The newly created Strategic Communications Working Group works to (a) facilitate awareness within the Alumni Association Board of the interests and concerns of alumni at large so that it can respond to them promptly and appropriately, and (b) increase awareness of the Alumni Association and its activities among the alumni at large in order to increase alumni participation.
The Alumni Association Board is made up of volunteers. We all have jobs, families and social commitments that limit the amount of time that we can devote to the Association. We also have varying degrees of exposure and commitment to social media. This has resulted in slow and/or uneven awareness within the Board of alumni concerns arising in social media. We have also seen questions asked and discussions arise over topics where the Alumni Association could have provided clarity had we responded more quickly. In order to be more responsive and to increase the flow of information we're creating a group of Social Media Outreach Coordinators.
Coordinators will be responsible for keeping the Board informed of alumni interests and concerns voiced on social media. Specifically, coordinators would identify areas of concern to alumni which appear in social media, summarize and categorize them, and then inform the Board. This will be both on a periodic basis for low priority items, and immediate if there is urgent need of response from or action by the Board. Coordinators will also facilitate connections between alumni and the Association by answering questions such as "How do I volunteer?", "Who is responsible for organizing alumni networking events?", etc. We will also review the Association's presence on social media and recommend improvements. We'll sit down with volunteers to figure out the actual organization of responsibilities (i.e. by topic, by social media site, by Board Working Group, etc.), and frequency once we see how many volunteers we have and how much time they can dedicate.