91探花

News and Announcements

91探花鈥檚 social media leads at No. 4 in the nation

91探花鈥檚 social media has been ranked No. 4 in the nation among every NCAA Division I higher education institution. This moves OHIO up from the previous best No. 6 ranking earned last year

Rival IQ鈥檚 ranked OHIO No. 4 overall, No. 4 on Twitter, No. 6 on Facebook and No. 43 on Instagram. 

鈥淰ibrant photos that popped thanks to vibrant Bobcat green,鈥 according to Rival IQ, helped place the OHIO social media pages in the Top 10 across the nation for the second year in a row. 

The report surveyed 353 Division I colleges and universities between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021. According to Rival IQ, the top-ranked social media higher education pages have high engagement rates with average or better audience sizes and posting volumes. 

鈥淲e鈥檝e really focused on creating content that our audience is interested in and that we know that they want to engage with by using the characteristics of our most successful posts to write the posts that may not be as fun, but are still really important,鈥 Stephanie Fiorelli, social media specialist, said. 

Fiorelli, Eli Burris, BSJ 鈥16, social media specialist, and Donna Gallo, digital strategy director, are leading the efforts on engaging OHIO鈥檚 community through social media. 

The Rival IQ ranking is another significant recognition for the social media team this year. Earlier this year, named Fiorelli the 鈥淓merging Higher Education Social Marketer of the Year鈥 and recognized Fiorelli, Burris and Gallo for 鈥淏est Athletics Social Media Campaign of the Year鈥 for efforts during the March Madness NCAA Men鈥檚 Basketball tournament.

Top performing social posts from the past year covered an array of topics, from celebrating , unveiling , , to posting and portrait series, and basking in , OHIO鈥檚 social media team told OHIO鈥檚 story in a way that connected with current, former, and future students and all in the Bobcat family.

鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of not only the quality but the variety of the content we covered in the last year,鈥 Burris said. 鈥淲e featured everything from athletics achievements 鈥 such as the Men鈥檚 Basketball MAC Championship 鈥 to Athens culture, Black history, LGBTQ+ rights and much more. To have such high social media engagement numbers, during a pandemic when campus life was not as active as normal, was a challenge we met head-on.鈥

Burris has a deep understanding of what it means to 鈥渂leed green鈥 鈥 he was the 20th member of his family to attend OHIO, and his cats are named Athena and Rufus. He joined University Communications and Marketing in May 2019 as the second-ever social media specialist and has been an integral part of OHIO鈥檚 social media success.

Between July 2020 to July 2021, grew 26% from 50,700 followers to 63,678, grew 8% from 100,270 followers to 107,808 followers, and grew 2% from 72,930 to 74,313 followers.

While followers increased, millions of impressions were also made. From July 2020 to July 2021, OHIO鈥檚 Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts combined for a total of 97.2 million impressions and 3.8 million engagements. 

Fiorelli, who joined Burris as a social media specialist in July 2020, points out that she and Burris make a strong social team, bringing together needed assets to achieve.

鈥淓li and I have different strengths that really complement each other,鈥 Fiorelli said. 鈥淗e is a wonderful photographer, and you can鈥檛 beat his understanding of the Bobcat Spirit. My background is based in student affairs and helping students have the best possible time at OHIO, while growing academically, emotionally, and mentally, and focusing a lot on one-on-one interactions.鈥 

While not part of the ranking, Fiorelli has led efforts to share OHIO鈥檚 message on the growing social media platform TikTok and serve content to current and prospective students. currently has over 3,220 followers as of this article publication.

鈥淚鈥檓 hoping to keep expanding our TikTok channel,鈥 Fiorelli said. 鈥淚 learned a lot about what our audience is interested in and working on creating more of that content.鈥 

The social team is also thankful for the news, photo, video and design teams鈥 support that aided them in creating content for the past year. 

If a member of the OHIO community has a social media idea or resource, they are welcomed to reach out to the social media team.

Published
September 15, 2021
Author
Jalyn Bolyard