Using Social Listening to Identify Alumni Engagement Opportunities and Influencers
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How higher education engages with alumni is changing as more and more of our conversations occur online. While your alumni may not fill out career update forms or respond to your emails, they are celebrating their accomplishments on social media and would certainly appreciate a personalized response from their alma matter. Beyond engagement, influencers can play an important role in advancement, but you need to know how to find them. In this session, you'll learn how to find and analyze online conversations to identify engagement opportunities as well as strategic influencers for your institution (not just online celebrities). We'll also review metrics that can be used to determine influence (spoiler alert: it's more than followers). In this presentation, Liz shares case studies and best practices for campus influencer collaboration.
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Using Social Listening to Identify Alumni Engagement Opportunities and Influencers
- 1. Using Social Listening to Identify Alumni Engagement Opportunities and Influencers Liz Gross, Ph.D. CASE DRIVE/ February 28, 2018
- 2. Social Media Engagement = Alumni Participation? Ashley Budd, Director of Digital Marketing, Alumni Affairs & Development at Cornell
- 5. Inputs Campus goals & strategies Social listening data collection Analysis Segment Trends Opportunities Influencers Research questions Outcomes & Impact Real-time audience understanding More conversations Informed media pitches Understand brand perception A Strategic Approach to Social Listening
- 6. Inputs Campus goals & strategies Social listening data collection Analysis Segment Trends Opportunities Influencers Research questions Outcomes & Impact Real-time audience understanding More conversations Informed media pitches Understand brand perception A Strategic Approach to Social Listening
- 7. Social Listening to Increase Alumni Giving Campus goal: Increase young alumni giving Social Listening Data Collection Search for conversations using software that supports complex Boolean queries and searches as many data sources as possible Find relevant online mentions and conversations (hundreds or thousands of mentions per month) Collect historical or real-time data Inputs Segment: Are their differences in the alumni conversation when segmented by gender, academic program, or location? Trends: What pop culture is trending with alumni? What topics are they talking about that we could feature in our magazine? Opportunities: What are real- time opportunities to engage with young alumni? Influencers: What young alumni are already giving, and have potential online or offline influence? Research questions: What do our young alumni spend money on? Analysis More effective giving appeals informed by a better understand young alumni spending patterns and fiscal values. More relevant and read content in alumni publications, website, email, and social media content. Improve alumni attendance at in-person events by using conversation analysis to understand different interests and behaviors based on geography. Identify and nurture relationships with young alumni that could influence other young alumni to give. Outcomes & Impact
- 9. How To Find Engagement Opportunities Understand alumni language patterns • Institutional nicknames • Verbs and phrases • Personal pronouns and familial terms
- 10. How To Find Engagement Opportunities Write a search query to identify opportunities • Sample Twitter search query
- 11. How To Find Engagement Opportunities Monitor in real-time and engage as appropriate • Free tools: Tweetdeck or Hootsuite • Not all mentions require a response • Some responses are best delivered offline • How to enter a conversation • “We just happened to come across this…” • “We couldn’t help overhearing, so…” • Avoid engaging through personal accounts
- 14. Western University Alumni Relations Using Social Listening To Create Engagement: Online and Offline @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 15. Listen First • #MustangTakeovers • Staff content • Engagement & Dialogue • Trending topics • What topics are resonating? @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail 1
- 16. Identify Topics • Residence • Kindness • Wellness 2 @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 17. Align With Goals • Connect students and alumni meaningfully • Reduce stress level during exams 3 @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 18. Test Topics • Just one tweet • Positive response • High engagement • Identified with residence hall room 4 @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 19. Seems It Will Work @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 20. Develop Campaign • Connect the dots • Campaign pitch • Tight timeline and low $$ ask • Collaborate and go 5 @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 21. @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 22. @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 23. Execute • Seek participation via Twitter • Hand-write postcards • Deliver 1400 postcards to students during exams • Watch responses and reactions 6 @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 24. @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 25. Results • 6 major media features • Lots of social feedback: westernconnect.ca/viewkindmail • CASE bronze award • Plan to repeat with changes to maximize student engagement (careful not to overdo it) @WesternAlumni | @MegCocurullo | #KindMail
- 27. Advocates vs Influencers Advocates • Your biggest fans; cheer you on without prompting Influencers • People you choose to help you achieve goals because they: • Have the trust of their community/audience • Drive discussion around key topics • Answer the questions everyone is asking • Are highly engaged with their community
- 29. Influencer Marketing for Fundraising • Highlight the results of alumni giving, and encourage a sense of ownership from alumni donors • Equip alumni with stories that resonate with their social networks • Increase the giving rate of young alumni • Increase philanthropic mindshare of alumni during end-of-year giving period
- 30. Benefits of Influencer Marketing • Reach/Awareness • Research • Content Ignition • Site Authority and SEO • Strategic Leverage • Cost Savings • Authentic Advocacy Source: Return on Influence, by Mark Schaefer
- 31. 3 Steps To Find Alumni Influencers Through Social Listening
- 32. #1 – Choose a Topic or Target Audience
- 33. #2 – Get in Your Audience’s Head
- 34. #3 – Use Conversation Clues to Identify Influencers with Impact • Find a sample of relevant online conversations • Identify influencers by answering these questions – What questions are being asked? Who’s answering? – Who has been a long-term participant? – Who has an impact? • Evaluating impact: Followerwonk – Location of followers – Engagement behaviors – Follower characteristics
- 35. You Want Influencers, Not Celebrities •Reachable •Real connection •Vested interest Influencer •100,000+ followers •Passing mention of campus Celebrity
- 37. Case Study: Babson Ambassadors • Erika Fields • Social Media Manager, Carnegie Dartlet • Former Digital Content Manager, Babson College • Twitter: @e_fields @e_fields
- 38. Case Study: Babson Ambassadors Goal Increase website traffic through content sharing Managing Office Marketing and Communications Program Start Date Pre-2016 @e_fields
- 39. Case Study: Babson Ambassadors @e_fields • Advancement reported conversations were easier with Ambassadors • Erika’s advice: • Work with campus partners to identify influencers • Make content sharing open to faculty Ambassador Toolkit: http://www.babson.edu/offices-services/marketing/ambassador-toolkit/Pages/default.aspx
- 40. Case Study: MIT Social Ambassadors • Nicole Morell • Associate Director for Digital Strategy at MIT • Twitter: @nmorell @nmorell
- 41. Case Study: MIT Social Ambassadors Goal Provide an Opportunity for Alumni to volunteer and get information to the people who want to share it Managing Office MIT Alumni Association Program Start Date November 2016 @nmorell
- 42. Case Study: MIT Social Ambassadors • Content related to signature events, current zeitgeist, and well-performing Facebook content • Combatting platform algorithm changes by using humans to share content @e_fields Social Ambassador Hub: social.mit.edu
- 43. Resource: “Engaging the Engaged” • Chandler Thompson, Assistant Director of Annual Giving at Elon University – Twitter: @ChandlerElaine • Anthony Tang, Development Officer at Wake Forest University – Twitter: @AnthonyMTang http://bit.ly/EngagingTheEngaged
Editor's Notes
- I am obsessed with social listening, and helping my colleagues in higher education understand how they can use it strategically. Jen Golbeck talked about social listening analysis when she shared her research into tweets from people that announced they were going to AA. Yesterday, Jay from USF shared how online interactions contributed to increased alumni identity. That got my head spinning. Almost every day I’m thinking of a different way to apply social listening data in higher education. One morning a few weeks ago, I was driving to work and listening to my friend Ashley Budd talk about alumni engagement on a podcast, and it got me thinking about the presentation I would give today. I’d like to give you a glimpse into that conversation, in animated form.
- Over and over again this week, innovators have been sharing data-driven examples of online interactions having real-world impact. That’s because online equals real life. Today I’m going to talk about social listening, and how you can use it to find and encourage these interactions among your alumni and potential donors.
- If you’re a note taker, that’s cool…. but I move quickly. At the end of this presentation I’ll link you to all of this content in eBook form.
- This isn’t a “how social listening works” session. It’s more of a “why social listening matters” and a focus of how to work towards two specific outcomes.
- Institutional nicknames Verbs and phrases Personal pronouns and familial terms
- Even though any mention you find is public, it may still be surprising to the other person when you enter the conversation. If you think that’s the case, it can be helpful to start with something like, “We just happened to come across this message and…” or “We couldn’t help overhearing, so….” Identifying a few introductory statements that align with the voice and tone of your campus social media accounts can be helpful for your social media administrators. Also, it’s likely that people expect brands to engage in social listening more than individuals. So unless you’re jumping in to congratulate a student or alumnus, it may be seen as creepy if the message comes from an administrator or the president versus the campus brand.
- Cardinal Stritch University had the goal of connecting and engaging with alumni. Campus Sonar analysts found multiple alumni who were active online, writing for other publications, and mentioning their connection to Stritch. The alumni manager was able to reach out to these alumni and engage with them by mentioning she saw their comments about Stritch and ask if they wanted to be included in Stritch’s print magazine. Another example, Campus Sonar found a Stritch grad who mentioned in a blog post that he was expecting a baby in the next few months. Stritch reached out to him, sent congratulations, and worked with the Stritch Magazine Editor, to put it in the Class Notes section of the magazine.
- This first example is award-winning; it won a Bronze Award from CASE this year! I spoke with Meghan Cocurullo, Digital Engagement Officer to learn more about the Kind Mail Project that Western University’s Alumni Relations & Development Department launched last December. It’s an amazing campaign that started because they were listening to the voices of their audience on social media.
- They’re also tracking if alumni who participated in Kind Mail are more engaged. They’ll be adding a mass email to alumni
- Topic: You’ll seek influencers with authority on a particular topic (e.g., aerospace engineering, women’s gymnastics, technology startups, non-profit law, etc.). A well-defined topical influencer has a high potential for effectiveness but will also require the most research to find. Target Audience: You’ll seek individuals with influence over a certain demographic. This is where people tend to default to celebrities, which you should avoid. Think about micro-targeting—specific cities or metro areas, or niche groups like teenagers who like to play specific video games, or mid-career manufacturing professionals.
- Get into the mindset of your audience. What related topic(s) would they actually talk about? Successful influencer marketing focuses on providing value to the audience of the influencer in a way that also contributes to your goals. Finding the best influencers means finding people who deliver what the audience wants. So if you want to find this type of person, you must understand what the audience wants. You can certainly brainstorm this, but you can use social listening to glean these answers from conversations as well. To understand the mindset of your potential influencer’s audience, ask questions that start with what, who, and why as shown here.
- Erika Fields, (@e_fields) now social media manager at Carnegie Dartlet, oversaw the Babson Ambassador program at Babson College from 2016-2017, and did similar work at Brandeis from 2008-2011. The goal of the Babson Ambassador program, which was managed from the central Marketing and Communications office, was to increased website traffic through content sharing. They believed activating an alumni network would help them achieve that goal. Babson wanted to find alumni that were passionate about the education they received and people they met at Babson, and were particularly proud of graduating from the #1 school for entrprenuership. They also wanted folks that had a wide-reaching network that included more than just Babson alumni. They wanted their message to get outside of the Babson community. To identify candidates, they “scoured the internet” and also talked to other offices on campuses. If referred from a colleague on campus, that person invited them to join. They had no online follower requirement. After identifying candidates, they invited them to join the program, noting that they know that everyone wants to or can give monetarily, but this is something any passionate alum could do. Once someone joined, they never opted out. They did not offer any money or other sort of incentive. It was portrayed as a volunteer opportunity. They had about 50 ambassadors that were part of the program (most were alumni – a few were current students, faculty, and staff). They kept it small on purpose so the community wasn’t bombarded with the same social content over and over. They used Social Toaster to share content with the Ambassadors, making it easy for them to share it with their own networks using their own words. While this was contributing to the goal of increased web traffic, the Advancement staff reported back that conversations with Ambassadors were easier than they were with other alumni. Erika’s advice: --Work with campus partners to provide recommendations for your influencers --Make this content open to faculty so they can share it as well. It’s not just your alumni who are influencers.
- Erika Fields, (@e_fields) now social media manager at Carnegie Dartlet, oversaw the Babson Ambassador program at Babson College from 2016-2017, and did similar work at Brandeis from 2008-2011. The goal of the Babson Ambassador program, which was managed from the central Marketing and Communications office, was to increased website traffic through content sharing. They believed activating an alumni network would help them achieve that goal. Babson wanted to find alumni that were passionate about the education they received and people they met at Babson, and were particularly proud of graduating from the #1 school for entrprenuership. They also wanted folks that had a wide-reaching network that included more than just Babson alumni. They wanted their message to get outside of the Babson community. To identify candidates, they “scoured the internet” and also talked to other offices on campuses. If referred from a colleague on campus, that person invited them to join. They had no online follower requirement. After identifying candidates, they invited them to join the program, noting that they know that everyone wants to or can give monetarily, but this is something any passionate alum could do. Once someone joined, they never opted out. They did not offer any money or other sort of incentive. It was portrayed as a volunteer opportunity. They had about 50 ambassadors that were part of the program (most were alumni – a few were current students, faculty, and staff). They kept it small on purpose so the community wasn’t bombarded with the same social content over and over. They used Social Toaster to share content with the Ambassadors, making it easy for them to share it with their own networks using their own words. While this was contributing to the goal of increased web traffic, the Advancement staff reported back that conversations with Ambassadors were easier than they were with other alumni. Erika’s advice: --Work with campus partners to provide recommendations for your influencers --Make this content open to faculty so they can share it as well. It’s not just your alumni who are influencers.
- Erika Fields, (@e_fields) now social media manager at Carnegie Communications, oversaw the Babson Ambassador program at Babson College from 2016-2017, and did similar work at Brandeis from 2008-2009. The goal of the Babson Ambassador program, which was managed from the central Marketing and Communications office, was to increased website traffic through content sharing. They believed activating an alumni network would help them achieve that goal. Babson wanted to find alumni that were passionate about the education they received and people they met at Babson, and were particularly proud of graduating from the #1 school for entrepreneurship. They also wanted folks that had a wide-reaching network that included more than just Babson alumni. They wanted their message to get outside of the Babson community. To identify candidates, they “scoured the internet” and also talked to other offices on campuses. They had no online follower requirement. After identifying candidates, they invited them to join the program, noting that they know that everyone wants to or can give monetarily, but this is something any passionate alum could do. Once someone joined, they never opted out. They did not offer any money or other sort of incentive. It was portrayed as a volunteer opportunity. They used Social Toaster to share content with the Ambassadors, making it easy for them to share it with their own networks using their own words. While this was contributing to the goal of increased web traffic, the Advancement staff reported back that conversations with Ambassadors were easier than they were with other alumni. Erika’s advice: --Work with campus partners to provide recommendations for your influencers --Make this content open to faculty so they can share it as well. It’s not just your alumni who are influencers.
- Nicole Morell (@nmorell) at MIT Alumni. For the last four+ years, they’ve been working with about two dozen alumni ambassadors in a LinkedIn group on an ad-hoc basis. They wanted to expand it beyond the group, and actively started trying to do this in Nov 2016. Goal: Provide another opportunity for alumni to volunteer, and get information to the people that want to share it. Information is generally related to signature events, content that resonates with the current zeitgeist, and well-performing Facebook content that could benefit from further reach. They feel that a strong ambassador program is a way for them to combat algorithm changes on social networks by using real humans to share their content. To identify ambassadors, they used EverTrue to see what alumni were actively engaged on Facebook (300 ppl), and they also reached out to people that attended an alumni leadership conference (600 ppl). This resulted in 100 ambassadors. Just recently they’ve started reaching out to thousands of alumni via email. They only solicit alumni, but anyone can sign up (they have some very excited parents). 2018 is their year to scale the program. They ask their influencers to follow the FTC guidelines because they do offer a prize (random person each month wins a t-shirt, stuffed animal, etc.). They use Social Toaster to manage their ambassadors.
- Nicole Morell (@nmorell) at MIT Alumni. For the last four+ years, they’ve been working with about two dozen alumni ambassadors in a LinkedIn group on an ad-hoc basis. They wanted to expand it beyond the group, and actively started trying to do this in Nov 2016. Goal: Provide another opportunity for alumni to volunteer, and get information to the people that want to share it. Information is generally related to signature events, content that resonates with the current zeitgeist, and well-performing Facebook content that could benefit from further reach. They feel that a strong ambassador program is a way for them to combat algorithm changes on social networks by using real humans to share their content. To identify ambassadors, they used EverTrue to see what alumni were actively engaged on Facebook (300 ppl), and they also reached out to people that attended an alumni leadership conference (600 ppl). This resulted in 100 ambassadors. Just recently they’ve started reaching out to thousands of alumni via email. They only solicit alumni, but anyone can sign up (they have some very excited parents). 2018 is their year to scale the program. They ask their influencers to follow the FTC guidelines because they do offer a prize (random person each month wins a t-shirt, stuffed animal, etc.). They use Social Toaster to manage their ambassadors.
- Nicole Morell (@nmorell) at MIT Alumni. For the last four+ years, they’ve been working with about two dozen alumni ambassadors in a LinkedIn group on an ad-hoc basis. They wanted to expand it beyond the group, and actively started trying to do this in Nov 2016. Goal: Provide another opportunity for alumni to volunteer, and get information to the people that want to share it. Information is generally related to signature events, content that resonates with the current zeitgeist, and well-performing Facebook content that could benefit from further reach. They feel that a strong ambassador program is a way for them to combat algorithm changes on social networks by using real humans to share their content. To identify ambassadors, they used EverTrue to see what alumni were actively engaged on Facebook (300 ppl), and they also reached out to people that attended an alumni leadership conference (600 ppl). This resulted in 100 ambassadors. Just recently they’ve started reaching out to thousands of alumni via email. They only solicit alumni, but anyone can sign up (they have some very excited parents). 2018 is their year to scale the program. They ask their influencers to follow the FTC guidelines because they do offer a prize (random person each month wins a t-shirt, stuffed animal, etc.). They use Social Toaster to manage their ambassadors.
- Chandler Thompson (@ChandlerElaine) from Elon and Anthony Tang (@anthonymtang) from Wake Forest presented an excellent session at the CASE District 3 Conference called “Engaging the Engaged” that has some relevance to this conversation. I encourage you to reach out to them or check out my notes from their session here: https://twitter.com/lizgross144/status/963050346519162880
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