Almabase’s Post

Getting your alumni community to engage with your institution is an increasingly difficult task with so many competing priorities and digital distractions. The short answer: Your alumni are humans, first. Engage them personally and authentically. 💙 Here are 3️⃣ fool-proof ways to use video to engage, delight and inspire your alumni community.

Let’s face it: Alumni are your institution's biggest fans... and their support is critical to your success. Looking to increase your engagement with alumni, but need help figuring out where to start? We’ve got you. Here are five strategic alumni engagement ideas to help promote your campus. 👇

What makes a great alumni program? We've put together 10 alumni programs that have been absolutely killing it, with everything from community building, events, news and storytelling, and have driven immense value for both organization and alumni through referrals, business opportunities and even boomerang hires.  Read the full article to find out what these programs are doing well, and how you can use these techniques when managing your own program. ⬇️

Last week, I met Juluis Alexis De Leon in person! 😊 We connected on LinkedIn back in June 2023, where we talked about his experience in the Marketing Management program. We caught up with what's happened since meeting virtually then, and exchanged stories about co-op and initiatives he's working on with Sheridan College. 💪 Stay tuned for another update, as we have something we'll be collaborating on together this week! 📸 #MarketingManagement #Networking #AlumniCommunity #StudentInitiatives #MarketingCommunity #AlumniNetwork

Today, I did something wild. I had an in-person meeting! To be fair, it was more like a field trip. While working from my parents in Upstate New York, I carved out time to visit my clients at Cornell Law School and Cornell SC Johnson College of Business 🐻 ❤️ Despite working with these teams for the better part of the last two years, today marked our first face-to-face encounter. I know what you’re thinking. How could that be? That feels like bad business… Well, as a pandemic-era consultant, nearly all of my connections were formed virtually. And as it turns out, operating from behind a screen proved to be more of an opportunity than a challenge. You see, in the months following the pandemic, development communications went into overdrive. Gone were the events, celebrations, and soirées that placed impact at the forefront. As communicators and storytellers, we had to rely on new modes of translating impact: we had to paint the picture ourselves.   Today, as I walked around the campus I’ve been writing about for years, I realized this approach is all I’ve known. And it’s served me well. Do you know why? 📣 Because donors invest in people, not places. 📣 ⚡ Impact isn’t about detailing every inch of the newest state-of-the-art building; it’s about illustrating what will happen inside. ⚡ Impact isn’t about witnessing revolutionary research in real-time; it’s about sharing the promise and potential of what’s next. ⚡ Impact isn’t sitting alongside a student in the classroom; it’s about demonstrating what they’ll do with that knowledge when they go out into the world. Whether you're fully immersed in the environment or narrating from afar, conveying impact is about finding the people in the places. Remember: When you look for the people ➡ you’ll find the purpose ➡ and inspire the passion that fuels your donors. _____   At Onword Communications, I help nonprofits connect with donors through human stories that drive engagement and inspire action. Want to learn more about what’s possible for your organization?   Let’s connect! Send me a DM to learn more.   #impactcommunications #storytelling #donorrelations #advancement

In our recent research, we dug into alumni engagement to gain a better sense of what program managers can expect for activity in their communities.   Alumni have cited the newsletter as one of the most frequently used and most valuable types of alumni offerings. A third of programs send a monthly or quarterly newsletter and 59% of programs that send newsletters receive an open rate of more than 40% and almost half as many programs (27%) see a click-through rate of 11%–50%. This suggests that content emailed to alumni is highly viewed and read, leading to more logins into the community and engagement with content and events.   Read more about other engagement metrics here: https://lnkd.in/essXs7Dy #corporatealumni #alumnirelations #engagementmetrics #newsletters

It’s very easy to get caught up in our own narratives of success - celebrating our wins is of course important but how often do we acknowledge those who have helped us along the way? Each achievement, every small win, has the fingerprints of those who've supported, guided, and believed in us. When I was made redundant for the second time in my teaching career, I decided it was time for a change, Nikki Cochrane and Kathryn Tyler opened the doors for me to study with Digital Mums and re-train as a Social Media Manager... Sara Guiel and 👊Nicky Chisholm believed in me and allowed me to lead The Mumpreneurs Networking Club Twitter Chats.  Sarah Hesz and Katie Massie-Taylor gave me my first role as a Community Manager and mentored and encouraged me to grow and to feel confident in my knowledge and skills. I got to collaborate with brilliant colleagues Saskia Roddick and Isabel Mohan who were great to learn from.  Joanna Howes coached me and gave me the tools to unlock my mindset and to believe in myself and all that I am capable of, never settling and always stretching myself to take on new challenges.  Becks Armstrong and Kate Dyson became pillars of support during challenging times. And now in my role as Head of Community at AGENCYNOMICS by Cactus, I get to work with a brilliant team of people every day who are generous, supportive and inspiring. I've had my fair share of ups and downs and overcome a lot of challenges but I haven't done any of it alone. Pause for a moment and recognise someone pivotal in your journey. Tag them or share a memory in the comments. A simple 'thank you' can go a long way. #ProfessionalGrowth #CareerJourney #CareerDevelopment #CommunityManagers

The biggest lesson I've learned is a sustained approach over the long term is required to build a robust, effective, long-lasting alumni engagement strategy. #alumnirelations #alumniengagement

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY. Throughout our lives, it’s important to not only #learn and #retain information but to #utilize that information. It really drives home the old adage “Use it, or lose it”. With the amount of resources we have these days and the never ending amount of data we have access to, it more important than ever to hone your skills for not only sourcing information but also betting that information. Before my new role began, I researched the company to gain an understanding of the business and wrote my #90dayplan based on that information. It turns out my research and my analysis of the data I found was pretty much bang on. This week, I have been working with the team in Cinnaminson New Jersey to learn more about the inner operations of the business. The amount of knowledge the team has been sharing is amazing and has so much value to my #longtermplan. But how do you document that amount of information, retain it and, utilize it in the future? I would like to ask for your approach in the comments below. Here is my approach. I’m still a bit old school so I start to sitting down with people, having a conversation to build that relationship and I take notes. A lot of notes. My advise to anyone who wants to collect data, no matter what it is, GET BOOTS ON THE GROUND. The only way to learn is be in the environment. Second, I take my notes and type them out and categorize them as I go and start to lay them out in how I will utilize them in the future. The last thing I do is I review all of my notes and create a list of points to identify how I will use the information I have gathered to either build on what I’m working on or to create new plans, ideas and initiatives. For me, a three phase approach works best. Write, read, repeat. If you do something similar share your successes. If you are struggling to build these skills. Share your struggles and see how the community supports you development. As always, I look forward to your contributions to the conversation and if you enjoy my #thoughtfortheday posts be sure to follow me, share my post to your feed and expand the reach and grow our networks. #thanksfortheread.

📝 Volunteering Alert - have an hour to give advice to early career fellows on how to tell their story? We’re looking for 10 mentors who’ll be connected 1:1 to a fellow working on a blog describing their first enterprise team project. Sign up here https://lnkd.in/gAEXm9Mh ⏰ Time commitment: Async for one hour decided by mentor between June 17th-27th Consider signing up if you meet any of the following :  - If you have more than 2 years in the industry, you’re already a great candidate. - How: Give feedback async on a google doc through comments on syntax or concepts - Why is this important to fellows? (Our stories are our greatest source of luck and change as we stand apart from our github portfolios and resumes, give the gift that keeps on giving across our fellows’ careers) Learn more and sign up here https://lnkd.in/gAEXm9Mh