It’s challenging to create a sense of community on a non-traditional campus. As a means to address this issue at New York University, the Digital Communications Group launched #CongratagradNYU in 2013 to build a stronger, more engaged digital and global community. #CongratagradNYU is an immersive and interactive commencement experience for all students, faculty, family, and friends, regardless of their location. Note: These slides are part of a poster session presentation by Katie Santo and Debbi Litt on behalf of New York University at the 2016 HighEdWeb Conference in Memphis, Tennessee.

1. #CongratagradNYU

2. Unforgettable:
Transforming Commencement
into an Interactive Experience

3. Background
#CongratagradNYU is an integrated, one-day campaign
conducted during New York University’s Commencement
Exercises.
As a global university, our goal was to create an
immersive and interactive experience at our largest event
for all students, faculty, family, and friends, regardless of
their location.

4. How it works
The #CongratagradNYU campaign spans all major social
platforms, focusing on Twitter and Instagram.
During Commencement, the NYU community is
encouraged to use #CongratagradNYU.
Photos, tweets, and posts are aggregated and displayed
on the Jumbotrons at Yankee Stadium.

5. Challenges
• Providing canned messages for community members to
use to promote content sharing
• Utilizing the best tool and API for managing
#CongratagradNYU stream
• Defining metrics and collecting data points across all
social platforms
• Maintaining relationship with venue in order to ensure
seamless campaign execution

6. Growth and Progression
We approached the first year of #CongratagradNYU with
the idea of “surprise and delight”, and delivered it as an
in-the-moment activity.
We adjusted our strategy to include key student leaders,
schools, alumni, and the 200+ social media managers in
the University community to create more buzz and
opportunity for collaboration.

7. In its first year, #CongratagradNYU gained nearly 1 million
Twitter impressions and over 1000 custom NYU badges were
claimed on Foursquare.
Since engaging our larger social media community, our
campaign has grown to 2.3 million impressions per event.
#CongratagradNYU has trended nationally on Twitter two
years in a row (2014, 2015).
#CongratagradNYU has become a New York University
tradition, and one our community expects and looks forward
to with each graduating class.

8. Shorty Awards Finalist
#CongratagradNYU was a finalist in the Eighth Annual
Shorty Award for Best in Education in 2015.

9. 2013
• 916,900 Twitter impressions
• “Surprise & delight” strategy
• Platform: Tagboard
2014
• 1,932,807 Twitter impressions
• Trended nationally on Twitter
• Engaged NYU’s Social Media Ambassadors
• Created webpage to house info year-round
• Platform: Tagboard

10. 2015
• 2,213,376 Twitter impressions
• Trended nationally on Twitter
• Engaged key speakers, student reps, alumni
• Platform: Tagboard
2016
• 3,000,000 Twitter impressions
• Snapchat: 7,532 uses of custom filter, nearly 285,000 views
• Created VIP list to greenlight posts from
schools and units
• Platform: Zoomph

11. 0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
2013 2014 2015 2016
Twitter Impressions & Reach
Twitter - Impressions Twitter - Estimated Reach

12. Snapchat
7,532 uses of
two custom
filters
285,000 views
Available for
two hours at
Yankee Stadium