If You Want Students to Engage on Social Media, Offer Up Some Neon Swag

BostInno

College students come running when they hear the word “free.” You’ve seen them weigh themselves down at career fairs, shoveling pencils, pens and caramel candies into their pockets by the handful. That said, Suffolk made an insanely smart move when they needed to lure the incoming Class of 2017 over to their social media channels: they bribed the fresh-faced freshmen with some neon-colored swag.

The University bought 500 tank tops to test their theory, and tabled them at three of the school’s five orientation sessions. The fluorescent tops sarcastically read, “I followed Suffolk on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn and all I got was this lousy tank. #Suffolk17.” Meaning, students couldn’t leave with swag in hand if they didn’t follow one of Suffolk’s four featured social networks first.

In an email, Joshua Walovitch, Suffolk’s director of digital and social media, acknowledged that schools might not feel comfortable exchanging tanks for some love on social media, but several of the students followed more than one channel in an effort to keep up-to-date on all things Suffolk.

“The idea is if we do this four years in a row, then we’ll have an entire campus/community wired and connected with the university using a communication channel they are most comfortable with,” Walovitch said.

Following the giveaway, Suffolk saw a 3.77 percent increase in Facebook fans, a 2.21 percent increase in Twitter followers, a 26 percent increase in Instagram followers and a 0.55 percent increase in LinkedIn connections. (Clearly, LinkedIn isn’t as adored among the millennial crowd.) Overall, 37 percent of the incoming class connected to the university, and in a way that helped foster school spirit and drove enthusiasm. That 37 percent, however, only represents the 500 tanks they bought. So imagine the engagement they could have had, had they purchased nearly 1,400 for the entire incoming class.

“New students have been Tweeting, Facebook and Instagramming photos of themselves in the tanktops with positive notes sharing their excitement for their school branded tank top and excitement for the new school year,” Walovitch said. “They’ve been using the hashtag featured on the shirt to share and communicate with their classmates.”

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