Graduate Association Employs New Social Media Technologies to Broadcast Message, Raise Funds

WPAoG Website with President Obama Speaking to Cadets

               The Association of Graduates for the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York is a non-profit organization that has recently forayed into new social media platforms in an effort to increase its global outreach and fund-raising opportunities.  Located in the newly-constructed Herbert Hall Alumni Center on the grounds of the military academy, the West Point Association of Graduates (WPAoG) prides itself on supporting cadet activities and providing a number of alumni services to the 47,424 living graduates and their family members.  New media technologies are facilitating these functions.

                Alan Salisbury, Chairman of WPAoG’s Communication, Outreach, and Marketing Committee, states that part of his mission is to protect the West Point and AoG brands and leverage social networking media. 

                Part of his approach is to “assess where we are, and then examine all the vehicles we have for communication with our constituents.”  He employs a communications architecture map to examine WPAoG’s constituents and potential outreach technologies.  The communication committee is working to develop outreach through new social media.  “There are over 3,500 fans, but it’s still exploratory,” said Salisbury.  “Where should we be going in the future?  I think we have a very strong program for developing communication, outreach, and marketing,” he added. 

                Despite some success in the realm of social media, including the launch of accounts with facebook, twitter, picasa, flikr, and YouTube, Salisbury has his eye on the future.  “We are currently using a survey program to measure perceptions.  The survey program has been integrated into the AoG structure, but we haven’t even begun to crawl in the area of marketing.  It would probably merit a separate marketing committee,” he remarked.

                Jim Johnston, Vice President of Alumni Support, also plays an active role in incorporating new technologies.   Despite limited resources, he is committed to displaying a quality image of the association.  “Every time someone views one of our electronic publications, they are subconsciously comparing it to commercial pages with significantly greater funding.  We don’t want to draw attention as an inferior product,” stated Johnston.

                Prominent news stories related to West Point and its graduates can generate free publicity.  On December 2, 2010 President Obama made a significant policy speech at West Point’s Eisenhower Hall.  WPAoG took the opportunity to broadcast news articles related to this event through a variety of media outlets. 

                The WPAOG views graduate associations at premier colleges as its peer group, and hopes to maintain a level of service that is comparable to said peers.  Several universities continue to distribute print media through the postal service to its institution’s graduates, and this influences some of WPAoG’s media behavior.  Johnston remarked, “We want to be able to send a high-quality print magazine to our constituents as long as our peers are.” 

                Despite this continued pressure to maintain print service, WPAoG recognizes the continuing trend toward electronic media.  Peak distribution for Assembly, WPAoG’s primary print magazine, occurred in 1973.  Distribution and advertising revenues have steadily fallen ever since.  In 2009 Assembly was cut from six to four issues annually, and an external advertizing agency assisted the association with securing some add revenue.  Taps, a magazine focused on the lives of recently deceased graduates, was reduced from six to two issues annually.  An additional goal of moving these publications online is to increase their frequency.  “The next step, the key, is to look at how we’re going to replace the revenue we’re currently bringing in through print media,” said Johnston.

                The online version of Assembly, which is being generated by Nextbook software, will likely be offered for free to all graduates.   The current Beta version looks quite user-friendly, and will eventually incorporate some Web 2.0 technologies, including the ability to share, note, and search content.  The online pages will be in full color, while predominantly black-and-white print copies can be requested for standard mail distribution.  Video and podcast features may be eventually added.  As an additional service for graduates, WPAoG offers free webhosting.  Free of charge, alumni can register a domain name, create a URL and email address, generate business cards, send faxes through email, and sell items through a shopping cart application.

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