Georgia State University's UGC Success Story

Education

Georgia State University (GSU) saw 216% greater engagement during its #GSUnited Homecoming campaign, with over 1,200 social media mentions—three times their normal weekly engagement. This successful strategy also led to a 9.4% increase in attendance at the Homecoming Football game, one of their largest marquee events.

About Georgia State University

Georgia State University (GSU) is a public research university that’s spread out across downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. In 2015, the university had a student population of 32,000 over eight colleges.

Key Results

216%

Greater engagement

1200x

Social media mentions

What they did

Build school spirit with campaigns

Much of GSU’s social media strategy looks at different ways to engage prospective students, promote school spirit among current students, and get alumni more involved. As an urban campus, students have more opportunities to integrate themselves into the city, but it’s also harder for the university to foster community spirit. Many students live off campus and commute, so digital is a great way to reach and engage them—especially for events like Back to School Week or Homecoming.

For example, for GSU’s Back to School Week campaign in August, Coniglio had students hashtag photos of their first week back with #PantherWelcome. This was the first time she used the TrueLoyal integration with Hootsuite, which collects, curates, and displays content from social media in interactive ways. While the campaign is widely considered a success for engaging new and returning students, their next campaign—for Homecoming—set new standards.

How they did it

Unite teams to improve campaigns

Before using Hootsuite, social media was very scattered because each department operated as an independent entity. Lack of cross-collaboration affects student daily life and their ability to receive great digital customer service. For example, if a student reaches out to GSU on Twitter, they might not consider all of the people and departments required as contributors to respond properly. Coniglio is changing all that, with the help of Hootsuite, by adding all customer-facing departments into one centralized platform.

One of the great things about Hootsuite—and why I love the platform—is the workflow. Instead of everyone operating independently, we can all work together to improve the overall experience.

This challenge trickled down into campaigns and events, such as Homecoming. In an effort to bring all colleges, campuses, departments, and students together, Coniglio chose the hashtag #GSUnited for the 2015 Homecoming. The hashtag is simple and it connected with people emotionally.

Boost engagement both online and offline

With students sharing Homecoming #GSUnited selfies and content, Coniglio wanted to showcase it all and keep school spirit high. To add a digital social dimension to marquee events, GSU turned to the TrueLoyal and Hootsuite app integration.

With one click, Coniglio could send content from Hootsuite to TrueLoyal, pushing her moderated content directly to the homecoming website. Using Hootsuite listening streams she followed general conversations to find any related content that might not have included #GSUnited.

“The TrueLoyal app in Hootsuite is easy to use and allows us to share more vibrant content,” Terry Coniglio says.

The results

More engaged, happier students

The university is starting to see more students come to marquee events such as Homecoming. For example, the Georgia State Homecoming Football game—one of the largest events at Homecoming—saw a 9.4 percent increase in attendance year over year. Departments collectively rallied to showcase the university’s playful side and engage students online. While the previous year’s Homecoming had 380 mentions, this campaign had 216 percent greater engagement, with over 1,200 mentions on social media. This is three times the normal weekly engagement for the university. The #GSUnited Homecoming campaign even earned GSU a CASE District III award for social media strategy. GSU’s events now run smoother and are more successful because it’s easier to source great content and close the loop between social, web, and the physical world. They needed a way to make their lives—and communications with students—a little more social and they did just that.