Folding social media into a campaign

First, I'd like to clarify I am not talking about a fundraising campaign so much as an "advertising" campaign (to the extent it can exist on an independent school campus).

With the generous pro-bono help of some outside folks, our school has kicked off an advertising campaign to build support (mostly just moral support) for some physical changes coming to campus. Yep, construction. We spend much time raising money for it, talking it up, etc. Then when the bulldozers and hard hats arrive on campus, it can turn into a kvetch-fest. This time, we're trying to head them off at the pass.

The campaign is pretty simple, really, but aside from putting up posters, mentioning it in speeches and throwing around a new logo, we were looking to take it another step. Social media, right? What we're doing is taking the new campaign's tagline and asking people what they think it really means, both on-line and in person. So far we've gotten some good answers. We're tweeting the ones we got in person, re-tweeting the ones we get through Twitter and plan to incorporate some of the answers into publications, etc.

Who has had success with this kind of interactive campaign? Would love to hear your take!

I'm back - and more social (media) than ever!

So a few months ago I had this brilliant idea for a blog, and then... well, a lot of things happened professionally and it sort of went by the wayside. However, with the new school year starting, I am renewing my commitment to blogging with some sort of regularity.

Social media is a topic that has been on the tip of everyone's tongues, not to mention all over my inbox with a recent CASE-Communications thread. Someone very innocently started out by looking for people in the field who are responsible for overseeing social media. I believe this gentleman was looking for people, like him, who are 100% dedicated to social media. I know there are people like that "out there." But at the same time, no one wants to miss the social media boat, so the thread devolved into a discussion of a special list-serv and a chain of "me too" answers.

Today, no one can afford not to be involved in social media, whether it's your full-time job or just a part of the many things you do. Many of us in independent schools are one-man bands (or two- or three-men max). So what are we doing that works? How can we integrate social media into all the other things we do, for instance a special campaign, event, publication, etc.?