Organisations establish a corporate alumni engagement program 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. While an organisation’s needs play a key role, it is imperative that your communities needs are also at the forefront. A balanced approach is critical to provide a mutual value exchange.
Below are ten things to consider when building a strong corporate alumni program.
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Consider the needs of your community
Interview alumni, retirees and current employees. Don’t assume that the goals of your organisation match the needs of your alumni community. More insights on this can be read in our previous article on human-centric thinking and community growth.
Identify areas of opportunity
During the course of your fact-finding, were there things that surprised you? How can these insights be turned into opportunities for increased engagement and growth? Read more on how Coca-Cola identified new opportunities for their alumni community growth strategy.
Define your vision & values
Companies need to define their own vision and value proposition. Why is this program important to your company? How can you justify its value to senior stakeholders within the organisation? Read more on Demonstrating the Value of your Alumni Program.
Align strategy across the organisation
Evidence the value proposition for internal buy-in, budget and resources. Create a summary, explaining the benefits of the programme, key business drivers etc.
Use alumni, employees and stakeholders to drive the programme forward. When everyone is on the same page, the program will have a higher chance of success.
Test and analyse the data
Data is crucial. It helps organisations make strategic decisions, it informs the messaging and outreach and it often helps tell the story. Record alumni behaviour. Track and monitor the data and use this data to form your strategy moving forward. Read more on Why Data is Crucial to Alumni Relations Success.
Recognise achievements
Celebrate the achievements of your alumni. Include them in your messaging. Announce any alumni who return to the organisation and highlight any advancements that alumni make in other organisations. This will increase engagement in your corporate alumni program.
Turn your alumni into advocates
Provide your alumni with the resources and information they need to communicate your organisation’s goals, values and initiatives. Get alumni to engage with your organisations social media channels, sharing content etc.
Network!
Use your corporate alumni program to organise both online and real-world networking events for your alumni and help to cement those relationships. Six ideas for your next Alumni event.
Build Your Community
There’s is so much talk of workplace communities like online community platforms but what are they, and why do they matter? Read more to find out why community matters to you and your organisations.
Choose the corporate alumni program
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 organisation is critical to the success of the corporate alumni community and implementation begins with senior leadership alignment, with a ‘top-down’ approach. If you want to build your online management platform, or you require an alumni engagement software, reach out to one of our experts…
Find out how the Aluminate Community Builder can provide new opportunities for your organisation and alumni community.
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