My college has a mailing list of 10K people, and my club/ honor society at the college would like to tap that huge list to gain readers/viewers to new upcoming blog. We have just secured a private donor who will donate between $150-175 to purchase a gift to use to launch our new blog. We are planning to purchase a highly-compelling item to get people to subscribe to our mailing list, befriend our organization on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. I think having a drawing for an iPod would work, where people who wish to enter simply place a comment on a dedicated blog post. Or perhaps three gift cards - $100, $50, and $25 to attract people to the blog through the college's mailing list and website. Thoughts? Suggestions?
I think you're unlikely to get a positive response mainly due to the fact that most people are in incredibly jealous of someone in your position. Even aside from providing incentives like gifts, to have a dedicated and 100% (maybe less) certified mailing list that is ideal for your demographic basically guarantees success - unless of course your blog is on something more obscure.
You may have a point. Well, the blog's content will be mostly centered around academic success, holistic learning methods, intellectual pursuit, campus events, and other issues directly concerning the student body. Never before has been tried and I'm eager to see what type of response we gain from the student body.