Features or Benefits? What the Alumni Tribe Wants

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that alumni don't want the features of social networking sites – they want the benefits of connecting with other people.

This week I was going over the notes I took during the excellent annual meeting of the Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE), last summer. One of the presenters was Stanford's Jerold Pearson, Director of Market Research for their alumni association. Jerold said the same thing, and gave a simple example to clarify the point.

When you're promoting your association's programs or services, focus on the benefits, not the features. In a car, "a powerful engine" is a feature. But "speed and acceleration" are the benefits. So, a LinkedIn alumni group is a feature, but jobs and information are the benefits.

It sounds simple when you hear it, but it's surprisingly easy to forget this difference.

And on a related note, this same topic surfaced this week as I read blogging star Seth Godin's posting on "tribe management," along with the slim book that amplifies his arguments. He says, in part,

...what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.

Get it? In our version of Godin's scenario the institution – and its alumni association – are "the company."

And the alumni are the tribe.

...what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about.

Get it? In our version of Godin's scenario the institution – and its alumni association – are "the company."

And the alumni are the tribe.