"A cornerstone of our digital admissions strategy is to meet students where they are online—whether that’s TikTok or Instagram or Twitter—and welcome them into our Aggie family. To level up in 2022, the UC Davis social media team created highly custom and produced personalized video responses to over 100 newly admitted Aggies during first-year and transfer student celebration weeks. While not every new prospective student received a customized video, the social team still engaged with custom responses on various social platforms to welcome them into the community.
During the first-year celebration week, campus leaders joined the social media team in the studio to react to admitted Aggies’ tweets, Instagram comments, and TikToks. In transfer and reentry celebration week, the social media team headed to various locations on campus to film other campus leaders’ and students’ reactions. Some of those who participated included the chancellor, provost, vice chancellors of student affairs and diversity, equity, and inclusion, executive director of undergraduate admissions, Gunrock (the school mascot) the student body president, and many current students.
The campaign was extremely well received as students could not believe they were getting personalized messages from people like the chancellor or even the on-campus fire department. During these celebration weeks, the entire UC Davis community, including alumni, join in welcoming prospective Aggies on social media."
From the Judges
The ability of UC Davis to personalize these messages to students increased their social media reach, however, it more importantly connected students to the campus before they began their academic journey, creating a sense of belonging and affinity.
