CSUB | Alumni Grad Cap Contest

This is one of the campaigns that has proven the most engagement of just about anything we do, especially as a partnership/.collaboration with the Alumni Association and Office of Marketing and Communications.

While our messaging and content is catered to students, this is something that they are able to proudly jump in on with no problem. It’s open to all graduates during the fall and spring commencement seasons. We’d done it a few years prior to Covid, and had a decent turnout. However, after Covid, it was a bit down, as was plenty of other things.

When I returned to campus and our new Alumni Marketing Specialist was hired, we started collaborating more on ideas – growing the Alumni channels and pulling more people in.

And, so, we brought the Alumni Grad Cap Contest back to life.

Collaboration

This particular project allows us to, not only work with the Alumni Association, but also informs our graduating students of what the Alumni Association is all about. It encourages them to follow the pages on social media and to stay connected.

Smoother system

Previously we’d asked students to tag us and the Alumni Association on their photos from Instagram. However, we noticed that everyone ended up doing it in their own way, or you couldn’t fully see the cap. I suggested creating a form that they could attach their photo to and submit online. I worked with Dina, the commencement office lead to get it set up on the website, while Athena worked with ITS to build the form. It proved to work much better as we received 65 entries, the most I believe, we’d ever received, while doing this contest.

Social Media

On many of the posts, I’d take the lead in putting a video or seamless carousel together to display grad caps from previous years, either entered or shown off at commencement ceremonies. From there, I’d use to post, primarily on Instagram, but often Facebook and X, as well. I would be sure to tag the Alumni Association or use the collaboration invitation on Instagram.