Do you dare to dream? The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a place where dreams take flight and become reality. We welcome students and academics to be part of this exciting journey. The aim of this "Dreams take flight at PolyU" campaign is to enhance brand awareness of the University by encouraging our external and internal stakeholders to share their #PolyUDream via social media platforms.
Stepping up the presence of PolyU on social media and increasing the number of fans/followers, engagement rates and reach on PolyU's official social media channels are also our goals.
A mobile-friendly and popular social media engagement approach using hashtag was strategically adopted to attract people to join the competition in a convenient way.
To echo the theme "Dreams take flight at PolyU", participants had to share their dreams in life or at school by taking photos and posting them on their own Instagram or Twitter account with hashtag #PolyUDream. The winners would receive flight tickets as prizes.
Participants could enter three categories of the competition, namely "Best Photos", "Most Popular Photos" and "Best Comments", respectively. These three categories attracted a wider community to participate in the competition since people with different backgrounds and interests could choose to join the categories they were most interested in. As reflected by the number of participants, photo entries and creative comments received, the competition successfully generated high engagement.
Best Photos:
Attracted participants who are professional in photography
Most Popular Photos:
Generated a viral effect as participants invited their Facebook friends/fans to vote for and to make positive comments on their photos in order to compete for popularity.
Best Comments:
Attracted participants who wanted to support their friends. They could also have a chance to win the Best Comments category by posting creative comments on the photos they voted for.
The online-to-offline integrated marketing strategies (including online promotion on social media platforms, website and banner ads, as well as production and display of posters, leaflets, and banners around the university campus) were successfully implemented to promote the competition. These strategies greatly enhanced the total reach and engagement of various institutional communications channels including social media platforms, as well as the traffic of our campaign website.
An installation of an airplane sculpture was exhibited on which the photo and dream entries were projected as images to illustrate the whole concept of the campaign. 10 additional dream entries were selected and highlighted every week on Facebook and Instagram as an extension of the campaign.
Positive responses and statistics indicated that the campaign effectively raised the brand awareness and enhanced the image of PolyU.
The campaign received overwhelming responses with some 2,000 dream entries in less than two months. About 700 photos hashtagged with #PolyUDream were posted on Instagram and Twitter within a month of the photo competition of the campaign.
Social media figures:
Total campaign reach/impressions: 8,409,000
Total campaign post/link clicks: 172,130
Total campaign post engagement (including reactions, comments, shares and video views): 141,450
Facebook page fan growth: 10%
Twitter follower growth: 10.3%
Instagram follower growth: 20.4%
PolyU ranked No. 1 among local higher education institutions in terms of number of Facebook fans and Instagram followers.
In an on-line voting event organized by Christian Family Service Centre (CFSC), PolyU was voted as the most preferred brand under the "University/Education Institution" category.
