The Challenge
In early 2021, Campus Advantage, a national industry leader in the student housing sector, was in need of assistance running and monitoring their corporate social accounts. The need also consisted of maintaining the creative, consistent upkeep of their social presence across multiple platforms.
The Solution
Catalyst, Campus Advantage’s in-house marketing partner, was selected to manage the service and find innovative ways to include more organic content focused around employees and CA’s unique company culture — which would in turn assist with hiring and employee retention/engagement.
In February 2021, Catalyst began working on content creation for Campus Advantage across their four primary social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The new social media management approach involved monthly company-wide brainstorms that incorporated requests from various divisions. This process allowed all divisions to be served and highlighted while also weaving in new and fresh themes and campaigns that would keep audiences continuously engaged. Content was created and reviewed one month ahead of schedule, streamlining the overall review process and ensuring posts felt relevant and timely.
For the ongoing social media service, a mixture of branded templates was utilized to celebrate company milestones, promotions, monthly themed highlights, employee spotlights, holidays, company news, and special observances. To ensure posts followed the Campus Advantage corporate brand standards, social media content used consistent colors and typography, which created a cohesive social feed, most easily visible on Instagram.
The Results
The results from this approach have been dramatic, by the metrics and by the anecdotal evidence. By focusing on an organic-forward approach, CA’s social platforms give potential candidates, employees, investors, residents, and the overall audience a true glimpse into the culture and success of the company.
By regularly highlighting the successes of individual team members and spotlighting initiatives from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); training; and on-site wins, Campus Advantage has seen results both on screen and in person. Erin Oltersdorf, Corporate Recruiting Manager, had this to say:
“Just wanted to share that I just got off the phone with a potential candidate that reached out to me via LinkedIn. He loved our social presence and really felt like he got a good sense for the company culture — we seemed progressive, and it felt like a good community of people. Thank you for the work you do! It helps to attract top talent to our team.”
From February 2021 to December 2022, social media metrics have soared:
- 10,000 followers (up from 8,167) on LinkedIn in 22 months
- 699,419 impressions (96.4% increase)
- 52,873 engagements (578.5% increase)
- 27,952 post link clicks (2,012.8% increase)
- 6% engagement rate (245.5% increase)