Posts Tagged‘alumni marketing’

Maryland Alumni Marketing Program - Days of Giving Facebook

Engaging Alumni Now: University of Maryland

#LoveTheTurtle Alumni Marketing Campaign Launches

Now through February 14, 2014, University of Maryland is engaging alumni with our #LoveTheTurtle five-day giveaway social marketing program. With more than 250,000 living alumni, Maryland’s primary goal is to activate engagement among lost and lapsed graduates while collecting updated contact data.

During the course of this week-long alumni engagement drive, University of Maryland branded prizes will be given away daily to randomly selected alumni who enter to win via our Facebook app. Through the use of organic Facebook posts and daily reminder emails, alumni are encouraged to enter once a day to increase their chance of winning a prize. The daily emails are sent to all entrants, announcing the day’s prize and softly introducing the benefits of alumni association membership.

With our progressive profiling feature activated, each time a graduate enters the giveaway, he or she will be prompted to answer a different question – for example: class year, mobile phone number, favorite professor. This allows us to to capture unique data each time the same person enters without increasing the length of the entry form, resulting in more daily entries.

At the end of the five-day campaign, we will email all engaged participants, making a direct appeal for membership in the alumni association.

2/17 Update: Campaign Results

We reached over 102,370 UMD alumni during Maryland’s five-day #LoveTheTurtle social marketing campaign. Here are a few initial key results from the alumni marketing campaign:

Total UMD alumni reached: 102,370
Total UMD alumni engaged: 2,378
Five-day email nurture average open rate: 61%
UMD alumni participants who clicked to become a member: 27%

Learn more: alumni membership and fundraising campaigns

 

 

 

Three Key Values for Alumni Marketing in 2014

Three Key Values to Activate Your Alumni Marketing in 2014

Technology is supposed to make things easier. But sometimes – particularly in a large university where different departments oversee various aspects of the institution’s digital footprint – it can feel complicated.

In terms of alumni marketing, however, effective use of technology can make the difference between a successful campaign and one that falls flat.

I’m not going to bore you with the nitty gritty bits and bytes here. Instead, I’ve condensed the three key values that technology can infuse into an alumni marketing engagement program to make it stand out over traditional campaigns.

Relevance

A university is a vast place – much like the universe itself. There is infinite news from all its corners that you’re eager to share with your alumni, but how many of those messages will truly interest each alumnus personally? Choosing the right conversation to have with the right segment of your alumni is a crucial element in capturing and keeping your audience’s attention.

Enter technology, which makes relevant communication possible. The first step is using digital data collection to understand the interests of each alumnus, then it’s time to create segmented content that lines up with those interests. When English majors get emails from you about campus poetry readings (and not March Madness), they’re more likely to stay tuned.

Relationship

Imagine you run into an old acquaintance you haven’t seen in years. You wouldn’t ask for their hand in marriage. Nor should you ask your alumni for donations or membership dues the first time (or every time) you communicate with them.

A little goodwill and and stewardship goes a long way. So does a free alumni association sweatshirt or travel mug. Before you ask for a financial commitment from your alumni, help them remember why they love their alma mater so much – and get to know them in the meantime.

In 2013, a technology-driven campaign helped University of Illinois reconnect and engage more than 5,000 alumni over a five-day period, simply by reintroducing their alma mater on Facebook and giving them a chance to win one of five daily prizes that cost less than $50 each. These same alumni are now participating in Illinois’ vibrant social community on Facebook. Give a little upfront, and your alumni will be more willing to give back.

Readability

Your alumni use a wide variety of devices that connect them to the Internet and their world of communications. Computers, laptops, iPhones, Droids – even some still hanging on to flip phones and Windows 98.

A whopping 52% of all MSM driven alumni marketing campaigns reached in 2013 read our messages from mobile devices. That’s half your audience! This is critical information to consider when designing appeals for gifts or alumni association membership.

Take a few minutes to evaluate your giving and/or membership appeal website and payment form using your mobile device.

  • Can you figure out how to make a gift or join from your phone?
  • Is the website easy to read and navigate?
  • How quickly can find the payment form and  complete the transaction?
  • Can you complete the transaction at all on a smartphone?

If your alumni can’t click a “Join Now” button in your email and complete the payment process in less than two minutes from a smartphone, you’re losing major money.

Technology is moving at lightning speed. It can be a challenge to drag your university along to keep up, but by aiming to integrate the three R’s into each of your alumni marketing engagement campaigns, you can certainly make some headway.

– Josh
jmoser@mysupermarketer.com

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Activate Alumni by MSM
438 Main Street, Suite 201
Rochester, Michigan 48307

Email: jmoser@getMSM.com
Phone: 888.714.7814

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MSM – The Alumni Marketing Experts

MSM offers technology driven social media, marketing, website development and business analytics built specifically for higher education. As early adopters of all new technologies, we enjoy finding alumni marketing applications for emerging social and mobile platforms.

We know how to adapt to the rapidly changing social landscape — and how to lead our clients through successful transitions into new opportunities as they become available.

For more information about MSM’s full suite of technology driven marketing solutions, visit our agency website at http://getMSM.com