ISO … Campaigns That Utilize Social Channels + Other Channels & Got Results

Did you create, or do you know of, a campaign, large or small, that used social media and other channels (online and/or offline) and got results? Would you please let me know?

Here’s why I ask:

I’m developing the content for a white paper about what we learned in the 2012 CASE/mStoner/Slover Linett survey of social media in advancement. It’s very clear from this year’s results that institutions that rate their social media activities as very effective or effective embed social media into broader campaigns where the social channels are connected to and amplified by other channels. This echoes findings from last year.

We want to research and write up a number of case studies of effective campaigns for our white paper. And I’m trying to discover campaigns that I don’t know about. If you could help, that would be awesome!

We’re looking for examples like these:

• • Webster University developed a campaign to build brand awareness and increase engagement through a concert ticket giveaway in the summer (a time when many people weren’t paying attention or engaging much). They used a website, Twitter, Foursquare and YouTube.

• • Elizabethtown College and Messiah College collaborated to bring a traditional soccer rivalry to social media, with alumni competing to see which college could win by boosting its annual fund the most.

• • The College of William & Mary developed an alternative viewbook consisting of a deck of cards with word pairs (“Naked and Friendly”). A website enabled visitors to contribute their own word pairs.

I’d love to know about other examples. Can you share one or two?

To be clear, I’m looking for examples of campaigns focused on alumni relations, giving, advancement, brand building, student recruitment, or other purposes that combine social media with other channels (online or offline). For the record, I define a campaign as “a focused effort to achieve goals using a variety of channels appropriate to the results sought,” so it’s not restricted to fundraising. The campaign can be fairly limited in scope, as in the above examples, or much bigger, such as Oregon State University’s Powered By Orange initiative.

You can send me an email if you have something to share. Here’s what I need to know (at this point, shorter is better):

• • Please tell me a little about the campaign: What was its purpose? Who did you target? What channels did you use?

• • What results did you achieve? (In other words, why did you say it was “successful?”)

• • Can you share a few images? (Facebook posts, graphics, etc.)

We’ll take it from there. This is a great chance to share your (or a colleague’s) success with colleagues who, in the inimitable tradition of education, are eager to CASE (that stands for “Copy And Steal Everything”; also, of course, for the cosponsor of this work, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education).

Again, case studies that emerge from this request will be included in a (free) white paper that will be broadly distributed to schools, colleges and universities. You can download the 2010 white paper from the CASE website (here. It contained a number of case studies (about Powered By Orange, Northfield Mount Hermon School, the Emory University Alumni Association, and William & Mary’s mascot search).

Thank you: I’m grateful for your assistance!