Creative Ways to Engage Alumni: The Shots Seen Round the World

As a freelance writer, I’ve written numerous cover stories for one of our state’s magazines, Kentucky Monthly. They have this odd idea called “Mag on the Move.” Readers travel the world and photograph themselves with a copy of the magazine. They send them in, and — if fortune is on their side — that picture is featured in the magazine. And yes, people really do it.

You know who else does this? The University of Rochester. Only they do it as creative ways to engage alumni.

“Where’s Rocky?” shows where UR students go after graduation. Like this, a sample from their Facebook page:

UR's "Where's Rocky" program - Creative Ways to Engage Alumni

A cardstock image of Rochester’s mascot, Rocky the Yellowjacket, poses around the world with, as you can see, alumni of all ages and all backgrounds. A neat gag like this gets them involved. As did another idea by their Office of Alumni Relations: alumni getting married could get a school pennant to hold for the wedding photos. Yes, people really did this.

Which proves one thing: not only do people really like Kentucky Monthly (one magazine made it to Antarctica), they are really, really proud of being alumni.

And alumni are potential donors. These are a few ways to find them. Another is with Capture Behavioral Engagement (CBE). Wedding photos and snapshots are cool, and so is our ability to track 20 million visitors from around the globe on our partners’ websites. You can watch a video, download an info sheet, and request a demo on our website.

And you don’t have to travel the world or get married to find out who’s thinking about donating to advancement. Our technology’s “snapshots” can help do that for you.

See more creative ways to engage alumni that the University of Rochester has tested here.

By Sean Hill, Senior Content Writer, Capture Higher Ed