etc. Don’t go and create another social network for them to to join (stab at Johns Hopkins trying to get people to join In Circle). Create an official alumni Facebook page and leverage the existing alumni communities to engage with them on those platforms. Integrate videos, photos, news items onto the Facebook page so Alumni can get information without ever leaving the network. And link, link, link to a donation page!

YouTube, Flickr. These tools are about networking and connecting and Universities should be using them to stay connected with graduates. The institution should post photos and videos and encourage alumni to upload photos of favorite college events, videos from football games etc., Leverage these tools to elicit reminders to alumni about why their experience at the institution was special. If you tie your “ask” to something tangible that connects with the prospective donor, you will have more success.

E Newsletters. Newsletters remain important to keep alumni engaged. But they need to be compelling. Include multi media information – videos, photos, links to podcasts – to get information to alumni. The more interesting and digestible the news, the more likely you are to grab their attention and receive a donation.

Other potential tools for Universities to engage alumni might include a blog, Twitter - with guest tweets by the President of the University or Alumni traveling around the world? iTunes U is a really neat tool as well. Universities can upload full course on the platform. Offerring alumni continuing education opportunities through the free tool is yet another way to stay connected.

For a good example of a Web site that takes several of these things into consideration, check out the Alumni Association at the University of Michigan. See how they present information based on stages of life and provide a section on networking.

Neat stuff. All colleges and Universities – no matter how big or small should be embracing social technologies to connect with alumni if they want to stay afloat and continue to receive donations during these down times.

Of course, it's important to not underestimate the value of phone calls and personal alumni events to connect with alumnis face to face. But in these times, if events need to be cut back - these social tools provide an excellent support system to continue to engage alumni for donations.

How are your institutions embracing social technologies to connect with alumni? See anything innovative out there?

[Jackie Cannon]

You bring up really great points. I keep tossing back and forth in my head whether these Web 2.0 techniques will actually make a dent. Colleges and universities are essentially like any other brand in that they need consumers to invest and "purchase" them. My alma malter does all of the above , and it was among the select schools which started out with Facebook. Moreover, it is a small school with an amazing sense of identity and community so we generally feel very connected to the institution as well as other alumni whether we know them or not. But I rarely give money and I know many of my other classmates do not either. It might be age (and lack of income), but regardless of the reason, endowment efforts do not seem to be working. So what’s the problem?

I think getting people to donate money or time or anything is a tricky endeavor for marketers since very little benefit exists to the individual asked to donate money so there is therefore less incentive to give. To combat this dilemma, marketers and alumni offices can capitalize on the inexpensive nature of social media by really targeting their efforts to each demographic and tailoring messages to identify a concrete benefit for the individuals if they donate. Right now, it feels as though right now all efforts are targeted to all alumni, which might be their first and biggest problem.

[Siwar Bandar]

I think one of the great things about social media is that its fairly inexpensive once the various platforms have been set up. Considering the financial support that Universities receive from alumni each year, it would be difficult to see administrations cutting cost in that regard. I think that you pose a very compelling question on how the current state of the economy will influence media, and the inclination of establishments to view social media as expendable. Great post!

[Marianne]

All really good ideas, especially when budgets are being cut back and schools still need to make an impact. Another great thing about e-newsletters is that most of them provide tools that support figuring out who is reading what, which could essentially enable schools to create even more targetted campaigns based on what their alumni are reading.