Community College Journal - February/March 2011

The key to establishing good alumni relations on Facebook can be found in the tool’s Fan and Group pages. Instead of setting up individual accounts— which Facebook has disallowed for organizations—groups, including community colleges, can use Group and Fan pages. These pages are similar to Facebook’s individual pages, except more work is required to recruit the average user to opt in. Page administrators can purchase affordable Facebook ads, scour geographic networks for potential members, and find Facebook users in affinity networks, attracting as many people as possible to their college’s Group or Fan pages. It’s a great way to make sure alumni and other stakeholders know what’s happening on campus.

online tools—likely more than all other social media combined. Use social media judiciously; don’t make the mistake of turning potentially essential alumni contact into Internet noise.

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to fully use the power of LinkedIn, consider a paid subscription, which expands those capabilities to 700 results per search.

Twitter: 140 Characters
To Connect
Twitter’s cardinal rule: Avoid overuse.
A disciplined approach of meaningful
and regularly scheduled tweets can
build a solid fan base and avoid annoy-
ing would-be followers with meaning-
less minutiae. Twitter should only be
used to say something interesting, and
sparingly even then.

Your Website:
Your Front Door
Facebook is important, but nothing
is as crucial as a college’s website.
All external online communications,
including e-mail marketing and social
networking activity, should funnel
alumni to the institution’s home page.
Websites should be as interesting as
possible. A good home page contains
valuable information that keeps users
on site for at least three minutes—an
eternity in Internet time.

LinkedIn: The Secret Weapon LinkedIn is underrated. The best tool for alumni professionals is LinkedIn’s Advanced Search tool, which provides the ability to find quietly successful and prominent alumni. Its free membership lets users search for up to 100 people per day, which is usually enough. But

Save Time With a Multi-Tool HootSuite stands out among the many social-network-coordinating programs. This program coordinates all of an institution’s posts to Twitter, Facebook updates, and LinkedIn group page discussion board posts in one easy-to-use platform.

Knowing how to address and employ social networking can change the way institutions engage alumni. Social media help institutions connect with alumni; these tools help build, sustain, and even deepen your organization’s relationships with former students. Social media can reach people who can’t be reached any other way. Remember: The only way to hit your target with these networks is to use them.

MATT BUNKER is alumni director at Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake City.

Center for Community College Student Engagement CCCSE

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Scheduling Social Media Facebook continues to dominate the social-media landscape. But other tools, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and You Tube, are useful for reaching out to and connecting with alumni. Doing so takes time. Online platforms require at least weekly updates—a good rule of thumb is one hour per week for each medium—with the exception of the website. Needs vary from one institution to another, but websites require significantly more time than other