{"id":11721,"date":"2020-11-25T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T09:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/?p=11721"},"modified":"2023-02-24T14:17:25","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T14:17:25","slug":"how-to-turn-your-alumni-into-brand-ambassadors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/how-to-turn-your-alumni-into-brand-ambassadors\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Turn Your Alumni into Brand Ambassadors"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Influencing the influencer: Building a culture of advocacy amongst your alumni \u2013 a UK perspective.<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Subscribe to our Blog<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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Annie Thompson, Deputy Director of Alumni Relations (interim) at University College London, UK, discussed the benefits of alumni advocacy models and how other institutions might implement their own strategies in this area.\u00a0 But what does \u2018advocacy\u2019 mean in this context?<\/span><\/p>\n

Advocacy is the public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy.\u00a0 In the context of educational institutions, advocates are your brand ambassadors.\u00a0 Advocates for the institution can be anyone from notable alumni, such as government or media sector representatives, to grassroots alumni and social influencers.\u00a0 What is important is that anyone, and indeed everyone can and <\/span>should <\/span><\/i>be an advocate for your institution.\u00a0 University College London is in the enviable position of having substantial resources with approximately 250,000 volunteering hours given, but this does not mean that smaller campaigns will be any less effective.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the start of any engagement campaign, Annie advises thinking of a notable person in your alumni community and considering the following: Who are they?\u00a0 What motivates them?\u00a0 Have you engaged with them before? And where do you want the relationship to be in five to ten years time?\u00a0 There are five key areas to consider when creating long-term advocacy objectives or \u2018opportunities\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first being \u2018Brand and Profile\u2019.\u00a0 Getting alumni to engage with your institution\u2019s social media channels, sharing content, working with an alumnus who is say, a Member of Parliament, or a notable media personality, inviting alumni to speak at university events etc.\u00a0 Other key areas included \u2018Student Recruitment and Experience\u2019, \u2018Alumni-to-alumni Networks\u2019, \u2018Supporting\u2019 \u2018Fundraising\u2019 and \u2018Strategic Advice\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Annie also suggested that it is helpful to segment your alumni into key tiers.\u00a0 These tiers being Advocates, Senior Volunteers, Engaged Volunteers and finally Volunteers and Grassroots Advocates.\u00a0 Alumni can enter this tier system at any level but can also participate in multiple areas. The top tier Advocates can be notable donors, future donors and\/or specialist advisors and should be worked with on a bespoke basis.\u00a0 Senior Volunteers require a more targeted approach and can include government, media, and social media influencers.\u00a0 Engaged Volunteers encompass all alumni but particularly those in key industries related to career development.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how can you engage with your alumni and turn them into advocates for your institution?<\/span><\/p>\n

As discussed in our previous articles <\/span>World-Class Alumni Relations<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>How to Support Your Alumni Journey<\/span><\/a>, it is clear that engagement is a journey best started early in order to grow the relationship over time.\u00a0 This will make the experience personal to each of them and instils a key sense of community and friendship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aluminati was proud to sponsor the <\/span>Introduction to Advancement Leadership<\/span><\/a> conference hosted by <\/span>CASE<\/span><\/a>. Held at the beginning of November, it featured talks covering various topics, with panels of industry leaders and experts leading the conversations.\u00a0 Be sure to check out our previous articles in this series <\/span>World Class Alumni Relations<\/span><\/a>, and <\/span>How to Support Your Alumni Journey.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Find out how Aluminati can help supercharge your institution\u2019s alumni relations programmes.<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Influencing the influencer: Building a culture of advocacy amongst your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,90,28],"tags":[31,34,86,38,41,32,85],"class_list":["post-11721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aluminate","category-alumni-relations","category-blog-news","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-relations","tag-case","tag-community","tag-education","tag-higher-education","tag-mentoring"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Turn Your Alumni into Brand Ambassadors - Aluminati Network Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aluminati.net\/how-to-turn-your-alumni-into-brand-ambassadors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Turn Your Alumni into Brand Ambassadors - 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