Marbella Ramos is Indiana State University’s new social media manager and hopes to elevate the university’s media presence and present an authentic image of ISU. Here, she poses for a photo on the Indiana State University campus Wednesday.
On stage at The Mill in Terre Haute as a concert was about to begin in August, Indiana State University President Mike Godard shouted out to the audience — many of them ISU students — “I wonder if they are going to play ‘Hot to Go’ tonight?”
And the crowd responded, “This is a Ludacris concert.”
The song “Hot to Go” by Chappell Roan had blown up over the summer, and a national social media trend had started in which someone would say, in jest, “I hope they play ‘Hot to Go.’ Then someone else points out: Not here; this isn’t a Chappell Roan concert.
ISU’s TikTok video has garnered many views, and it was the brainchild of Marbella Ramos, the university’s new social media manager who is making waves with her fun, relatable videos that are bringing lots of positive attention to the university. More importantly, they are engaging prospective and current students.
Ramos picked up on the “Hot to Go” national trend,.
“I was like, I can easily apply this to our university,” she said in an interview. “That’s how a lot of things go. I find these trends and alter them a little bit to where they apply to our university and how I can connect with our students.”
Ramos, a recent ISU graduate now pursuing her master’s at the school, has done random interviews with students, captured President Godard in both serious and light-hearted moments and given faculty a forum to talk about their unique programs.
She’s being sought after by different student organizations to help promote their events. Her work has helped give ISU’s new president a platform that shows his engagement with students, campus and the community. As ISU works to increase enrollment after a decline in students that’s persisted for years, officials recognize the importance of social media in accomplishing that goal.
“Social media plays a vital role in helping prospective students decide where they are going to go to college,” Godard said. Since taking the role of social media manager, “Marbella has elevated our channels to unseen levels and made an immediate impact through increased engagement” and an improved online presence that alums, students, community members and prospective students can all connect with, Godard said.
Reaching prospective students
Increasingly, social media is a key component in reaching out to prospective students.
“Social media is absolutely critical,” said Jill Orcutt, a global consulting lead with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
“It allows an institution to engage with prospective and current students in a direct and personal way,” Orcutt said. It’s really about students talking to other students and sharing their experiences through social media content they generate.
In promoting student housing, it might involve students sharing their experiences in a residence hall as part of a living learning community in which they have a shared focus or academic interest. Social media “can make a difference in creating a personality for the institution and sharing the institutional story,” Orcutt said. But it can’t be the sole tool an institution uses, she says. It’s important to have a balanced communication/ marketing strategy that also reaches out to families, adult learners and “stop out” students, those who temporarily leave their college or university with the intention of returning at a later time, she said.
That can include a combination of more traditional publications, flyers and emails — although younger students don’t read a lot of emails anymore, Orcutt said.
Social media also can be an important tool for a college or university president to connect with students, says Rachael Hagerstrom, social media manager for Smith College, a private women’s liberal arts college, in Massachusetts.
“Students on our college campuses now are digital natives and are used to seeing people on social media,” Hagerstrom said.
“In cases where leaders decide they don’t want to engage in those spaces, that can be a missed opportunity because that is where students are turning for a lot of their information,” she said.
She believes that leaders who can capitalize on that direct connection with their student body “have an advantage over people who don’t see the biggest value in those spaces.”
But it must be a sustained effort to establish connections, trust and a following, Hagerstrom said.
Then, “When you do want to speak directly to that student body, you have that already established. You have those connections and you can do that because they are following you. They see what you are all about,” Hagerstrom said. In Indiana, Kinsey Dentel, social media strategist for Ball State University’s Office of Admissions, says that for many prospective students, social media is the first point of contact with a university.
“These platforms allow us to tell a compelling story, answer questions in real time, and build a sense of community, all of which are key elements in the decision-making process for college-bound students,” she said.
Students are looking for authenticity and relatability, Dentel said. “Today’s students want to engage with content that feels genuine, human, and aligned with their values. They are less interested in traditional marketing tactics and more interested in seeing the real, unfiltered aspects of university life.”
ISU elevates its presence
At Indiana State, Ramos was hired with the goal of “elevating our social media presence, connecting with different stakeholder groups and giving a real, authentic image to what it’s like at Indiana State University,” said Zeke Torres, ISU associate director of university communication.
“We wanted someone who had a good handle on social media, someone who had original and creative ideas and someone who kept up with digital trends,” Torres said. “Marbella fit every single category and then some … We couldn’t really have picked a better person for this job.”
Ramos said her new role is a perfect fit for her. She’s a recent graduate and was very involved in campus organizations, including Sycamore Video, the campus news station.
“It’s a community I was already so built into. I was involved on campus. I know a lot about the people here. I know a lot about the organizations here,” she said.
She did a lot of social media management for campus organizations.
Ramos clearly enjoys her job. “I love it. Every day is different. I’m able to be very creative. I have a lot of free rein. It’s very cool.”
As ISU’s social media manager, “I think it’s really helpful that I’m a fresh graduate. I’m kind of part of this generation that’s grown up on social media,” she said. “I’m naturally acclimated to all of these trends and the social media terrain, I guess.”
Ramos understands the importance of social media in recruiting students. “In today’s day and age … almost everyone tends to look at social media as a source of information now,” she said.
Students go to platforms such as TikTok and Instagram when checking out colleges to determine if they want to attend and if it’s a community they want to be part of.
Ramos often uses fun content “because that is what’s going to catch their eye. It’s a good way to show authentically the type of community we have here and it’s something that potential students really want to be a part of,” she said.
In one video for homecoming, President Godard wears face paint and waves pom poms in a homecoming video. In another, he is “talking” on the phone (not really) to rapper Ludacris around the time of the performer’s Terre Haute concert.
Godard is very open to her ideas and enjoys doing them, Ramos said.
Many organizations now reach out to her and ask if President Godard is available to attend certain events.
“More often than not, he goes. If he’s not busy, he will be there. He loves hanging out with students and showing them that he cares and that he is present,” she said. “That’s genuinely how he is as a person. … I don’t think the content would do as well if he didn’t have the personality he does.”
In a way, it makes him the face of the university, relating well to students and offering reassurance to families that their kids are in good hands, she said.
“It’s good for them to see his face and know who he is, know his character and know he is there for them,” Ramos said.
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