There are over 147,000 alumni groups on LinkedIn associated with traditional high school and college alumni groups and a wide range of corporate alumni groups, including McKinsey (12,402 members), Goldman Sachs (14,318 members), and Bain & Company (9,078 members).
Despite their connection to traditional alumni groups, few of these LinkedIn groups count more than 20% of their global alumni population as members, and most grow organically at a slow pace.
Over the last six years, Bowdoin College Alumni has grown to 4,900 members on LinkedIn, representing 26% of Bowdoin’s 19,400-person global alumni community. However, there are 10,600 Polar Bears on LinkedIn. Why haven’t more than 46% of Bowdoin alumni on LinkedIn joined the group?
Bowdoin’s actually doing better than most:
- 45% of Carnegie Mellon alumni on LinkedIn have joined Carnegie Mellon Alumni.
- 32% of Brown University alumni on LinkedIn have joined Brown Alumni Association.
- And while Princeton touts an industry-leading 60+% alumni giving participation rate, only 15% of Princeton alumni on LinkedIn have joined Princeton University – Alumni Association.
So what gives?
One of the challenges is that discovering an alumni group is difficult amidst a sea of over 2 million LinkedIn groups. But there is a very easy, FREE way to grow your LinkedIn group in just a few minutes.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Move your mouse over the “Interests” tab and click “Groups” in the drop-down menu.
Step 2: Click the gear icon on the righthand side of the page.
Step 3: Click “Manager Settings” to the right of the alumni group you manage.
Step 4: Click “Send Invitations” on the left.
Step 5: Click “Upload a File.”
Step 6: Click “Choose File” and upload a .csv file including the first name, last name, and email address of your alumni.
Step 7: Review the contact information that was uploaded and click “Finish Uploading.”
Step 8: Click “Send Invitations.”
Step 9: Watch your group grow!
Did you know you can also use LinkedIn to find your next board member or volunteer? Find out how easy it is in our post “Identify Alumni Board Members with LinkedIn’s Best Kept Secret.”