Delivered at the regional Association of Private College and University Alumni Directors (PCUAD) meeting in July 2009. Interesting to see how our social networks have grown in usage, but a lot of the questions remain the same. Resources on page 2-3 are still valuable places for information.

1. NEW TOOLS FOR ALUMNI OUTREACH
Regional PCUAD Conference – July 10, 2009
George Washington University Social Media Outreach
• Facebook - 40+ groups; 30+ staff-managed groups
• Twitter - 291 followers as of July 8
• YouTube - 25 videos, 14 subscribers, and 7 friends as of July 8. Monthly Metrics: June 2009 - 553
video views, 467 unique views
• LinkedIn - 7,792 members of GWAA group as of July 8; other groups managed by schools
• Flickr - 40,507 all time views, 2,315 photos, 10 collections, and 62 sets as of July 8. Current daily
average of ~150 views
• GW Alumni Online Community - managed through Harris Connect. 27,616 registered users (12.6%
active); Career Advisor Network - 892 alumni members; 1,156 contact attempts as of July 8
• GWAA blog - in conversations about viability; Alumni Association wants to manage independently;
have URL, but not publicized
Questions
• Staff time and responsibility?
• How do you create a genuine dialogue?
• Do you use various networks to serve various purposes? Do you know which segments of your
alumni use which vehicles?
• How do you tie it into your website or other communication vehicles?
• What do you do with feedback/information gathered?
• Metrics and measuring success?
Recommendations
• Find a balance between experimentation and strategic use of social networks. Don’t be afraid to try it
out; don’t simply use this as another outlet to send out the same old news/announcements.
• Recognize you are not totally in control of these networks or the perception of your alumni
association/university on these networks – you are what your customers think you are.
• Think about your alumni needs/interests. How can you respond to those through these mediums?
LinkedIn – job postings and networking opps; Twitter – event tickets, prominent alumni info;
Facebook – event information; Flickr – post-event follow-up; YouTube – building awareness of and
affinity toward University and Alumni Association
• Even if you’re not using an outlet at the moment create an account to try to reserve your
organization’s name on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.
• Don’t just look at peer schools; learn from what corporate entities and other non-profits are doing
• Tap into the wisdom of the crowd to help you answer questions and solve problems. Frankly haven’t
done enough with them at GW…
o Ex.) Wesleyan University Engages Users in Web Design:
http://webredesign.blogs.wesleyan.edu/
o Ex.) GW young alum Tweets about new web design – not a crisis, an opportunity!
• Do some research on your alumni involvement in social networks – RapLeaf, Anderson Analytics,
Unbound Technologies, more vendors here: http://www.gspaysolutions.com/news/E-
commerce/5302/Making_Social_Networks_Pay,_Part_2:_Players_and_Products/

2. Additional Resources/More Information:
Advertising Age Digital
http://adage.com/digital/
Marketing in the Groundswell
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/
Forrester Blog for Interactive Marketing Professionals
http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/
Alumni Futures
http://www.alumnifutures.com/
Bob Johnson Consulting – Link of the Week
http://www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/linkoftheweek.html

3. Additional Resources/More Information:
Marketing Profs
http://www.marketingprofs.com/
Council of Alumni Association Marketing & Membership
Professionals (CAMMP)
http://www.uiaa.org/cammp/
recent post “Facebook, Twitter, and other social marketing impact on Alumni
Associations”
Your Alumni!
Through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, boards, committees, etc.
MobilEdu
http://www.medu.com/

4. Advertising Age Page 1 of 3
What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You
Anderson Analytics Survey Reveals Consumers' Likely Interests, Buying Habits, Media
Consumption
By Beth Snyder Bulik
Published: July 08, 2009
YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- Do you Twitter? Then you are more interested in sex than the average Facebook, MySpace
or LinkedIn user. Like LinkedIn? You're more likely to watch soap operas. Favor MySpace? You're probably not into
exercise.
Which social network you favor says a lot about you -- and you might be
surprised just what it says. A new study by Anderson Analytics is helping
identify users' likely interests, buying habits, media consumption and more
for marketers. The survey studied the demographics and psychographics of
both social networkers and non-users and found that "there are definite data-
driven segments in the social-networking-site market, both for non-users and
users," said Tom Anderson, founder and managing partner.
Today 110 million Americans, or 60% of the online population, use social
networks, and that number is fairly conservative, because instead of counting
unique users or everyone who has an account, as many estimates do, the
Photo: AP Anderson study counted only people who have used a social network at least
once in the past month.
Users tend to spend a lot of time on social networks. The average social networker goes to social sites five days a week
and checks in about four times a day for a total of an hour each day. A super-connected 9% stay logged in all day and
are "constantly checking out what's new."
Social networkers' feelings about brands online in general are more positive than the researchers thought they would
be. Some 52% of social networkers had friended or become a fan of at least one brand. When asked if seeing a brand
on a social network makes them feel positive or negative about that brand, an almost-equal 17% said positive and 19%
said negative. The other 64% were neutral or didn't care. When asked if they would like more communications from
brands, 45% were neutral, while 20% said yes and 35% said no.
Anderson conducted the study online in June with 5,000 demographically representative respondents, and then went in-
depth with 1,250 of them. With the help of Mr. Anderson and his team, Ad Age dug into the reams of stats to create the
mini profiles below.
http://adage.com/print?article_id=137792 7/10/2009

5. Advertising Age Page 2 of 3
Social-network users overall
Social networkers get a bad rap for using social media to pump up their egos and reputations with "fake" friends. But
the truth is, in general, they're not super-aggressive about building networks. Almost half (45%) said they will link only
to family and friends, and another 18% will link only to people they've met in person. That means almost two-thirds
associate only with people they know offline. The fake-frienders are still out perpetuating the myth, though -- 10% of
those surveyed said they will connect with anyone who's willing to connect with them.
And another myth blown: Most users are not wasting company time. Only 15% said they go on social networks at
work.
Their top three interests are music, movies and hanging out with friends, and they use social media most to stay in
touch with friends, family and classmates. Not surprisingly, they do more online than non-users of social media, from
watching videos to reading blogs to making purchases. They are four times more vocal than non-users when it comes to
commenting on discussion boards, posting blog entries and uploading videos.
Anderson's research breaks down general social-media users into four categories: business users, fun seekers, social-
media mavens and late followers. Of those, social-media mavens are the key group, not only because of their high
incomes and decision-making power at companies but also because their large social-media footprints can make them
brand allies and evangelists, Mr. Anderson said. Fun seekers are also an important group because they are the up-and-
coming mavens as they transition from students to employees.
Non-users of social networks
Contrary to what some might think, people who spurn social media aren't tech haters. In fact, they spend as much time
as social-media fans surfing the web. But they say they don't use social media for three basic reasons: They don't have
the time, they don't think it's secure or they think it's stupid. While the first two groups -- which Anderson labels "time-
starved" and "concerned" -- may be swayed to join eventually, don't hold out much hope for the last group: 94% said
they will never use social media.
About 22% of time-starved people said they'll be using social media within three months, and another 27% said they
probably will within a year -- when they get the time that is; they're more interested than all others in pursuits such as
exercise, entertaining, music and movies.
The concerned non-users are an older demographic (one-third are retired) who don't use social networks because
they're worried about their privacy. However, they do recognize value in social media and may join as they become
more comfortable with it.
Non-users in general don't shop online as much as social networkers, but they are much more likely to visit online
retailers Amazon and eBay. They also named IAC's IWon and HGTV as favored web destinations.
Facebookers
There are 77 million Facebook users, according to the study, and Facebook users were almost completely average in
their level of interest in most areas when compared with users of Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. Out of 45 categories,
only national news, sports, exercise, travel, and home and garden skewed even slightly higher than average, and then
by only one or two percentage points.
"Facebook is average because it has the most users. When stat testing, anything near the average is less likely to be
significant," Mr. Anderson said. "They are also capturing a wider range of users for various reasons, from high-school
and college fun, leisure user to business and parents and grandparents."
They are more likely to be married (40%), white (80%) and retired (6%) than users of the other social networks. They
have the second-highest average income, at $61,000, and an average of 121 connections.
Facebook users skew a bit older and are more likely to be late adopters of social media. But they are also extremely
loyal to the site -- 75% claim Facebook is their favorite site, and another 59% say they have increased their use of the
site in the past six months.
http://adage.com/print?article_id=137792 7/10/2009

6. Advertising Age Page 3 of 3
Twitterers
This is the super-user group. Twitterers are more interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high
in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion. They also especially like pop culture,
with music, movies, TV and reading, ranking higher than average. And their buying habits mirror that. They're more
likely to buy books, movies, shoes and cosmetics online than the other groups.
Twitterers are also entrepreneurial. They are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs or
businesses. How do they keep going? Coffee, apparently. Some 31% buy coffee online, far above the average 21% of
other social networkers.
They're more likely to be employed part-time (16% vs. 11% average), have an average income of $58,000, and average
28 followers and 32 other Twitterers they're following. They're not particularly attached to the site, though -- 43% said
they could live without Twitter.
MySpacers
They are the young, the fun and the fleeing. While MySpace users skew younger, they also said they'd used the site
much less in the past six months.
The 67 million who are still there are into having a good time. They're more likely to have joined MySpace for fun and
more likely to be interested in entertaining friends, humor and comedy, and video games. They're less into exercise
than any other social group but seek out parenting information more than any other.
The content MySpace users put up is most often about specific hobbies, or pictures of family and friends. Their average
income is the lowest, at $44,000, and they have an average of 131 connections. They're more likely to be black (9%) or
Hispanic (7%) than users of the other social sites. They are also more likely to be single (60%) and students (23%).
LinkedIn users
It's probably no surprise these guys are all about business. We say guys because LinkedIn has the only user group with
more males than females (57% to 43%). They have the highest average income, at $89,000, and are more likely to have
joined the site for business or work, citing keeping in touch with business networks, job searching, business
development and recruiting as top reasons.
Their interests reflect that as well. They like all kinds of news, employment information, sports and politics. They also
more likely to be into the gym, spas, yoga, golf and tennis.
Excluding video-game systems, they own more electronic gadgets than the other social networkers, including digital
cameras, high-definition TVs, DVRs and Blu-ray players.
How do they unwind? Here were two surprises among the things they're more interested in than the others: gambling
and soap operas. Some 12% seek gambling information online (vs. an average of 7%), while 10% go online for soap-
opera content (vs. an average of 5%).
Copyright © 1992-2009 Crain Communications | Privacy Statement | Contact Us
http://adage.com/print?article_id=137792 7/10/2009