You probably already know that alumni engagement is important. But do you know how to design your alumni software to facilitate engagement?
When alumni engagement levels are high, you will enjoy more resilient alumni relations and more active participation in your alumni events.
This is good news, whether you’re an academic institution looking for support from former graduates or a business wanting more corporate alumni to attend networking events. But how can you ensure that your alumni engagement levels remain high? It often comes down to the design of your alumni software.
In this article, we cover why alumni engagement is so important, how the right software can help, and how to design your alumni software to facilitate engagement.
Why is alumni engagement important?
Before we address the issue of using software to engage your alumni, let’s consider why their engagement is so important.
- Alumni engagement helps to build (and maintain) meaningful, lasting relationships between former students/graduates and their alma mater. Or between former employees/executives and their employer.
- Engaged alumni are more likely to contribute to their former educational institution or employer. Academic alumni may lend financial support and donations or help with fundraising. Corporate alumni may help with referrals and networking to help the company form new partnerships.
- When alumni are engaged, they may want to remain involved in campus life or the workplace culture. They may offer their time, knowledge, and skills through online mentoring programs or other services.
- Engaged alumni are the best tool you have for building a strong reputation and attracting new students or employees. They will also encourage other alumni to become more active in exclusive alumni events.
These are only a few of the many benefits that alumni engagement can bring. That’s why you must have the right software to encourage alumni and facilitate engagement.
How does alumni software help facilitate engagement?
Alumni software is specially designed to handle all the requirements of an alumni program. It integrates with other tools that your alumni program may need. And it is scalable so that as your academic or corporate alumni program grows, your software grows with it.
But to ensure engagement, the software you use must play many roles. It must serve not only as an alumni database and communications channel, but also as a platform for special networking, and a center for invitations to upcoming events or special announcements.
The list of potential uses is endless, which is why you need an online platform that adapts to your unique requirements.
As the world’s most customizable online community platform, Aluminati offers alumni software products for academic alumni (Aluminate for Education) as well as corporate alumni (Aluminate for Enterprise).
Once you have chosen your software, the next step is learning how to design your alumni software to facilitate engagement.
7 Ways to design your alumni management software to facilitate engagement
Are you ready to learn how to design your alumni software to facilitate engagement? These are the top seven ways to engage alumni and keep them engaged, with the best alumni software strategies.
1. User-friendly interface
Start with the basics — great alumni management software with an intuitive interface that’s easy for you to manage and for your alumni to navigate. This will encourage more activity in your alumni association’s online community, and boost engagement.
At Aluminati, our customizable, dynamic digital dashboards cater to the diverse needs of our users. Alumni admin and members can access the information and tools they need quickly and easily.
2. Advanced communication tools
The most engaging alumni programs are those that have a variety of communication channels. Integrate popular direct communication channels, including messaging and email, to keep your alumni informed and connected.
The Aluminati platform offers a range of communication options, including personalized email campaigns and group messaging. This helps to form stronger relationships between academic alumni and their alma mater and between corporate alumni and their employers.
3. Alumni community-building features
Your alumni software is more than just an alumni database. It’s an online community. Creating a stronger sense of community through special interest groups and social network invitations to team-building activities.
With features like alumni directories, event management, and networking opportunities, our software helps to bring people together. Customize the platform to better represent your institution or organization.
Personalize the features to encourage more communication amongst alumni program members. Our Groups feature lets you segment your alumni member base into sub-communities with shared common interests and sector affiliations. That’s the ticket to truly engaging interactions.
4. Engagement analytics
As your alumni association grows, you will see certain patterns emerging in their use of your alumni program software. Analyze your alumni engagement data to gain a deeper understanding of their online interactions and valuable insights that will improve your engagement strategies.
We give you the analytics tools that you need for data-driven insights into alumni behavior. This will help you to adapt and refine your alumni engagement program so that it works harder for your alumni and for you.
5. Career development support
Career support is always a very strong engagement driver. It shows your alumni that you care about their career development and future success. So, incorporate mentorship programs, professional networking opportunities, and job boards in your alumni program software.
Our software lets you offer your alumni the career development tools they need. Job boards, mentoring programs, and professional networking opportunities — it’s all possible with Aluminati. These are the engagement tools that will keep your alumni coming back for more.
6. Alumni network event management
Alumni events, both online and offline, are the key to keeping your alumni engaged. Every successful alumni engagement strategy includes a lively mix of these in-person and virtual events. While many of these will be more formal, it’s good to offer more casual and fun activities, too, from time to time.
You can use our software as an alumni event management tool, too. It will streamline the entire process, from the planning and promoting stage, to scheduling and managing alumni events. That’s how you ensure higher participation.
7. Personalization and customization
The more that your alumni feel that the alumni program speaks to their needs and interests, the more engaged they will be. So, make the most of your alumni engagement efforts by customizing your software and personalizing your online content and experiences.
Offer your alumni more relevant and personalized content, with Aluminati’s software. The Aluminate Community Builder includes an Intelligent Matching Engine that matches each member to content relevant to their interests and past interactions.
Members can be matched to job openings, events, news, courses, volunteering opportunities, mentors/mentees, and much more. This process can be done manually or automated to save your admin time.
This feature is ideal for driving engagement as it invites members to spend more time on the platform, engaging in content that interests them.
Use Aluminate to create the most engaging alumni platform
The success of any alumni association revolves around how engaged its members are. Create an effective alumni engagement program, and you will raise interest in membership, increase event attendance, and encourage more active contributions.
You now know how to design your alumni software to facilitate engagement in your alumni community. All that’s left to do is to choose the best alumni management software and start building a better, stronger alumni community.
Discover what Aluminate for Education or Aluminate for Enterprise can do for your college, university, or company, and become another one of our success stories.
Request a free demo of our alumni software today.
