Outpacing Our Peers Through Social Media

Amplifying the Small Steps, Giant Leaps. Together.

The social media framework we developed to coordinate campus-wide marketing during spring 2020 was called “Air Cover.” This one-voice, One Purdue content strategy featured communications aligned with the eight messaging pillars of The Next Giant Leap Brand Platform: research and discovery; transformative education; an environment of inclusion; a culture of persistence; delivering innovation; earning respect; creating balance; and fostering growth.

2020 Performance Metrics

January — December 2020


Purdue’s YouTube Subscribers and Engagement

Total Now is the Most of Any Competitor*

35,400

SUBSCRIBERS

10,900

ENGAGEMENT TOTAL

*Rival IQ competitor set: Michigan, Georgia Tech, Ohio State University, University of Illinois, Indiana University

DELIVERING GIANT IMPACT WHEN WE NEED IT MOST

Our YouTube Engagement During Critical Periods in 2020 Helped to Deliver Purdue’s Largest Freshman Class Ever

From March to August 2020 (“yield season”), more people watched Purdue’s central YouTube content (2M views) than the YouTube content of 5 key competitors combined: Michigan, Ohio State, Illinois, Georgia Tech and IU.

Source: RivalIQ

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150%

Greater Engagement

than competitor average in 2020

568%

Greater Engagement

in 2020 vs. purdue content in 2019

Making Giant Leaps in Our Engagement Across All Platforms

With Purdue’s New Social Media Strategy That Focused on Content Diversification, We Saw Giant Leaps in Our Engagement Across All Platforms

OUR TOP-PERFORMING 2020 INSTAGRAM POSTS

9.01%

Engagement Rate

13.5%

Engagement Rate

6.75%

Engagement Rate

6.23%

Engagement Rate

2.36%

Instagram benchmark engagement

Don’t Just Take Our Word For It

With small steps in strategy came giant leaps in our social media presence. Capitalizing on a newly energized brand, we saw tremendous growth in our following, thanks to high-quality content and audience interaction.

What our followers are saying

Launching ‘This is Purdue’ Podcast

Joining our storytelling arsenal was “This is Purdue,” a twice-monthly podcast launched in January 2020 to showcase how Boilermakers are solving myriad problems facing our world, leaving their mark, in small steps and giant leaps.

  • Listenership has averaged nearly 2,000 per month
  • 23 episodes with 23,035 total listens