The kids are all right.
The Communities Forum — a Team Communities experiment and currently an email list — includes an active global audience of students interested in business and finance.
Now, here’s a good problem to have: how do we keep this audience engaged?
One solution we’re exploring: tap into the FT’s excellent and numerous events, partnerships, parties, and more.
Here’s an example of a recent experiment we conducted, designed to surprise and delight our student community: the opportunity to receive one of six copies of FT columnist Martin Wolf’s recent book, the Shifts and the Shocks.
We don’t believe in pure giveaways or chance lotteries on Team Communities; we prefer feedback and thoughtful responses. Here is the copy we sent to those student members of the Communities Forum who indicated they were interested in business and finance:
Team Communities is delighted to be able to offer six complimentary copies of Martin Wolf’s newest book to members of our Communities Forum.
Martin is the Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, and his book “The Shifts and the Shocks” is all about what we’ve learned (and what we haven’t) from the financial crisis.
Obligatory blurbs from Very Important People below:
Ben Bernanke says it “provides an insightful and timely analysis of how global imbalances, international capital flows, and economic policies have helped create a financially fragile world.”
Mervyn King thinks it is “a masterly account of the financial crisis seen in its true international perspective.”
We think it is the cat’s pajamas. But, don’t just take our word for it — read it yourself!
We have six copies to giveaway. To win one, respond with a link to your favourite Martin Wolf column this year, and why you enjoyed it.
More about the book here.
And here is the outcome of this experiment:
- 54.1% open rate on the email
- 10% click rate. Of those clicks, 90% went to information about the book, 10% went to Martin Wolf’s page on FT.com
- 5% of those who opened the email responded with a direct message to teamcommunities@ft.com
- Existing members of the forum forwarded the email to non-members, who then joined
A couple of particularly notable insights:
- We note that the click through rate is high as compared to industry average and campaigns — particularly as it was not a call to action but additional information with regards to the book. That the link to the book was clicked on more, suggests people were aware of who Martin Wolf was already
- We did not ask people to share at all. They valued the content and the premise of the forum to such an extent they shared it of their own accord
I’d also like to highlight a few of the responses (because WOW).
Garrick Hileman, a PhD Candidate at LSE wrote:
My favorite Martin Wolf column this year was the one from 24 April titled ‘Strip private banks of their power to create money’ http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7f000b18-ca44-11e3-bb92-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2zrSJHYJ7 .
Both provocative and persuasive, this column is exemplar of why so many people today rely on Martin Wolf for his macroeconomic thoughts and insight.
At the time it was written the column raised a number of disagreements from those who often side with Mr. Wolf, such as Paul Krugman of the NY Times. Mr. Wolf is also often identified as a City insider, but I do not believe many other members of the financial establishment would have the stature and courage to write such a bold and controversial column. In short, the column is testament to Mr. Wolf’s independence.
The other reason I liked this column was how it demonstrated Mr. Wolf’s uncanny ability to concisely distill complex ideas and arguments. Much confusion surrounds the subject of money creation, and the column strikes the right balance in speaking both to experts in the field as well as the lay interested audience.
Edoardo Campanella, a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, wrote:
Here is a the link to my favorite article by Wolf this year “Three events that have shaped our world”: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b4b18022-efc2-11e3-9b4c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3CEJ5972G
It reminds us that only the goodwill of the main powers can prevent the tension between economic integration and political division to degenerate into a war or some other crisis. Given what’s happening across the world, the lessons of our recent past should ring a bell in the mind of today’s leaders!
What we have here is not only a highly engaged, interested audience. We have a community.
And just for fun:
