Sacred Heart University’s Student-Run Snapchat

By Henry Indictor

Staff Reporter

In this day in age, schools and other places have used a wide variety of social media platforms to successfully market and showcase themselves to the eyes of the world.

Snapchat has become a key medium in selling products in a fun way, which has skyrocketed for the triumph in marketing and advertising techniques.

Sacred Heart University has created its own Snapchat account, which gives students a chance to get involved in promoting the highlights of the University.

Sean Kaschak is the Multimedia Communications Coordinator at Sacred Heart, and he is in charge of the uploads involved in the ‘students portion’ of the University’s Snapchat account.

“We’re in the business of Marketing and Communications, so staying on top of the medium of the day is crucial,” said Kaschak. “The ‘SHU Snapchat’ was created mostly to engage its current and prospective students. They’re the population most active on the platform.”

 

 

 

 

 

One of the main reasons that Snapchat has become popular, is due to the “stories” feature on the app.

The University’s Snapchat stories visually display events that occur on campus, and allow it’s student’s to keep up with one another.

“I think showcasing life on campus is critical. We particularly like to focus on authentic experiences, even if they’re routine. It keeps things relatable. I also get to be a little goofier, and informal, compared to the other social platforms I’m on, which is fun for me,” said Kaschak.

While working as an intern, senior, Shawn Lee, has become involved with the account. One of the segments that he participates in is called, “What Up Wednesday.”      

“Every week I try to do the same things here and there, but if there is anything interesting happening on campus that week, I’ll try to get some footage for the account. For example, last week, I talked to one of the stars of Next to Normal, a production run by the Sacred Heart’s theatre program.We had a little thirty-second conversation on snapchat about the show, and how to go about seeing it,” said Lee.

Other things that Lee likes to promote, include some of the advertisements that are hosted by different organizations near the tables outsides of Outtakes and 63’s. This  month, he has been giving shoutouts to some of the student’s who were running the annual “Turkey Drive.”

Lee also had the opportunity to take the snapchat on the road with him, on his trip to pick up his younger brother from college, in Pennsylvania.

“Since doing this, I got another internship for next semester, which solely surrounds on social media based off the Snapchats that I showed the guy I was interviewing with. I found that social media is currently such an untapped and big market, and our generation can definitely get into it more,” said Lee.

While simultaneously having fun while working hard at promoting the University, Lee has gained some benefits and useful insights from his experience with the inner- workings of social media.

“I noticed that although a lot of these companies have been existing for a while, they need to reach these markets, but they don’t know how to. Snapchat is just so simple to use for our generation, and now you can even get a job out of it,” said Lee.

Like Lee, Kaschak has also shown that he is doing his best to showcase Sacred Heart as the student friendly environment that it is. Getting the students involved, has been a big reason into the success in the Snapchat account.

“Student engagement with the Snapchat has been incredibly important. It’s the stu-dent experience we’re looking to highlight. The students tell their own story far better than I can,” said Kaschak.

Follow Sacred Heart University’s snapchat, @sacredheartu to see what’s being posted.

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