Boosting Engagement with 2,028 Votes and 165 New Subscribers – A Teacher Recognition Campaign Success

Objective

Last year, St. Louis Post Dispatch ran a highly successful teacher recognition campaign aiming to celebrate the dedication of educators. The primary goals were to boost recognition for teachers, increase community engagement, and generate sponsorship revenue.

Strategy

The campaign was structured to span the entire school year, with a focus on community participation. Each month, a randomly selected teacher was awarded a $250 prize and featured in the local newspaper. At the end of the year, the teacher with the most votes received a special prize and an extended spotlight in the paper.

Participants were encouraged to support their favorite teachers by casting votes, with additional incentives for liking sponsors on Facebook and signing up for their emails. Sponsors were prominently featured, with their images displayed in the campaign gallery.

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The campaign offered two levels of sponsorship:

• Presenting Sponsor: This top-tier sponsor provided prizes and received significant exposure through tags in all campaign articles and social media.
• Supporting Sponsors: These sponsors received logo inclusion and association with the positive community-focused initiative, although they were not tagged on social media.

Results

The campaign generated strong community involvement and significant engagement metrics throughout the duration of the campaign. For context, submissions are students or parents who nominate a teacher to be in the gallery. Votes are set to determine the end of the campaign winner while they also choose a monthly winner at random.

Let’s take a look at their results:

• 140 submissions were received, with 72 participants signing up for sponsor emails.
• 793 voters cast 2,028 votes, leading to 165 new email subscribers from voters.

This campaign drove both awareness in the community and sponsorship engagement through supporting something most community members care about, education.

Looking Ahead

Building on last year’s success, the campaign is running again this year with a similar structure. Although it just started and has yet to gather entries, the same objectives and strategy are in place. With sponsors and prizes already secured, St. Louis Post Dispatch is anticipating even higher participation and engagement, particularly with the addition of paid social efforts.