Planning a multi-channel back- to-school campaign
My team at Manifest was tasked with creating a Back-to-School campaign for EdTech: Focus on K-12 magazine, a publication owned by CDW, a technology solutions provider.
TIMELINE
July - August 2020
TEAM
Web editor (me), managing editor, performance marketing engineers, social engagement manager, project manager, creative director
TOOLS USED
Drupal CMS, Google Analytics, Divvy
The problem
This campaign was different from previous years because of COVID-19. Many schools across the nation were scrambling to set up remote learning for the first time.
How might we help K-12 IT administrators and educators implement long-term remote learning while differentiating our coverage?
Hypothesis
Creating content on how technology is helping foster human connections during COVID-19 will be useful to K-12 IT administrators and educators dealing with remote learning challenges, including students feeling isolated and unmotivated.
We’ll know this is true when we see an increase in qualified traffic and audience engagement to our back-to-school content.
Illustration by Hylton Warburton
What I did
Used Google Analytics for keyword research and used findings to brainstorm campaign content
Created a campaign calendar using Google Sheets and Divvy
Pitched and gated exclusive content to drive newsletter sign-ups
Pitched and wrote top-of-funnel content, landing page, and CTA copy and ensured all tech concepts were explained in plain language
“Ask These 3 Questions Before Selecting Tech for Online Learning”: Written to help ease the decision-making process for K-12 IT stakeholders and ensure the technology they choose supports student learning
“What Is Blended Learning & How Can It Help Schools Reopen Safely?”: Explainer on blending learning, an instructional model, and what type of technology educators can use to implement it successfully
Used threading, polling, and motion graphics to engage Twitter audience
One of the Twitter polls I created in collaboration with design and our social engagement manager
Carousel landing page with copy I wrote
Results
Reached +100% YoY in organic search sessions in August 2020
Email newsletter sign-ups increased by 66% from June - August 2020
Drove 75% of organic engagements in August 2020 and 784 new Twitter followers (more than twice the monthly average)
Performance content gained 29,448 page views, 8:44 average time on page, 325 clicks to CDW.com’s product pages and 157 clicks to CDW.com’s partner showcase (Google, GoGuardian, Ergotron)