The entry below was written as part of a submission during a recent job application process at a leading UK university. The thoughts didn’t get me from the long list to the interview – but I thought I’d publish them all the same.

Overview

Enhancing alumni engagement online is done best by those who understand the rewards this can bring to both the university and the alumni. It must be based on the strategic and tactical needs of the university and the needs of current and future alumni. In directing this work I will draw on previous experience in the online engagement of various audiences from new hires and employees, through to communities and customers.

My role will be to work in partnership with the Alumni Relations Office and suppliers to facilitate the process of gathering a list of requirements, to demonstrate those needs through the development of illustrative tools and to prepare channel and content plans. This will ensure that an excellent mix of appropriate, current and emerging digital services is used in a focused way to improve the conversation with current and future alumni, forging a closer relationship.

I will ensure that the digital communications team works with IS suppliers and the alumni office to develop and report on effective measures that will allow publishers to understand and show the value of specific actions, content and services. This will guarantee that plans are sufficiently flexible to address gaps or capitalize on successes and new opportunities. I will ensure that, together with my team we build strong links across the university and to individuals outside who work in the digital communications field. This will make certain that we stay aware of current thinking and can illustrate how others deal with the challenges and opportunities we have.

Wider initiatives to ensure appropriate governance will guarantee that consistent standards are applied in the production of content and the data captured through new and existing applications. This means that reputation can be protected, and benefits from new development maximised.

Understand the goals

My first step towards supporting this activity will be to understand the needs of the university. It’s stated aim to become a world top 50 university in the next 5 years is a target which they have almost achieved, and it is encouraging that 20% of the current top 50 have reached that position in the last 4 years[1]. The competition gets tougher the nearer a university gets to the top; an ever increasing amount of investment and influence is required to continue the rise, but the contest is an open one.

My second step will be to understand the role of alumni in generating much needed resources, to understand the goals set in this area and to monitor our progress towards them.   Any engagement is easier when the needs of the audience are understood and met[2]; delivering services and content that add value not only keeps the university at the front of its alumni’s minds but continues to support them in a variety of ways that will keep them within the life long University community.

To this end I will collaborate with the Alumni Office, alumni and students to define requirements. This information can be used to build personas (models of generic users) to address different alumni segments[3] and document their significant behaviors, characteristics and opportunities; Illustrated user journeys will show how these model users might interact with the University’s content and services to meet those needs. A communications plan will suggest key events around which the engagement can be focused, as well as opportunities arising from other activities. Other work should include examining the data available and the ways in which it can be optimised for effective audience segmentation, to support driving a more personal targeted service.

These tools will help the alumni relations team ensure their content and use of platforms is focused on delivering what alumni need. They will help IS suppliers continue to develop services which will support this essential process, and they help content creators across the university ensure that, where possible, they too can support the work the team does.

Mapping the present

A firm grasp of current content, skills of the team and digital services is essential, not just to alumni engagement but to meet other University needs. The university has done some good work to offer a variety of content across a multitude of platforms, both formal and less formal; ensuring that these work together effectively is vital if we are to ensure that the benefits of each are maximised.

The audit will be based on both quantitative (e.g. surveys and user journey analysis) and qualitative analysis (e.g. user interviews) to give a clear picture of content throughout its lifecycle. The audit will also serve to provide benchmark data for wider activities.

The online services currently provided should also be audited, from library use to email forwarding. Bringing this understanding of behaviors together with the opportunities could provide vital clues to help us increase the attractiveness of the services, and the way they are provided.

Understand the possible and envision the future

A recent Forrester study on Workforce Technology[4] adoption illustrates not only an ever-diversifying technology set and a rapidly increasing move towards more mobile technology, but also a digital world in which email continues to reign supreme with over 90% of information workers checking their email daily.

The old platforms should not be cast aside to be replaced by the current flavour of the month. When viewing current trends such as applications for mobile platforms and social media sites we must consider how they can be integrated with exisiting strategies to build engagement; this is particularly true of those that serve to ensure that content can be more effectively personalized or made accessible to a wider audience. An analysis of engagement activities in a sample of other leading universities, FTSE companies and leading charities should be carried out to establish a benchmark against which progress can be measured.

Trinity College Dublin, itself a newcomer to the top 50, has, an email for life service, allowing students to associate themselves with the university brand. However the TCD service differs in that it offers a service through Google that provides not only forwarding but also an email client and storage. Further advantages could be leveraged from the Google ID in the future to allow better integration with other services such as Blogger or YouTube, which could be used to deliver normally paid-for content free to alumni, thus complementing the service on iTunes, or it could provide access to paid-for subject matter and expert blogs. As IS departments look increasingly towards hosting many services outside the firewall, and sign-on mechanisms such as Google or FacebookConnect become more prominent, we must look to these platforms to help us deliver services such as events management or donations alongside our content. We should also look on our services as commercial products and ensure we are optimizing their attractiveness.

Measure progress

Measurement of the digital engagement activity is essential – not just in keeping us on track but in ensuring our progress is visible. I will work with Alumni relations to define measures consistent with the University’s vision. These will be used to show the result of each activity as well as trends over time. I will regular review those trends with the team to ensure that any corrective of supportive actions required can be initiated.

Too much digital measurement focuses on simple consumption numbers such as visitors, page impressions, friends or followers. While trends in these numbers may be significant over long periods, where possible we should be measuring the return or impact of a communication rather than the message or channel itself. To this end I will draw on my experience of developing business cases that focus on return on investment; this will ensure that engagement work is effective and has appropriate investment.

Staying on target

Like many modern web presences, the University’s is the product of an ever-expanding array of publishers. While this expansion has no doubt led to an explosion in content, it may also have led to a reduction in quality, which in turn can have a detrimental impact on reputation.

It is important that brand standards go beyond look and feel, to consider tone of voice, accessibility and interaction. This will provide not only a consistent feel but a well integrated experience. Clearly defined and understood brand guidelines, along with standards, will add value but they can also significantly add to the burden of creating engaging content, distracting the creator from the message.

The introduction of automated quality monitoring services could also ensure that the main University site is free of the simple errors, such as broken links, typos or inconsistent browser performance, that can bring a quick end to the most considered engagement plan.

Governance that enables, not disables, is essential in developing and implementing the frameworks to ensure a coordinated presence across all digital mediums.

Summary

A successful Alumni programme is essential to if the university is to deliver its strategic ambitions. It is vital to supporting the development of reputation both in the UK and overseas. We must ensure that we fully understand these drivers together with the needs of the alumni and we must develop tools that will enable the relationship team to place users at the center of their decisions. We need to start planning now in order to engage future alumni, driving their use of social media spaces and tools as they enter the university to help them stay connected as they move on. Our measurement techniques should enable us to track how well we are meeting the needs of the University and the alumni.

We need to take a look at what we currently do by auditing current alumni content, delivery channels and other digital services. We need to consider the role and benefit of each service and channel, the investment required to maintain it and the benefits it currently brings. We should also look at what others do, identifying what works well and what doesn’t, to help guide decisions in the future and to identify potential new products and services.

We should look to make investments in new technology that make it easier for engagement to happen, by allowing participants to focus on what is important. In a world that is increasingly conscious of the latest web tools, we must consider the role each can play in meeting the needs of our audience. A tightly integrated online and offline strategy will ensure effective engagement.

[1] The QS Top University Rankings can be seen at http://www.topuniversities.com/
[2] The needs analysis includes new and current students — ensuring that a relationship built from the time they joined the University will mean that the class of 2010 and beyond will be fully engaged with the alumni programme when they leave.
[3] Determining appropriate segments will be part of the requirements gathering process – although it is likely that this is in based on factors such as time since graduation, technical ability and geography.
[4] The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: US Benchmark 2009