Every year, students migrate to the many libraries on campus for a week of late nights, cramming sessions and the mass production of final papers just in the nick of time. As a Wolverine, I know the stress of finals week and exam season all too well! To celebrate the end of the semester and tie in some holiday spirit, #UMSocial decided to bring sweet treats to campus–with a twist.
The day before our treat scavenger hunt, we encouraged @umich followers to look out for something sweet on campus. Each candy cane came with a note from our team, along with our Twitter handle on the back! This is an extremely simple way to engage with our community and potentially gain a few followers along the way. Another simple way to receive engagement is to simply ask for it, by including a clear call-to-action in your post. We asked our @UmichStudents to reach out to us if they found one of the candy canes on campus:
Aside from Twitter and Instagram, we utilized Snapchat as a way to provide clues for the location of the “golden” candy canes, which had a special message and if found meant the recipient received a special #UMSocial gift. In order to claim their prize, winners had to Tweet @umich a photo of the golden ticket!
As fun as it was to walk around campus in reindeer ears and string the Diag trees with holiday treats, it was much more exciting to see the positive impact we made on students. ‘Tis the season for stress, both with exams and the holidays, and so even the simplest of gestures make a difference. Along our journey we walked through the Shapiro Undergraduate Library and gave a few treats away to students, wishing them luck as they studied. It was rewarding to see the positive feedback appear on social almost immediately:
Within higher education, it’s commonplace for brands to promote finals study tips, graphics, and words of encouragement during exams. The #UMich accounts are no different, and we are accustomed to tailoring our content to be most relevant for our students, which includes talking about finals week. We did something a little different this time, and saw it pay off. By using blue candy canes and decorating with messages and yellow ribbons, we were able to stay on-brand, holiday-season relevant, and reward students during this stressful point in their semester. We’re hoping that our Wolverines, and maybe a few UMich squirrels, enjoyed the finals week treat! I know that I did.
This post was written by Katie Szymanski, Communication and Digital Studies senior; #UMsocial editorial intern
