November 1, 2021 Update: Announcing our champions!
Congratulations to the University of Iowa and College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University for being the first Mobile App Mania Champions in Handshake history!
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This October, Handshake is running a friendly competition—Mobile App Mania—between our partner schools to see who can promote the most Handshake mobile app downloads with their students.
Quick Links:
- Mobile App Playbook: Dedicated social media assets, updated flyers and posters, and a revamped Targeted Email template you can use to promote the mobile app to students
- Competition Standings: Will be updated weekly
How does the competition work?
This four week, bracket-style competition will measure schools based on two metrics:
- Total number of downloads
- Total number of downloads divided by enrollment
Schools must sign up by October 1 to participate in the competition. (Missed the deadline? See “What if my school didn’t sign up in time” below).
The competition will begin with a two-week qualifying round—October 4 to October 17. Starting in Week 3, the top four schools in each category will advance to the bracket round. In the event that a school qualifies for the bracket in both categories, they will have the choice to advance in one bracket and allow the next best school to advance in the other bracket.
Schools will compete head-to-head with another school in their respective bracket. At the end of Week 3, two schools from each bracket will advance to compete in the finals.
- Qualifying Round (October 4 – 17): The pool of schools participating will try to promote the most Handshake app downloads among their students. The top four schools in each category will advance to the next round.
- Bracket Semifinal Round (October 18 – 24): A total of 8 schools—four in each category—will advance to the bracket. All scores will be reset to zero starting on October 18, 12:00AM PST, and only app downloads from this week will count in the semifinals. Schools will be randomly paired with another school in their bracket and compete head-to-head to advance to the Finals. Each school that wins their matchup will receive two gift cards via email to distribute to their students who downloaded the app.
- Bracket Final Round (October 25 – 31): Four schools—two in each bracket—will compete in the finals. All scores will be reset to zero starting on October 25, 12:00AM PST, and only app downloads from this week will count in the finals. The winners from each bracket will be crowned Mobile App Mania champions and their offices will receive a special prize (and bragging rights, of course).
When is the competition happening?
The competition will run for four weeks starting on October 4, 2021 at 12:00AM PST and ending on November 1, 2021 at 12:00AM PST.
What if my school didn’t sign up in time for Mobile App Mania?
Schools must sign up by October 1 to participate in Mobile App Mania. If you missed the deadline, don’t worry! You can still promote the app to your students and students can win prizes directly from Handshake.
Handshake will be holding a giveaway on Instagram (@joinhandshake) encouraging students to download the app. The giveaway will take place from October 18 to October 31 and is open to students from any school. At the end of the two weeks, we will randomly pick four students to win $100 Amazon gift cards. Reshare our posts and encourage your students to enter the giveaway!
Why promote the Handshake App?
The Handshake mobile app (available for download on both iOS and Android) consistently shows higher and more frequent student engagement compared to desktop.
- Students who currently use Handshake’s mobile app are generally more active. Daily and weekly average student usage is 5-12% higher on mobile than it is on web.
- Students on the mobile app perform core activities more frequently than web-only students. These activities include browsing for jobs and events, registering for events, and viewing jobs.
- Mobile app use plays a key role in democratizing access. Through Handshake’s qualitative user research, we know that many students only have mobile access.
What resources will Handshake provide?
Use the new Mobile App Playbook to promote the Handshake app to students—resources include dedicated social media assets, updated flyers and posters, and a revamped Targeted Email template. The Playbook will also come with handy marketing tips to help you leverage all these resources effectively.
Additionally, starting in Week 2, we will share social media images of the competition leaderboard that participants can post on their own social media channels. Be sure to tag @joinhandshake in your posts.
We encourage participants to follow Handshake on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date on the competition. We will also send weekly update emails every Monday (Oct 4, Oct 11, Oct 18, Oct 25, Nov 1). The competition standings will be updated weekly here.
What do we get if we win?
In the semifinals, each school that advances to the next round will receive two gift cards via email to distribute to their students who’ve downloaded the mobile app—use this as an incentive for students to participate!
In the finals, the winning champion from each bracket will each receive two additional gift cards to distribute to their students and a special prize for their office (plus bragging rights, of course).
More Questions?
Contact Campbell Robinson campbell@joinhandshake.com