Leveraging Happy Alumni for Language Centre Success

We all know the crucial role that alumni testimonials play in the decision process of prospect students. However, in most cases language schools do not have a proper alumni marketing strategy in place that allows them to leverage happy alumni influence.

Leveraging happy alumni testimonials for a stronger ELT marketing strategy is vital if you are a language school working locally or if you are a language school working with international students. I’d dare say, that in the second case it’s even more of a priority as prospective students cannot walk into your school to get a feel of the vibe of the school and staff.

What’s more, having alumni stories on your socials and websites is ideal for humanizing your language school marketing and enhancing content engagement.

Ironically, the same principle applies to online schools, so if you’re in the online space, you’re also invited to read on!

But first, let me introduce myself:

About me: Hi, I’m Gina Rodriguez. I’m a qualified Digital Marketing Specialist and I work as a Social Media Strategist & Consultant for the language education sector . I have 25+ years experience in the English Language Teaching (ELT) industry and have covered various roles from EFL teacher, teacher trainer to Sales & Marketing Consultant in educational publishing.

How I help language schools: I help language schools and independent language professionals build an engaging social media presence through training, consultancy and tailored social media strategies.

Sign up to my newsletter for Social Media Post Ideas to keep you inspired and consistent.

This article is based on insights I shared during my presentation at the English UK Marketing Conference, where I explored how language schools can transform happy alumni into their strongest advocates

The Power of Alumni Advocacy in ELT Marketing

According to Inbeat, “Millennials and Gen Z highly value UGC, finding it more memorable and trustworthy.”

In the language education sector, this means that potential students will trust their peers more than they would trust your social media ads or brochures.

Please reflect on this:

• Alumni are your best advocates.
• They help build credibility, boost enrolment, and provide relatable insights into your language centre.
• Alumni advocacy can significantly impact enrolments and the reputation of the institution.

Steps to Build an Effective Alumni Marketing Strategy for Your Language School

Identifying the right alumni to involve in your marketing strategy is fundamental for its success. As well as, engaging with them and nurturing a relationshiop with those former students . Next, I’ll give you an overview of the main steps to take to plan an alumni marketing strategy for your language school.

1.How to Identify the Right Alumni for Your Marketing Strategy

To start with, decide on alumni qualifying criteria. What traits are you looking for in your past students that will help you achieve your objectives? Consider the following:

• Have they got a success story to share?
• Do they come from a country or area where your course sales are low and could help you expand your presence in that market?
• Have they got a strong social media presence?

These are some of the questions you need to consider when creating qualifying alumni criteria.

Once the criteria are defined, it’s essential that the academic, sales, and marketing teams liaise to identify the right alumni for the strategy. The three teams need to share information and insights to ensure a successful selection.

In a recent chat with ELT Consultant Paul Ashe, we discussed the importance of “Bridging Marketing and Teaching Teams in Language Schools” to ensure a successful marketing strategy and customer satisfaction. Catch up with the recording in this twenty-minute video to get inspired for innovating internal team communication.

2.Reaching Out and Engaging Your Alumni Network

Next, it’s time to reach out to those students who have the right profile to be your ambassadors and reach out to them ideally before they complete the course with you. Also, reach out to alumni from recent years and do your best to get them engaged. Some alumni may not respond to initial outreach. Persistence and offering value are key to re-engaging them.

The idea is to offer them a dedicated space where you can engage with them, and they can engage with other former students. This could be a social media group, a portal, or a social media page.

Ideally, you will nurture that space with alumni stories of career success, life achievements, and love stories! This is also the place where you can host livestreams and webinars about topics that are of value to them like student mobility, employability, cultural aspects, and even language support.

Do engage with alumni also on social media by tagging them on your posts and stories, doing shout-outs, sharing throwbacks, and doing alumni spotlight.

3.Using Alumni Stories to Boost Your Language School’s Content Marketing

When the time is right, request their testimonials, stories, or even their support in events like open days or virtual open days. Their input will be invaluable in the marketing of your language school. It will be a boost for your content marketing and can be shared on social media, your website, brochures, and with the sales team to better present your institution.

4.Showing Appreciation: Keeping Your Alumni Network Engaged

To keep a happy network of alumni and leverage their influence in your marketing strategy, make sure they feel appreciated for their contribution. Sending them a thank-you email, a coupon, or a certificate of appreciation will mean a lot to them and is really low-cost to you.

Turning Current Students into Future Alumni Advocates

Remember that every current student is a potential ambassador whose words, opinions, and advice on social media and by word of mouth will influence the choice and perception of your school by potential students.

For this reason, the best tactic is to treat current students as future partners to be able to set the foundations for an alumni network whose testimonials will be a valuable asset in your content marketing.

Therefore, take action and start building your alumni network asap! Here’s what you need to do:

1. Treat current students as future ambassadors.
2. Build an alumni network by identifying and engaging happy students.
3. Leverage alumni influence through testimonials and social media.
4. Show appreciation to maintain long-term relationships.

Start building your alumni network today by reaching out to your top 10 alumni and inviting them to share their stories!

Happy to support you with crafting and implementing an ad-hoc alumni strategy through my 50-50 service. My 50-50 service package is designed to help language schools create and execute a strategy tailored to their unique goals. If you want to implement an alumni strategy but are short of staff or time, we can work together to put it in place.

Book a discovery call today to learn how I can help you transform happy alumni into your school’s strongest advocates!