Graduway vs. LinkedIn: Which platform to choose for alumni engagement

LinkedIn is undoubtedly a powerful platform for connecting with professionals and peers in your industry. But while it’s a free and well-known option, it’s limited when it comes to customization, security, outreach and functionality—all things critical to a thriving alumni network. Graduway is an alumni community platform designed to empower teams with the tools they need to engage, nurture and grow their alumni and member networks. 

In this blog, we’ll cover the similarities and key differences between Graduway vs. LinkedIn Groups for alumni engagement.

Table of contents

1. How Graduway works
2. How LinkedIn Groups work
3. Comparison chart: Graduway vs. LinkedIn
4. Benefits of Graduway for alumni relations teams
5. FAQs about Graduway
6. Conclusion

How Graduway works

Graduway is a virtual community and alumni engagement platform powered by Gravyty. With Graduway, institutions can build exclusive, fully branded and secure alumni networks, consistently engage members through features like a newsfeed and video messaging, and provide career development resources like mentoring, networking and job boards. Graduway also provides a self-service alumni directory, ensuring alumni contact information stays up to date. 

With Graduway, institutions can own the conversation with alumni and students, drive valuable engagement, and create a private, purpose-built community.

How LinkedIn Groups work

LinkedIn Groups are private or public communities on LinkedIn where professionals with shared interests, industries, or affiliations can connect, discuss topics, and share content. Groups offer a space for networking, knowledge sharing, and engagement among members. Alumni relations teams can establish a LinkedIn Group specifically for alumni to provide a central hub for discussions, networking, and school updates.

Comparison chart: Graduway vs. LinkedIn Groups

Benefits of Graduway for alumni relations teams

Graduway offers many benefits for alumni engagement teams looking to engage, nurture and grow their alumni networks. Let’s review them.

Own the data and the conversation

On social media platforms like LinkedIn, data is restricted—any group or page data is limited and controlled by the platform. With Graduway, you capture data directly from your community, allowing you to access real-time insights essential outreach, mentoring, alumni engagement and fundraising. You maintain control of the data with customizable reports and a direct CRM integration.

Minimize distractions to maximize engagement

LinkedIn’s open platform means competing for attention with ads, influencers and endless content. With Graduway, you control the feed and create an exclusive space for your institution’s news, events and discussions. Graduway users aren’t sidetracked by ads or irrelevant content, allowing you to focus on delivering meaningful engagement without distractions.

Personalize the platform for tailored experiences

Graduway allows complete customization, aligning the platform with your institution’s brand, message and user segments. Unlike social media’s one-size-fits-all model, Graduway enables you to tailor experiences by group (e.g., alumni, students, donors), ensuring each segment sees relevant content and has an engaging, meaningful experience.

Admins can also tailor questions to gather the data you want to collect. You can set up questions about mentoring and willingness to volunteer questions to specifically match the needs of your user base.

Boost engagement with dedicated affinity groups

Graduway’s exclusive groups feature allows you to segment audiences based on interests, locations, or needs and deliver unique content and opportunities that are unavailable to others. These private spaces are designed to maximize quality, authentic engagement and provide a platform for conversations about mentoring, career development, or alumni-owned businesses.

Easily integrate with social media to reach alumni where they are

Graduway doesn’t replace your social presence—it complements it. Users can sign in through LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google, enabling you to leverage social profiles and gain access to always up-to-date alumni data. 

Pull social feeds directly into your Graduway platform, ensuring your community sees all posts and events. Graduway also allows for a smooth integration with CRMs and other external feeds, giving members a full circle engagement experience.

Unparalleled customer support and strategic guidance

Gravyty’s team is composed of dozens of former advancement, alumni relations and fundraising professionals. When you partner with Gravyty, you’ll get access to dedicated account and customer success managers who work with you to ensure engagement success. 

Benefits of Graduway for alumni and members

Alumni and community members also benefit from the exclusivity and personalization of a Graduway-powered network over a broad LinkedIn group. Here are some of the user benefits of Graduway.

Authentic & verified community

With Graduway, you can be confident that your network is made up of authentic, verified accounts. Every user is verified, and no bots or fake accounts can enter the platform.

Alumni can have peace of mind in the security and exclusivity of the space, knowing they’re engaging in a community of real people and relevant connections. Admins can have confidence they are building a warm community of people with shared experience who want to help each other.

Easy & accurate connections

Unlike social media, where searches often require exact names or extensive scrolling, Graduway’s directory allows users to filter connections by industry, expertise, and shared goals. It’s simple for users to find the right people, whether they’re searching for mentors, industry connections, or alumni in their field.

Private messaging without restrictions

On LinkedIn, messaging often requires special InMail credits or paid ads. On Graduway, users can communicate openly within the platform, allowing seamless conversations among peers, mentors and mentees without barriers or limitations.

Enhanced mentorship and career resources

Graduway’s platform structure simplifies mentoring programs, providing specific tools for finding and managing mentor-mentee relationships. Users can participate in mentoring, access career resources, find exclusive job listings and join business directories, all within a dedicated platform created for their growth.

Single sign-on for easy, secure access

Signing in to your Graduway network is simple, with multiple options available, including Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Graduway also offers single sign-on (SSO), making it easy to onboard users and keep profile data up-to-date without additional logins.

FAQs about Graduway vs. LinkedIn Groups

Which is a better platform for professional networking?

While LinkedIn is a great platform to connect with a wide range of professionals in a given field, it lacks the tailored experience, communication tools and relevant content a Graduway-powered alumni platform offers. With Graduway, alumni get access to a ready-made network of peers and mentors, exclusive job and internship opportunities, and dedicated private group spaces.

Consider including helpful resources on your Graduway platform for how alumni can best use LinkedIn and Graduway together.

How can you encourage alumni to migrate from a LinkedIn Group to a Graduway network?

If you decide to migrate your alumni community from a social media platform to Graduway, it’s essential to communicate early and often with members about the transition. 

• Make a post in the existing platform about the migration, including why, when and where it’s happening. 
• Provide a link to the new network, and encourage community members to register. 
• Offer details on how they will benefit from joining the new network, and make it clear the current platform will be sunsetted by a specific date. 
• Grow the network over time by advertising your platform with new and soon-to-be graduates, at in-person and virtual events, and through alumni communications.

Once a user has registered on Graduway, how can you encourage them to return?

The key to a flourishing alumni network is authentic and valuable engagement. Here are four tips for driving members back to your network:

1. Offer exclusive content and benefits: People love to be part of something exclusive. This could include early registration for high-demand events, webinar recordings, behind-the-scenes glimpses of new campus renovations, or discount codes for alumni-owned businesses. 
2. Drive friendly competition with badges: Users can earn different badges by completing different activities on the platform. The badges will show up next to the user’s name once they have been earned. 
3. Target specific alumni segments: Graduway lets admins target specific alumni groups based on filters and segments—think graduating class, or speech and debate alums. Use tagging to identify alumni who might be interested in particular content or activities, and reach out to those who haven’t logged in for a certain amount of time. 
4. Provide volunteer opportunities and information: Your alumni network is made up of your institution’s biggest advocates. Tap into their willingness to help by engaging them with volunteer opportunities, training session information, or mentoring program invitations.

Conclusion

While LinkedIn is a great platform for connecting with professional peers, Graduway stands out as the superior choice for alumni engagement. Graduway offers a fully branded, secure, and customizable platform designed to help alumni engagement teams foster meaningful connections, career development, and fundraising opportunities.

Unlike LinkedIn Groups, Graduway empowers institutions to own their data, minimize distractions, and provide a truly exclusive community for alumni and members. Want to see the difference for yourself? Book a demo today to experience Graduway in action.