Archive for May, 2009
We just concluded an alumni awareness effort last week for Furman University called http://www.DoNotCallMeAtDinner.com that leveraged database marketing and social media to create a new approach to alumni relations. Although all of the results are not yet tallied, we had some insights that we wanted to go ahead and share.
The campaign was designed to create alumni awareness and increase participation with Furman University alumni while raising funds through online donations. Like most universities, Furman has a Spring Call-a-Thon that yields predictable results but is perceived as an annoyance to many donors. This year the approach was to attack that philosophy head-on and promise not to call alumni at dinner if they made an online gift by May 15, 2009. A parody of the famous Apple/PC television spots was used to help drive home this point.
The success of the campaign was measured on the increased participation from the 90s and 2000s classes of alumni that have historically had lower participation rates in traditional campaigns. Read the rest of this entry »
It is hard to have a personal or professional conversation these days without facebook or twitter coming up. In an effort to keep my message short and sweet, or twitter-style, I thought this would be an easy way to share how these sites have become part of my daily grind and why. Please share you comments and I will continue to add to my initial list over time.
Ok, so where do I start with this stuff?
Facebook.com – Connect with 37 years of friends and family, remember how many things we all have in common and hope they remember me as a marketer.
LinkedIn.com – Connect with professional peers, share networks and share ideas. Stay current with industry news, trends and other’s unique perspectives.
Twitter.com – Connect, listen, share, and converse in real time with the great minds of people that I have no other way of reaching.
Delicious.com – Bookmark content I like. See how many others like it. See what else they like. No folders, tags keep it all simple to find when I need it.
Flickr.com – Photos are just cool to look at. But as you use these SM tools, it is a great place to post your images so you can feed them to other sites.
My Blog – Keeps me sharp and keeps me thinking. Makes me form solid opinions and I always try to provide value to the readers. I do not do it enough.
Other’s Blogs – I am a skimmer. I skim for stories, perspectives, research and inspiration. From house wives to CEO’s, everyone has great stories to share.