Why email is social media

Email is a social media. I can prove it with this email/social campaign by Australia-based Queensland Teachers Credit Union (QTCU). By integrating email with multimedia, QTCU grew its prospecting database from 1,500 to 14,000 in a matter of months and 32,000 the following year. Keep reading and I’ll show you how they did it and reveal some surprising truths about social media and email.

QTCU had spent a number of years expanding beyond its core customers of teachers. It was now looking to reach out to win back the hearts and minds of teachers – the company’s most important customer group.

Recognition and indulgence: An irresistible lure
Other than a pay raise, there are few things teachers want more than a better, more comfortable work environment, so QTCU would give a single school the chance to win the ultimate staffroom through a $30,000 “staffroom makeover”. The bait was tempting but QTCU realised its campaign would generate a bigger sales prospecting list if it was designed to let teachers “do what they’re naturally inclined to do.”

QTCU’s big idea was to help teachers earn the recognition and affirmation they craved. The campaign encouraged teachers to foster social recognition among people most important to them. Winning the staffroom makeover meant teachers needed to earn the votes of their supporters.

To whet the appetite of teachers, QTCU’s ad agency invented a school in sunny California with a state-of-the-art staffroom. This make-believe staffroom became “real” through the magic of a low-cost, practical PowerPoint show featuring photographs and brief descriptions.

The short “Amazing Teacher Staffrooms” PowerPoint went out to a targeted group of teachers as an email attachment. Subject line: “You’ve got to see this.” The plan was to encourage teachers to share this dream staffroom with colleagues, and share they did. The PowerPoint went viral, and teachers were able to indulge in a bit of humour. A call to action at the end of the show said, “Pass this on to your principal; you never know your luck!”

At the most simplistic level, QTCU prompted behaviour: a bit of laughter and sharing. But it also tapped into the emotional state of teachers. The company’s gesture was very much about giving teachers hope. But more importantly, this was an “emotional foundation” being laid. QTCU was setting up to deliver on a more potent, behaviour-driven phase.

Converting emotions into leads
One week later, a follow-up email went out: “Staffroom for Improvement” – the chance for teachers to win a $30,000 makeover for their staffroom. Posters were sent to schools all over Queensland, directing them to a competition microsite. Here, teachers were treated to photos of what really, truly could be theirs: a “tricked out” staff room. A clear call to action appeared at the bottom of the web page: “Win the ultimate staffroom.”

In just two weeks, 1,025 of Queensland’s 1,700 schools registered to participate. Schools then competed head to head. Using everything in their power, teachers mustered up votes. From Facebook to email newsletters to print newsletters to huge signs on school’s frontages, schools did everything in their power to get the vote out for teachers. Over one million Queenslanders were estimated to have heard of the competition, mostly through teachers themselves.

Campaign results
Schools generated 14,000 opt-in email subscribers. This valuable prospecting database included prospects’ names, ages, occupations, postal codes, and product holdings. Even more exciting, this database became the backbone for a 2010 promotion, allowing QTCU to grow the leads database by 18,000. This led to a grand total of 32,000 sales prospects in 2010.

Sure, the 2,700 Facebook fans and TV, radio, and newspaper media buzz were also noteworthy, but considering QTCU struggled (over a few years’ time) to grow its database of prospects to just 1,500, the 32,000 new leads trumped fandom and buzz.

Why the campaign worked
The Staffroom for Improvement campaign worked because it had multiple layers of incentives for the target audience and a meaningful output for the business sponsoring it: leads. It had a worthwhile, valuable prize that motivated teachers. The promise was simple: “win the ultimate staffroom.” But it also had a voting element that tapped into recognition, one of life’s most basic, instinctual social needs. Tens of thousands of votes were cast for teachers by their peers, students, families, and community members. It was a true, grassroots groundswell of purpose-driven behaviour.

Is it difficult to motivate someone to be recognised and affirmed? I can think of far more challenging tasks, and mixing the request with an incentive (a good, old-fashioned sweepstakes) isn’t rocket science. These ideas have always worked. They just beg to be supercharged through the use of web and social media tools. That’s the truth about social media.

The Staffroom for Improvement campaign generated attention, engagement, and positive sentiment among teachers. It got teachers to feel better about the QTCU brand and created a deeper sense of trust and respect for it. But it also captured sales leads, all by focusing socially driven behaviour that made teachers feel good about themselves. But success was based on what teachers physically acted on. This campaign was something you actually did. It used a publishing approach to get the job done, combining email, a website www.qtcu.com.au and multimedia.

Jeff Molander, author of Off the Hook Marketing: How to Make Social Media Sell for You,www.AskJeffMolander.com, jeff@jeffmolander.com

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