University Business December 2006 - (Page 68)

Engaging Alumni Online From Birth to Bequest For institutions of higher education, maintaining points of contact with enrolled students is important. But these days, schools are trying to track and engage students years before they enroll and long after they leave. A web portal for alumni can help It's all part of what Joe Long, director of alumni rela- tions at Plymouth State University N.H. , calls a birth streamline the crucial turning point to bequest strategy, giving everyone from prospective applicants to enrolled students to older alumni an ongo- between college and the working world. ing source of information and point of interaction. If we can offer them one area to maintain that contact point, it increases the possibility of them engaging with the insti- tution, he says. technology. They probably want to graduate and get on with their lives, and so Co n n e c t i n g with individuals throughout their life- this is our one chance beyond a post-graduation letter or e-mail to say, `Think of t i m e s is a hot topic for colleges and universities, ob- yourselves as alumni. There are benefits for you to be engaged.' ser ves John Beahm, external communications manager Alumni portals are not new. But rather than separate sites where alumni can for Jenzabar, which offers administrative solutions and go to update their listings in an online directory, alumni relations officers now constituent relationship modules designed to build and seek more online services for their constituents and the ability to host it all within serve the college community. The current thrust is to- the institution's official .edu site, notes Karli Grant, a product manager at Datatel, ward building your community, says Beahm. Get them which offers the ActiveAlumni solution. as early as you can and hold them as long as you can. Hitting the Target At Abilene Christian University Texas , coordinat- ing communications between various While alumni may want to be engaged, they are also inun- campus departments has helped unify dated by cell phone messages and e-mails from countless Resources efforts. That is particularly helpful since sources. Administrators should tread carefully in how, and how often, they use online tools to connect with graduates. Allegheny College Pa. on MySpace, the school has a strong tradition of leg- Targeted e-mails such as to members of the Class of 2000 www.myspace.com/alleghenycollege ac y admissions: Last year, 29 percent of who support athletic programs help prevent e-mail in- Blackbaud, www.blackbaud.com the freshman class was legacy. Campus Management, Each department at ACU once had boxes from overflowing with news and donation requests. RSS feeds, podcasts, and rich media presentations can www.campusmanagement.com its own database, so prospective stu- also provide high-impact means of attracting attention Convio, www.convio.com d e nt s, enrolled students, and alumni were living in multiple sites. Using Tal- in an overstimulated world. For example, the Anderson Datatel, School of Management at the University of California, www.datatel.com/experience/products.cfm isma Advancement CRM, departments at ACU now work off of one database, Los Angeles has used Sonic Foundry's Mediasite to offer Goalquest, www.goalquest.com online access to alumni-only events. The business school Harris Interactive, www.harrisinteractive but staff can customize the ways in invited former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden to .com/services/highered.asp which data are used. Fo r example, the institution has campus, then made his speech available to alumni via a Intelliworks, www.intelliworks.com a function set up that automatically rich media presentation on Mediasite. Jenzabar, www.jenzabar.com shoots an e-mail to an advancement RSS is another promising area. When alumni relations LinkedIn for Groups, officer if the child of a donor is admit- first went electronic, many schools put their class notes on- www.linkedin.com/groups line. Now, says Waugh of Convio, many alumni want class Mediasite, www.sonicfoundry.com/systems ted to the university. We were able to write rules to share information that notes supplied to them through webfeeds. Ultimately, /mediasite.asp says Waugh, they'll be able to go in and say `I want you to Microsoft, www.microsoft.com/education otherwise someone would have to look up manually, says Kevin Campbell, CRM push notes to me for this year, or this major for this year.' /highered.mspx That's the type of user preference that administrators Oracle, www.oracle.com/industries/educa- program director for ACU. Now, Campbell observes, an ad- will want to follow into the future. Doing so may not be tion/highered.html vancement officer can quickly contact easy, but will pay back in strengthened alumni involvement SunGard Higher Education, a family and offer a note of congratula- and even giving levels. You have to realize that it's very www.sungardhe.com tions shortly after a student receives an early days here, Waugh observes, so everybody's trying to Talisma, http://education.talisma.com offer letter. figure out how this works. 68 | December 2006 universitybusiness.com Alum.indd 68 11/17/06 3:47:24 PM http://www.myspace.com/alleghenycollege http://www.blackbaud.com http://www.campusmanagement.com http://www.convio.com http://www.datatel.com/experience/products.cfm http://www.goalquest.com http://www.harrisinteractive.com/services/highered.asp http://www.harrisinteractive.com/services/highered.asp http://www.intelliworks.com http://www.jenzabar.com http://www.linkedin.com/groups http://www.sonicfoundry.com/systems/mediasite.asp http://www.sonicfoundry.com/systems/mediasite.asp http://www.microsoft.com/education/highered.mspx http://www.microsoft.com/education/highered.mspx http://www.oracle.com/industries/education/highered.html http://www.oracle.com/industries/education/highered.html http://www.sungardhe.com http://education.talisma.com http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business December 2006

Table of Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Future Shock
Admissions
Financial Aid
On the Hill
EDUCAUSE 2006 Highlights
Technology Spending Survey '07
101 Smart Revenue Generators (and Money-Saving Ideas)
Parking: A Lot To Look At
Engaging Alumni Online
One River, Not Two Streams
Internet Technology
What's New
Calendar of Events
Direct Connect
End Note

University Business December 2006