Rethinking LinkedIn: A Fresh Approach for Alumni Engagement in Building an Experience Brand
When you think of LinkedIn, what comes to mind? Networking? Job hunting? Announcing a big career move? For most people, LinkedIn is a space to connect professionally and maintain a digital résumé. But the platform is much more than that. In my mind, LinkedIn still represents the clearest, most accessible opportunity for growth in measurable alumni engagement.
But for those of us in education advancement, LinkedIn needs to be something more than it has been. With over 310 million monthly active users and a deep pool of educated professionals, LinkedIn offers fertile ground for cultivating alumni relationships and donor engagement.
The Current Landscape Isn’t Working
Today, most universities treat LinkedIn as a centrally managed marketing channel. The primary university page is typically overseen by the central communications or marketing team, which makes sense given the need to consolidate content creation, but their focus is on brand awareness and enrollment. Their work is critically important, but their objectives don’t always align with those of advancement. Said another way, enrollment is always the priority for the central mar/com shop.
For alumni engagement and fundraising teams, it’s difficult to establish a collaborative partnership around content creation that presents giving messages, highlights alumni career stories, or provides the ability to track and measure personalized engagement through the university’s main page.
And the tools we’ve traditionally leaned on aren’t performing the way they used to. Take LinkedIn Groups, for example. Once a popular option for alumni communities, they’ve become less visible in users’ feeds and offer limited engagement today. The LinkedIn Alumni tool, once a go-to for career and networking searches, has become harder to find and navigate—prompting experts like Jeremy Schifeling to note its decreasing utility in a recent post.
If advancement wants to truly leverage LinkedIn, it’s time to rethink our approach and maybe start from scratch.
A Fresh Start: Build a lifestyle brand
Imagine a LinkedIn page built specifically to grow a philanthropic community. It’s a space for storytelling, connection, and generosity—a digital home for those who feel a lasting bond with the institution.
At Gonzaga, it might be called Zag Nation; at UCF, Knights Nation. Names like these often emerge from athletics or student life and carry a familiar, inclusive tone. Mascot Nation or My School for Life isn’t an alumni association brand, it represents the community itself, not the university or association as an entity.
When advancement teams can brand these spaces intentionally, they will tap into powerful emotional drivers. A strong identity supports authentic stories, alumni participation, and philanthropic momentum. Names like The Hive, Forever Cardinal, or Purdue for Life invite people to see themselves in the brand and feel part of something bigger.
Ashley Budd, digital strategist at Cornell University recently pointed in her newsletter to lifestyle brands as a model for this kind of connection. These brands go beyond products to reflect a way of life. They succeed by showcasing relatable people, using warm messaging, celebrating culture, and offering easy ways to engage. Advancement can apply the same thinking by creating digital spaces where alumni feel seen, welcomed, and proud to belong.
Building the Team
Mascot Nation would be led by a digital engagement specialist within the advancement team or this person could be a freelancer. This individual would manage the page, develop the content strategy, coach/train contributors, and interact directly with followers. They’d dedicate roughly 10-25 hours per week of their time to this aspect of their role supporting LinkedIn.
Supporting them is a team of 4 to 5 paid alumni contributors working around 6-8 hours per month. These contributors should be current donors and experienced storytellers—people who care deeply about the institution and have the skills and voice to produce engaging, authentic content. They aren’t influencers per se. They’re credible voices from within the community willing to work as an extension of the advancement team.
Each contributor brings a unique perspective. One may be a recent grad working in tech. Another may be a long-time supporter working in nonprofit leadership. Together, they create content that reflects the diversity and depth of the alumni experience.
What Content Works
The content published on Mascot Nation should reflect alumni life, not institutional messaging, in the way we’ve produced and published stories before. Some ideas include:
- Profiles or Q&A with alumni entrepreneurs or leaders in their fields
- Recorded shorts with testimonials about professional experiences
- Career advice from alumni in HR or hiring roles
- Behind-the-scenes looks at major university events from the attendees' perspective
- Alumni giving stories that focus on motivation and impact
- Reflections on how the university prepared them for life and work
This content should feel both authentic and mission aligned. The goal is not to promote the university and its accomplishments; it’s to build a sense of belonging and shared identity around a community of like-minded school-color-bleeders.
Paid vs. Unpaid: While volunteer content creators can add value, paying contributors helps ensure reliability and consistency. I’ve worked with volunteer digital ambassadors, and while they can be wonderful partners, paid models tend to deliver higher quality and more dependable content. Regardless of compensation, creators need clear expectations, training, and ongoing support.
Small Touches, Big Impact
Every new follower of Mascot Nation should receive a welcome message. Whether it’s from the digital engagement lead or one of the alumni contributors, that personal note matters. It shows that the page is more than just a broadcast tool—it’s a space where people are seen and valued.
Regular touchpoints via comment replies and direct messages help reinforce this sense of connection and move followers from passive observers to active community members. The whole point is to track and measure individual engagement on the page in the form of new followers and active contributors, but also to form a new activation space that keeps engagement at the forefront.
Why It Will Work
Very few universities are using LinkedIn in this way. The Mascot Nation concept offers a centralized structure supported by decentralized content that’s planned and guided by advancement professionals but powered by alumni donor voices. This balance makes the model scalable and authentic.
Even better, content created for Mascot Nation doesn’t live in a vacuum. It can be repurposed for newsletters, alumni websites, and even a branded YouTube channel. As my colleague Nicole Kempton noted, this approach helps us “showcase campaign priorities in the wild.” It takes abstract institutional goals and makes them tangible through lived experiences.
Final Thoughts
LinkedIn is already where alumni show up. It’s where they celebrate career milestones, stay informed, and follow causes they care about. If advancement teams meet them there with value, warmth, and authenticity, they will engage.
This community-driven approach creates the foundation for a subscription model rooted in value and connection, which I believe is part of the future of our space. Adding to the article by colleague Paul Clifford, institutions can invite supporters to opt into a deeper level of engagement by offering exclusive content, career resources, behind-the-scenes access, and alumni-led experiences. A well-branded, mission-aligned subscription can turn casual followers into loyal advocates who invest emotionally and financially in the community.
If you're thinking about digital engagement strategies and would like some help, give us a shout.
Ryan Catherwood serves as Executive Vice President and Senior Consultant at Chris Marshall Advancement Consulting (CMAC), consulting partner with Washburn & McGoldrick LLC, and co-host of the Alumless and Alumless World web series and podcasts.
