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Opinion
A Plan for Maximum Participation in Campus-Based Text-Messaging Alert Systems
11/8/2007
2. Set up your system so that your monthly test alert can be replied to in a way that responses are collected where a staff person can access the names of those who reply. Determine, based on your own campus' sensibilities, when a good day and time for testing the system would be. If you are a commuter campus, you might not want to have that time be a peak driving time. You might want to be sure that the test takes place during a time when not many classes are in session, or you could be hearing from some annoyed faculty.
3. Solicit prizes from the campus business community. Each campus will have a different set of opportunities here, but bookstores, large rental management companies, and restaurants are obvious partners for this scheme.
Think big here. The opportunity you are offering the retail community is a big one. For example, at a school the size of the University of Michigan, a campus-wide alert that reaches a significant percentage of students, faculty, and staff is going to be read by tens of thousands of people. You are essentially offering to send an advertisement--a benign, low-key advertisement--to your community, under circumstances that ensure the message will get attention.
Sheila recommends having a number of smaller, yet significant prizes rather than a single big one. Here in Ann Arbor, we have Borders Bookstore #1, so we can go to a chain and still feel like we're being "local," so instead of a single $500 Borders coupon, perhaps five $100 ones or 10 $50 ones would work best. (I recommend going to your local businesses first, instead of chain stores, just to ensure that in this one way your institution's economic power is put to the best local purpose.)
I hate to mention this because I prefer the support to local businesses connection, but you may be able to find a corporate sponsor for the whole thing. You know, Sprint or AT&T just might cover all your costs if you let them purchase the right to provide the prizes for the entire school year's alerts.
4. Craft your alert and transmit it. You know, "This is a test. It is only a test. If you reply to this test within 30 minutes, your name will be entered into a random drawing for one of 10 $50 yummy Zingerman's Delicatessen gift certificates."
5. Implement a random selection for your winners, get the prizes to them, and publicize, publicize, publicize. If you have to, purchase a small display ad in the student newspaper to show the names of the winners and their prizes.
Then, if you try this, please let me know. If you are already doing it, also let me know. My e-mail address is terry.calhoun@scup.org. Good luck. Getting maximum participation doesn't help you with the real problem, which is how and when to actually use the system. On the other hand, you'll at least be making those decisions with a system that reaches a lot of the community!
About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society
for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.
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