Alumni Relations: Engaging Your Most Valuable Ambassadors 6 Tactics That Will Drive Alumni Engagement Adela Papac Director of Communications Association of MBAs

My roles AMBA’s Director of Communications Westminster MBA Graduate Global AMBAssador Recipient of WBS MBA scholarship Volunteered at WBS Worked @Westminster Business School Marketing & Comms department

It all connects! 1. WBS MBA student 2. Recipient of WBS MBA scholarship 3. AMBA Student member 4. Volunteered @WBS 5. Worked @ WBS 6. Global AMBAssador 7. AMBA Director of Communications 1. WBS MBA student

Key challenges in engaging your alumni Large alumni constituency, but a small alumni team Raising tuiton fees – students expect more from their University experience –> increased pressure on the alumni team to deliver more benefits Contact details poorer for older cohorts / Issues with academics over their contacts Small budgets …

4 stage evolution of stakeholder relationships Apply this model – change ‘Company’ to ‘Alumni Relations team’ 1. AWARENESS (Stakeholders know that the company exists) 2. KNOWLEDGE (Stakeholders understand what company does) 3. ADMIRATION (Stakeholders develop trust & commitment toward the company) 4. ACTION (The company is taking action to collaborate further with stakeholders) Admiration, defined as the degree to which an organization is esteemed by its stakeholders. (Bortree &Waters, 2008) (Epstein, 2008) 6 6

6 Tactics that will drive Alumni Engagement

1. Start early Engage with them while they are in University – after they graduate, they are no longer in your sphere of influence Timing is critical!

2. Engage – it starts with you! If you want to engage them, you need to be engaged! Be where they are (Facebook, school events, pubs?) Show interest Develop personal relationships Offer suggestions Identify your best people, but… …don’t limit yourself only to them

3. Create emotional buy-in If students feel emotionally attached to their school, they are more likely to support the school’s initiatives   Early and continuous communication is the most important step to encourage students to connect emotionally to the new entity

4. Connect! Connect with your alumni emotionally – the greatest skill that you can develop When people buy into a message, product or service, they often don’t fully get all the technical details of what is being offered They are reacting to the feeling of being comfortable, based on trust and respect that has been built.

5. Involve them – it creates ownership and loyalty Student helpers or volunteers Student representatives Global AMBAssadors Engage with students on MBA Fairs & open days AMBA re-accreditation Work on university projects Internships…

6. Make it easy for them – what they prefer? Mentoring new students and new graduates Promotional activities for the school Organising events Helping with organising study trips Supporting the school with providing their contacts and ‘opening doors’ when required

Why MBA alumni want to be engaged? To maintain ‘status’ and good standing with their school Networking – alma mater is seen as a ‘super connector’ of alumni network Feel closer to the MBA world & academia Feel responsibility to support their school Career services (in case they loose their job) More visibility for themselves

How MBA alumni like to be in touch? Like to hear regularly from their business school! Like to be engaged through emails & social media Like to receive annual updates from the school (news about the school, academics, events they can attend or people they know) Like to attend events

What MBA alumni do not like: They do not hear from the school often enough! Not enough events – they would prefer fixed monthly events rather than ad hoc ones you cannot plan around

Don’t overdo it!

a.papac@mbaworld.com