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Educational and Corporate Alumni Website Platforms

Recent trends – globalisation, the 'war for talent', changing approaches to work and employment relationships and the rapid evolution of enabling technologies – have led organisations to look at how they reach and engage their greater alumni community. Get your alumni strategy right so both sides have benefits they value and you will extend your reach and harvest the rich relationship rewards an online community inspires.

However, if you don't seize the opportunity and provide a platform for your alumni to connect to one another, they will do it themselves.   Free social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook are awash with small splinter alumni groups driven largely by the alumni themselves proving alumni see value in the opportunity. What they've not enjoyed is the restrictive nature of those organisations.

End result being a missed opportunity for organisations left unable to harvest the goodwill, and cultivate the trust and loyalty that inherently comes from the collaboration of those with a common bond.

It's not only educational institutions like Oxford Alumni and professional services firms like Deloitte Alumni Relations - who are jumping to create brand value by cultivating the relationship potential of alumni here and overseas.

Use your alumni network to extend market reach and access a larger talent pool of candidates and create new business opportunities.

Open up communication between alumni and current students/employees so they can collaborate in an open and unfettered way

Connection benefits abound – Social networking, job opportunities, professional development, access to expertise, career development, new business ventures, new market opportunities...

Your own private alumni community – harnessed from your own CRM

CRM integration is always an interesting topic because CRM's are naturally very different. Some are great and provide open access to their data ie Salesforce. Others are dated or 'encourage' you to purchase costly licences or sister products to do what you want to do. The great news is cloud technologies are revolutionising the way we work and 'enabling' rather than restricting what you can do. As a result, Alumnity (our platform) will connect to popular CRMs through a series of 'Integration Add-Ons' — making it easier and more cost effective to reach out to your alumni and start the process of turning them into a loyal social community. 

Loyalty however has to be earned through an exchange of value. And the value proposition - for either a corporate or educational alumni network – depends on a fine balance between the practical and tangible benefits for both alumni and the organisation. A careful mix of mutual tangible benefits plus that 'common bond' goodwill alumni have, for those who nurtured their self-development, creates near 'perfect storm' conditions for a dynamic, self-enaging social community. 

 

Benefits of an alumni network

Such an alumni network provides a unique advantage competitors can't replicate – a social community built on trust, connection, knowledge and innovation from which much can be harnessed. Data collected can help inform recruitment strategies, ambassadorial outreach roles, provide mentoring opportunities for current students, extend recruitment networks, promote business opportunities, lower recruitment costs, build brand image, loyalty and trust — even raise money to improve the institution and experience for others coming through. 

The importance of engaging alumni overseas

Globalisation is as pervasive as the leap in enabling technologies. And, we now have a world with more open markets for products and services, all needing more labour and talent. Intense competition for human talent is leading companies to reconsider how they engage workforces, their own scalable needs and the shifting pool of talent available to them.

Building an international community of mutual interests and mutual support is good for organisations and good for business. Current students can gain mentors to learn about international career opportunities. Alumni wishing to expand their business or look for people with specific international expertise want to rely on a trusted network that has collective diversity and experiences. Membership organisations can enhance their global reputation and build stronger international relationships.

Let's talk

Alumni networks work best when real people have real conversations. Open social networks may not be the best place for this to happen. Over-sharing can have as damaging conseuqences as protective under-sharing. Factor in that any data on open networks is owned by the likes of Linkedin or Facebook not your organisation – can you really afford to ignore such game-changing potential? 

If you need an alumni platform and engagement strategy that reflects the needs and reality of your alumni we'd really like to hear from you on 01189 835 510. 

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