NAU Social Recap: January 2018
New Year, Fresh Start
Ringing in the New Year
Thanks to the return of winter, we started off January on the right foot. While we reached some of our highest highs in terms of reach and engagement, we also noticed that despite our best efforts — our reach was visibly lower, especially on Facebook.
Our month was spent trying out various formats to see what worked, what didn’t and what we could do moving forward.
Facebook — mastering the art of the share
68,064 likes (+725), 1,792,793 monthly reach
The anticipation of the first snowfall
The lack of snow in Flagstaff wasn’t just talked about by people in town but all of Arizona too. When the first snow fall finally came — it was a big deal.
The moment which to date is our most shared post (854 shares) shows the importance of in-the-moment scenes. This video is nowhere close to our best videos. In fact, it’s dark and grainy. But — it captured— and evoked emotions — all of which play into Facebook’s algorithm.
When the sun did shine, and campus was picture perfect we captured that as well. In fact, our combined snow posts received 5,415 total comments, shares and likes.
Providing conversation fodder
It’s always a good day when you make a national list and it’s always a good idea to share the news.
Lumberjack tip: The next time you do a post — double check to see if you can change the featured photo. After Facebook, prevented the changing of news link headlines and photos, we found that we were able to add photos, delete the others and publish like we used to!
Facebook Live — Human Performance Lab Opening
We’re a top research university. However, sharing our research and its success can be challenging. The opening of the Human Performance Lab was the perfect opportunity for us to share research in action.
We showed viewers what exactly was going on in the lab and had it explained by graduate students and researchers.
We met our objectives and utilized Facebook’s priority of Live video too👌🏼
The flu season is hitting the nation, Arizona and our campus hard. When Campus Health Services reached out to us for help in getting information out — we worked it into student friendly terms and created a video and Snapchat and Instagram stories.
Capturing magic moments — the blood moon
What was everyone talking about last week? The super rare blood moon. We featured one of our Instagram user’s content on our Facebook and furthered the conversation about why living in a Dark Sky City like Flagstaff has its perks.
Post fails — Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn
Part of being in the social sphere is to also plan ahead. This month we did some preemptive coverage for Valentine’s Day.
This post in the past would have done exceptionally well. In fact, a similar post from 2017 received 50 comments including pictures for us to use. This time around… not the same. Why the change? The newsfeed.
We’re being seen less and the conversation isn’t one that people are talking about just yet. Hopefully, that changes for actual Valentines Day.
Twitter — in the moment now
35,076 followers (+361), 1,730,000 impressions, 725 mentions
Twitter is all about keeping up with the current happenings. In January, this again meant more snow and the start of a new semester.
We also made sure to share our news and sprinkle in fun facts like the above 👌🏼
Instagram — capturing the beauty of NAU
32,641 followers (+741), 78,644 likes this month
Hitting the high note
When it snows in Lumberjack Country — every picture seems to be picture perfect.
This month we set a record breaking high in likes with our snow gallery, which received over 4700 likes and 79 comments!
A quick look at our analytics showed that our most engaging post was also our most liked and commented too.
Snapchat — inside look
5400+ followers
Snapchat is our way of sharing in-moment photos and stories with our audience. Behind the scenes, it takes a lot to make this happen. Behind every effortless Snapstory is orchestration by our NAU Social team, planning, coordinating and snapping.
This month we included stories on: Snowboarding & skiing guide, NAU Dance & Cheer, MLK Day, Study Tunes, Campus Happenings, Tour Tuesday: NAU Skyview Dining, HLC Classes, Wind Down with some Tea, NAU NACE Takeover, Student Leadership Conference, Avoid the Flu.
You’ve heard the phrase “we get by with help from our friends.” With our award-winning NAU Dance team heading of to compete at Nationals, we reached out and asked if they would takeover our Snap. Not only did htey jump on board they became our first all weekend long Lumberjack Takeover — from Thursday to Sunday!
Monday Mornings
This month we also rolled our a new Monday morning series, Campus Happenings. Given the multiple requests of departments on campus to share their events, we decided to showcase their flyers on our Snapchat story.
Updates to the social sphere
Facebook will Penalize “Engagement Baiting”
We’ve all seen those posts that ask for likes, comments and shares. We’ve even posted them ourselves! Facebook announced that Engagement Baiting will now lead to fewer impressions in News Feed. Aka, no more “tag three friends.”
Follow Hashtags on Instagram
Hashtags are used on Instagram all the time. Now Instagram allows you to follow hashtags! Rather than having to search for a specific hashtag on your discovery page, Instagram will pick and choose some of the key posts from that hashtag and pop them in your news feed. This is a great feature to use, so go follow #NAU
Stories Archive
Instagram now gives you the option to save your stories and have them displayed underneath the bio section on your profile. This is another perfect way to ‘highlight’ your key events or messages.
A Look Ahead: Season of Love
January, you were a good starting point.
