Great Social Media Idea: #Simmtober

I quit.  Like the sardine factory, this blog is canning its employees. (Well, employee, that is.)

For a good long while now, I've come to accept how much I suck at Twitter. I'm a one man show when it comes to social media at my college and I have lots of other job responsibilities beyond it, and I'm not apologetic about putting Twitter on the lower rungs of my priority scale. I only have so much time, and in my experience I've gotten much less "ROI" with Twitter than other social media. Now, of course, I realize my lack of spending a lot of time on there is a good reason for that, but whatever... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But then I see awesome, amazing work on Twitter like Simmons College's "Simmtober" campaign, and I realize what huge opportunities I'm missing out on. Sigh.

Shocktobter? Rocktober? Simmtober! 

What is Simmtober? Take it away, Simmons alumni department!

October is "Simmtober" – a month of supporting and celebrating all things Simmons. And everyone in the Simmons community is invited to join in – online and on campus! Throughout October, show your Simmons pride by participating in the extensive Simmtober social media campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Simmtober is also about showing your support for Simmons in a very practical way – by making a special gift to The Simmons Fund in honor of John Simmons's birthday. When you do, you'll have a direct impact on academic excellence.

Each day of the week (Monday - Friday) is designated as a special day, with classics like Trivia Tuesday, Throwback Thursday, and Spirit Friday mixed in with "Making Education Work" Monday and "Why Give?" Wednesday. It also ties in with several events on campus, which is a good way to keep momentum going throughout the month. Pretty awesome.

Even more awesome is that it's tied into a month-long fundraising campaign, which isn't the primary focus of Simmtober (at least from the outside) but is incorporated throughout, which I think is really smart. People don't like being hit over the head with asks on social media, but if you can tie in a soft ask while telling a story about a successful student, a passionate alumni, or sharing some great memories, well... that's just peachy, isn't it?

I'm definitely planning on keeping an eye on this campaign throughout the month, but it's clear there was so much thought and planning put into this beforehand that I have absolutely no doubt it will be a wonderful success. Even just six days in, two of which were on the weekend, there has been an outpouring of tweets and Instagrams already.

Hats off, Simmons social media team! You guys are awesome.