“Data is at the core of everything we do.  It helps us make strategic decisions, it informs our messaging and outreach and it often helps us to tell our story” TJ Rawlinson, Director of Development & Alumni Relations, Cardiff University, UK.

 

 

 

What to Measure

When asking the question of what is a measure of success in alumni relations, the department’s strategy and the institution’s goals as a whole should be considered.  Is ‘engagement’ the right measure?  Is it a goal?  How is engagement measured?  Is it volunteer hours or event attendance?  What about email open rates or donations?

Whilst these are all important metrics to consider, an institution must first define what it wants from its alumni.  Fundraising departments will use metrics like the number of meetings held and the amount of money raised, but measuring engagement is probably the most effective product that an alumni relations team can generate to add value to the rest of the university.

Christian Propper, Head of Development – Marketing and Insights at the University of Oxford, UK argued that telling a story, demonstrating progress and showing how alumni are getting more engaged are factors institutions can use and can help prioritise ways of generating yet further engagement.

Gethin James, Head of Strategic CRM at UCL, UK noted that engagement is usually portrayed as a counter to an income metric but argued that it is more often not the opposite, but more a means towards an end, or in fact, many different ends. An institution may have goals focussed on marketing, recruitment, campaigns and research and these are all things that one can drive engagement towards.  So the first question an institution can ask itself is, ‘What are we trying to achieve?’ and ‘How will we know if it is successful?’

 

 

Which comes first? The data or the action?

Data from Cardiff University showed that the institution saw most engagement from younger alumni, which suggested that their planned regular giving campaign may not be as effective as hoped due to the lower engagement in older age groups.  This is an example of where having the data first can help form ideas and plan outcomes effectively.

Gethin argued that data sets are rarely a clear cut scenario and that if an institution does not have the data, the most important next step is to start off small, run test campaigns and make incremental changes accordingly as fresh data is generated.  “Interrogate what you think you know is true.  Don’t assume that event attendees or volunteers will automatically become donors”.

Christian Propper shared some data from a grammar school in New Zealand. They gave 20 years worth of fundraising data to a data analyst to calculate the influence of each engagement variable on the likelihood of someone to donate. The results showed that the likelihood of becoming a donor increased by:

• 327% per event attended
• 288% per email communication
• 41% if they read a high proportion of school emails
• 47% if they had an award or honour whilst at school
• 280% if they took part in the community business directory
• 335% if they’d viewed the fundraising information on the school website
• 200% if they viewed the archives

 

 

What is the next best action?

Generally, the common approach to marketing is to start with a product that you have, look at your audience and then decide who are the most appropriate audience members to receive communications around that product.  More often than not you will find that it will generally be the same audience members who are the best people to hear about a variety of products.  Those audience members will be the ones who show a higher level of engagement than others.

This group of people will then start to receive a large volume of communications for a variety of products that you have to offer.

The model of ‘next best action’ changes this thought process, focussing on the person receiving the communications, rather than the product itself.  Gethin James argued that it is problematic that institutions teams are often based around the product rather than the person. He also argued that institutions should use the data to identify what the next best communication is, rather than just sending communications because the alumni have a proven history of engagement.  If an institution does not have enough alumni behavioural data to do this, it was argued to start small, use a test cohort, and progress from there.

Conclusion

The panel argued that whatever an institution does, it should find a way to record the behaviour that its alumni are exhibiting.  This will help drive the university forward.

Gethin James added that if an institution has in house data specialists, tell them what the universities goals are and ask how they might help track and monitor these.

Aluminati was proud to sponsor the Alumni Relations Institute 2021 conference hosted by CASE. Held in February 2021, it featured talks covering various topics, with panels of industry leaders and experts leading the conversations.  This is the fourth in a series of articles from this conference.  Check out the previous article in this series Maintaining Alumni Engagement During a Pandemic.

 

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The Aluminate Community Builder puts your institution’s data at the heart of it.  Find out how we can help your institution grow alumni engagement.

 

 

2020 saw institutions around the world forced to drastically rethink their alumni event programmes.  With ‘In-person’ no longer a possibility, many universities moved their events online.  We learned from a panel of representatives from institutions how they have been responding to the changes and thinking outside the box, the bravery, courage and innovation to rise to the challenge.

 

 

Dublin City University

Dublin City University hosted an annual Alumni Awards ceremony, designed to bring students and alumni together.  This is usually a black-tie event and much anticipated throughout the year.  Their awards are split into two categories, Alumni Awards and Outstanding Achievements.  In 2019 the event attracted approximately 300 attendees including staff, graduates and awardees.  

“At DCU we are dedicated to ‘Transforming Lives and Society’.  In honouring our extraordinary graduates, we renew the commitment to our great mission, and we celebrate our graduates as an inspiration to students, staff, and supporters”.  Professor Daire Keogh, DCU President.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced the university to switch to an online nomination system and bringing in a production company to produce an online event.  The whole production took around two months rather than the usual nine and saw cost savings of up to 68% when compared to the original in-person format.

Whilst it was agreed that dressing up for an event is great fun, the online event actually reached a much larger audience and a hybrid style event is being planned for the future.

 

 

 

Trinity College Cambridge

Trinity College saw their Christmas carol service thrown into turmoil in the last half of 2020.  In previous years their long-running format saw over 500 attendees congregating for mince pies, mulled wine, champagne and of course, carols.  The college has always stated that the event was not seen as a fundraising opportunity and merely as a much enjoyed, highly social annual event.  In 2020 instead of ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ they opted for ‘Oh Come All Ye Digital’ with the church-based event being replaced with a living room concert and pre-recorded performances from all over the world.

The college noted five key takeaways from their 2020 event:

1. A hybrid of in-person and online events would be programmed in future to ensure inclusivity for all global alumni who wish to attend
2. The College would consider how to make this approach sustainable
3. Opportunities will be developed to surprise alumni and supporters
4. They would measure the success of future virtual events
5. Look into developing social events further as they move forward

 

 

University College Dublin

University College Dublin hosts an annual three-day celebration showcase designed to bring the local UCD community together.  Their 2019 event took five months of planning with 170 events including talks, showcases and workshops.  The event saw 22,500 participants over three days with over 600 volunteers taking part.  There were a few specific global events organised such as chapter barbecues etc but the event focussed primarily on its local area.

 

 

Their pandemic pivot brought new challenges.  There was less support for the event from the wider university community, whose focus was primarily on student learning.  The planning committee had little experience with running online events and realistic expectations had to be set.  In the end, the event only used 50% of its budget and all the online events were pre-recorded.

The college’s 2020 UCD Festival took a mere 5 weeks of planning and saw 22,500 visitors over three days with an astounding 1.5 million impressions and engagement from 58 countries around the world.  The event set a precedent that large-scale events could successfully move online and retain the festival spirit. 

 

 

There are many ways that institutions can engage with their alumni, however, sometimes a new way of thinking can bring surprising and positive outcomes.  These examples of pandemic positives can be found at institutions all over the world as they navigate through the uncertain territory.  Whilst the world may never be the same again, it goes to show that it doesn’t necessarily have to be.

Aluminati was proud to sponsor the Alumni Relations Institute 2021 conference hosted by CASE. Held in February 2021, it featured talks covering various topics, with panels of industry leaders and experts leading the conversations.  This is the third in a series of articles from this conference.  Be sure to check out the previous article in this series, How to Create an Agile Alumni Relations Strategy.

Find out how Aluminati can help your institution’s alumni community thrive.

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Christine Fairchild, Director of Alumni Relations at the University of Oxford, UK was kind enough to join the panel at this recent CASE event to offer her insights into how to create an agile Alumni Relations strategy.

Why are strategies important?

 

 

Having a clearly articulated alumni relations strategy is an absolutely essential factor for any institution.  A strategy will provide a common purpose with shared and articulated goals.  A plan of action will provide a university and its staff a clear path forward, allowing for the sensible allocation of resources within a manageable time frame.

From this, the path to success will be visible to all and an alumni relations department’s contributions to the institution as a whole will be more effectively articulated. Not just a path to success, but highlighting what not to do at the same time.

A solid blueprint will inform staff development, find strengths and gaps, identify partnerships and encourage an institution to keep pace with the changes happening.

 

Achieving success with a phased approach

Christine argued that there are five phases in the strategy development process:

 

 

Phase 1:  Identify and clarify the challenges and tasks.

Environmental Scan

SWOT Analysis

Stakeholder Identification

 

Take a holistic look at the department and institution to get a better sense of a road map moving forward.  Identify who might stand to benefit from the strategy as a resource.  This can help to tell an effective story if the benefits are made clear from the start.  For example, if part of the strategy is to encourage alumni to help identify new students to apply to the university, this will help the institution’s admissions department.

 

 

Phase 2:  Gather and analyse data.

Personal Interviews

Focus Groups

Surveys

Peer and Market Analysis

Benchmarking

 

Phase two is the perfect opportunity to involve all stakeholders to raise their stakes in the game, so to speak.  Focus groups are an incredibly valuable way to find out how audiences are feeling and what their perceptions of the institution might be.

Christine noted that it is important that institutions remain competitive by learning from other institutions but also argued against keeping peer analysis too predictable.  For example, a large charity such as the Red Cross may have similar goals to an institution and would provide interesting insights.

 

 

Phase 3: Synthesis data, form vision and goals

Discern Mission, core purpose and shared values (What will we do?)

Vision (Where do we want to be in 3 to 5 years?)

Goals (What are our aspirations?)

Create a Strategy Statement

 

Be clear about embedding the institution’s mission into the strategy and constantly reinforce it, focussing on shared values.  Christine argued that an institution’s goals should always be aspirational as it is ‘good for business’.  The notion of completing a goal and thinking of ways it can be done better.  Keeping goals at this aspirational level can keep an institution working harder and be more engaged in the outcomes.

Christine noted that having a clear strategy statement will crystalise those expectations.

 

 

Phase 4: Develop measurable objectives.

Action Steps

Timeline

Accountability

Allocation of Resources

 

Christine noted that an institution must be clear about who it is relying on to ensure that the strategic plan is being delivered and that it is clear what the universities expectations are of them.

 

 

Phase 5: Plan, seek buy-in and approvals, implement, assess, report.

Socialise the plan with key stakeholders and influencers

Follow through on action steps

Evaluate and make adjustments needed

Report

 

“The most important thing to do is bring people along with you”, Christine remarked.  “Bring people in from all across the university, from top to bottom, and include other stakeholders such as the alumni board”.

It is important to involve as many people as possible in this fifth phase.  Show people throughout the process that goals are being achieved and show progress.  The institution must constantly hold itself accountable for evaluation and make any necessary changes as the strategy moves forward.

Reporting gives stakeholders a chance to celebrate what has been achieved and is a great form of socialising the work that is being done.

Find out how Aluminate Community Builder can help supercharge your institution’s alumni relations strategy.

 

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Everything we do at Aluminati (including all the ways we advise you to act and all of the tools that we offer you) is motivated by the knowledge that genuine community connections really matter. When there’s a community to connect to, individuals flourish. When individuals flourish, their endeavours succeed. And when individuals succeed, organisations thrive. 

So, we could put it this way: thriving, flourishing, and success are all indelibly linked to community. 

Even though we all hear a lot about communities and the importance of them, people sometimes fall into the trap of paying lip-service to the concept of a community without taking the time and energy to really build and care for one—indeed, maybe they don’t really know what a community even is! 

 

 

Is all this talk about “community” just a fleeting phase?

For centuries, leaders have understood that a genuine thriving community is a catalyst for success.  The Art of War, an ancient book of Chinese military strategy dating back to the 5th century BC which has recently gained prominence in entrepreneurial and business circles, describes victories as something that comes naturally when all individuals are “animated by the same spirit”. 

Likewise, religious leaders, emperors, and politicians have often made use of the sheer strength of a solidly-formed and cohesive community: they have wielded the power of community to build (or sometimes, to tear down) cities and empires. Many influential artists also write about the strengths of a community, and their artistic creations resonate with the masses. It’s why the Beatles’ song “Come Together”, when released as the opening track on their 1969 album, quickly rose to the top of the charts in both the USA and the UK. It’s almost as if we intrinsically know the power of community, and we want to latch onto it. 

We are also seeing an increasing focus on “community” in more microscopic ways, like the many supportive neighbourhood community groups that have taken shape during the COVID-19 pandemic to address community problems. There’s also an ever-increasing formation of many minority communities, like LGBTQ+ communities, minority ethnic communities, and so forth. And a “community experience” is something that businesses and educational institutions now highlight as something they offer their employees, students, and customers alike. 

Whether it is through checking the best work cultures on Glassdoor, or factoring in the strength of an alumni network when choosing your business school, individuals are drawn to one institution over another due to the community support and benefits that it offers them. 

All of these examples are testaments to the fact that people who really succeed do so because of a community. We can think of the catchphrase “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” We’re not undermining what you know, but who you know–that is, who you’re connected to through a community–really does matter. The fact that being a part of a community leads to genuine and concrete value is truly an age-old piece of wisdom, and it’s not going to change anytime soon!

 

 

 

What exactly is a community? 

In the midst of this widespread focus on community across all sectors of life, it’s important that we really understand (and are implementing!) what it means to be a community, rather than just paying lip-service to the concept.

Firstly, a community is more than a group of people. You might be familiar with the age-old maxim “there’s strength in numbers.” This saying is often used to convey the power of a community. But anyone who has been in an over-crowded supermarket, or a maxed-out train carriage, knows without a doubt that strength doesn’t come from sheer numbers alone; strength only comes when the individuals involved decide to intentionally work together towards a common goal. Strength comes from intention, connection, and active engagement. 

Let’s say that you have one hundred (or even one million) individuals signed onto your mailing list. That’s a lot of people, but if they aren’t actively engaging with (including both ‘taking from’ and ‘giving to’) others in that network, we’re sorry to say, but you don’t actually have a community just yet. You definitely have the potential of a community, but without a cohesive whole and multiple ways-of-engaging with others, all you have is a group. And a mere group is not all that powerful, nor is it a driving force towards success. 

We want to make this very clear: a group of people who work for the same company and who all receive the same company newsletter do not instantaneously become a community. A group only becomes a community when people choose to engage with it beyond themselves and for the betterment of others in the community. Because engagement is so central to a community, it’s important for community leaders to create the structural components for the community members to operate within. 

Just think for a moment about physical infrastructure. If a city builds a good network of roads, citizens are more likely to drive along them, going from one place to another, and meeting other people along the way. Infrastructure enables individual movement, but also connection. Likewise, good communities are ones that are strategically built so that individuals will want to actively participate within it. To allow for this, you have to build a community infrastructure that is human-centric, not organization-centric.  Human-centered details are truly the driving force which allow for meaningful alumni relationships to form and flourish within a community. 

In order to create a human-centered infrastructure, you have to make a space where people can engage and connect. We mean connection in the way that leading public figures like Brené Brown speak of connection: connection is when people “feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” 

 

 

Why is a community important to me? 

It’s sometimes easier to see the merits of a community in our social circles or relational lives outside of the workplace, but community is also vitally important in the workplace. 

If you want your company and the people in it to succeed (or to deepen/expand the current success) then community is important for you. And it’s well-worth your time and effort to focus on building a community that people (employees, alumni, customers, etc.) will want to be a part of. Recall the thriving, flourishing, and success mentioned in the opening paragraphs? That comes from genuine community. 

Aluminati works with a range of organisations spanning top universities, professional membership networks and businesses. We provide them with tools and platforms, as well as curated advice, in order to build a community that is specific to their workplace needs and which engages their members. The particular benefits that come from building a community will change depending on who you are. 

For universities, community leads to attracting high-caliber students and retaining alumni as invested members (mentors, sponsors, recruiters, etc.) of the university community long after they’ve graduated. For professional membership networks, community leads to an increase of engagement which enhances mentorship experiences for both the mentor and the mentee. For businesses, a solid community improves the workplace experience for current employees, and it leads to rehires and/or new business-to-business relationships for alumni. 

And, across all sectors, being a part of a workplace community increases mental wellbeing for all individuals. This is something that is worth prioritising of its own regard, but it’s furthermore associated with better employee engagement. Community building is (sometimes) hard work, but it pays off in innumerable ways. 

At the end of this 7-part series, we are going to take an in-depth look at the specific benefits for these different sectors. Make sure to subscribe in order to be notified when we post new content that is relevant to your company context.  

 

In the next post, we will be exploring some of the most notable moments in human history in which community-formation and community action have been central to success. 

 

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Professor Alex Connock, Fellow in Management Practice, Said Business School, University of Oxford, UK discussed how institutions should consider their communications strategy and offered some thoughts on storytelling and distribution in the 2020s.  He argued that Alumni Relations is not just about getting money out of wealthy graduates but providing an environment where alumni can continue their education, long after they leave university.

 

 

AI for AR

“Predictive analytics is a broad term describing a variety of statistical and analytical techniques used to develop the models that predict future events or behaviours” – Predictive Analytics White Paper – Charles Nyce, PhD, CPCU, API 2007

Professor Connock argued that we are in a predictive algorithm economy.  “Everyone’s Netflix profile is different…” he noted.  No offering is the same for each account on the streaming service.  If you watch romantic comedies, you will find that more often than not, that is what will be offered to you in the future. This was to such an extent that Alex has another entirely separate profile on Netflix, just so that he would be suggested different things to watch.  The same can be said for the music streaming giant, Spotify and it is no accident that these two providers are the main players in their sectors.  They are much better at utilising Artificial Intelligence than their competitors.

 

 

What is A.I?

As far back as 1950, Alan Turing’s paper, Computing Machinery and Intelligence considered the idea of machine learning and artificial intelligence, yet it is only now that A.I. is coming into its own, Professor Connock argued.  Artificial intelligence can be found everywhere in modern-day storytelling and the stories being told are not for the masses anymore.  Today’s stories are being told to the individual, on a granular level.

Marketing agencies around the world use a practice of Dynamic Creative Optimisation (DCO) which is A/B testing on a much grander scale.  An A.I. algorithm will create thousands of different versions of an advertisement, testing them all simultaneously to find out which one works best for each person that sees it.

What this allows for is more creative storytelling which is especially important with alumni communications where institutions must maintain a distinctive message to remain engaging and stay relevant.  Professor Connock argued that alumni are holding their universities more accountable with their data. The expectation is for them to use it more creatively, understanding the end-user better to deliver what is meaningful to them, and to avoid falling into storytelling clichés.

 

 

 

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

Professor Connock stressed the importance to institutions that when storytelling to never stop testing and never stop learning.  Keep trying different content until it works.  He argued that when benchmarking it was just as important for an institution to compare itself to others but also to other sectors entirely.  For example, a large multinational charity might be striving for similar goals and it would be prudent to compare their methods to your own.

Professor Connock also argued that by all means, use the data that you have generated as an institution, but also, listen to the voices of your alumni.

 

 

Effective Storytelling

As time was limited, Professor Connock was only able to communicate the first four of his many rules for effective storytelling, but we hope to catch up with him again soon for the rest.

Be Authentic

Many organisations and institutions will use generic tropes and fall into the above-mentioned storytelling cliches.  Alumni will not engage if an institution does not stand out.

Be consistent

It is important to have a ‘central brain’ to make sure an institution’s messaging is consistent across all channels but also to remain consistent within each channel.  It is important to consider which messaging platforms require different tones for effective communications.

Bring passion to your communications

The more passionate an institution is with its communications, the more its alumni will engage.  It is important to make sure that the messages are not purely functional.  Passion is contagious and alumni naturally have a passion for their alma mater.  Institutions must listen to what people are saying about them and put a persona behind their communications.

Learn the dark art of earned media

The more an institution can get other people to do the work for them, the better.  Finding out what their alumni are achieving and what is worth talking about is critical to fostering success with your audiences and community.

Find out how Aluminate Community Builder can bring your Alumni community together.

 

 

 

A Fresh Start

Regent’s University is a beautiful and reasonably small, private institution, with 6000 London based students and 450 staff members.  Before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the university’s alumni relations programme had been running for just over a year.  In 2019, Regent’s decided to put further investment into its alumni relations and make the programme more central to the other activities at the university.  

Hannah Fox joined the team in early 2020 and in her November 2019 job interview she suggested that the programme would effectively be starting from scratch stating “in an ideal world, you would love to take a year off from all your other activities and be able to spend that year talking to people”.

 

 

So there they were, in January 2020 with a new team, a new direction and a new ‘strategy’.  Whilst the strategy was new to Regent’s University, it was already tried and tested at other institutions and Hannah set about to implement this proven strategy at Regent’s.

Although the university’s student-alumni body was 85% international, the consensus was that a brand-new alumni relations programme should involve a great deal of physical interaction between the department and its alumni.  This meant bringing people back to the main campus and recreating that nostalgic feeling, or working with the VC and recruitment team to go to international locations to be present for their alumni.

With this in mind, on 1st of March 2020, Hannah and her team had a class reunion planned; a series of recruitment events planned across the West Coast of the US with several alumni volunteers already signed up to assist; a large ‘global speakers’ series underway with over 100 people attending campus events and the university had just launched its Campus Access Card which allowed alumni to access the campus and its resources for work or research purposes.

 

“Things were good, and things were on track…and then the 16th March came along!” Hannah Fox.

Lockdown

The first UK nationwide lockdown came into immediate effect.  For Hannah and her team, this meant no events, no travel and more importantly, no face to face meetings. 

Overnight, their entire strategy from creating volunteer opportunities, planning events, creating networks and bringing people together had to take a whole new direction.

The one thing the team still had left in their arsenal was the ability to talk to people and that became the sole focus moving forward.  With no knowledge on how long the lockdown was going to last, they established some new goals.

• To discover and share great alumni stories.
• Get internal ‘buy-in’ for the programme at the University amongst their other professional services colleagues.
• Work with the University’s academics to find hidden alumni who were already engaging with the institution but not necessarily the alumni department.

Hannah noted that from these conversations, they were able to find out so much more than originally anticipated.

 

 

It’s Good To Talk

The alumni relations team found they were able to engage with a great number of ‘cold alumni’ who had not been engaged with the university for five, ten or even fifteen years.  Lots of these newly engaged alumni then went on to sign up for the departments volunteering programme, which allowed Hannah to move the programme online.

“These conversations with our alumni really helped us to shape the future of the programme”, said Hannah, “we were having so many feedback conversations, asking alumni what they would like to see from the programme, and we really did find the most amazing alumni stories.”

 

 

The Buy-In

The team’s conversations with the institution’s professional services staff saw a huge change in attitude around alumni.  Pre-pandemic conversations would more often than not focus on staff, students and faculty and slowly but surely, conversations started to include alumni when discussing the greater Regent’s community.

The university’s senior leadership also began to see alumni as stakeholders when it came to areas such as course design, curriculum contribution or overall strategy.  Regent’s was able to engage with these key sector leaders within their alumni community to shape the strategy for the university.  Hannah noted that colleagues started really seeing the potential of their alumni.  The university’s conversion officers were able to connect students with alumni easily online and because of these positive interactions, Regent’s ambassador programme grew.

Hannah’s team were also able to engage with already engaged alumni alongside the faculty, creating some fantastic opportunities for them, which really strengthened existing opportunities throughout the university.

 

 

Positive Change

Hannah and her team may have been thrown in at the deep end but the changes they experienced also led to newfound opportunities.  They were able to have quick ‘coffee chats’ with alumni all over the world.  Alumni videos were easier to produce due to a lack of expectation for high production values during the lockdown.  They also saw an increase in alumni online volunteering globally, simply because it was so much more accessible.

With a team of just two, the Regent’s University Alumni Relations department were able to have over 200 individual virtual coffees with their alumni, recruiting 139 new alumni volunteers and accruing over 700 volunteering hours across 2020.

“We have been able to engage with more of the Regent’s community in a more meaningful way.  We’ve had time to ask questions and find out answers without the pressure of developing on a pre-formed strategy too.” Hannah said, “It’s shown us that authenticity (aka rough and ready) can actually be a good thing and it has encouraged us to simplify our strategy moving forward”.

 

 

Creating Connections

Our Creating Connection events at Aluminati bring together community builders from a range of sectors around the world to learn from each other.

For more information or to sign up to the Community Builders network: https://www.aluminati.net/community-builders-network/

 

Sign up for our next Creating Connection event: https://www.aluminati.net/creating-connection/

 

 

Rebecca Cedrone, Vice President of Marketing & Enterprise Partnerships at Aluminati, spent 20-years of her career at Coca-Cola where she utilized her expertise in marketing to drive impact with brands, organizations and people.  Four years ago she became their Director of Alumni & Community Marketing and was the keynote speaker at our recent Creating Connection webinar.  Rebecca shared her experience in establishing the Coca-Cola alumni community from initial research through strategy development and launch.

Lifelong employment is no longer the norm.  Building lifelong relationships should be.

Today, the large scale trends that are impacting the employer-employee relationship are:

• Increasing globalization
• War for talent
• Changing values and expectations of work
• Ubiquitous adoption of enabling technologies

Companies spend countless hours focusing on culture and this practice shouldn’t cease when an employee leaves the company.  Many Fortune 500 companies have some form of alumni program.  Some are alumni-led, some are corporate-led and nearly all are inclusive of former associates.

Why have an alumni program?

Organizations establish corporate alumni programs for many reasons and talent acquisition, brand advocacy and business development are at the top of the list.  Many companies even place a monetary value on alumni that are rehired, which can lead to significant cost savings.

For Coca-Cola, corporate social responsibility also played a part, providing alumni with volunteer opportunities.  Through those opportunities, they can target their CSR efforts and impact to the communities they serve.  A factor that is held in high regard by the company.

 

 

Whatever the reasons for developing an alumni program, organizations are reaping significant benefits.

So how can an organization take these insights and embark upon developing their own alumni community?  Rebecca argued that companies must utilize human-centred design to better understand their alumni.  Developing a community that is centered on the needs of their alumni, will drive a sense of community, engagement and value.

At the beginning of the development process, Rebecca and her team at Coca-Cola interviewed their alumni, retirees and current employees.  From that, they identified three areas of opportunity.

1. Expand the community
2. Enhance the experience
3. Evolve the offerings

They noticed that the company’s original definition of alumni could be expanded to include more associates, leading to increased engagement.  Opportunities were discovered to enhance the user experience for their alumni by making improvements to the website and at the same time providing more opportunities for increased alumni engagement.

Rebecca also identified a diverse audience with varying needs.  From this, she was able to develop six key alumni profiles to illustrate the range of perspectives and needs that a future alumni community would need to serve.

 

“The key is being able to engage with each profile appropriately and having a communications strategy that addresses their specific needs”. – Rebecca Cedrone

 

Vision & Value

Rebecca argued that companies need to define their own vision and value proposition.  Looking to nurture lifelong relationships with members by embracing their individuality, cultivating their connection to each other and empowering them to influence the future of the business and the brand.  Fostering intellectual curiosity through opportunities to both contribute to and learn from the communities collective knowledge and skills.

Members should be empowered to make a difference by honoring shared values and responsibilities.  Rebecca noted that these values will allow an organization to constantly evaluate the development and success of the community.

Designing an Alumni Community with a layered approach

Creating meaningful alumni offerings requires a holistic approach to truly identify human needs and desires and orchestrate moments that matter for all segments of the alumni community.

A layered approach allows a company to connect the business proposition with the needs of alumni to create an engaging experience, while also enhancing key business drivers.

Choosing the right platform

Rebecca noted that it is vital to choose a scalable platform where members can engage, find value and allows them to manage key business metrics. Collaboration and support from across the organization is critical to the success of the alumni community and implementation begins with senior leadership alignment, with a ‘top-down’ approach.

 

 

The Key Takeaways

In summary, for an organization to develop a truly effective alumni community, Rebecca noted four key points to consider.

• Identify the key benefits of developing an alumni community
• Understand the needs of your alumni
• Align the strategy and execution across your organization
• Identify a scalable platform with a provider who prioritizes your brand, your key business metrics and your alumni needs.

 

Find out how the Aluminate Community Builder can provide new opportunities for your organization and alumni community.

 

Why Aluminati?

CodeVA needed a more robust space for educators to collaborate and access materials during their annual training event.  In addition, the company is currently working on a federally funded research project that consists of a cohort of rural school teachers from regions all across Virginia.  CodeVA needed space for them all to collaborate and work together, receive training materials, and continue the discussion.

 

“We appreciated the Aluminate Community Builder’s ability to export data and content, its security with member logins and being COPPA Security Compliant (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 1998), the ability to support multiple user types, the ability to allow for multiple types of engagement (forums, discussions, events), and the ability to host multimedia extensions and learning modules”. – Betsy Seymour – Project Lead, CodeVA.

 

Room for Growth

CodeVA is starting the platform with a small number of users, with plans to grow from there.  They are also building the internal support required to nurture a robust and engaging community, hiring a web developer and training content coordinators etc.  Betsy said, “We hope to slowly phase out some platforms such as our current online platform and CRM once we get a feel for everything that the Aluminate Community Builder can do”.

Having compared other platform providers, the Aluminate Community Builder was the only one that met all their requirements, price point and build time-line.  “We appreciated that the platform has a dedicated development team for the project, full GDPR security policies in place and learning modules baked in”, said Betsy.

Betsy said that teachers who participate in training with CodeVA have requested more opportunities for engagement, collaboration and communication, as well as more access to resources.  The vision for their platform is to extend training to all of their cohorts to allow for more authentic and consistent online engagement.

 

We will be checking back in with CodeVA once their platform is launched.

 

Find out how Aluminate Community Builder can supercharge your community growth.

 

Aluminati’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Alistair McMillan met with Jon Lambert, the CEO of The Cannon, to discuss the recent launch of Cannon Connect, their new online innovation hub powered by the Aluminate Community Builder.

The Cannon’s mission is to “create, grow and evolve the world’s most effective and valued entrepreneurial community.  One that provides every resource required to support individuals and corporations in innovation, creation and delivery of their entrepreneurial vision. It will introduce the community to places where the entrepreneurial potential is strong but where investment in that potential has not yet been prioritised”.

In 2017, The Cannon created their main campus in an old pipe fitting warehouse in Houston’s industrial area and this has evolved into their main campus you see today.

 

 

Now, with two additional campuses in the Houston area, The Cannon community comprises approximately 280 companies with around 900 individual members.  Entrepreneurs, corporate advisors, investors, academic, community partners and service providers, all share the same communal space.  Even large companies, such as Shell and Chevron, rent space on the campus just to be near these startups.

 

 

The city of Houston is also benefiting from The Cannon’s activities, attracting new business and jobs to the area.

CEO Jon Lambert joined The Cannon in November 2019 with ideas of expanding further afield, but, since Covid-19, all plans of physical expansion have been curtailed. With their primary revenue stream in jeopardy, Jon and his team drew up plans to keep the ecosystem alive by moving the community online.  Plans were made, and they scanned the market for solutions.  

They knew they needed a member directory as well as a directory of companies.  They would also need online groups, collaboration spaces and knowledge centres.

Initially, their platform of choice was not performing in the required way. It was simply not as customizable as they needed it to be.  Jon said, “the technology needs to serve a purpose but also attract people to it.  It needs some pizazz.  It needs customizability without distraction from limitations”. The Cannon needed the flexibility to grow with their community and offer new collaboration tools to empower their members.  Jon and his team resumed their search for a better solution, which led them to Aluminati and the Aluminate Community Builder.

 

“The Aluminate Community Builder’s flexibility and speed with which it could be configured to meet our needs was a major factor in the decision to partner with Aluminati” – Jon Lambert, CEO – The Cannon.

 

Jon was impressed with the breadth and robustness of capability the Aluminate Community Builder had to offer and form him.  “It ticked all the boxes”, he said.

Aluminati has a strong background with creating online community platforms for the education sector and Jon saw a “very easy translation into the corporate world. There are lots of parallels and flexibility”.  Jon also noted that for The Cannon, community management is key.  “Providing opportunities for an interface wherever possible and community is the same across these sectors”.

 

Since the launch of Cannon Connect, approximately 250 companies have signed up to the online community and it is fast attracting the attention of other businesses across the US who are interested in joining the Cannon community nationwide.

One of the challenges that Jon is quickly seeking to overcome is that of creating ‘coincidental connections’ in a virtual environment.

Jon says, “In a physical location, it is easier for people to just bump into each other and chat about ideas.  This is something that we are looking to recreate in our online ecosystem, and we have some exciting plans in the pipeline.  Eventually, the community will start to run itself, and we’re looking forward to seeing how the online experience will evolve over time”.

We will check back in with Jon and The Cannon soon to see how their community is growing.

 

Find out how Aluminate Community Builder can help your online community grow.