It’s Game Day on

Snapchat!

2014 SOME Awards

2013 audience research and competitive analysis performed for Eastern Washington University by CKSyme Media Group revealed a low student engagement rate with the EWU Athletics brand.

Why Snapchat?• According to latest Pew Internet data 79% of 18-29 age group

post photos online—26% of the age group was using Snapchat and rising quickly.

• Over 90% of text messages are opened.

• The “shiny new toy” value of Snapchat as a brand media was very high.

• Only two other university athletic departments were using Snapchat at the time (Liberty University and University of Kansas). Opportunity for earned media was high.

• Snapchat recently had added “Stories” feature, allowing users to string together a series of video or pictures where each snap had a 24-hour life, making it a perfect Game Day channel.

Campaign Goal Strategies Tactics Metric

1. Increase number of students engaged w/brand through Snapchat Game Day Story

Promoting students to follow new Snapchat account

Twitter, Instagram, website release, and earned media stories. Using scoreboard on Game Day to promote in-stadium sign-ups

Follower count and action rates

2. Put together an in-game experience from student POV that will engage students both in-stadium and off-site

Story board game day for both video and pictures. Input from student-athletes.

Shot chart for pre-game, in-game, post game. Get shots of what fans want to see, not necessarily action of game.

Snap open count

3. Gather post-game input from fans

Post-game survey of followers

Last snaps of Story link to survey

Survey responses

It’s Game Day on Snapchat!

Last 3 snaps of the Story…

• 80% of Snapchat followers under 35• Open rate: 70%• Total follower number going into game: 220• Action rates:• With over 70% of snaps opened by 220 followers,

the action rate on Snapchat was higher than EWU’s Twitter account (3800 followers at that time)

• 15% of followers were more interested in campaign than the game

• Most popular snaps: Mascot selfie/ QB firing up teammates on the sidelines

• Desire for more content in future games: 85%

Fan survey results

Earned Media• Earned media coverage after the campaign

included numerous mentions and features on national sports blogs and Time Magazine online, in addition to:

• EDUniverse • HighEd Web• eWallStreeter• +Hashtag Sports Conference• Sport Techie• CASE social media blog• Sporting News• Truechatter• DailyMe.com• NACDA.com• NACMA.com• CoSIDA.com

Takeaways• EWU Athletics social media followers on all

channels have increased at a larger pace (Jan/2014 to present) they did the entire previous two years.

• Before the 2013 Snapchat campaign, EWU Athletics had no earned media as a leader in college sports marketing. The Snapchat campaign and subsequent campaigns have earned EWU Athletics national recognition as a social media innovator/leader.

• EWU was the first university to use the Snapchat “Stories” feature.

2014 SOME Awards