7 Engaging Content Ideas for Your Alumni Magazine

In the realm of alumni communications, a regularly published alumni magazine stands out as a tried-and-true method of keeping alumni engaged and connected with their alma mater. If you’re creating an alumni magazine for the first time, or you’re looking for ways to freshen up an existing magazine, these seven content ideas will help you create a publication that will keep your alumni readers’ attention.

1. Campus Updates

Provide updates on campus developments, new programs and recent events to keep alumni connected to their alma mater. Alumni readers will likely be very interested to know what’s happening on their old stomping grounds, and updates about new construction projects and developments may even convince them to schedule a campus visit.

News about construction projects, music and theatre performances and homecoming activities are all examples of content to include in this section.

2. Career Advice

Offer tips and insights from alumni experts on career advancement, job search strategies and professional development. While this type of content could be relevant and helpful to any alum, it will likely attract young alumni in particular, who are looking to gain footing in their burgeoning careers.

Not only is career-related content interesting and popular, it will help foster a positive perception of the university as an institution that supports its alumni throughout all stages of their careers.

3. Faculty Features

Highlight the work and achievements of current and retired faculty members, showcasing their impact on students and the university. Alumni will be pleased to learn about new faculty joining the staff at their alma mater, and wistful to hear of their favorite professor’s retirement. Some examples of stories to include in this section are a faculty promotion or tenure, an anniversary milestone or a professor developing a brand new course.

Including faculty features also allows you to use your alumni magazine to showcase the knowledge and experience of your university’s talented teaching staff.

4. Historical Features

Explore the history of the university, highlighting milestones, traditions and notable alumni from different eras. Alumni will be interested to learn how their alma mater was founded and grew over the years, especially if you feature specific buildings or areas of campus that may be important to them.

Content that explores the history of your university, especially if combined with old photographs from the eras being described, is a powerful way to capture your alumni readers’ attention and make them feel personally connected with the university. If your magazine has been in publication for a long time, you may even have an archive of past issues that you can include images from, including a simple snapshot of the item itself.

5. Travel and Culture

Share travel stories and cultural insights from alumni around the world, highlighting their experiences and discoveries. This type of content is a great way to allow alumni to contribute to your publication with their stories and personal recommendations. Readers love personal stories like this, and it may even convince more alumni to become frequent travelers.

In addition to travel stories, you can fill this section with food and sightseeing recommendations, helpful travel tips and even sample itineraries.

6. Technology and Innovation

Your alumni will want to know how the university is working to keep up with the times. Explore how the university is leveraging new technological developments in its methods, and how it’s affecting the way students learn. If faculty members at the university have made any breakthroughs or advancements in their respective fields, this is a great section to highlight it.

Highlighting the advancements developed or leveraged by the university will inspire confidence in alumni, who will view their alma mater as modern and cutting-edge.

7. Alumni Spotlights

In-depth writeups that feature notable alumni are a good way to make alumni feel valued and connected while also creating interesting content for your magazine, as long as there’s a good story to tell. You could feature alumni who have found great success in their careers, gone through a life-changing experience or contributed something to better their community, for example.

Spotlighting alumni is a good way to encourage readership from alumni hoping to see how their former classmates are doing. In a recent interview with Caylor Solutions, Rebekah Tilley, Director of Strategic Communications at the University of Iowa’s Tippey College of Business, notes that this type of content is a big draw for young readers.

“One of the things that surprised me particularly was that our young alumni told me over and over again: ‘Oh, we love getting this! We get so few things in print anymore that this is really special to us, and we hang on to it, and it’s on our coffee table, and we flip immediately to alumni notes to see if our friends are there and see if their photos are in print, because they live in a digital world,’” said Rebekah.

Print Your Alumni Magazine With Walsworth

No matter how you choose to lay out your alumni magazine, make sure you’re working with a quality printer. In addition to interesting, well-crafted content, you’ll need to distribute a magazine that looks and feels great. As the third-largest magazine printer in the United States and Canada, we know how to take your publication from design to print, and then get it into the hands of your alumni.

To learn more about the benefits of printing with an award-winning, family-owned company, contact Walsworth today!