How to engage alumni with video [Tips & examples]

Increase alumni engagement with an alumni network & personalized video messaging

Getting your alumni community to join and engage with your institution is an increasingly difficult task in today’s world. With so many competing digital spaces and priorities fighting for their time and attention, how can you reach your alumni to create an engaged, inspiring and ultimately fruitful alumni network of your school’s biggest fans?

The short answer: Reach them on a personal level.

By leveraging an alumni network platform fully branded to your institution and with trackable metrics to measure performance paired with a personalized video messaging strategy, alumni will be encouraged and inspired to support your school’s mission for years to come. 

Check out some common use cases to use your alumni network and video messaging together for a foolproof alumni engagement strategy:

Welcome new users to your alumni network

An excellent way to use Gravyty’s video messaging tool is to leverage key members of your community to personally welcome new users to your alumni network platform using video. 

Firstly, collect a video from an institutional leader or key figure in your community which provides a warm welcome and some top tips on using the platform, and send it out once a month via email to all new registered users.

Secondly, once a quarter, ask your platform ambassadors or key alumni volunteers to record and send a personal video to each new user (from a list which you provide), emphasizing to these new users how powerful the online community is for building connections and encouraging them to reach out personally with any questions.

These personal touches will solidify the positive first experiences your new users have with your alumni platform and reinforce that they are part of a strong and connected digital community.

Reconnect alumni to the fond memories from your school

Each and every member of your alumni community has a favorite part of your institution, whether it be a physical location on campus or even a notable symbol of the school, such as a mascot.

A personalized video messaging tool allows you to tap into the nostalgia of their experience at your school. Use personalized video to encourage alumni to:

• Return to the places they loved and miss at your institution for an upcoming event like a reunion or homecoming (or better yet, volunteer to help out or contribute to the event in some way)
• Offer their expertise and willingness to help as a mentor for current students
• Get involved in a new academic program or initiative
• Contribute to a new mission or cause tied to their favorite parts of their alma mater

Encourage alumni to attend reunions and other events

Recruit your reunion ambassadors and class representatives to help build excitement and increase registrations leading up to reunions and homecoming, via video messaging sent directly to your alum’s inboxes or through text message. Instead of sending out traditional reunion invitation emails, a personal video message sent directly from your class reps captures the (often divided) attention of the alumni you’re trying to reach.

Even better, these videos encourage your alumni audience to return to your Graduway platform to learn more about other upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and other ways to get involved. 

Video can be an impactful tool to engage, inspire and delight alumni. It allows you to put a face to your institution’s brand and connect with alums on a human level. Experiment with using video throughout your engagement strategy to see what resonates best with your community. Interested in learning more about Gravyty’s alumni engagement platform? Get in touch today to get a demo.