Gameplay Phase Marketing Actions

Gameplay Phase

Timeline: 6 weeks (the entire Challenge period from the start to the end date)

This phase is where:

• We engage with teachers, learners and any other key stakeholders about the most important updates that need to be communicated during the Challenge period. Examples of these include:

  • Quest releases

  • Weekly Winner Announcements

  • Prizes up for grabs

  • Countdown to the end of the Challenge

  • Survey announcements

• We encourage and motivate learners to submit challenges and keep participating until the end

• We encourage teachers to do the best they can in motivating and encouraging their learners to submit challenges and keep pushing until the end of the Challenge

• We share live updates about things taking place during the Challenge (for example, a learner/school leaderboard update)

• We share pictures or testimonials of learners and/or teachers participating in the Challenge as a motivation tool

Examples of tactical marketing actions during Gameplay Phase:

• Teacher’s Club

  • Teacher's Club is a weekly online discussion for Wavumbuzi teachers featuring industry influencers and special guests. It's a platform where teachers are able to ask questions and discuss important topics and trends in secondary school entrepreneurship.

  • It was created as a means for Teacher's to connect with other teachers and Wavumbuzi staff during the Challenge, as well as a way for us to stay connected with them once the Challenge has ended.

  • More importantly, the Teacher's Club is used to add value to their lives (this is one of the reasons why we have the special guest/industry influencer)

  • Read more about the Teacher's Club here.

• Daily Comms Management + Content Creation

  • This includes drafting & sharing all the necessary information on the communications channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp + social media) regarding:

• New Quest releases

• Prizes up for grabs

• Weekly winner announcements

• It also includes motivating and encouraging both learners and teachers through sharing:

  • Learner & Teacher Testimonials

  • Pictures of learners and Teachers participating in the Challenge

  • Prize Handovers pictures

  • Prizewinner announcements

  • Leaderboard updates

• Communication is intensified during the gameplay phase because of the number of things that need to be communicated then.

• Dashboard Tracking & Interventions

  • Dashboard Tracking Interventions refer to constantly checking in on the Wavumbuzi dashboard to see what areas need the most focus and how we can assist with that from a communications perspective.

    • For example, if the dashboard shows that not many learners have submitted challenges one week into the Challenge, we can then send out direct communications to Teachers to encourage them to get their learners going with challenges, as well as share direct comms to learners with the same message.

• Support Systems in place

• From a marketing perspective side, we do not need to manage any support channels, however, we need to know and understand where to direct learners and teachers to, should they need guidance or help.

• You can find the different support channels on the "Support Page" on both the Rwanda and Kenya websites.

• Blog Posts

• On a weekly basis, certain blog posts need to be created and shared on the websites which the Junior Marketing Officer is responsible for putting together.

• This mostly consists of sharing the weekly winner announcements, but can from time to time include other announcements such as:

  • Thought-leadership articles from industry influencers

  • Any important Wavumbuzi announcement

  • Introduction of Wavumbuzi Ambassadors

  • Sharing what the weekly prizes are

• Teacher Portal Updates

• Constantly updating the Teacher Portal with any new updates and announcements

• This could include for example:

  • Winner announcements

  • Marketing events (Teacher's Club)

  • Updates dates or news

  • Adding new videos

• Social Media Monitoring & Engagement

  • Continuation of sharing social media posts on the different channels

  • Continuously engaging with all followers by responding to comments and any messages that come through.

  • Continuously monitor all the social media channels so that no messages/comments/tweets or stories go unnoticed.

• Social Media Ads & Social Media Boosting

• Continuous monitoring, updating and launching of new social media ads to keep content fresh and exciting (i.e. we do not want one social ad to run for the entire duration of the recruitment phase, we want to have a variation of at least 5-8 different ads).

• Some of the Call-to-action buttons of some of these ads may now change to include a direct link to the gameworld for learners, and/or the Teacher Portal for Teachers. (As opposed to just having registration CTA's).

• Public Relations Management

  • Manage the Public Relations Agency relationship by:

    • Ensuring that all media articles/radio interviews/ influencer posts etc. that were scheduled to be released go out

    • Ensure that the PR agency keeps track of all coverage and shares any necessary resources with (for eg. links to articles/radio interviews etc.)

    • Make sure that the PR Agency is following through with their content plan

    • Provide any input/ideas

    • Making sure any important information that we wanted to go out is out (for e.g. "gameplay now live")