Alums can create tremendous value for their alma maters. Those who have achieved success after graduation can offer powerful testimonials for the institution’s brand, leading to increased social media attention and boosting recruitment and application rates.
Additionally, having a dedicated group of donors and fans for athletic programs can provide significant financial benefits. According to a Council for Advancement and Support of Education survey, in 2022, total contributions to U.S. colleges and universities increased by 12.5% to $59.5 billion. Alumni donations rose by 10.2% to $13.5 million, accounting for almost a quarter of all charitable donations to institutions.
A strong alumni network can also play a vital role in your current student experience, from recruitment to graduation and beyond, by providing the following:
- Mentoring – Alumni use their real-life experiences to provide helpful feedback to current students, faculty, and administrators.
- Expertise – Many may return to campus to share their knowledge and skills through various means, such as guest lectures, workshops, and teaching specialized courses.
- Internships & Employment – Alumni can be a solid inroad to students for internship and employment opportunities either through their employers or personal networks.
- Global Reach – Many former university students now hold leadership positions globally, helping extend awareness of your school.
Despite the numerous benefits, many schools struggle to engage their alumni consistently and meaningfully. All too often, former students feel the only time they hear from their school is during its annual fundraiser.
Capturing your alum’s invaluable, lifelong support requires a significant investment. Here are some strategies to help foster a sense of community amongst all alums.
Strategies to Build Alumni Engagement
- Start Alumni Engagement Early
Building a strong alumni network starts from the first day a new student sets foot on your campus. Do your students feel part of a community or just one in a sea of students? Creating opportunities for student engagement helps students see the value in your institution. Students who develop connections to campus life through a club, a team, or simply a group of like-minded peers are likelier to enjoy their time at school and feel connected to the institution.
Use your campus app to inform new students of upcoming activities, sporting events, and club meetings. Regular, personalized in-app messages tailored to individual student interests can deepen connections to campus clubs, departments, and initiatives. Gamification features can also incentivize students to engage in campus activities outside the classroom, like joining a student group or participating in a resident hall scavenger hunt.
- Build an Alumni Experience Into Your Campus App
If your institution has a world-class campus app – an app that seamlessly integrates campus systems, engaging features, essential tools, and personalized communication – it has become an important and constant part of your students’ lives. So much so that your students likely expect your campus app to meet their needs after graduation.
With Modo Campus, creating an alumni persona on your campus app and transitioning students to this persona after graduation is easy. In the alumni view, provide relevant, curated content, such as access to post-graduation career services and networking information like the alumni directory.
- Use Events to Bring Alumni Together
From alumni lectures to game day pep rallies to class reunions, events help alumni build community and stay connected to their alma mater. Alumni events are also a great networking tool. Your campus app offers an easy and seamless way to promote a variety of alumni events.
A special event module on your campus app can communicate location, schedule, and event-specific details, as well as tie into GPS tools to provide maps, directions and geotargeted reminders and notifications. Your app can also incorporate engaging features, such as photo galleries, video feeds, and social media feeds. Various event management tools, such as
Eventbrite or Cvent, can be seamlessly integrated to allow people to register using the app.
For more ideas on how to leverage your campus app to promote and manage events, check out The Ultimate University Event App Guide.
- Tailor & Personalize Communication
Encouraging alumni to give back to their alma mater should not be the only focus of communication. While financial contributions are important, universities should also prioritize fostering strong relationships with their alumni. By providing engaging and valuable experiences, alumni will be more likely to give back in various ways, including financially.
Use your campus app to deliver a consistent cadence of relevant, personalized messages. Since your alumni body is hugely diverse, you should segment content by interests, location, graduation year, etc. This ensures news meant for a recent graduate doesn’t go to someone who graduated 50 years ago, for example.
- Keep Your Alumni Connected
Staying connected to the broader alumni network can bring graduates tremendous value for many years. Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, which host alumni and related affinity groups, can be integrated into your campus app. If you’re using Modo Campus, you can integrate any social media platform through XModule APIs.
- Solicit Alumni Feedback
To continually improve alumni engagement programs, seeking feedback from alums regularly is essential. Short, in-app surveys can help you stay on top of trends, determine how you can better meet expectations, and give your alumni a way to express feedback on how your institution delivers value (or not). Then, use these insights to expand or adjust your alumni program offerings.
Additionally, soliciting feedback from alumni on initiatives can foster stronger relationships and earn greater affinity and respect from them.
A strong alumni network doesn’t start by engaging graduates — it starts by engaging students. Boosting student engagement with a mobile campus app has paved the way for creating a connected alumni network. With a powerful digital engagement platform like Modo Campus, you can easily extend your campus app to alumni to keep them connected, informed, and engaged with your institution.
Interested in a campus app that will engage your students now and drive alumni engagement for years? Request a demo of Modo Campus.
Back to Blog
