students walk outside of thompson library

Students walking through campus between classes. Ohio State’s social media team frequently records on campus to connect with students. Credit: Lantern Photo File

Students scrolling on Instagram Reels to escape assignments might have this solace interrupted by Block ‘O’s and Brutus on their screen.

It’s no surprise considering that Ohio State’s social media was ranked 12th overall and third for its TikTok by social media analytic tool, Rival IQ, when compared to other higher education institutions. Dani Dean, associate director of social media, said the university’s engagement rates have skyrocketed in recent years and attributes some of that gain to its “audience-centric” content.

“It was a record year for Ohio State social media across the board from follower growth, engagement [and] engagement rate,” Dean said. “We really locked in to understand how to grow on TikTok.” 

The social media team oversees the university’s accounts on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Threads and X, formerly known as Twitter. Dean said with a viewership of over 2 million across these platforms, Ohio State reaches a wide variety of audiences, including current and future students, alumni, Buckeye fans and more. 

“We always make sure that everything we’re creating is not a one-size-fits-all. That does not work on social media,” Dean said. “Everything needs to be catered for each platform and audience.” 

Melanie Terez, social media senior associate, said the platforms’ audiences even change over the years, and it is important to not get too comfortable. 

“There’s never going to come a day where we’ve figured out all of our audiences, and we don’t need to try anymore,” Terez said. 

If students ever feel like Ohio State accounts were “in on the joke,” they might be. According to Amanda deJonge, social media production assosciate, the team seeks out new ways to show authenticity by surfing Reddit, YikYak and other online platforms to gather research about niche Ohio State student life for content ideas.

“As much as we prioritize having a pulse on social media trends, we also try to have a pulse on student culture,” deJonge said. “We try to make sure that it feels so seamless between your experience at Ohio State and what you’re actually seeing online.” 

Colin Wylie, a social media manager for enterprise leadership, said the team finds a balance between creating engaging, well-performing content and meaningful content that reflects the values of the university and community. 

“We really do care about the things that are important to our students,” Wylie said. “What they might think is important when it comes to a social issue or to research or to just different things that are going on in their daily lives — things that might impact them.” 

This social strategy is driven by audiences, as the team said it thinks about how concepts will be better spun to resonate with differing groups, as well as what the audience wants to see and where the team can push the boundaries.

Dean said authenticity is also a focus of the team’s social media strategy to meet the audiences’ expectations from the Ohio State standpoint. 

“I really consider social media like the front door to a brand or to a business, because that is where people are going to get, kind of, that first impression,” Dean said. “That’s that touch base with that business or that brand, so we want to show up in the most authentic way possible.”

The team tries to reflect students’ experiences, deJonge said.

“[It’s] the balance of being a student and really prioritizing your studies, but also having that authentic, fun college experience,” deJonge said. “We try to balance that the same way that it would mirror a student’s life on campus.” 

The team looks at major benchmarks, including click-through and engagement rates to see how well their content is actually resonating on each platform. 

“One of my favorite things about working in social is no day is the same, and it’s constantly evolving [and] constantly innovating,” Dean said. “Our team really embraces that just in our overall team culture.”