Customer Success Story — OU Charlotte
Customer: University of Oklahoma, Charlotte North Carolina Chapter
The University of Oklahoma’s Charlotte Chapter serves the 12 counties that make up the Charlotte, NC area. With 120 active alumni in their chapter, events usually range in attendance from 40–45 folks. The majority of activities are watch parties for the historic OU football and basketball teams. In addition to this, OU Charlotte is an active participant with other Big 12 chapters around the metro area, helping coordinate multiple events every year with their respective leaders.
Challenge: Create an Online Presence to Engage More Alumni
When OU Charlotte President Curtis Morgan took over the reins as the club’s leader, he was handed a website that was terribly designed, poorly maintained and hard to find online. “We were missing folks,” Curtis said, a result of a website that was “not appealing in any way” and limited communication between the chapter and the local alumni. While the OU association back at home was helpful in providing materials for watch parties, and always eager to help program activities when they could, providing an easy-to-use website wasn’t in the OU toolbox. In addition to their standalone website, OU Charlotte was using their Facebook page to promote events and chapter news. But, as Curtis was quick to point out, the task of maintaining a website, Twitter and Facebook as a volunteer was tiresome. In the end, Curtis wanted to stop seeing fans in OU gear walking around who didn’t know about the chapter and its activities.
Result: High-Yield, Efficient Online Alumni Engagement
Curtis sums up running a chapter in a single statement, “if you get one alumnus that wasn’t engaged yesterday, and is now — your chapter is a success.” With his Alumni Spaces site, Curtis says they are significantly more successful in both keeping alumni active, and bringing alumni who may have fallen out of touch back into the fold. By being able to manage their Facebook, Twitter and website in a single place, his job as a volunteer became easier, something that Curtis feels is a necessary of probably any chapter leader. Asked if he could sum up Alumni Spaces, Curtis responded that “alumni engagement colors what Alumni Spaces does for our chapter. It is the central focal point for their messaging and their experience online.”
