There's a basic marketing principle that it takes seven “touches” before someone will act on your call to action. Think: logo, social media posts, emails, texts, word-of-mouth.

Convert more engagement using a multi-pronged promotion strategy. Plan to get in front of students multiple times, both digitally and in-person, over a period of time.

When providing a resource, it's important for students to easily access it.

Drive engagement by featuring Motivote on high-traffic websites where students are used to spending time digitally.

Place your link and embeddable widget on your website and platforms for coursework and activities, like Canvas, Engage and Presence. Learn about integrations →

Engage student leaders in brainstorming about what will excite their peers. Not sure where to start? Get your team's creativity flowing with this list of prize ideas →

When planning your competitions and reward structures, think through your goals and what types of participation you want to promote.

For example, if teams can win merely by having members sign up for Motivote, you may have lower levels of action completion.

But if teams win by having a threshold of their members complete a specific action, like checking registration status or making a voting plan, more users will complete these steps that are research-proven to increase follow-through.

If using team competition as a strategy, play up team-based goals (like 100% of members check their registration status) to inspire members to encourage and remind each other about important steps.

Communicate progress regularly to encourage ongoing engagement. Pick a specific cadence to post updates on social media. You can even screenshot and share the Team Metrics charts to show groups where they stand.

With some state registration deadlines as 30 days from Election Day, potential voters need to be thinking about their plan well ahead of time to ensure they can complete required steps. If you launch your program too close to Election Day, you reduce your potential for impact because it will be too late for eligible voters to get registered.

The external environment also becomes 'noisier' as campaigns and other get-out-the-vote efforts ramp up. An important metric for your program is how many people engage with the resources you provide. More students will use your resources if you can "beat the crowd" and introduce your initiative early on.

Like with any initiative or campaign, not every aspect of your program will resonate with every single audience member. Don't rely on 'one-size-fits-all' messaging.

With Motivote, some students join because they deeply care about voting and want to encourage others, while others want help navigating a confusing process. Others are motivated by the rewards or simply want to take part in a social team activity.

Vary your calls-to-action and what aspects you focus on to encourage the broadest community to engage. See this guide for talking points on different ways to engage civically and ensure your messaging is non-partisan.

Some states restrict third-party involvement in registration drives and other aspects of voting, like distributing absentee ballot requests or returning ballots to election officials.

To avoid potential complications, play it safe by providing information and encouragement — but not hands-on assistance. Students should fill out their own forms, stuff and seal their own envelopes. Learn more about voter registration drives →

Run an inclusive program by keeping your message nonpartisan and avoiding statements about political parties, candidates, or issues. You can (and should!) encourage voters to get informed on their ballot by recommending nonpartisan resources. But don’t encourage someone to register for one party or another or to vote for one candidate or another. See this guide for more on nonpartisanship.

While "vote-shaming" has become a more prevalent technique of late, keep your messaging positive to bring more people in to the fold. People don't want to participate in processes that feel negative, so avoid shaming. Motivote's team-based tracking makes it easy to frame getting ready to vote in a collective, positive light.

Per US legal code, you cannot incentivize registration or voting with something "of value." You can incentivize engagement with your Motivote portal or completion of actions like checking registration status or making a voting plan. Just don't reward anyone for registering to vote or voting itself.