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Hello FSU! promotes the top social events taking place at Florida State University each week, including Amy’s Snacks & Chats, hosted Oct. 25 by Amy Hecht, vice president for student affairs.
Alycia Malicz/Florida State University
A fall 2023 Student Voice survey from Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found 30 percent of students spend zero hours per week in campus extracurriculars. Two-year college students (50 percent) and those working full-time (49 percent) were even more likely to report no participation in campus activities.
A primary reason for not participating is students’ lack of knowledge of events. Around half of students say better advertising and promotion of events would increase their involvement on campus.
To encourage on-campus engagement, Florida State University launched Hello FSU!, a student-facing marketing campaign that aggregates the top events, deadlines and stories from the week directly to a student’s inbox. The campaign, which partners across departments to ensure all services are represented, also tailors content to be specific to the academic calendar.
The background: FSU created the Undergraduate Student Experience Strategy (USES) group in spring 2022, which includes the Division of Student Affairs, Admissions, Campus Recreation, the Career Center, Fraternity and Sorority Life, Interfaith Council and Undergraduate Studies, among other departments, to identify student success strategies and communication around resources and programs, says Alice Maxwell, director of marketing and communications in Student Affairs.
USES has two goals, first, to create a planning guide for undergraduate student experiences across the institution to increase awareness of academic resources, support services and participation in student activities and events. And second, to build awareness of current offerings from campus partners through regular and coordinated communication.
“We gave the campaign a name that is a recognizable greeting and that was inclusive of the university beyond the division," explains Alycia Malicz, design and branding specialist from the student affairs marketing and communication office. "'Hello' opens the door for communication, makes friends of strangers and can bring a smile to someone who needs it."
Brainstorming began in spring 2022 with a target of incoming first-years for the summer term and then expanding to the fall first-year class. The first Hello FSU! post ran June 17 of that year and the first Weekly Top 5 posted June 20.
How it works: Hello FSU! provides students with five of the week’s biggest events, programs, activities and deadlines each Monday via email, as well as on Instagram. Students can also view a campuswide calendar with additional events selected by Hello FSU!
USES collects event information through a monthly meeting of campus partners and an online submission form, explains David Peters, senior associate director for campus recreation. A staff subcommittee from student affairs and undergraduate students selects each Weekly Top 5 items to balance campus events with academic and student services.
In addition to events, Hello FSU! shares success tips, how-to resources for navigating campus, extra reminders on deadlines and events as well as spotlight stories, which feature people, programs and services as the university.
Community members can use #HelloFSU on social media to promote student event content, which is aggregated (using Curator.io) on the Hello FSU! webpage.
Get the word out: Over the summer, Student Affairs partnered with New Student and Family Programs during orientation, with stickers and a QR code to connect students with additional information.
In the fall, promotional materials included residence door hangers, posters and a direct mail campaign sending a personalized postcard to students’ home address.
Students are drawn to video content, according to internal data, so Hello FSU! will utilize more multimedia in the future, as well.
The impact: The Student Affairs Instagram account has seen “incredible growth since the start of the campaign,” Maxwell says. The account saw reach jump 637 percent between May 2022 and September 2023, with more 6,500 shares of its posts, reels and stories.
Anecdotally, students have shared with USES team members they found out about various events because of Hello FSU! posts.
The Hello FSU! webpage has seen 20,500 users between August 2022 and September 2023, as well, many of them new users.
“Importantly, FSU is seeing exceptional event participation,” Maxwell says. “The fall 2023 involvement fair that connects students with student organizations, which was promoted through Hello FSU!, had more than 4,000 attendees.”
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