Keys To Success in Social Media Marketing

Recently, I heard that leading marketing firm Digital Innovations Group (DIG) was having great success with incorporating social media like Facebook and Twitter into its fund-raising campaigns for higher education. The challenge, it seems, is that younger alumni aren’t responding to traditional direct mail, so how do you reach them? According to Kate Dunn, president of DIG, you go where they are. That means incorporating social media into a cross-channel marketing strategy that incorporates social media, not as an afterthought, but as part of a cohesive, integrated approach.

This month, I thought I’d let Kate Dunn speak in her own words about what makes these strategies successful.

PN: What triggered your use of social media in this marketplace?

Dunn: Non-participation by young alumni. They simply weren’t responding to traditional marketing methods, and our clients didn’t know what was wrong. We’d go through the list of usual suspects—the look and feel of the piece, the messaging—and then discover that they were sending the same piece to a 22 year old as a 50 year old. Of course they aren’t going to respond to that. The question became, how do we find these people? Where are they? How do we engage them? They’re on Facebook. Once we’ve found them on Facebook, how do we get them engaged so that they’ll respond to fund-raising efforts in the future?

PN: How do you get them engaged? Do you assume they’ll “friend” a school? What do they get out of it?

Dunn: Part of the messaging might be, “Friend us on Facebook. You can reconnect with your old friends from the Class of 2003” or whatever. Facebook provides another avenue for reconnecting with old friends, professors, and other alumni on a personal or professional level. We’ve also used Facebook for specific initiatives like virtual parties. We invite alums to come as part of a networking event. Then we incorporated a class challenge, using the “wall” to keep them updated on how their giving compares to that of another class year. It creates a competitive atmosphere.

PN: How is it working?

Dunn: Really well. This is how these alumni are already connecting, so you’re just tapping into it. One institution started with only 17 followers. After we helped them incorporate Facebook into their overall marketing strategy, now it’s up to 400. They are thrilled.

PN: Once alumni are reconnecting on the Facebook page, then what? What is their incentive to give?

Dunn: The solicitations aren’t going to be directly through Facebook, although there will be status updates and reminders on the wall. The value is that Facebook is getting them re-engaged with their alumni community. Once they are re-engaged, they are more likely to give. It also makes them more aware of direct mail coming from the institution.

PN: So there may not be an overt marketing goal for virtual Facebook events?

Dunn: The goal is simply to get alumni talking. It’s the difference between a campaign and a conversation. Once they are talking to you, they are more likely to give when we ask.

PN: How are you tracking the success of these campaigns?

Dunn: The number of people who “friend” the institution as a result of promoting it and the amount of traffic being driven. We also track how many posts are made and how many people make donations online. Although we don’t actively solicit donations, there is always a giving portal, so donations can be tracked that way. An interesting thing we found in a recent campaign is that people who were engaged, who were going to their PURLs, who were going to the Facebook page and participating, even though they didn’t give during the mixers, they gave later on. In fact, when we analyzed the people who gave throughout a campaign, 50 percent of the givers were out of the Facebook pool.

PN: So social media works?

Dunn: Yes, but if you just say, “Give me money,” it will be a flop. It has to be part of an overall strategy.