Engaging Alumni Using Social Media

Kate Klingensmith

In a Mashable article that was recently published, called “10 Ways Universities Are Engaging Alumni Using Social Media”, a number of colleges and universities were highlighted for their social media efforts.  Schools were selected for different uses of strategies and tools to reach and engage the alumni community, and the same three seemed to show up repeatedly: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

I wanted to do a little digging – if these schools are on the forefront of alumni groups who are forging ahead into the unproven waters of  social media, I thought it might be interesting to take a closer look at their overall social media presence on the web.  Disclaimer: they were mentioned for a wide range of successes,  from career services support to cool alumni photo-sharing sites.  None were described as all-around social media winners, but many of them seem to have figured out how to tap into the web to keep their alumni engaged.  Maybe there’s something we can take away from where these groups are focusing their efforts. (Note: the school names link to their alumni pages and all of the numbers link to the school’s Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages)

Interesting notes:

• Brown’s fundraising Facebook page has more fans than its alumni page.
• 7 of the 12 of the alumni homepages had social media call-outs (buttons linking to their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc)
• Half of these groups also had a presence on Flickr, Youtube, or both.
• Only 4 of the 12 have a blog dedicated to alumni news and interests.
• All but 2 of these schools had separate but significant Alumni groups on LinkedIn.

It would be helpful for schools to monitor the sources of the clicks to their fundraising pages, and even the overall fundraising response each year compared to social media popularity and activity.  My guess would be that with increased engagement and sense of community, there will be an increase in giving.  Stay tuned for an update on these and other social media-savvy alumni groups.