Engaging Images:

Measuring Student
Organization Use of Instagram
and Lessons Learned from Best
Practices
Research Team: Anna Chichester, Luzelena
Cespedes, Kayla Adam, Kendall Padovani,
Abigayle Shaw

Project overseen by the SUNY Oswego

Department of Marketing and Communication
 Introduction to Project
There are over 240 student organizations registered on Laker Life at SUNY Oswego

The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions:

￮ What student organization accounts have the most followers?
￮ What types of posts are these accounts making?
￮ What factors are going into the success of these specific accounts?
￮ What is holding them back?

According to PEW Research Center, 71% of Americans in the age bracket of

18-24 use Instagram, the focus platform of this study.

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Research and Statistics

Some areas of initial study include:

￮ Demographics
￮ Most active users on Instagram were
between the ages of 18-24
￮ Appeal of visual data
￮ Design and structure
￮ Message effectiveness

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Methodology
Initial Data Collection
1. Used the organization information on Laker Life to list all
organizations and cut those that weren’t relevant to the study
2. Search Instagram and Laker Life to find all listed organizations’
accounts
3. Record individual organizations follower count and note
whether it was an active or not.
4. Notate the number of posts made between February 10th and
February 24th

Omitted Accounts:
￮ Official College Offices (i.e. Admissions, Campus Life)
￮ Event Pages

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 Methodology
Content Analysis of Top 10 Most Followed Accounts
1. Collect visual description, captions, and engagement records for
each post made by the organizations between the dates of
February 10th and February 24th.
2. Code each post as one of the following based on picture content:
￮ Portraits/Stoplight
￮ Picture of event
￮ Digital signage
￮ Group Photo
￮ Video
3. Note frequencies among these post types
4. Note types of posts that had a higher level of engagement
5. Analyze tactics used in screened posts

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Data Analyzed in Account Study

Total Organizations
Studied: 241
￮ Active accounts: 145
￮ Didn't have accounts: 72
￮ Inactive accounts: 24

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Top Types of Content Generated by Top 10
Most Followed Accounts

Total Posts Studied: 52

￮ Signage: 26
￮ Group Photo: 16
￮ Portrait: 9
￮ Video Content: 1

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Top 10 Most Followed Accounts
1. Fishing Club
2. WTOP-TV 10
3. Sigma Delta Tau
4. Black Student Union
5. Lambda Sigma Upsilon
Latino Fraternity Inc.
6. Sigma Lambda Upsilon
7. African Student
Organization
8. Ski & Snowboard Club
9. Theta Chi
10. Delta Phi Epsilon

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1 Fishing Club
Total Instagram Followers: 1,744
Account Name: @suny_oswego_fishing_club
Primary Coding Result:
Portrait
Number of Posts Studied: 1
Successful Tactics:
￮ Usage of hashtags
￮ High quality photos
￮ Pictures of people/animals
Weak Areas:
￮ Infrequent posts

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2 WTOP-10 TV
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,459
Account Name: @wtop10oswego
Primary Coding Results:
Signage
Number of Posts Studied: 2
Successful Tactics:
￮ Integration of brand design
￮ Compelling titles
Weak Areas:
￮ Signage is too busy
￮ Lack of accessibility

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3 Sigma Delta Tau
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,316
Account Name: @sigdelts_oswego
Primary Coding Results:
Group Photo and Portrait
Number of Posts Studied: 10
Successful Tactics:
￮ Maintains brand well
￮ Frequent posts
Weak Areas:
￮ Unclear intent of
organization.

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4 Black Student Union
Primary Coding Result:
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,288
Signage
Account Name: @oswegobsu
Number of Posts Studied: 17
Successful Tactics:
￮ High social media
presence
￮ Knowing their audience
Weak Areas:
￮ Repeating content
￮ Lack of engagement

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 Lambda Sigma Upsilon
5 Latino Fraternity Inc.
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,166
Primary Coding Results:
Account Name: @oswego_upsilons
Graphic
Number of Posts Studied: 1
Successful Tactics:
￮ Integration of
Organizations Crest on
graphics
Weak Areas:
￮ Infrequent posts

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 6 Sigma Lambda Upsilon
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,135
Primary Coding Result:
Account Name: @slu_zeta Signage and Group Photo
Number of Posts Studied: 6
Successful Tactics:
￮ Appealing graphics
Weak Areas:
￮ Repeat posts of same
signage
￮ Account hard to trace

The poster above was posted 3

times during the dates of 14
February 10-12
 7 African Student Organization
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,116
Primary Coding Result:
Account Name: @oswego_aso Signage
Number of Posts Studied: 4
Successful Tactics:
￮ Integration of brand logo
on signage
Weak Areas:
￮ Repeat posts of same
signage
￮ Signage is too busy

The poster above was posted

3 times during the dates of
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February 19-21
8 Ski and Snowboard Club
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,099 Primary Coding Result:
Account Name: @oswegoskiclub Group Photo
Number of Posts Studied: 1
Successful Tactics:
￮ Showcasing group
members in integrative
settings
￮ Highlight activities
Weak Areas:
￮ Infrequent posts

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9 Theta Chi
Total Instagram Followers: 1,091
Primary Coding Result:
Account Name: @thetachioswego
Group Photo
Number of Posts Studied: 2
Successful Tactics:
￮ Group photos of
recognizable members
Weak Areas:
￮ Infrequent posts
￮ Low quality photos

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10 Delta Phi Epsilon
Total Instagram Follower Amount: 1,059
Account Name: @dphieoswego
Primary Coding Result:
Group Photo and Portrait
Number of Posts Studied: 8
Successful Tactics:
￮ Strong brand aesthetic
￮ Frequent posting
Weak Areas:
￮ Lack of variety in post
style
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 Conclusion
￮ Hashtags can expand college organization audiences
beyond the college community.

￮ Usage of signage is not always the most effective tactic.

￮ The most effective posts are those that are able to

integrate their brand into their aesthetics through color,
editing, and setting.

￮ Audiences can be more drawn to certain accounts and

organizations due to the organization’s affiliations
￮ Culture
￮ Connection to Oswego

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