#BestInCanada

For the second straight year, Brock University has been recognized as having the best Twitter account among all Canadian universities.

Analytics firm Engagement Labs named its honour roll of the top performing colleges and universities using social media, noting Brock’s responsiveness makes it a leader on Twitter.

“The home of the badgers, Brock University, backed up their first-place ranking on Twitter for Canadian higher education with excellent response strategies,” Engagement Labs said in a news release detailing the rankings. “Brock made the grade when it took the time on Twitter to respond to questions from their followers, making sure to give timely and informative updates to their inquiring minds.”

Brock also performed well on the two other social platforms ranked, coming in at No. 5 for its Instagram use and No. 12 on Facebook out of the top 30 post-secondary institutions.

“Brock University has an amazing story to tell, and we consider social media one of the best ways to share our story,” said Gord Hunchak, executive director of Marketing and Communications. “It’s great to see the efforts of our social media teams recognized as leaders among Canadian post-secondary institutions.”

Social media co-ordinator Jocelyn Titone, who recently went on leave, said the recognition is an honour and acknowledgement that the University’s commitment to using social media to engage with students is paying off.

“Social media – especially Twitter – is fast and immediate. A lot of our students turn to Twitter to ask questions, learn what’s happening on campus and offer us feedback,” Titone said. “Prospective students tweet about their applications to Brock, parents ask questions and alumni reminisce about their time on campus. In order for us to stay relevant to our audience, one of our social media goals is to provide excellent customer service by engaging with as many people as possible as quickly as we can.”

Cate Talaue, interim social media co-ordinator said social media builds and strengthens the University’s relationship to its audiences.

“Our main purpose on social media is to engage students while they’re on campus and when they become alumni, as well as being their resource for all things Brock,” she said.

She said a variety of different platforms are utilized to reach past, present and future Badgers.

The @BrockUniversity Twitter account has more than 35,000 followers and the Facebook page also has 35,000.

The @BrockUniversity Instagram account has 13,300 followers and continues to grow.

Another social platform growing in engagement is @BrockUni on Snapchat.

“The mortal enemy of social media is the status quo, so if you want to engage your audience, it means re-thinking your strategy and experimenting with new tools and messages,” Talaue said. “At Brock we don’t think social media needs to be formal or stiff. Being part of the Brock community means being welcoming, inclusive, warm, fun and full of Badger pride – all of which our platforms speak to.”

Click here to read the story about last year’s win.