2. From Content to Cash:
Engaging Alumni on Social Media
Goooooooaaaaaaals
Crafting Content on the Social Web
The Power of Virtual Volunteers
Cashing in
13. Gooooooaaaaalllls!
how can social media aid advancement?
Brand exposure
Donations
Event Attendance
Crisis Management
Prospect Discovery
Stewardship
14. Beware of the office “post it” person
Hey! Can you share this on the
Facebook page for me?
15. Beware of the office “post it” person
Hey! Can you take this static and unappealing
piece of content and post it on Facebook even
though I have no idea what I hope to get out
of it other than people will see it
because it’s on Facebook.
(translated)
16. Call Your Shot
If you don’t define success, you
won’t know if you’re succeeding
28. Water Cooler Talk
Before there was
Facebook, there was
water-cooler conversation
Who shot J.R.??
29. The Age of the “Digital Water Cooler.”
“There comes a point in all our lives when a single
event; personal or public, envelops us to a point
where we cannot think, speak or focus on anything
else. This is not new by any means; however, social
media has taken it to a level which may or may not be
a good thing.” – Patti Schwartz
Real-time reactions
Real-time feedback
Real-time sharing
Real-time engagement
Your Audience is “Working”
30. The Nielsen Global Survey of
Trust in Advertising polled more
than 29,000 Internet
respondents in 58 countries.
47% of global respondents
agreed that humorous ads
resonated the most. – Ekaterina
Walter
31. “Start with your customer’s pain
point. Comedy comes from pain, so
it’s a rich area to mine.”
It’s funny because we a
for money…frequently.
32. It’s funny because Cornell winters are col
“When a brand shows that it doesn’t always
take itself too seriously, it’s a powerful way to
demonstrate authenticity and confidence, as
well as connect with your community.” - Tim
Washer, Cisco
35. It’s funny because Cornell winters are cold
... It’s engaging because ALL alumni endur
36. “Self-deprecating humor is sometimes
a powerful way to humanize the brand.
When a brand shows that it doesn’t
always take itself too seriously, it’s a
powerful way to demonstrate
authenticity, as well as confidence.” –
Tim Washer
It’s funny because Cornell
ISN’T like Andy Bernard
37. Self-deprecating humor is sometimes
a powerful way to humanize the brand.
When a brand shows that it doesn’t
always take itself too seriously, it’s a
powerful way to demonstrate
authenticity, as well as confidence. –
Tim Washer
It’s funny because Cornell
ISN’T like Andy Bernard
..but he WAS our commencement spea
38. “Add a funny sidekick. A simple approach
is to have a company expert tell a story
and toss in a few humorous responses
along the way to help you reach a different
audience.”- Tim Washer
85,000 views
14,000 views
10,000 views
37,000 views
Power of the President
…and the mascot.
90. Happy VP (and less skeptical)
of Development
REVERSING
THE FLOW
600 ADDITIONS TO MG ANALYZED
• Included alumni, alumni ND, parents, and
friends
• 60% had confirmed profiles on LinkedIn
JUST ALUMNI
• 65% had profiles on LinkedIn
• 15% already belonged to our private LinkedIn
group and we didn’t know it.
July 2014 – August 2014
104. FY 2014
• 60 nominees processed
• 96% assessed at 25K+
• 42% assessed at 100K+
• 10% assessed at 250K+
THE SOCIAL MEDIA STAMP
PROSPECT NOMINATION
105. THE SOCIAL MEDIA STAMP
PROSPECT NOMINATION
FY 2014 Nominees:
• Only 8 made a gift in FY14
• 21 have never made a gift to Cornell
• Total lifetime giving = $42,000 (57% from 2 gifts)
• MINIMUM capacity of nominees = $1.4 million
(assuming everyone has at least $25k capacity)
106. OVERALL
• 400+ nominees
processed
• 80-85% assessed at
$25K+
• 35% assessed at $50-99K
• 25% - 30% assessed at
$100K+
THE SOCIAL MEDIA STAMP
PROSPECT NOMINATION
109. Establish goals and KPIs.
Design compelling, authentic content that competes.
Harness the power of the virtual volunteer.
“Cross the aisle” and collaborate with fundraisers/prospect research.
Listen as much as you broadcast.
While my mom would disagree… Good content is unique to YOUR audience and I would never pretend to know your audience better than you. Through the course of this presentation I hope you’ll be able to take the concepts/approach I advocate and use it to create content that will resonate with your audience.
Increased class sizes and improved record-keeping also a factor.
It offers perhaps our best shot at reversing the downward trend.
Trying to be everywhere all of the time is both self-defeating and counter-productive. You don’t need to be on every network and app you just need to be in the places your audience resides.
Trying to be everywhere all of the time is both self-defeating and counter-productive. You don’t need to be on every network and app you just need to be in the places your audience resides.
Some schools have found snap chat useful, but I’m still on the skeptical side. Yik Yak is essentially the dumpster for the human mind’s most desipicable thoughts. Can’t change them for “good” just like you can’t make playboy suitable for a Dr’s waiting room.
Don’t have to be EVERYWHERE, some places are good for monitoring and nothing else.
If you’re a school for performing arts, probably not the place for you.
If you’re a school for performing arts, probably not the place for you.
It’s not just a gernalization, Google+ attracts engineers, developers, designers, and software engineers. Many of you represent places with a specific audience, find out where that audience lives online.
Have to get away from: “We need to be more active on social media… GO!”
BTW – No, they probably won’t see it.
Use bat, hit ball over fence, win game.
Odds are you need more resources for social/digital communications, but you won’t get them until you can prove success that’s worthy of investment.
We have to stop leaning on the types of content we have circulated for the past 100 years, the game has changed.
Johnson : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-MeYwWC4V8
Who said it?
Who said it?
BUT IT’S TIMELY
Super Community manager! Posting faster than a speeding bullet and engaging thousands of alumni with a single video!
We can throw out all the nerdy terminology we want, but at the end of the day, there’s only one acronym our organizations want to hear about.
Senior leadership has a very different attitude.
Like Bill Clinton’s deny, deny, deny we maintain an ethos of engage, engage, engage.
If you run from it, it will come crashing down on you. Even a super hero community manager cannot escape the behemoth that is the ROI question.
Teaching a culture of philanthropy via projects they care about
SM conferences: “Get a pitchfork, we’re storming the development castle!”
We want to believe we just make people happy, nostalgic and then the giving takes care of itself. Conversely, development hounds people until they write a check.
Doesn’t matter what your job title is, you are on the payroll because there’s a belief your job will contribute to the division’s bottom line. We have vanquish the assumption that we do different work and instead, collaborate to do the same work.
Want to focus on Kathy Savitt for a minute as she’s the best example to date of bringing a non-engaged alum into the fold.
We want to believe we just make people happy, nostalgic and then the giving takes care of itself. Conversely, development hounds people until they write a check.
One of my favorite Will Farrell sketches that unfortunately never made it past the SNL dress rehearsal. The character’s name is Gus Chiggins and he’s hired to lead a group of Marines through the mountains of Afgahnistant. Needless to say, the marines felt he was too antiquated to be of any use. Before entering higher ed, this was my idea of an old prospector.
Now, THIS is my idea of an old prospector.
“I’ll be in town, can we get coffee?” “I was hoping to talk to you about new developments at your alma mater” Translation: Even though you’re a wealthy, busy professional, I want an hour of your time just so I can ask you for money”
This is not to disparage gift officers, it’s merely recognizing that, in 2014, face-to-face isn’t preferred by everyone. We also have to recognize other non-profits, especially local ones, are becoming increasingly nimble and innovative making them direct competition for our alumni’s time and money.
It’s commonly thought that social media is not good at raising money directly and thus it should be used for engagement rather than solicitation. Certainly most of us would agree it’s hard to raise money with social media alone. What I will NOT accept, is the old prospector’s claim that “wealthy individuals” (THEIR people) aren’t on social media, thus it has no place in their day to day.
These are just a few of the many Cornell alumni I’ve connected with through social media. Notice they’re not poor. The numbers indicate the amount of money our prospect research team has determined the person can give over a 5 year period.
- 250 nominations submitted to date, around 20% qualify for major gifts, over 80% found to have a capacity of $25k or greater.
Considering we have come to terms with the fact that some people still prefer snail mail and many others prefer email…. Though that number seems to be dwindling as well.
Is it so hard to believe that, while many people prefer traditional gift officers, there might be people out there who, just maybe, prefer a digital relationship? I think it’s possible and I believe it warrants further exploration as it’s poised to make social media a game-changer yet again.
We plan on experimenting with this by attempting to engage prospects who have been dropped by gift officers.
Why is someone with $100,000 capacity not even giving a throw away gift of $100, but they’re in our LinkedIn group? Maybe we’re not talking to them in the right places.
These things take time and resources, but success comes before resources, not the other way around.