Instagram is a space cluttered with posts from friends, family, celebrities, businesses, fake accounts and more. People share pictures and videos from their camera rolls in order to show off or express themselves. Celebrities have accounts that keep their followers updated on their lives. Businesses are trying to promote and sell their products. They even implemented a shop tab where you can purchase items straight from the app. And in the midst of it all, Drew’s clubs and organizations are trying to promote their events there.
The problem with using Instagram as a promotional tool is that the algorithm does not cater to announcing events. According to shopify.com, there are three main ranking factors that go into how each person’s Instagram feed is displayed. These factors are the “relationship with the user,” “the interest the user has displayed” and “relevancy of the post.” What this means is that the more past interactions a user has with an account, the more likely their new posts are to land on the user’s feed again. If a user interacts with a certain type of post, they will start to see more of the same kind of content. So, if someone likes a bunch of cat videos, they will start to see more cats on their feed. Instagram also gives each post a relevancy score which impacts who the post is shown to. Another element of how your feed is organized is the time the posts have been made. Therefore, the most recent, most relevant and most interesting content will be displayed first. So if students are not interacting with club posts on Instagram, they will never be shown club events on the platform.
Although there are students who might check Instagram everyday, not everyone has this social media app. Even the students who do check their socials might not go through every single account they follow for new posts. There is just too much content to go through on social media apps for announcements to be seen by everyone. Instagram is simply not suitable for event announcements.
A better way to promote events is through Drew Today, but not all events belong there. Things like practice times and weekly meetings shouldn’t take up space in the emails. In addition, if students like to clear their inbox of unnecessary emails, they probably delete the daily message and won’t be able to find the information they are looking for again.
The best option for promoting Drew’s events is The Path. This website is accessible to all Drew students, and it is a dedicated space for all of the clubs and their event information. This space is not cluttered by irrelevant cat videos, advertisements or pretty pictures of friends. The Path is a service specifically made for clubs, and Drew pays for it! If Drew is paying for a service, students should take advantage and utilize it.
The Path is the only unified space that should be used for club event promotions. Plus, students won’t have to guess what the username of a club might be to find events. All the information is simply there! Instagram is keeping students from getting involved in clubs, and The Path is an organized solution to ensure student engagement in club activities.
