Post originally published on Evertrue's website.

Have you ever seen a picture that needed no explanation? Throughout history, iconic photos—like from the World War II D-Day invasion, the 1969 moon landing, and more—have helped tell the story of events in a way that words could not. And now, with the emergence of Instagram, anyone in the world can capture the emotion, beauty, and importance of a moment in a single picture.


While Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have been mainstays in alumni relations and annual giving strategies for the last few years, many departments are just now starting to invest resources into Instagram. The photo-sharing app has become a powerhouse in the social media world, with more than 400 million users and over 80 million photos uploaded every day. Instagram is particularly popular with the younger demographic, as over half of millennials use the app daily.


Though you may think that individuals and companies are the only ones doing Instagram well, several educational institutions have taken advantage of Instagram to engage students, alumni, and constituents.
Below is a sampling of five great higher-ed Instagram feeds, plus tips on how to spice up your school’s Instagram presence.

1. Penn State (Over 73,000 followers)
​

Alumni associations aren’t ubiquitous on Instagram just yet, but there are a few that have begun to stand out on the site. Rutgers is one of them. Through Instagram, the Rutgers alumni office is able to promote alumni-specific topics and activities, including their recent giving day.
​

Ready to get started with Instagram? Here are three points to remember:

1. Find unique angles to take your pictures from. Don’t just point and shoot; find a different way of looking at buildings and activities.
2. Put the camera in the hands of your students. While we all think we know the minds of our students, you will find that students have a completely different perspective on campus life.
3. Bring local flavor into your feed. Alumni want to be reminded not just about campus, but also about the restaurants, stores, and traditions from where they went to school. Broaden your horizons beyond the campus footprint.

If your school isn’t using Instagram, it’s worthwhile to talk to your marketing communications team about the importance of getting on the platform. If you’re already on Instagram, take that next step and think about how your alumni relations and annual giving teams can leverage the app/site to deepen your connection with alumni.

This post originally made on the Evertrue blog.

In April, Villanova University and the University of Connecticut reached the pinnacle of NCAA sports. Villanova won the Men’s Basketball Championship (on an improbable shot), and UConn won yet another Women’s National Championship. Alumni of each school felt huge amounts of pride—and most likely spent a lot of time reading and talking about their alma mater.

Naturally, athletic successes are great events to leverage as it relates to annual giving. Whenever an alumni base is feeling a special affinity to their alma mater (reunion, graduation, etc.), it’s an opportunity to connect philanthropically as well.
Celebration is fleeting, though. With athletic events and other forms of positive PR, there’s not a lot of notice for an institution to turn around and capitalize in a timely manner. If a school is not prepared to mobilize on a big achievement, the window may close quickly.
​
Traditionally, many companies have made effective use of real-time marketing to stay top of mind with consumers. Last year, Hershey’s was unexpectedly in the limelight when the Washington Nationals started using Hershey’s chocolate in victory celebrations. Instead of resting on its laurels, the company sent free boxes of Hershey’s syrup to the Nationals and ended up receiving even more press because of this marketing move.

As another example, Nike’s Air Jordan brand recently leveraged the publicity surrounding Kobe Bryant’s retirement. Nike congratulated Kobe by giving him a complete collection of every Air Jordan shoe release, resulting in coverage on NBA.com, ESPN.com, and other sports outlets for the Air Jordan brand.

Hershey’s and Nike were able to take advantage of these opportunities not because of large budgets, but because they moved quickly and understood what would appeal to their audiences.

Could your annual giving team do the same?

A few institutions have jumped on real-time marketing to raise money for the annual fund.
​
In 2014, Ole Miss fans celebrated a huge win over Alabama by tearing down the field goal posts. Ole Miss realized the potential of this situation for fundraising and positive PR, so they created a campaign on their crowdfunding site, Ignite Ole Miss. Within hours, the school was able to reach their goal of $75,000. Not only did this help cover the costs of replacing the goal posts and the fines levied by the Southeastern Conference (SEC), but Ole Miss also received a lot of positive press for the campaign.

Oregon State University and Ohio State University also leveraged real-time marketing when the schools faced off in the 2015 football national championship. Although they only knew about the game a week and a half in advance, their development departments were able to organize a giving challenge to see which school could rally the most donors over a five-day time period.
​
Ohio State ended up winning the game and the giving challenge, receiving over 1,000 gifts, but the campaign appeared to be a success on both ends. The schools were able to turn January—typically a slow period for annual giving—into a busy and exciting time for their annual funds.

You may be thinking that this type of athletic success could never happen to your institution. However, your annual fund team can use other events to inspire a special fundraising campaign—like a new president being named or an alumnus/a winning a high-profile award.

Make sure you follow the news and keep a critical eye towards real-time marketing and fundraising opportunities. Also make sure you have a plan for getting the campaign up and running in a short time period. Is there an ad hoc team that could manage this type of campaign? Who are the key stakeholders? How can you streamline the approval process in order to launch the campaign quickly and effectively? Annual giving departments that are nimble and swift to act will be able to take advantage when an unexpected opportunity presents itself.

Recently, I partnered with Academic Impressions to survey over 100 institutions about how they engage alumni on social media. By far, these institutions had seen the most success via Facebook, and I invited them to submit their most popular Facebook posts -- those that drew the most reaction (Likes) and engagement (Comments) from alumni. I published the aggregate findings in the paper Engaging Alumni on Social Media: What Works, and I will discuss best practices (informed by this survey and other research) in the upcoming webcast Strategizing for Social Media in Advancement.

If you're looking for some inspiration for your own alumni-facing Facebook page, check out these examples from five small colleges that are keeping their alumni engaged via their social channels. Whether you're looking for questions you can toss to your alumni, #tbt posts, or giving-day campaign ideas, here is a sampling of how other small colleges are talking with their alumni.

Augustana has done a great job with showcasing just how much of a connection athletics success can bring between a school and it's alumni base. You don't have to play at a Division One level, if your school has reached the upper echelon of its league, be proud!

​https://www.facebook.com/AugustanaCollege.Alumni/ 
​

Does your school have a particular area of expertise it is known for? With this being an election year, Drake was at the center of the action leading up to the Iowa caucuses. And, the school's alumni Facebook feed did a great job of showing alumni just how big of a role the school was playing in the action.

https://www.facebook.com/drakeuniversityalumni/?fref=ts
​
​

Looking to create more action on Facebook? Rollins gives out prizes for those alumni ambassadors who are not just liking, but sharing content from their alma mater.

https://www.facebook.com/RollinsAlumni/?fref=ts
​

Don't be afraid to talk about fundraising online. Fundraising posts don't have to be asks, they can be educational, like this post from Illinois Wesleyan's main Facebook feed.

https://www.facebook.com/illinoiswesleyan/?fref=ts
​

Throwback Thursday is a mainstay on Facebook now, and many colleges and universities have gotten in the fun. Carthage does a good job of having a lot of #tbt's so people can look forward to it each week!

https://www.facebook.com/carthage.alumni/?fref=ts
​

 This February, Netflix launched Fuller House, a sequel to the 90s TGIF classic, Full House. The show stars many of the classic characters and is even set in the same house as the original, bringing 30-somethings everywhere back to their childhood.
​
Fuller House was created because of the power of nostalgia. Nostalgia is defined as “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations”—and it affects everyone.

​It’s no surprise, then, that many corporations tap into nostalgia to market their products. Pepsi and Miller Lite have come out with cans that revert back to their old logos. Honda’s recent commercial depicts the main character’s childhood fascination with cars.

Why do this? Most adults like to be reminded of simpler times, and these types of campaigns can help people relive previous, happy memories.

It can be especially effective for development and alumni relations offices to create marketing campaigns that play on nostalgia. When it comes to nostalgia for college, emotions and memories can run the gamut—whether it’s reliving glory days in a dorm room, in the college band, studying abroad, or having dinner in the dining hall. By invoking the right memories, you might be able to encourage an alumnus/na to attend an event, make a gift, or at the very least, have some positive thoughts about his or her time in school.
​
Below are a few examples of nostalgia-based marketing tactics your office can use.

Throwback Thursday (#TBT)

​Throwback Thursdays are perhaps the most common use of nostalgia by higher-ed marketing teams. While most Throwback Thursday posts don’t contain a specific call-to-action, they provide a great touch point for alumni relations groups and help alumni reminisce about their time on campus.
​
The Oklahoma State University Foundation provides a great example of a #TBT post, illustrating how some things on campus never change:

University and college archives can be invaluable for finding great pictures and documents to highlight on Facebook and Twitter.

Create An Ask that Leverages Nostalgia

Can a school actually leverage nostalgia to compel alumni to make a gift?

The University of Portland found a way to do this through a unique campaign called Bluff Box. (Bluff refers to part of Portland’s campus.) If an alum made a donation of $10 to the university, the development office would deliver a small care package to a student. But what made this campaign tug at the heartstrings of many alumni was the fact that the care package would go to the student who lived in the former dorm room of the alum. Alumni could even write a note to the student!

University of Portland’s creative spin on typical development messaging—which asks alumni to make a gift so students can have the same great experience they had—turning giving into an even more personal experience for alumni.

​An added benefit of this program was that it helped educate students about alumni giving. The lucky students who received a Bluff Box had tangible proof that there were alumni out there who cared about their experience and were supporting them.

So, as you develop your next big annual giving campaign, think about how you can leverage the feeling of nostalgia to encourage more alumni to support their alma mater.

​This post was originally made on Evertrue's blog.

The story of Disney’s infamous Super Bowl campaign has become marketing folklore at this point. When Michael Eisner took over as CEO of the Disney Company, he and his wife were having dinner with Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who had just piloted the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.
​
As told in Eisner’s book, Work in Progress, when asked what they were going to do next, the pilots replied, “Well, we’re going to Disneyland!” After the dinner, Jane Eisner remarked to Michael that the phrase could make for a great marketing campaign. In 1987, New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms starred in the first such Disney Super Bowl commercial. The famous ad spot has now been running for almost 30 years, featuring a variety of celebrities.

​The two main marketing techniques used in this ad campaign are as follows:

1. It leverages a high-profile annual event (the Super Bowl) that millions of people across all demographics, backgrounds, and regions pay attention to.
2. It aligns the Disneyworld/Disneyland brand with the importance of celebrating milestone events. By showcasing that the first thing a professional athlete wants to do after reaching the pinnacle of his or her career is go to Disneyland, it sends the message that whenever we are celebrating a big occasion—whether that be an anniversary, 50thbirthday, or retirement—we should consider going to Disneyworld.

In marketing, triggers are an important concept. A brand wants its customers to remember that, “I should give my wife a new Kay bracelet charm for every anniversary” or “Southwest flights always go on sale six months before the date of the flight.” This makes customer activity more reliable, helps level out sales, and makes forecasts more predictable.
Nonprofits and higher-ed institutions don’t have the budget for a Super Bowl commercial. But there are still highly effective ways to align your brand with the right message by using triggers. Here are a few examples of activities and campaigns that contribute to the brand positioning of a school.

The University of Western Australia (UWA)’s Luminous Night Ceremony
​
UWA is one of the top 10 schools in all of Australia. According to its website, the school was “conceived as a park with buildings” and is very well known for its sculptures, murals, gardens, and theatres all throughout campus.
When the university reached its 100th anniversary—and was also ranked as one of the top 100 universities in the world—it found a way to celebrate the anniversary while also positioning itself as a leader in the Perth arts and culture scene. UWA created an outdoor event called Luminous Night, which featured projections of beautiful moving art on the side of one of the school’s most iconic buildings, Winthrop Hall, and told the story of the university’s history.
When planning large-scale events like reunions and campaign launches, focusing on exactly how you position your institution’s brand can lead to creating memorable, compelling moments, like Luminous Night.

The University of Kansas (KU)’s Birthday Video Campaign

It's important to have accurate alumni data at any institution. Not only does having good data ensure that you can connect with alumni via mail or email, but it can also contribute to an active alumni network. However, since many alumni forget to keep this information updated (especially when they’re not currently in job search mode), how can alumni associations trigger alumni to send contact updates?

Last year, KU started a YouTube birthday video campaign with the help of famous comedian and KU alumnus Rob Riggle. KU sent the “happy birthday” video to alumni on their birthdays, which served as an incentive for alumni to keep their email addresses updated in the alumni directory. Similar to Disney tying its brand to celebrations, this campaign does a great job of tying the action of updating the KU Alumni Association directory to an annual date that we all celebrate.
​

University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Thought Leadership Study

Do you work for a school that wants to be known for a certain field of study? There are other ways to position the school besides your typical marketing and advertising campaigns.

For instance, UMass Amherst has a Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), and each year releases an index of the top 100 climate-polluting companies. Releasing a list like this, which is likely to be picked up by a number of news outlets reporting on the environment and climatology, helps UMass Amherst emphasize its thought leadership in environmental science. Readers of this list are more likely to think of UMass Amherst if they are interested in a career focused on the environment, or if they work for a company focused on social or environmental impact and are looking to hire graduating students.

​University of Notre Dame’s Young Alumni Giveaway

Aligning your brand with the right messaging involves much more than just advertising. What messages are you sending to alumni or prospective students based on things like events, giveaways or guest speakers?

If you are planning a regional alumni event, are you hosting it at one of the hot new restaurants in town, or are you hosting it at the established business club at the top of a skyscraper? For your next alumni giveaway, are you giving out golf shirts or Moleskine notepads? Each sends a different message to your alumni about your institution, though neither message is necessarily bad.
​
When the Corby Society, University of Notre Dame’s young alumni recognition society, launched in 2010, a group of alumni volunteers assisted Notre Dame’s Annual Fund with the creation and promotion of the new society. As a thank you, the Annual Fund gave each volunteer a portfolio with the Corby Society logo on the front. The alumni who helped out were all young professionals—and the Annual Fund wanted to impart a feeling of prestige for the society—so this gift aligned perfectly with that goal.

There are a number of ways to align your brand with certain activities, feelings, or moments in time. It takes a lot of thought, trial, and error to figure it out, but the opportunities for positioning your higher-ed brand are limitless.

In October, the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs released their “2016 B2C Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends” report for North America. In the report, data shows that 76% of corporations have a content marketing strategy and that B2C marketers are allocating 32% of their total marketing budget to content marketing.
Many of the world’s most influential brands—like Kraft, Allstate, and American Express—are focused on connecting with their customers through articles, videos, and photos that tell stories aligned with the brand’s mission and personality, but that may not implicitly sell the product. Coca-Cola, perhaps the world’s best-known brand, recently dove into the world of content marketing by re-launching its company home page as a content hub called Coca-Cola Journey.
​

The Coca-Cola Journey Website: So why is content marketing so important, and what sets it apart from more established marketing channels? Content marketing allows a company to align brand personality with customer personas—much more than can be done in a 30-second ad spot—and can help make the brand likable in the eyes of its target market.
For example, with its iconic imagery and design, Coca-Cola is known all over the world as a fun-loving brand. As such, Coca-Cola uses its website to tell stories about the company that flesh out and showcase its brand personality.
Coca-Cola also uses content marketing to support its expansion into new markets. As the soft drink industry takes a hit because of increased interest in healthy living, Coca-Cola is trying to diversify into other food and beverage products while still benefitting from the Coke brand. As you’ll see below, other goals of Coca-Cola’s content strategy include showcasing its charitable initiatives and connecting with its most loyal followers through exclusive content.
On the Journey site, there are pieces focused on:

• Charitable work: Coca-Cola’s progress in the area of water replenishment and a Coca-Cola scholar who was recently elected to Congress
• Healthy living: Coca-Cola diversifying into milk and organic juice products
• Innovation: New products like the Coke small pack
• Sustainability: The first bottle made entirely from plants
• Insider’s view: Lessons learned from the failed launch of Coke 2
• Uber fans: Images of the Coca-Cola motorhome

Coca-Cola delivers these pieces of content in many forms, including short and long-form articles, photos, and videos.
But content marketing isn’t just about providing a dynamic way for a company to build a brand’s personality; it’s also about giving fans a chance to show what they think of the brand. That’s why Coca-Cola’s site includes a space to upload photos of you and your friends drinking Coke.

The Power of Content Marketing in Higher Ed: For higher-ed institutions, we have similar needs as it relates to building our brands. There are numerous messages we need to convey, especially since each website visitor has a different area of the institution he or she is interested in. Fortunately, we can use content marketing to show the diversity of our offerings, to highlight specific areas of expertise, and to emphasize our mission, faculty research, athletics, and alumni. When done right, content can help paint higher-ed institutions as forward thinking, influential, innovative, global minded, and connected to the local community.
​
One school that does a particularly good job with content marketing is Michigan State University (MSU). With an in-depth, elegantly designed website called Spartans Will, MSU is able to tell its institution’s story through inspirational words and images.
​

Here are some areas of the school that are highlighted on the site:

• Influence: An article discusses work done in partnership with Ford and Dow Chemical.
• Diversity of interests: There are several pieces about MSU’s student and faculty research into better ways of identifying criminals, mapping the ocean, and working to debunk common stereotypes. All these pieces help illustrate the school’s wide array of academic expertise.
• Innovation: The page highlights MSU discoveries related to toxic waste cleanup,treatments for cerebral malaria, and preventing future cases of liver cancer.
• Global: An article showcases how MSU students are helping the island of Fiji deal with the effects of climate change.
• Local impact: Faculty work done in partnership with Wayne County and the Detroit police force is brought to light.

While this may seem overwhelming, because of the easy-to-navigate website, a visitor can quickly see all of the articles available without going to a specific departmental page. And everything on the page entices a visitor to click. MSU pairs beautiful images with powerful text like “Work Hard, Dream Big,” “Soar,” “Make Waves,” and “Be Unreasonable.”

Crowdsourcing Content for Your Website: As I mentioned above in the Coca-Cola example, content marketing is also about curating content from constituents themselves. King’s College London recently ran a content marketing campaign that did a great job of encouraging alumni to share their favorite memories of the school. Instead of just running a Twitter campaign, the college created a page called “Memories at King’s” featuring a scrolling timeline in front of an image of campus. The page’s top-notch design encouraged interaction because people want to be a part of something special and unique. If this had been a Twitter or Facebook campaign just asking for alumni to share memories on Twitter, it likely would not have been as successful. ​
​

With the release of the new Star Wars movie, there has been renewed interest in the legendary space saga and its creator, George Lucas. Not only has Star Warswithstood the test of time, but it has also inspired a rabid fan base and a sub-industry of new stories told through comic books, video games, novels, and cartoons.
There have been a number of articles written about what makes Star Wars such a cultural phenomenon—and many characteristics that led to the success of the films are also relevant to alumni relations and annual giving. Here are some general lessons for higher-ed fundraisers:
1. Focus on great storytelling.Before Lucas made Star Wars, most sci-fi movies relied heavily on whatever the most modern special effects happened to be. Yes, Star Wars has its fair share of special effects—but it doesn’t rely on the effects to wow the audience. Lucas made sure the movies each had an engaging story arc that kept viewers enrapt throughout. The stories follow the same general arc as many Greek myths and childhood fables.
At its core, fundraising is about storytelling. Most of our alumni and donors already believe in our mission, but we need to capture their hearts. For annual giving shops, we can often benefit from stepping back and looking at how we are telling our story. Is there an effective arc to our stories that we tell, especially those where we utilize video? Do we have any tension in our stories that helps emphasize why a gift is needed?
2. Follow the path of the hero’s journey.One aspect of Lucas’ storytelling that helped set Star Wars apart was its focus on the “hero’s journey.” The hero’s journey is a term used to describe what mythologist Joseph Campbell proposed in his book, Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell theorized that most traditional myths from around the world all follow a similar path, which Lucas based his stories off of.
When it comes to writing great copy for an email or creating a narrative for a scholarship/fellowship video, Campbell’s hero’s journey provides an excellent approach. Not every step is necessary, but many are very relevant to higher-ed fundraising. Nancy Duarte, in her book Resonate, mapped out the following steps of the hero’s journey as it relates to Star Wars:

Let’s think about this 12-step approach through the lens of creating a video about a scholarship recipient.


The Ordinary World: What was the student doing prior to coming to your school?


Call to Adventure: How did receiving a scholarship open up paths unbeknownst to the student beforehand?


Refusal of the Call: Did the student have any reservations? Were they intimidated to take the next step in their journey? Did they feel they were not worthy of the philanthropy?


Meeting with the Mentor: What professor influenced the student and helped the student grow?


Crossing the Threshold: What activity really allowed the student to begin to reach their potential?


Tests, Allies, and Enemies: What challenges did the student meet? Who helped them?


Approach the Inmost Cave: When was the road toughest for the student?


Ordeal: How did the student meet this larger challenge?


Reward (seizing the sword): What was the result of attempting to solve the larger challenge?


The Road Back: How did reaching this challenge affect the student’s vision of their future career path/vocation?


Resurrection: What is the student’s new path?


Return with the Elixir: This is the unknown part of the higher-ed story. We won’t know the ending for a student story, but the scholarship should hopefully give the student the means to reach the happy ending.
​

Brigham Young University’s School of Music has a great video, called Aubrey’s story, which illustrates how utilizing an effective story arc creates a powerful and compelling video demonstrating why scholarships are vital not just to a university, but also to an individual.

3. Leave something to the imagination.In the first three movies created by Lucas, there are many references to actions that are never seen in the movie (e.g., Princess Leia refers to the “Clone Wars,” Han Solo talks about the famed Kessel Run, Episodes IV and VI both refer to spy activities to gather data on the Death Star). It feels like you’re jumping right into the middle of an ongoing story; Lucas assumes that you’ll focus on the story at hand and don’t need to be informed of everything.
For annual giving, how much backstory are we providing? Do we need to provide information on famous landmarks, how expensive tuition is, or why scholarships are needed every time we send out a solicitation? If we focus less on this information, we’ll have more time to spend on telling compelling stories about current students and how their student experiences are benefitting greater mankind. Our donors are already knowledgeable about our institutions; they don’t always need the backstory.

4. Love your fan base.Not only have Star Wars and Lucasfilm created an immersive universe, but they have also embraced their fans by responding to fan mail and hosting fan fests. The company is active on social media to keep their fans excited even though there hasn’t been a new movie in 10 years. Who are your biggest fans? What do you do to keep them excited about their alma mater, even when there isn’t much happening?

5. Show what your reality is really like.Most sci-fi films from the 50s and 60s depicted the future as shiny and bright. But Star Warsflipped the script, showing a future that was dirty, “lived in,” and often far from perfect. In higher ed, even when asking for donations, we still depict our college or university as ideal. But do we need to be afraid to show the rough edges? If financial aid or a new departmental building is an urgent need, it’s best to get right out there and state it instead of dancing around the issue or being afraid to show areas of weakness within your institution.
​
There are often lessons to be learned from successful brands around the world, and Star Wars provides a great blueprint for how to correspond with our alumni and donors. Not that we all need to be thinking about fundraising while at the movie theater!

Social media is now a necessary component of every Alumni Association’s engagement strategy. Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and Twitter reign supreme, but other sites like Instagram and Pinterest are gaining ground as well. Many alumni, especially recent grads, see social media as the best way to have a daily connection with their alma mater.

For social media specialists in higher ed, the biggest challenge is not just finding content, images or videos, but also figuring out ways to create dialogue with alumni through these sites. Social media’s main advantage is the ability to share and converse, not just publicize.

Certain corporations offer some tremendous examples of how to create more dynamic campaigns, that both stimulate interaction with fans, but also deepen the connection between fans and a brand or create more awareness regarding a brand’s best attributes. These campaigns can shed light on just what higher ed institutions should focus on when creating their own social media campaigns.

Pine Mountain Fire Logs – Pine Mountain has created a couple of social media contests where the company has asked fans to describe the perfect use of one of their fire logs on different holidays like the Fourth of July. This campaign not only challenges the fans to think about how best to use the product, but also connects the use of its product with different holidays throughout the year, hopefully creating a trigger for consumers to think about Pine Mountain on July 4, Labor Day and other holidays they wouldn’t necessarily consider using the product.
​

My Nat Geo Covershot – National Geographic recently created a campaign where the company encouraged followers to create their own National Geographic cover. The Nat Geo cover is an iconic visual in the magazine world, and having fans put their own faces on its cover helps connect them back to the brand and visualize how they have adventures similar to what the magazine highlights.
​

Volkwagen – The company has been in hot water recently, but earlier this year, VW had a very captivating social media campaign, where users could record the audio of themselves making the sounds that go along with a video of VW Golf and could then share the finished video over social media. This immediately helps to distinguish the VW brand as a company that wants people to have fun while driving their cars.

What does all this mean for higher ed alumni relations?

The key takeaway is to find ways to create engaging social media content that connects alumni back to the institution. While certain posts wishing alumni a Happy Thanksgiving or telling everyone to cheer on the team may get a lot of likes, the truly engaging posts are those that make alumni think back to their time on campus or create an opportunity for alumni to interact with the institution.

Here are a few things to think about:

Did you use your social media outlets over Thanksgiving to give students and alumni an opportunity to share what they are thankful for about their school on Facebook or Twitter?

Graduation provides an opportunity for alumni to share advice they would like all graduating students to hear before moving on to the next part of their career.

How do alumni display their pride? Alums use license plates, basements, pets and their children to show off where they went to undergrad. Social media campaigns asking alumni to showcase these displays can be very popular.

Students also love to show off their school, especially when travelling, and take lots of pictures in iconic places wearing their school gear. Unfortunately, a lot of this is often not captured by the institution. But institutions can help to facilitate these photos and make it easier to capture them, by providing travelling students with some school swag. Many schools have had success by providing students with a school flag before they go study abroad and asking the students to use a certain hashtag whenever they post pictures.

Each institution though also has unique aspects that can be utilized in a social media campaign. A great way to showcase what makes your school unique is through video. Georgetown created a social campaign where various students are asked to document their lives as Hoyas. These videos then go up on Georgetown’s website and on Youtube, and are categorized based on the topic. Visit www.georgetownstories.com to check it out.

​Think about what makes your school unique, and how this can fit into your social media strategy. You may come up with the next viral hit!

The movie Up In The Air came out in 2009, with a sub-plotline about a business traveler’s quest to achieve status as a member of the unadvertised, little known, American Airlines Concierge Key program. While most of us are busy trying to figure out how to get an extra bag of pretzels on our flights, there are a select few business travelers who are in the air so much that the airlines cater to them to make sure that every part of their trip goes perfectly. That could mean free upgrades or carts awaiting them at the gate to help them connect to flights. In the extreme case of this story from NPR, one premier member's flight was canceled, so the airline chartered a private plane to get them to their business meeting.

Of course, the airlines want to please these top tier customers to keep their business, but that isn't the only goal. These professional travelers are usually well networked, especially with others who fly extensively. By catering to this select few, the airlines help to create word-of-mouth marketing amongst other big-time business travelers, spreading the word about the benefits of only flying on their airline. On top of that, by not promoting these top programs online, the airlines create an air of mystery and secrecy around the programs, enhancing interest amongst other elite flyers. The American Airlines Concierge Key program has no website, though you can find member-taken photos of the cards. By not advertising the program, the airline creates intrigue amongst frequent flyers -- and gives members a feeling of prestige.
In the book Game-based Marketing by Zichermann and Linder, the authors make the point that when individuals can see others getting preferential treatment, they are encouraged to try to earn that status themselves. The movie Up In The Air illustrates this perfectly, when George Clooney's character flaunts his AA Concierge Key card to others he meets at the airport. Zichermann and Linder call this effect demonstrability. Whenever you see a traveler enter a members-only area at an airport, this is an example of how airlines create awareness for their top tier status without overtly marketing it.

What are the Takeaways for Higher Ed?What does all this mean for us?

Annual giving recognition societies have been around for a long time. Sometimes, the benefits feel bland and too traditional. While most donors give because they believe in the mission of the school or because they want to help future students, there is a reason that recognition societies have a cachet about them. Donors want to feel that they are a part of a larger group, a group that goes above and beyond when it comes to supporting their alma mater.

Benefits play a role too: giving donors personalized thank you messages each year, creating premier options for tickets to sporting events, and providing select access to some of the school’s top administrators. All of these benefits go a long way toward building loyalty among society members. But when schools create higher level recognition societies, sometimes it is difficult to continue to find ways to create exclusive experiences or activities for the select few who are giving at the highest level each year to your institution.

Sometimes the best way to encourage action isn't from direct, in-your-face marketing. It can be more covert, especially when it comes to loyalty.

Instead of boldly promoting benefits to your upper level recognition society members, what if only those who reached a certain level became aware of your top society? Using the AA Concierge Key program as a roadmap, could a similar, invite-only, unadvertised recognition society be created at your school?

If so, what would it look like?

• What extra benefits might you offer?
• How could you really wow or surprise your top 20 annual donors?
• Would there be any physical membership gift that alumni could show off to help spread the word about the society?
• What would a premier level society membership be based on: consecutive years giving, total number of gifts, minimum annual gift size?

Creating this sort of society would certainly offer challenges, but it would also create great opportunity for your most loyal donors to spread the word about their habit of giving. It's something you might consider.
​
Tim Ponisciak runs the blog Alumni Catalyst, offering lessons and examples from the corporate world of marketing that can inspire new ideas in annual giving and alumni relations. He is also the author of the book Innovative Strategies for Annual Giving and Alumni Relations: Lessons from the Corporate World (Academic Impressions, 2015).