Inside Higher Ed ran an article on July 9th, 2010 entitled "What the Alumni Read (or Ignore)." Having conducted more than my share of readership studies over the years I was immediately attracted to this article to see how things lined up with my experience. I was not surprised to see the reported differential on alumni age and sources of information about their alma mater.
Under 25 alums were more likely to obtain information about their colleges through email, the web site and word of mouth (can you say social media?). Older alumni, and the older the more likely, would get their information from a magazine first followed by the previously mentioned sources. Furthermore, older alumni were more likely read every issue with age as well. As Jeffrey Lott, editor of the alumni magazine at Swarthmore College points out, this trend may not be unusual. He states: "Loyalty to an institution is built up over time..." However, he does go on to say the gap is probably larger than it had been in the past when studies like this were not available (this study was conducted by The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.)
Two things are clear from the study. One, that alumni magazines still are relevant and serve as an important communication tool for the college. Two, we need to adapt how we communicate and what we communicate to changes in alumni behavior and interests. We have multiple markets even in the alumni ranks and this calls for more than one market strategy.
Tom Hayes
th@simpsonscarborough.com
Leave a comment