Case study

How Shell Alumni Network connects former Shell employees

Shell Alumni network partnered with Hivebrite to create a mutually supportive and engaged community.

We made a very conscious decision in choosing Hivebrite. For any community to be successful in the long run it needs to innovate and continually add value—Hivebrite enables us to do this. We knew we were getting a premium, ever-improving platform.

Dagmar Mekking
Director of Shell Alumni Network

500+

paying members within 6 months

70

successful events organized within six months

9

communities within the platform

About Shell Alumni Network (SAN)

Created by alumni for alumni, SAN is independent of Shell. However, the company fully supports its mission and recognizes it as the official global Shell alumni network.

Mission

SAN reconnects former Shell employees in an online community so they can make a difference to each other, as well as to society as a whole.

Visit the community

The community challenge

Since SAN was created completely from scratch, they had an opportunity to get started on a platform that would meet their extensive needs. The SAN team demoed many community management platforms and extensively compared features.

Chief among their requirements was a stellar end-user experience. They also needed a platform that would allow easy creation of sub-communities to cover the diverse needs of community members that come from various corporate specialties and interests. The ability to enable seamless signups and membership fee-processing was also a must.

Key features designed for business

Monetization and Memberships

Generate revenue and capture leads through paid memberships, premium content, events, and sponsorships built into the platform.

News, content, and resources

Promote learning programs, product updates, and thought leadership with content recommended to members based on their role, interests, and activity.

Email and notifications

Reach members through branded email, in-app, and push, with personalization built on real member data.

Events and ticketing

Host virtual and in-person events, from networking sessions to webinars, with ticketing options.

The Hivebrite solution

With its wide variety of features and options for customization, Hivebrite was the clear choice for SAN. “Hivebrite doesn’t have a one size fits all approach to community management,” says Mekking. “We were able to customize our platform and we can test different features. This meant we could launch fast and see results quicker.” 

The community launched with the groups module to enable subcommittees with specific discussions, events, and content. It also made use of the media center, a live news feed, and the campaign module in order to send regular newsletters. The organization uses the analytics to consistently hone its content based on what engagement metrics show its users are most interested in. 

“We have now established the credibility, reputation, and value of our community. Our next phase is to scale—and we can do this with a lot of confidence now that we know our foundation is strong”, says Mekking. “With Hivebrite we have a real partnership, not just access to a platform. Hivebrite’s team understands our challenges and cares about our success”.