Download - DePaulSocialMedia
Developing a Social Media Strategy for Alumni
Keidra Chaney and Anne Divita KopaczDePaul University
Who Are We?
• DePaul University– 8th largest private university in the U.S.– 130,000 alumni, primarily in Chicago area
• Office of Advancement – Development– Alumni Relations– Communications– Web staff
How We Approach Social Media
• Our objective: increase alumni engagement• About building relationships • Sharing information/content• Go to existing engaged communities
Challenges
• Integrating with communication strategy
• Dealing with bureaucracy
• Establishing measurable goals
• Allaying skittishness about privacy/content
• Assigning staff to create content
• Getting a consensus among stakeholders
• Establishing online community guidelines
It Starts with the Website…
• November 2008 relaunch
• Alumni portal– News– Events– Alumni profiles– Benefits/services– Social media box– Social bookmarking box
…Continues with Email…
…And Includes Print!
Social Media
• Facebook alumni page
• LinkedIn alumni group/subgroups
• Demon Tracks blog
• Twitter account (@depaulalumni)
• Flickr photostream
• YouTube channel (depaulalumnifriends)
Facebook Alumni Page
• 4,300 fans
• Averages 50-60new members weekly
• Avg. 600-800 unique page views per week
Facebook Alumni Page
• DePaul content– News and event listings – Blog posts and web links– Photos and video
• Fan content– Wall posts, photos, video– Discussion groups
• Next step – Facebook Connect
LinkedIn Alumni Group
• Professional and social networking community
• 5,700 members
• Averages 100 new members weekly
• Active job posting & discussion boards
LinkedIn Alumni Group
• 8 subgroups for regional chapters
• 1 affinity-based subgroup
• 1 topic-based subgroup
• Next steps: – More subgroups by
affinity and/or college– Respond to user input
Demon Tracks
• Staff-written blog
• Alumni, faculty, studentsin the news & on the web
• Posts syndicated to Facebook and LinkedIn
• Intern blogger added this
quarter
Demon Tracks Success Stories
• 300+ followers• News from DePaul
and external sources• Communicate directly
with alumni in “real time”• Join in DePaul (and
non-DePaul) conversation
DePaul Spirit Flickr Page
• 28 Group members and 300 photos
• Alumni and staff posted photos
• Photostream and Group Pool
• Replaces on-sitephoto gallery
YouTube Channel
• Dedicated video channel
• Hosts web and email videos
• Partner with faculty and students
• Next step: integrate with other media
Chart O’Fun
MESSAGING
• Many measurement tools– Facebook Insights– YouTube Insights– Flickr Stats – Google Analytics
• Numbers vs. context
• What we do: narrative report
Measurement
Finding Content
• Look everywhere for content– Media relations– College publications– Our print magazines and newsletters– Our other social media – External news outlets and blogs– Google Alerts
• Create our own content
Key Take-Aways1. Create a strategy
2. Partner with other departments
3. Match media to audience
4. Build relationships and foster conversations
5. Go where alumni are
6. Update content regularly
7. Reuse, recycle content
8. Measure, measure, measure
9. Experiment – and don’t fear failure!
Questions?