The GED test has opened doors to better jobs and college programs for more than 20 million graduates since 1942. However, there are still millions of adults without high school diplomas who lack the skills and knowledge to succeed in the 21st century workforce. Reaching and engaging this underserved population is a challenge few initiatives have been able to overcome.
GED Testing Service, creator of the GED test, partnered with digital agency Social Driver to create a campaign that tapped into the vast network of GED graduates to encourage conversation on the social networks and reach and influence more students to start their GED journey.
The #GEDGradDay campaign centered around a virtual event that empowered graduates to promote the GED test through online content and celebrate their accomplishments while motivating the next generation of students to open the doors to their futures.
The #GEDGradDay campaign encouraged graduates to post videos and photos sharing their stories and experiences with the GED test and how valuable their education is to them. We created ways for them to tell their story and enabled potential students to interact real-time with us on that day. We encouraged graduates, test-takers, adult educators, influencers and partners to get involved by:
- Posting a photo on the social networks of themselves opening a door and using the caption to explain how education opens doors to the future.
- Using the hashtag #GEDGradDay in their post.
- Joining our real-time Facebook Q&A session during the day and participating by asking questions or sharing advice with future GED students.
- Watching, liking and sharing the GED Grads video which was a compilation of graduate submissions and their positive stories that we debuted that day.
- Finally, for each use of the hashtag #GEDGradDay that day, GED Testing Service would donate $1 to National Center for Families Learning (NCFL). NCFL's mission is to address our nation's literacy challenges by engaging all family members in learning, with a primary focus on parents and children living in poverty.
Leading up to #GEDGradDay, we built awareness and excitement for the day by:
- Creating and sharing social videos and images that promoted the day to the community.
- Developing and distributing a partner toolkit with details about the day and sample social media posts and graphics that partners could share.
- Hosting a webinar for adult educators to inform them about the cause and get them involved.
- Publishing an article in the Huffington Post to build awareness for the cause and encourage participation.
- Compiling graduate photo submissions and re-sharing top content so more people could view student successes.
Using social and digital media, we were able to celebrate past GED graduates and look toward the next generation. On our 1st annual GED Grad Day, we had a reach of 1.3 million people, engagement of over 11,500 and 1,361 people used the hashtag #GEDGradDay to post about the value of education and the GED credential. GED Testing Service doubled its contribution and donated $2,722 to National Center for Families Learning, directly helping our nation's literacy challenges.
We successfully tapped into the power of digital media to engage underrepresented and underserved groups, and as a result more individuals will be motivated to start their own GED journey and open the door to a brighter future for themselves and their families.
