The number of official TikTok accounts at colleges and universities has risen dramatically in the last year as their marketing offices seem to recognize that to reach prospective students, they need to be where those students are.
The first post on the official St. Joe’s TikTok was made on Sept. 22, 2021. Since then, the account has posted over 100 videos and has received over 22,000 likes.
Chan Yoo, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of marketing, said it is an easy business decision for companies, including colleges and universities, to create a presence on the popular social media platform.
“It is a no-brainer for marketers to utilize TikTok as their marketing channel because TikTok is the most used/spent social media by Gen Z,” Yoo wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk. “Marketers always like to use the channel where most fish are.”
During the first quarter of 2022, over 1 billion people were active on TikTok. With all of these users, it is no surprise that sponsored content has become prominent on the platform.
In fact, these corporate advertisements have become so important that ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, created a special type of account specifically designed for businesses in June of 2020.
On St. Joe’s TikTok, videos vary widely and highlight aspects of campus life from athletics to campus ministry.
Paige Verrillo, social media specialist with the Office of Marketing and Communications, is responsible for writing and directing these videos and deciding who gets featured.
“My overall goal is to have a niche audience that comes back to our page everyday to get their fill, while raising awareness of our university and brand overall,” Verrillo wrote in response to written questions from The Hawk. “Most of the content that I write is directed to all college students.”
Many of the videos on the account follow trends that are popular at the moment. For example, multiple videos feature students performing on-the-spot interviews around campus about topics unrelated to St. Joe’s, like the most recent song students have listened to. Videos that attempt to feature real life and real students are part of the overall strategy. St. Joe’s videos follow what TikTok encourages businesses to do: make trends, not ads.
“I believe authenticity is the key to brands achieving success on TikTok,” Yoo said. “Studies showed that TikTok users feel more positive about a brand after seeing it on TikTok and that ads on the platform are more original than other social media platforms.”
The St. Joe’s TikTok also features Q&As with members of the St. Joe’s community, videos showcasing daily events and clips showing views of campus.
In addition to the videos produced by the Office of Marketing and Communications, some of the content on the page was made by other members of the St. Joe’s community. One of these external videos shows members of St. Joe’s Campus Ministry running with cartons of water while “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash plays in the background.
This video was originally written and filmed by Liz Held ’24 and was posted on the Campus Ministry Instagram page Aug. 31, where it received over 23,000 views.
According to Tinamarie Stolz, campus minister, who was featured in and helped create the original video, Campus Ministry was planning on creating their own TikTok account at one point but were told by the Office of Marketing and Communications that they were only allowed to post their videos as Instagram reels.
“They have their own strategic plan,” Stolz said. “So we don’t want to interfere with that. We’re happy to make our own TikToks and then post them as reels.”
Verrillo confirms that there is a specific strategy behind all of the posts despite the wide variety of content on the page.
“The social media content that I produce supports a larger content strategy, which includes increasing awareness of SJU and driving enrollment,” Verrillo wrote. “So when creating a video, I want to know exactly whose For You Page our TikTok is going to land on and why the TikTok algorithm put our video there.”
Local universities like Drexel University, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania all have TikTok accounts.
While it appears that St. Joe’s is keeping up with the competition, Yoo said St. Joe’s can do even more to showcase its assets.
“I wish [the] SJU social media team would step up and promote student/faculty achievement, unique academic programs and happenings on campus, rather than posting beautiful campus pictures on social media,” Yoo said.