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3 things to remember - Creating a digital strategy for engaging alumni

3/30/2018

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Most schools' alumni associations will be able to meet, in person, 5-10% of their alumni base in person each year. But, what percentage of your alumni base would say they feel connected to their alma mater? It would be more, most likely. Many alums may only come back to campus every few years, or sporadically attend regional institution events. But that doesn't mean they don't still feel engaged... through the university magazine, by staying connected with friends or visiting their alma mater's website.

It is important to remember that large percentage of alums who we will not see on a yearly basis. How can the institutional community be brought to them? How can they still feel like they are interacting with the school? This is where a digital strategy is ever important for an alumni association.

Here are a few tips to ensure that you are reaching as many alumni as possible through digital communications:

1. Create a content plan for your social media feeds. Content plans can feel daunting and are typically an easy thing to set aside when there are so many other pressing issues to deal with on a daily basis. However, if you can find the time to go through a content planning exercise, what you will find is it will actually reduce stress for you because you won't have to spend time every day searching for a good article or picture to post. Create a plan where you break down the focuses of the posts you will make each week. Make sure to have posts that showcase a number of different areas of your school: student life, professor recognition, athletic achievements and alumni profiles. By breaking down future posts into different areas of the institution, it can help make sure your content feels fresh and that you appeal to a broad audience of your alumni.

2. Weave in your school's mission or unique reason for being. ​Is your school known for its engineering program? Does your institution have a strong service community? Is your president beloved by alumni? Figure out ways to showcase those aspects of your school that stand out. Highlight amazing stories from the engineering department. Take pictures at all of the great service events. Have a weekly video chat with the president. Make sure you provide regular updates on the unique aspects of your institution.

3. Stimulate interaction. This is the hardest thing to do, because interaction is best when it is organic. It is important to discuss, as part of your social media planning, what you can do to encourage more alumni interaction on your social media feeds. What questions can you ask that you know will receive a response? Ask alumni to share stories about their favorite places on campus, their favorite professor, stories about a professor who it about to retire, and memories from student clubs, dorms and traditions. Every post does not have to include a question that needs an answer, but if you weave them into your content plan, you'll find it easier to start getting responses.

​Social media strategy is challenging, but by following the three steps above you'll find that your social media feeds will become more active, engaging and thoughtful!
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Finding high performing volunteers

3/15/2018

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 Most alumni and annual giving offices utilize volunteers in some way. There are some programs out there that are best in class, but most schools have their fair share of successes and challenges with alumni volunteering. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges is how can we find those uber alums, the individuals who not only love our school, but are willing and have the time available to help us with attracting more alumni to reunion, or serving as an admissions volunteer or calling up classmates and asking for a gift.

No school will get all rock stars but here are a few tips for increasing your chances of finding awesome volunteers:
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1. Speak with class presidents and vice presidents - When it comes to Reunion, the default choice for a Reunion volunteer is to call on the class president. Sometimes the president would be a great volunteer, but there are also many times when this person is too involved in other activities to give enough time and effort. Sometimes the president isn't actually the networker that one might expect either. However, the class president will know who from their class would be best served in a reunion volunteer role. Schedule a call with him or her as a way to get to know the class better and to do a little recon on who from the class could fit that uber reunion volunteer role best.

2. Search social media - Review your top hashtags on social media or use data from social media vendors you currently work with to determine which alumni are out there who are regularly sharing your information. Pair this with any user open rate data you have from your email system. This alone will not be able to tell you if someone can be a good volunteer but it will give you an idea of how well-connected someone has stayed to your school.

3. Check for involvement at the club level - Which alumni are club leaders? Would they be interested in serving directly with your school in some volunteer capacity? You don't want to cannabalize someone's volunteer time with a club, but many alums are willing to take on multiple volunteer roles.

4. Have a position description available. Being able to provide a short, one page description of what an alum will be expected to do as part of a volunteer role can help set expectations and can help to avoid confusion regarding responsibilities. Position descriptions can ensure that you don't have an alum agreeing to the position but then realizing after the fact that he or she isn't truly up for this type of work.

5. Ask the right questions - When speaking with an alum about volunteering, have a set of questions drawn up that you want to go through. Often times this can help determine if the person you are speaking with will be able to fulfill the responsibilities of the role. Depending on the volunteer position, you may want to ask things like "What other types of volunteer work do you do?", "Have you been involved in fundraising initiatives in the past?", "What do you think about the latest news from the college/university?", "This volunteer role requires 10 hours of work a month, do you think you can fit that into your schedule?"

​Finding great alumni volunteers can be challenging. Planning and persistence can help ensure that your success rate is high!

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