Great Social Media Idea: Adult Coloring Book

Happy Monday, everyone! I know many of you attended #casesmc conferences last week, and I hope all of you that did (and those that didn't too, of course!) are feeling inspired and rejuvenated and ready for lots of great higher ed social media action to come.

Today I'm going to share a great idea from Northeastern University, sent in by Jennie Moore. As you might be able to tell from the pics below..... it's adult coloring book time!!! (Use the arrows to click left/right to see some samples.)

Take it away, Jennie!

[An] idea that we've been seeing great traction on is a Northeastern version of an Adult Coloring Book. We created an illustration of all the major landmarks in Boston and Northeastern, and sent students the image with a poster and colored pencils and asked them how they would color their Northeastern experience. Students have been encouraged to share their masterpieces on social media for the chance to win a campus care package at the end of April... we've also been using the hashtag #NUHusky to share content.

I found all the pics above from a very quick Twitter search of #NUHusky - I'm sure people have posted a lot more on other social media as well.

I think what I love most about this is how quickly Northeastern was able to jump on a hot trend. Of course it's also a very fun idea that lends itself very well to social media engagement, but there can also be great value in being nimble and quick-moving. One of the tweets I saw came from a prospective student that was clearly impressed with the idea, going so far as to congratulate Northeastern on having great marketing. That type of positive feedback matters, and you know that where one person is willing to tweet about it, there must be dozens (hundreds?) that feel the same way. Believe me, when prospective students - possibly the most fickle audience in the whole world - are saying they really like a marketing campaign, you know you're on to something good.

Great job, Northeastern, and for all you other #hesm folks out there... get to work creating some illustrated outlines of campus landmarks! Heck, you can even do it super low-fi and just make some copies of the blank outlines and put them in the library or dorm front desks, put some crayons in a basket, and watch the magic happen!