BCA reaches out to students with social media and pop-up careers shop
Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA) uses integrated marketing for #AskVicki careers campaign
Campaign name: #AskVicki
Brand: Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA)
Audience: School and college leavers
Location: Maidenhead, Berkshire (UK)
Duration: 12/08/2013 to 26/08/2013
Channels: Print and social media
Social Media Portal (SMP): Agency behind the campaign? Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA):
Empra and
@empra SMP: The brand it is for?BCA:
Berkshire College of Agriculture (BCA)
SMP: What regions was the campaign for?BCA: Maidenhead, Berkshire (UK)
SMP: The official campaign name and why was it chosen?
BCA:
#AskVicki refers to the name of the college?s careers expert Vicki Sellens. The campaign invites young people to ask her for careers advice and guidance
SMP: What was the start and end of the campaign?BCA: 12/08/2013 to 26/08/2013
SMP: The target audiences of the campaign, who did you try to reach and why?BCA: We?re providing high-quality careers advice to young people during the weeks the receive their GCSE and A-level results
SMP: Briefly, tell us about your campaign BCA: The time around A-level and GCSE results days are a period of intense anxiety and often distress for young people. This can also include making life-changing decisions about their futures, especially if their exam grades aren?t as good as they hoped. There?s a shortage of expert advice and connecting with young people via social media is the ideal way to offer the guidance they need in a friendly and informal setting.
SMP: What were the objectives of the campaign and why was it different?BCA: Our goal is to boost student recruitment to our college client at this business-critical time of year when students are making decisions about their educational futures. We are simultaneously delivering a much-needed service of independent careers advice. Combining these channels with a physical presence in the form of a pop-up careers advice shop (the first of its type) in Maidenhead town centre marks the campaign out.
In addition to this, research had identified a widespread local perception that the college, because of its name, only provided land-based training. The breadth of the campaign is designed to underline the fact that BCA now offers everything from A-levels to foundation studies and degrees in subjects ranging from physics, photography to childcare and sport.
SMP: What were the channels, platforms and methods you used?BCA: Social media via Twitter
@BCA_Maidenhead and
Facebook, print and digital media via partnership with the local paper, the
Maidenhead Advertiser and its Twitter account
@MaidenheadAds. This included a physical presence in the form of pop-up careers advice shop in Maidenhead shopping centre.
SMP: What did you do to measure the campaign and what measurement tools did you have in place to do this?BCA: Twitter analytics, tracking spike in traffic to college website and an increased student recruitment to the college.
SMP: How did you make the campaign social (and how are you making it stand out at such a busy and competitive time of year)?BCA: This is a standout campaign, which has attracted attention in our target area through local newspaper launch and blogs by Vicki in the weeks leading up to exam results days.
SMP: How did the relationships with the Maidenhead Advertiser work and how did you set this up (apart from publishing news and blogs)?
BCA: The paper retweets #AskVicki questions on its feed, delivering cross-business synergy for both partners. The paper benefits from driving young people to its website at a time of immense pressure for legacy media and ever aging demographic.
SMP: Are there a series of blog posts, when did they start and when did they end?BCA: The
first one was posted on 12/08/2013 and are planned to be monthly onwards.
SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything in particular that you?d like to share about the campaign?BCA: Our campaign dovetails with national educational policy
media coverage of widespread evidence that existing careers service is failing young people, in particular a damning report by MPs earlier this year, thereby increasing our chances of placing stories.
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