Promotions: 

When we refer to promotions, really what we are talking about is customized content within the app. Promotions can be “offers” (FREE Popcorn at the game when you show the app at the concession stand) or can contain content that is promoting your program (conference player of the week or player of the game). Promotions can be scheduled in advance, can be limited to in-arena-only, and can include a push notification to your fans.


Promotions are a great way to drive student engagement because of the content flexibility they allow for. Promotions have a customizable image, free-form text, and can even include a link to take people out of the app. Working with sponsors and local businesses to provide valuable offers for students is one way to utilize promotions effectively to engage students.


Promotions can also be a great way to bring events like watch parties, pre-game socials, and tailgates front and center to your students and fans. A promotion with the date, time, and details of upcoming events like these can be very effective when trying to inform your students and fans about the fun things your athletic department is doing.


Push Notifications:  

Push notifications are another great tool when it comes to using the app to engage students. You can use push notifications to get a message directly into the pocket of all students who have the app downloaded. Game/event reminders, schedule changes, and special offers are all common ways to use push notifications.


When talking specifically about student engagement, push notifications can be an effective tool because of the ability to segment who that notification will go out to. If you do have a message that should only go out to students and not your other fans (for example, “Come to the student watch party held in the student center”), you have the ability to do that. These segmented push notifications ensure the information you are pushing to fans is useful and relevant to them.


Keep in mind that users can also opt to receive score updates through the app which go out automatically for any game that we are receiving stats for.

The following posts are great for learning push notification etiquette and best practices:


Events:  

Special events can be a great way to highlight non-game activities that are happening on your campus or around your program, whether or not the events are specifically for students. Special events are highlighted on the app schedule, and much like promotions, can have a customized graphic, freeform text, and an external link (for tickets, directions, etc.). Adding a wide range of special events to the app will help with the attendance of those events and will also give users a good reason to check back into the app to see what is going on around campus.


Loyola Case Study:

http://from-now-on.com/blog/2017/4/19/spotlight-loyola-engage-students-attendance