CASE Circle of Excellence Award Submission

CASE Circle of Excellence Awards Submission Alumni Relations Programs Creative Use of Technology and New Media

Strategy First...Then Tools: A Comprehensive Technology Strategy to Advance Our Mission Submitted by: East Carolina Alumni Association Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center 901 East Fifth Street Greenville, NC 27858-4353 252-328-6072 | 800-ECU-GRAD alumni@PirateAlumni.com

View an interactive version of this submission at Issuu.com/PirateAlumni/docs/CaseAward2010

Provide a concise description of this entry.

The East Carolina Alumni Association has committed to a comprehensive technology strategy utilizing an array of Web 2.0, traditional Internet, telecommunications (TV and radio), and video conferencing tools to inform, involve, and serve members of the East Carolina family throughout their lifelong relationship with ECU. Technology is interwoven into the fabric of programs, communications, service delivery, planning, and decision making; to pick one tool to highlight would be a disservice to the strategies that drive our decisions. We offer for your review our technology strategy as a whole.

Innovative ~ Strategic ~ Measurable State objectives and how they support your institution’s mission.

The following objectives not only support the Association’s mission, but also generates, cultivates, and stewards alumni support, which is critical to the University’s mission. Our objectives are as follows: • • • • • • •

Position the Alumni Association as the primary connection between alumni and the institution Use technology to inform, involve, and engage alumni Ensure the financial future of the Alumni Association Increase our brand awareness and monitor our brand reputation Infuse our Web site with relevant, fresh, and dynamic content Increase possible number of touch points through using diverse communications Meet alumni where they are and deliver value

Therefore, our technology strategy supports the University’s mission to serve as a national model for public service and regional transformation by keeping our alumni connected with and informed about their alma mater.

Describe what is innovative about your entry.

Cross use of content: Our commitment to cross use content has not only strengthened our overall communication and engagement strategies, but it has actually increased the impact of the individual pieces. For example, our magazine is more interactive by utilizing “calls to action” between the print and online versions and related podcasts that appear on our Web site. Also, by integrating YouTube video, Twitter feed, podcasts, and interactive digital publications has infused our Web site with dynamic and fresh content. Cross use of social media outlets gives the Alumni Association additional opportunities to connect with our alumni and to advance the messages of the University.

PirateAlumni.com, our information warehouse: Another innovative component is how we position our Web site as an online information warehouse.

Each piece of our technology strategy either begins or ends at PirateAlumni.com. More people will visit our “online front door” than will ever show up at the Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center’s front door; it is essential that PirateAlumni.com be filled with relevant, easy-to-find information.

Strategy...then tools: All too often, people will jump at the latest tool and then build a strategy around it. At the East Carolina Alumni Association, we develop strategies and then ask, “what tools can help us build this strategy?”

List your target audience(s) and how you addressed their needs.

Alumni, students, donors, and friends of East Carolina University.

Total number of participants, if applicable.

See metrics below.

Total number of addressable alumni.

130,000 Number of staff involved, including staff from outside of your department.

10 Alumni Association staff members, iModules (Web partner), local NBC Affiliate, local radio station partner, University videographer, ECU Career Center, and ECU Human Resources

List the titles or roles of primary staff contributors and note their significant contributions. Briefly explain the involvement of all persons involved, including students, volunteers and/or others and how they worked together to get the job done.

This strategy has many moving parts and takes a team effort to operate.

President and CEO of the East Carolina Alumni Association • • • • • •

Strategic planning Co-host of “A Pirate’s Life For Me Radio Show” Negotiated partnership with Pirate Radio 1250, local NBC Affiliate, ECU Career Center, iModules Best practices research Monitors social media conversations Tweets via @piratealumniceo

Director of Alumni Communications • • • • • • •

Directs our technology strategy Maintains Web site, sends blast e-mails, adds content to all social media feeds Designs EC Alumni magazine and uploads to Issuu Uploads event photos to Flickr, podcasts Career Calls and A Pirate’s Life for Me! radio show Best practices research Monitors social media conversations Executive producer on all video projects

Assistant Director of Alumni Communications • • • •

Writes content for emails and Web site Editor and writer of EC Alumni magazine and Annual Report Assistant producer for all video projects Co-host of A Pirate’s Life for Me! radio show

Director of Alumni Programs • Recruits volunteers to maintain and monitors regional Facebook pages • Coordinates volunteer training via conference call and Global Classroom • Writes content for volunteer e-newsletter The Privateer

Assistant Directors for Alumni Programs • Coordinates Pirate Career Calls and records for Podcast • Responsible for tracking key statistical measures for technology strategy

Alumni Center Coordinator • Sends alumni constituent ID’s for online community access • Responds to emails in alumni inbox

Local NBC Affiliate • Produces three commercial and air them at appropriate time during the year • Several Live appearances on Morning and afternoon news programs to promote upcoming events

Pirate Radio 1250 & 930 • • • •

50 30-second commercials to air each month on Pirate Radio 1250 & 930 28 annual half-hour episodes of A Pirate’s Life For Me! to air on both Pirate Radio 1250 and 930 AM A Web ad on PirateRadio1250.com Live appearances on Live@5 to promote the East Carolina Alumni Association and our events

Career Center Staff • Present Career Calls on a monthly basis • Write Career Corner article for EC Alumni magazine

Campus IT Services • Provides lifetime @alumni.ecu.edu emails for all alumni

University Videographer • Shoots and edits several videos annually for the Alumni Association

Total budget for entry, excluding salaries. $30,000 (includes Web site hosting, radio show, and teleconference expenses)

RESULTS ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are all terrific ways to engage alumni, friends, and volunteers. Our LinkedIn page provides a place for ECU professionals to network and find valuable job information among friends. Group discussions are often started by questions such as “What is the best career advice you’ve received?” being posed. Twitter provides an immediate means of announcing alumni news and upcoming alumni events to followers. Facebook offers an online community for ECU alumni and friends to interact with one another and receive information about alumni events and fellow graduates from the Alumni Association. Our YouTube channel has a number of videos, including informational videos about the Alumni Association, component videos for our annual report, commercials for our scholarship fundraisers, a vodcast for incoming students, a membership commercial, television appearances, the scholarship “congratulations” video, and video of select alumni events. Flickr is our portal for all Alumni Association event photos. After each event, photos are uploaded to our Flickr account which also feeds our Web site’s photo gallery. Alumni can simply click a photo and download a copy from Flickr.

While we have talked about each of these social media sites independently, we utilize them cooperatively. Videos and photos uploaded to YouTube and Flickr automatically appear in our Facebook stream. When jobs are posted in our LinkedIn group, people who are connected to us on Twitter and Facebook are made aware of the new opportunity. We use the RSS feed from the “Pirate Alumni News” section on our Web site on our Facebook profile page.

PirateAlumni.com/Facebook 2,389 Fans 3,752 Friends

PirateAlumni.com/LinkedIn 2,709 Group Members

Managing the Alumni Association’s presence on Facebook and Twitter is simplified and enhanced through the use of Hootsuite, an online social media client that scheduled status updates and provides an inline URL-shortening service to track statistics. Since we began using Hootsuite in August 2009, we have delivered 677 updates with 13,984 clicks.

PirateAlumni.com/Twitter 670 Followers

piratealumni's Statistics Aug 29, 2009 12AM to Mar 11, 2010 11PM (13984 Total Clicks)

In cooperation with Campus IT, we provide graduates the opportunity to obtain an @alumni.ecu.edu e-mail address. Currently 1,605 graduates utilize this service.

COMMUNICATING WITH CONSTITUENTS

HootSuite-generated graph showing number of clicks.

EC Alumni Magazine What began as a 12-page newsletter, EC Alumni magazine (formerly Servire) is now the premier quarterly publication of the Alumni Association. This 36-page magazine includes alumni feature stories, news from the University’s colleges and schools, updates from University Advancement, information about how alumni can advocate for the University, and a look at University history.

A unique feature included in most issues is the “call to action” encouraging alumni to get more information about a particular article or event by visiting our Web site. For example, if an alumnus who is featured in the magazine has also been interviewed on our radio show A Pirate’s Life for Me!, we provide the interview date and URL for readers to listen to the audio file.

Every issue of EC Alumni is available to readers online. Through Issuu, alumni and friends can view our magazine from the comfort of their desktop by flipping through each page, zooming in on particular items of interest, and even click links for more information on our Web site. An e-mail blast is also sent making alumni aware that our next issue is available online and will be arriving in the mail shortly.

Access EC Alumni online at PirateAlumni.com/ECAlumni.

Winter 2010 Readers: 754 Unique Pageviews: 7,178 E-mail: 29,218 sent | 4,022 opened | 766 clicks Fall 2009 Readers: 1,469 Unique Pageviews: 12,300 E-mail: 32,709 sent | 4,193 opened | 2,218 clicks Summer 2009 Readers: 2,420 Unique Pageviews: 12,984 E-mail: 32,765 sent | 5,083 opened | 1,499 clicks Spring 2009 Readers: 3,493 Unique Pageviews: 16,560 E-mail: 32,126 sent | 4,364 opened | 2,458 clicks

Visit our Issuu library at Issuu.com/PirateAlumni

Annual Report Two years ago we took a new approach to our annual report. Rather than print a bulky, expensive, 20-page publication, we scaled back our printed annual report to only eight pages and added complimentary online video testimonials to tell the story of the Alumni Association in the previous year. These videos consist of messages from our Board Chairperson, select award recipients, at least one student, from Alumni Association members, and from our President and CEO. The annul report is also available online and can be viewed through Issuu. The Web page dedicated to the annual report has a built-in video player that allows the reader to conveniently view the component videos. The printed report is sent only to Alumni Association members, but all alumni with valid e-mail addresses receive an e-mail notification of the annual report and how to view it online. Access our 2008-2009 annual report online at PirateAlumni.com/AnnualReport.

2006-2007 Annual Report Print: 3,000 copies of a 20-page report cost $4,678.30 2008-2009 Annual Report Print: 5,500 copies of an 8-page report cost $2,326.42 E-mail: 32,718 sent | 4,025 opened | 1,066 clicks Issuu Readers: 937 Issuu Unique Pageviews: 3,845 PirateAlumni.com Web site Information disseminated through the Alumni Association can either start or end with our Web site PirateAlumni.com. This virtual portal is a treasure trove of information for alumni and

Links to our presence on social media Twitter feed

Web ad promoting @alumni.ecu.edu e-mail accounts

Connect with Facebook link Web ad promoting Alumni Association Facebook Fan Page

Tools for the Times news article

RSS feed

friends to find ways to get involved with their alma mater. Unique to our homepage is the publication of our Twitter feed. Even if you are not a Twitter user, you can still see the latest news from the Alumni Association and University by visiting our homepage and reading our Twitter feed.

PirateAlumni.com is a great place for our constituents to start—whether looking for information on an upcoming event or activity or how to nominate a fellow Pirate for an alumni award, PirateAlumni. com has it all. Visitors can register for events, look up a former classmate in our online directory, catch Pirate Spirit, find career assistance, get in touch with a regional contact, link to our social media outlets, stay informed through our publications, learn more about our membership program, join the Alumni Association, view our photo gallery, sign up for a lifetime e-mail account, visit our partner’s Web sites, view a calendar of events, learn about our student programs and scholarships, and so much more!

PirateAlumni.com is the greatest communication tool the Alumni Association utilizes to stay in touch with our alumni base.

CAREER PROGRAMS Tools for the Times Today’s economic forecast means challenges for many ECU alumni. In an effort to assist our alumni with facing these challenges, we put together a “Tools for the Times” Web page. This page shares Alumni Association and University resources to help alumni network with fellow Pirates and learn about job opportunities. Some of these resources include: the Pirate Career Call series, the Pirate Alumni Network for career mentoring, job listings, career fair information, advice in Career Corner (a column in our magazine), links to our LinkedIn and Facebook pages, the ability to create a career profile, and obtain a transcript electronically. For Alumni Association members, this page also provides Kaplan Prep and Working Advantage savings information. Potential employers can also find a link to post a job listing.

The “Tools for the Times” resource page has been Tweeted, mentioned on our LinkedIn and Facebook pages, and written about in our monthly e-newsletter PiratePulse.

“Tools for the Times” can be viewed at PirateAlumni.com/ToolsForTheTimes.

Pirate Career Calls Pirate Career Calls are a complimentary, monthly service available for all ECU alumni and friends.

Through a partnership with the University’s Career Center and Human Resources office, the Alumni Association offers Pirate Career Calls for those seeking free career advice from professionals. This hour-long teleconference call is typically held the first Thursday of each month from 12 noon to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Participants are e-mailed a PowerPoint presentation that accompanies the call prior to the session. During the call, the moderator will present their information and participants may ask questions along the way. After the call is complete, the audio file and supporting documentation are archived on our Web site at PirateAlumni.com/CareerCalls. Those subscribed to our Pirate Career Call podcast will receive notification that a call is now available. Pirate Career Calls are always promoted through our social networks as well as our monthly e-newsletter.

ALUMNI RECOGNITION A Pirate’s Life For Me! Recognizing alumni achievement is the perfect way for the Alumni Association to connect with alumni that are doing great things in their professions and/or their communities. One of the many ways we pay homage to these noteworthy alumni is through our radio program A Pirate’s Life for Me!, which features interviews with ECU alumni. In the fall, the show airs every Friday at 6:00 p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250 & 930 AM, in the spring it airs the second and fourth Friday. This half-hour program also streams live at PirateRadio1250.com anywhere in the world. Once the show airs, it is archived on our Web site at PirateAlumni.com/APiratesLifeForMe and those subscribed to our A Pirate’s Life for Me! podcast will receive notification that another episode is available.

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS Each year the Alumni Association awards scholarships to deserving undergraduate students. In order to promote these scholarships to the student body, a blast announcement e-mail and reminder e-mail are sent to all undergraduate students.

After recipients have been determined, each winning student receives an e-mail that includes a “congratulations” video from our president and CEO. The e-mail also contains instructions on the student’s next steps to receive the scholarship, including online registration to our Scholarship Luncheon. View the video at YouTube. com/piratealumni.

Although these scholarships have been awarded for a number of years, this method of marketing the scholarships and letting recipients know of their award just started in 2009.

Statistics on e-mail: • Sent to 21,022 recipients three times • Total Opens: 3,511 • Total Clicks: 2,082 Visit this page at PirateAlumni.com/ScholarshipRecipientInformation

As our scholarship program has grown in recipients, it has become more difficult to recognize each of them at our

scholarship luncheon. In 2009, we produced a video of the recipients by asking each of them the following questions: State your class, major, hometown, and career aspiration.

List your campus and community activities.

List other schools you were accepted to. (“I chose ECU over...”)

What does it mean to you to be an ECU Pirate? Legacy recipients will also be asked to talk about extending the tradition of ECU in their family.

What does it mean to you to receive the Alumni Scholarship? Multi-year recipients will state “I am a two-time recipient of the Alumni Scholarship.”

In addition to using the video as a recognition piece at the Luncheon, it was sent to our Alumni Association members as a thank you for their membership with a reminder that their membership helps support our scholarship program. A second version of the video was sent to non-members. This version included a message from our Alumni Association president and CEO at the end of the video where he asked them to join to help support our scholarship program.

E-mail to Members: 2,550 sent | 705 opens | 237 clicks E-mail to Non-members: 28,166 sent | 3,483 opens | 868 clicks Currently, the sum of both videos have 631 views on YouTube.

We have just finished our application and selection process for awarding scholarships for the 20102011 academic year and experienced a record number of scholarship applications, which we can attribute to our use of technology and social media.

Full information about our scholarship program, including the 2009 video, can be found at PirateAlumni.com/Scholarships.

SUPPORTING OUR VOLUNTEERS Volunteers are critical to the success of the Alumni Association in fulfilling its mission. Acting as regional ambassadors, our regional contacts keep Pirate Spirit alive across the country and help us reconnect and stay connected with our constituents. In recent years the Alumni Association has moved away from a traditional “chapter” structure to promote our all-inclusive organization.

Our regional contacts serve as the first point of contact for alumni in a given area and help us plan regional events that are fun, accessible, and relevant for our alumni and friends in their surrounding communities.

Regional Facebook Pages We help our regional contacts promote participation through regional Facebook pages, which were created for 24 of our 39 regions. (Not all volunteers wanted the responsibility of maintaining a regional Facebook page.) These pages allow our regional contacts to market local alumni events and programs, post event photos, and stay in touch with alumni in their area. Fans of a particular regional Facebook page maintain an open dialogue, learn about upcoming events and activities, and can also utilize the page for networking purposes. Although the regional contact maintains primary responsibility for the regional Facebook page, staff members of the Alumni Association are always available to assist with any questions or concerns. View our regional Facebook pages at PirateAlumni.com/RegionalContacts.

Volunteer Training Maintaining working relationships with our regional contacts helps the Alumni Association stay strong and motivates our regional contacts to continue volunteering. Twice a year regional contacts

participate in volunteer training sessions to learn more about the current goals and strategies of the Alumni Association, ask questions of staff members and fellow regional contacts, network with other regional contacts, and plan for how to engage alumni and friends in their area during the next six months.

In the past, these training sessions have only been offered in-person or via teleconference. In January 2010 we added videoconferencing through the use of a Global Classroom.

Global Classroom technology virtually brings each regional contact to the meeting without leaving the comfort of their home or office computer. Participants can watch the training session remotely, access any documents or presentations on their computer, and even have dialogue throughout the training session using online chat. This service is offered free of charge through our University.

Find the link to our Volunteer Training videoconference at PirateAlumni.com/ForRegionalContacts

In addition to twice-a-year training, our volunteers receive The Privateer, a quarterly e-newsletter with content aimed toward helping them connect with alumni in their area.

All of our training sessions and past issues of The Privateer are archived on our Web site at PirateAlumni.com/ForRegionalContacts.

INTEGRATED MARKETING Marketing Alumni Association events and programs is critical to our success. In order to do this, we utilize multiple marketing channels including printed materials, e-mails, advertisements (print, audio, and video), and social media to inform our constituents of upcoming activities and programs in their area.

JOB: ______________________________ Available Marketing Channels: Event Manager ______________________ Date Submitted ____________________ • Printed event invitation (when Event Date _________________________ Event RSVP ________________________ cost effective) Check all that apply: • Invitation e-mail sent to qqWeB calendar - date added: ___________________ qqPrInT PIece BIdS: targeted audience Date requested: ___________________ 48HourPrint.com ___________________ • Reminder e-mail about Proof Sent: ________________ AccuCopy ___________________ upcoming event to targeted List size: ________________ Morgan Printers ___________________ audience Date ordered: ___________________ Harperprints ___________________ qqannOUnceMenT e-MaIl • Event Listing on our Web site Date requested: ___________________ calendar with complete details Proof Sent: ________________ of the event and registration qqreMInder e-MaIl - Date requested: ___________________ information qqSOcIal neTWOrKS - Dates: _________________________ • Notification via Twitter, qqOnlIne regISTraTIOn qqMarKeTIng FrIendly Url - ___________________ Facebook, and LinkedIn when qq________________________________ qq________________________________ appropriate Date requested: ___________________ Date requested: ___________________ • Agreements with local TV and Proof Sent: ________________ Proof Sent: ________________ radio stations allow us to produce commercials ____ dOne! Example of a job jacket used by our staff to ensure promoting events all marketing channels are utilized for each event.

For example, an upcoming Networking Breakfast is being promoted in the following manner: A printed invitation will be sent to 2,500 recipients March 15. Content of the invitation includes a link to the area’s Facebook Fan Page and a QR/2-D code on the mailing panel that directly links to the area’s Facebook Fan Page.

Information pushed via Twitter and Facebook:

networking breakfast

April 21: NEXT WEEK: Network with Pirates over breakfast in Raleigh on April 28. <<link to listing on Events Calendar>>

Event invitation showing the use of QR/2-D code and promotion of area’s Facebook Fan Page.

Raleigh, NC April 28, 2010

April 2: If you live in the Raleigh area, have you registered to network with Pirates over breakfast on April 28? <<link to listing on Events Calendar>>

scan here to connect with wake co. alumni on facebook.

Tap into the power of the Pirate Alumni Network

March 10: Network with Pirates over breakfast in Raleigh on April 28. <<link to listing on Events Calendar>>

Taylor-Slaughter Alumni Center 901 East Fifth Street | East Carolina University Greenville, NC 27858-4353

it’s time to network wit h east carolina alumni.

In these challenging economic times, netwo rking is a terrific way to make social and business connections that are so impor tant in today’s market. Enjoy breakfast before Nonprofit Org. your workday and U.S. thePostage camaraderie of your fellow Pirates while PAID staying connected with Permit No. 110 Greenville, NC your University by joining: Judge Gerald Arnold ’63, retired past preside nt of Lawyers Mutual Liability, member of ECU’s Board of Visitor s, 1981 Outstanding Alumnus, and past president of the Alumn i Association

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Event added to Discussions forum on LinkedIn on March 7.

As attendees register, a “Who’s Coming” list will be added and updated once or twice.

Join the alumni association today and help us reach our goal of

Event added to Events Calendar on PirateAlumni.com on March 7. Content of the calendar listing includes a link to the area’s Facebook Fan Page. As attendees register, a “Who’s Coming” list will be added and updated once or twice.

10,000 in 2010

“For Derek and me, East Carolina has been a family experience; from my parents, our siblings, and all our friends to hopefully someday our daughter, Olivia. Joining the Alumni Association and supporting East Carolina in this way just made sense; our membership only strengthens our connection and the pride we share for East Carolina.” heather stepp ’97

Blast e-mails promoting the event will be sent March 23 and April 20 to 5,091 recipients. Content of the e-mail also includes a link to the area’s Facebook Fan Page. As attendees register, a “Who’s Coming” list will be added and updated once or twice.

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Mark Tipton ’73, chairman and CEO of Whistler Investment Group, member of ECU’s Board of Truste es and Foundation Board of Directors, 1994 Outstanding Alumn us, and Greek Hall of Fame Inductee

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We’ve heard your feedback! Attendees will now have an opportunity to introduce themselves and their profession during the event.

Netw

Wednesday, April 28, 2010 7:30-9:00 a.m.

The Irregardless Café 901 West Morgan Street Raleigh, NC 27603 919-833-8898 Networking Breakfasts are $5.00 for Alumn i Association members and $10.00 for non-members, which includ es a light continental breakfast. Please let us know of any special dietary needs when you register. Dress is business casual.

Parking is available in the Irregardless Café parking lot, which is between the Café and Hillsborough Street on the east side of the road (across the street and down three doors from the restaurant). There is also parking on the street.

Bring your business cards for our busine ss card exchange and the oppor tunity to win ECU door prizes! Be sure to join us for future Networking Breakfasts in Raleigh in July and October. become a fan of the wake coun ty chapter at piratealumni.com/wakecou ntychapter

This is a new event that is being held quarterly. Attendance from the first to second event jumped 242%.

Example of blast e-mail that promotes area Facebook Fan Page.

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