Download - MSU Alumni Association - Michigan State University

BE COOL! JOIN US AS WE
JUMP UP TO NEW HEIGHTS
By Robert Bao
When U.S. News & World
Report rates universities, one factor
it considers is how many alumni
become members of the alumni
association. The number reflects,
to some degree, how much alumni
support their alma mater.
I’m happy to report that the
MSU Alumni Association has
experienced a major jump in its
membership—by more than
4,000 over a year ago. The
MSUAA currently has 38,300
members, compared to about
34,200 a year ago.
“We’ve made this gain despite the
downturn in the economy,” says
Laurie Robison, MSUAA membership
director, who is clearly pleased
with the surge of support.
“We’re absolutely
delighted,” says Scott Westerman,
executive director of
the MSUAA, or
“head servant
of MSU
alumni,” as
he likes to
informally
call himself. “We want to thank
all those who have joined as new
members or rejoined us after their
previous membership ran out.
This support will help MSU in
so many ways. Our job is to also
make sure that membership will
prove to be of great value to members
and make sure the MSU
Alumni Association becomes
one’s personal network for life.”
Robison says several factors
helped account for this surge. “We
published an alumni directory,
and that helped bring us more
than 1,400 new members,” she
says. “We also ran aggressive campaigns
to bring in new members as
well as regain former members. It’s
a combination of many efforts.”
Here are some additional
specific steps behind the upsurge:
• Last summer’s alumni directory
yielded 56,659 data upates along
with 1,419 new members.
• Last fall, an appeal was sent to
31,000 alumni, who’s memberships
had lapsed. It’s on track to yield
some 500 returning members.
• Membership campaigns were
supplemented with appeals from
student telemarketers.
• The strengthening of engagement
efforts and special
programs, such as Coaches on
the Road events and the Izzone
Alumni Reunion, has helped us
connect with more alumni at a
personal level.
And there are more to come.
This year the MSUA will launch
a membership campaign that
relies heavily on social media.
“This is a really fun campaign,”
says Robison. “It’s a contest to
identify and recruit the most
spirited or ‘greenest’ Spartans
out there. You upload a photo
showing your Spartan pride and
spirit. You also get to vote on a
favorite photo every week. Each
week we’ll give out a prize based
on the voting, but the idea is to
grow our membership.”
The photos shown here illustrate
the kind of photos the
MSUAA will seek during this
contest.
“We want to leverage the
power of social media,”
explains Robison,
who also notes the success of
the MSUAA’s app—the Cap &
Compass Crib Sheet for MSU,
available for iPhone, Android,
Blackberry and iPad/iPod.
“We’ll have cool prizes, including
T-shirts, tickets, jewelry and
even cash.”
I already know which prize I’d
like to win. I love the button
created by Robison that says,
simply, “Kiss My S.”
The button not only sends a
strong message about my support
for MSU, but is also versatile
enough to be useful on other
occasions, such as rivalry games,
or “just because.”
Stay tuned.
☛ To join the MSU Alumni
Association, visit us online at
alumni.msu.edu or call toll free
(877) MSU-ALUM.
GREEN IN PARIS—(L to r)
Sarah Pomeroy, Chelsea Satkowiak
and Meghan McLaughlin
show their colors by the Louvre
pyramid.
Seniors Janel Rutzen, Emily
Tschirhart and Devin Barrett
exemplify Spartan Spirit.
Timeframephoto.com
Page 58
Spring 2011 MSU Alumni Magazine