1. Old School Goes New School One College's Experience Developing a Multi-Dimensional, Collaborative Plan to get the Biggest Bang Out of its Communication Efforts Genevieve Howard College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources University of Missouri

2. First, we ask questions… Who is our audience? What is our goal and purpose? How will we measure our success? Who will communicate? How will we communicate?

3. Who is our target audience in the alumni community? Shared University and College Different Identities for Different Departments Age Range Comfort Level with Technology

4. What is our goal and purpose for communicating? Increase Support for College (interaction with current students, volunteer time, financial gifts) Increase Attendance at Events Help Alumni with Careers and Other Needs Build Reputation of College

5. How will we measure the success of our program? Visibly Increased Support for College (volunteer time, financial gifts) Increased Attendance at Events How to measure career advancement and reputation?

6. Who Will Communicate with Alumni? University, College or Association Individual College Staff or Faculty Current College Students Other Alums

7. How Will We Communicate with Alumni? Web site Online Magazine E-newsletters, E-mails Social Networking Tools Twitter Other (blogs, podcasts, videos)

8. Web site Our alumni are interested in: Research going on in the College Stories about students Class notes Events Upcoming Photos from previous Stories about other alumni

9. What works best on a Web site for alumni? New School Friendly Sense of community Photos, Videos Interactive Old School Formal Institution Plain Text One-way Conversation Show faces, not buildings

10. News, Research, Alumni and Future Students sections of Web site Faculty and staff e-newsletter Facebook alumni group and Twitter Use good stories as many places as possible. One story will be linked from

11. Online MagazineCompanion E-mail Piece

12. E-newsletters and E-mails Example of e-mail sent to alumni showing the students who benefitted from the alumni scholarship fund. E-mail included invitation to an upcoming alumni event.

13. Blogs Written by students about study abroad, career services and life on campus.

14. Social Networking and Online Communities Our Facebook Group E-mail invitation to join Facebook sent to new graduates

15. More to explore LinkedIn Example of University of Missouri alumni groups in LinkedIn Photos: Flickr Video: Youtube, Vimeo Twitter

16. Issues to Consider Difficulty of measuring ROI with online communication and social networking Realistic expectations for time and labor, long-term maintenance

17. In Conclusion Talk with your audience. What do they want? Move toward your goal. Check your progress. Assign people communication roles. Choose appropriate methods of communication for your college.

18. Thank you! Genevieve Howard howardg@missouri.edu