A dormant alumni network is one with little to no active membership and alumni program participation. This is more common than you might think. But if your alumni program has fallen into dormancy, there’s still hope. 

Low engagement is often the cause of a failed alumni network. Address this issue, and your alumni will want to renew the connection. Our strategies will help you to reignite alumni engagement and get your alumni program back on track.

Why dormant alumni are an untapped asset

Perhaps your newsletters suffered a sharp decline in open and click-through rates. Maybe your alumni website or social media pages have experienced a major drop in traffic. Or you’ve noticed a lack of interest in alumni events, volunteering, and networking. What does this all mean?

These are all signs of disengagement and a dormant alumni network. They are also clues as to what you need to do to re-engage them. With the right strategies, you can reignite alumni engagement, rebuild your alumni relations, and experience greater success than ever before. 

The issue of dormant alumni can understandably be very frustrating. But your dormant alumni are, in fact, an untapped asset. 

Barriers to alumni engagement

Navigating alumni engagement is not always easy. Here are the most common barriers you’ll face as you try to reignite alumni engagement.

Ineffective tools

Your choice of alumni community platform and online tools are central to your alumni engagement efforts. Get it wrong, and you will find it very difficult to engage or re-engage your alumni. They will probably just stop using the platform altogether. 

The current alumni engagement platforms you’re using may not be the right ones for your alumni community. Alumni platforms and alumni management software are not all equal. If yours are outdated or have a high learning curve or cluttered user interface, your alumni will not want to use them.

Non-inclusive program

The more alumni participate in the program, the higher their levels of engagement will be. And vice versa. However, alumni participation (and engagement) decline when alumni feel they aren’t recognized and valued by the alumni association they are a part of.  

Your current alumni relations program might not be inclusive enough, leaving members from minority groups disengaged. Alumni networks also often have large generational gaps. This can present problems for senior alumni who are not tech-savvy or may be unfamiliar with modern social networking techniques.

reignite alumni engagement

Inaccurate data

Alumni engagement requires consistent interaction. Your failing alumni relations could be due to limited communication. This is rarely deliberate. The reason is often as simple as incomplete or inaccurate contact information. 

Some of your alumni may have changed their phone numbers. Others may have switched to new email addresses for their new jobs. Your alumni engagement efforts can only be successful if you have up-to-date contact information for all your alumni network members. 

The role of technology in alumni reactivation

There are many ways to use technology to build stronger alumni relations and reignite alumni engagement. This is a good place to start, as ineffective alumni management software and alumni engagement platforms are often the biggest barriers to alumni engagement.

Fortunately, you can overcome the obstacles to reignite alumni engagement, with the Aluminati platform. We offer customizable solutions that get results, specifically designed for both academic and corporate alumni communities. 

For enterprises

Aluminate for Enterprise is designed for use in the corporate environment. Benefits include increased employer appeal, internal hiring, and an enhanced company culture.

For educational institutions

Aluminate for Education is designed for use in the academic environment. Benefits include a boost in alumni volunteerism, donations, mentoring, and community involvement.  

Strategies to reignite alumni engagement

Leveraging digital platforms

Get the right digital platform and tools, and half the battle against alumni dormancy is won. The Aluminati platform is user-friendly, dynamic, and engaging. It is also highly customizable to meet your specific alumni network’s needs. And its easy learning curve makes it ideal for everyone. 

Are you actively trying to engage alumni across generations? Our guide to inclusive programming will help. 

Social media storytelling

Social media is a valuable resource for fostering alumni engagement. You can use your alumni network’s social media pages to get your alumni interested in the program again. 

Acknowledge alumni achievements and announce upcoming events. Post-industry-specific news for your corporate alumni, and academic-centered news for academic alumni. And encourage members to share their stories with their peers. 

Social media also offers opportunities for social networking and marketing, but Aluminate can help with this, too. 

It is ideal for use as an enterprise social network that members can use for networking and collaboration in the alumni community. It is also a cost-effective social networking option for marketing your alumni events.

reignite alumni engagement

Offering value

The key to maintaining alumni engagement is to offer your alumni value for their membership and participation. 

One of the ways Aluminate addresses this need is with an algorithm called the Intelligent Matching Engine. This helps to match users to other users for mentorship, and to valuable content like job postings, groups, events, news, and courses. 

Your specific alumni network may have different expectations than others. However, there are usually some common needs running through corporate and academic circles. 

For enterprises

Corporate alumni need to know that you value their participation in your company’s alumni program. 

Show them this with networking opportunities, meetups, and career advancement opportunities. Do you want to know more about what your alumni expect from the program? Read the 9 expectations corporate alumni have

For educational institutions

Academic alumni need to know that their contributions to the alumni associations at their educational institutions are appreciated. Opportunities for networking, continuous learning, and mentorship will strike the right cord. 

Personalized outreach and segmentation

If you are familiar with marketing techniques, you’ll know about audience segmentation and personalization. These techniques are crucial for boosting customer engagement and are just as useful for reviving alumni engagement.

Segmentation is the dividing of an audience or target market into smaller groups, based on shared demographics, interests, history, and more. Our Groups module allows you to segment your alumni community into smaller groups based on interests, qualifications, skills, or other criteria. 

Personalized outreach entails connecting with members of your audience in a way that feels tailored just for them. With Aluminate, each member also sees news that is relevant to them on the digital dashboard when they log in.

Aluminate also offers personalization across the platform. Every element (photos, discussions, documents, event invitations, and more) can be personalized. Only those who the content is intended for, can view it.  

Keeping data accurate

Your alumni are constantly updating their social media data but often forget to let you know. With our social data sync (SDS) feature, your alumni data stays accurate and up-to-date. 

SDS works with any modern database but is also fully approved by LinkedIn. Once your members give their consent to share their social data, SDS will automatically check their profile data for relevant changes.

reignite alumni engagement

Measuring the success of your alumni engagement strategies

Track and monitor your alumni engagement strategies to measure their success. 

Our analytics and Insights will show you what your alumni interact with most. This will allow you to refine your engagement strategies and reignite alumni engagement. 

Watch your alumni engagement skyrocket with Aluminate

Alumni dormancy is most often due to a lack of engagement, and several factors can reduce engagement in your alumni network. If your engagement efforts have not produced the results you’d hoped for, don’t despair. Reviving alumni engagement is easy with Aluminati

You can use Aluminate for Enterprise or Aluminate for Education to build a strong alumni network from scratch, or reignite alumni engagement. It offers the user-friendliness your alumni need, with the versatility your organization needs. Request your demo today.