How Do I Consistently Source Content That Engages My Alumni Community?

Consistently sourcing engaging content for your alumni community can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task, but it’s an essential one in fostering a strong and engaged alumni network.

Building and maintaining an engaged alumni community is a powerful asset for any educational institution. Your alumni not only represent the success stories of your institution but also serve as valuable resources for networking, mentorship, and even financial support.

However, keeping your alumni community engaged requires more than occasional updates and event invitations. It calls for a well-thought-out content strategy that consistently connects, but also resonates with your alumni. One of the keys to achieving this is creating an archive, a treasure trove of memories and information that can be used to source content effectively, whatever the age and interests of your alums.

The Power of an Archive

An archive is more than just a collection of old photos and documents; it’s a living record of your institution’s history, achievements, and impact. An alumni archive, such as can be created with SocialArchive®, serves several crucial purposes:

1.      Preserving Institutional History

An archive helps preserve the institutional memory and history of your organisation. It captures the essence of your institution’s journey, including its milestones, challenges, and evolution. This historical context is not only essential for maintaining a strong sense of identity but also for connecting current students and alumni with the institution’s heritage.

2.      Fostering Alumni Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a powerful emotional trigger. An archive filled with photos, yearbooks, and stories from the past can evoke strong feelings of nostalgia among alumni, especially when you can present them with a personalised gallery of their time with you (one of the SocialArchive® features). These emotions help strengthen the bond between alumni and your institution, making them more receptive to your content and engagement efforts.

3.      Providing Valuable Content

An alumni archive is a goldmine of content ideas. From historical articles and success stories, to interviews and event retrospectives, your archive can provide a wealth of content that is relevant, interesting, and engaging to your alumni community.

How to Create and Utilise Your Alumni Archive

Creating an alumni archive involves digitising (if not already) and organising historical materials such as yearbooks, photos, articles, videos, and documents. Once your archive is established you can leverage it to consistently source content that engages your alumni community.

Things to note:

• Remember, it is ok to start small. You do not need to digitise and store your whole collection of historical materials in one go.

• Not all the content is of interest to your whole community. Remember to segment your community and share personalised and relevant content where possible.

• Ensure to choose an archiving platform with sophisticated search capability, as well as automated facial recognition and optical character recognition (such as SocialArchive®) to ensure content is easily surfaced when required.

(If you are thinking of setting up an archive for your school, university or organisation but don’t know where to start, we’ve compiled a white paper to provide some guidance on the elements you should consider to ensure a successful project, both now and in the future. Contact us to request a copy.)

And now for some ideas as to how to utilise it:

• Throwback posts

  Post historical photos, documents, or videos from your archive with engaging captions. Encourage alumni to share their memories and stories associated with these items.

• Regular Feature Stories

  Choose alumni success stories from your archive and feature them regularly on your website, social media, or alumni newsletters. Share how your institution contributed to their achievements and how they continue to support your community.

• Milestone Celebrations

  Use your archive to commemorate significant institutional milestones, such as anniversaries, and showcase how your alumni community has contributed to your institution’s growth and success.

• Alumni Spotlights

  Profile different alumni and their career journeys. Include anecdotes, photos, and personal insights to create relatable and inspiring content. Highlighting notable alumni and their success stories, be it their careers, success in the community, or even love stories from couples that met whilst studying with you, not only makes your alumni feel proud to be associated with your institution but also serves as a source of inspiration for current students.

• Alumni-Generated Content

  Encourage alumni to contribute their own content to the archive, such as articles, blog posts, or videos, sharing their expertise and experiences. This not only diversifies your content but also strengthens their sense of community.

• Alumni Interviews

  Interview alumni who have made significant contributions in their fields or to your community. Discuss their experiences, challenges, and how their education at your institution shaped their paths. Remember content can also be repurposed. Repurpose quotes, or small snippets of video from the interviews for additional content ideas.

• Interactive Content

  Host interactive events or challenges related to your archive, such as ‘Guess the Year’ quizzes, ‘Caption This Photo’ contests, or even encourage your alumni to identify their friends, peers, or teachers in photos to build a more comprehensive archive. Engaging alumni in these activities fosters a sense of participation and connection.

• Personalise Fundraising Campaigns

  Use content from your archive to personalise fundraising campaigns. For example, a fundraiser for a new school theatre could target those that had an interest in drama whilst at your institution, sharing with it, photos of them participating in specific drama productions.

• Events and Reunions

  Use content from past events or reunions to promote upcoming ones. Additionally, personalised invites could be sent using photos of your alumni’s time with you to further evoke a sense of belonging and nostalgia. Be sure to upload any photos and videos from the events to the archive to make it quick and easy to share photos, and post event summaries to encourage alumni to stay connected with each other and your institution after the events and reunions. Choose an archiving platform that allows interaction on the content, for example, commenting features, to further add to the archive. 

Conclusion

Consistency is key in maintaining an engaged alumni community and a well-maintained alumni archive is an invaluable resource for consistently sourcing content that engages your community. By diversifying your content and continuously seeking feedback, you can create content that resonates with every member of your alumni community.

By leveraging the power of nostalgia, showcasing achievements, and providing valuable content that is easily personalised, you can strengthen the bond between your institution and your alumni.

Remember, an engaged alumni community isn’t just a testament to your institution’s success, it’s a vital source of support and inspiration for the generations to come. So, start building and utilising an alumni archive today to keep your alumni community connected and engaged for years to come.

SocialArchive® is a user-friendly digital archiving solution for the education sector, purpose built for you to turn your history into a powerful way to connect to, and drive engagement with, your alumni. Contact us today to book a demonstration of our platform in action.