Question: What is the most valuable asset of any organization? It’s a good bet that most executives would say its people. Organizations spend countless hours and a good chunk of their budgets finding employees who fit well and drive bottom-line success.
But what happens when those people leave? Many organizations cut their losses and move on—initiating more resource-draining searches.
In the past few years, however, some organizations have begun to leverage their pools of ex-employees, hunting them down and forming alumni networks that keep them engaged with the organization and each other. In many cases, PR leads the alumni efforts, along with the close integration of HR.
The benefits of forming an alumni network are three-fold. They include:
• Recruiting: Organizations are eschewing high-priced HR consultants and headhunters, and are using their alumni as a talent pool and referral service.
• Business development: Kept informed on the latest corporate messaging and positioning, former employees are more likely to refer new business—or to become customers themselves.
• Branding: By keeping their alumni engaged, companies still have brand ambassadors whose recommendations of their ex-employer to other companies carry much greater weight.
According to Michael Privitera, director of public affairs at financial research company Standard & Poor’s, organizations are starting to formally organize their alumni largely because of the rise of social media. “People today are used to conversing online, so now is a perfect time to engage with them,” says Privitera.
S&P’s formal alumni effort began just six months ago, and was started around the company’s 150th anniversary celebration. “We sat down and looked at stakeholders involved in the anniversary—clients, investors and current employees—and we couldn’t ignore our former employees,” says Privitera.
Working closely with HR, which keeps detailed information on ex-employees, S&P reached out to a target list of 7,000 people and is fast approaching 1,000 alumni group members. 
ENGAGE OFTEN
The centerpiece of the effort is S&P’s Connect Web site. Privitera uses a variety of engagement tactics and platforms within and beyond the site to keep members engaged and talking with each other, including:
• Forum discussions: “Throw out a topic to help get people conversing,” says Privitera.
• Polling questions: Polls on the economy, travel questions, and the healthcare bill have all been poll topics.
• Alumni events: “We recently hosted 20 West Coast alumni at a dinner,” says Privitera.
• Photo sharing: “Pictures from our 150th anniversary events get posted within minutes,” he says.
• Quarterly newsletter: Reminds members of upcoming events and features job postings.
• Fresh content from corporate Web site: “I’ll pull anything relevant from the S&P site that may interest the alumni,” says Privitera.
But how do you reach your ex-employees? According to Vincent Ponzo, VP of client services at SelectMinds, an alumni network services company, it’s done the old-fashioned way. “Direct mail such as postcards are used to initially contact alumni,” says Ponzo. “Once you get their e-mail addresses, the online engagement can begin—a combination of e-mail and your own networking site or LinkedIn and Facebook to keep members up-to-date and talking with one another,” says Ponzo.
PROVIDE VALUE
The big question coming from contacted prospective alumni group members, says Ponzo, is, “What’s in it for me?” Which rears the age-old PR mantra: Know your audience.
Tech giant IBM knows its alumni audience from regular surveying, says Ethan McCarty, manager of digital expertise enablement at IBM and former program director of alumni relations.
From that research, McCarty says the majority of their 100,000-plus members join the program for two reasons: “They want to reconnect with former colleagues, tapping into their expertise, and they want access to thought leadership,” he says.
IBMers’ demand for thought leadership is the main reason why the company allows its current employees to be part of the alumni group. “We bring together these two communities so they can talk to each other, with an eye toward our company vision of a smarter planet,” says Jaclyn Swenson, current alumni relations program manager at IBM.
Big Blue puts considerable resources toward its alumni program. The company has even created GreaterIBM.com, a gated community that provides members with premium content such as “where are they now” editorial features.
Standard & Poor’s program hasn’t reached that level yet. The company is somewhat limited in its use of existing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. “Being in the financial spaces, we are somewhat confined by what we can do,” says Privitera. “And I’ll admit we’re a bit confounded by social media policies.”
That’s not the case at IBM, which has a Facebook group of more than 50,000, a XING group in Europe, and a large LinkedIn contingent. “From the get-go, we’ve tried to fish where the fish are,” says McCarty.
THINK LONG-TERM
And what about organizations not as big as an IBM who would like to tap ex-employees? Here’s some advice from McCarty:
• “Don’t build a brand-new stadium if there’s a great concert going on inside of the old one already,” he says. Meaning, if there are unofficial alumni groups out there, let them flourish.
• “Take a long-term view with your program,” says McCarty. “Too often I’ve seen companies start programs and not keep up engagement efforts.”
• “Cultivate expertise by offering events and programs around topics specific to your industry,” he says.
In addition, alumni networks have hit the big PR agencies. One is Hill & Knowlton, which is beefing up its alumni efforts, says MaryLee Sachs, H&K’s U.S. chairman and worldwide director of marketing communications. “Up until recently, our outreach was very informal,” she says. The agency recently added a newsletter to the mix, to support its alumni landing page and LinkedIn group.
“It’s great communicating regularly with alumni that understand our agency’s philosophy and can espouse that thinking to others around the world,” says Sachs. PRN
[Editor’s note: Looking for information on more stakeholder outreach strategies and tactics? Visit PR News’ Subscriber Resource Center at www.prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html.]
CONTACT:
Michael Privitera, [email protected]; Vincent Ponzo, Vincent Ponzo, [email protected]; ethan McCarty, [email protected]; Jacelyn Swenson, [email protected]; MaryLee Sachs, [email protected].