SMSU TikTok ranks first nationally among Division II schools
“I am so excited for all of us.”
Trending
MARSHALL -- In the ongoing rise of social media, Southwest Minnesota State University was ranked first nationally in Division II schools on TikTok by RivalIQ, a leading company in social media performance analysis.
SMSU was ranked on engagement growth, and claimed a substantial jump from 64th place for the 2022-23 school year, to first place this year. Graduate assistant Jennifer Aguilar runs the account, with help from Mitchell Riibe, Maddy Groff and the previous assistants who helped launch the school's TikTok in 2022, Annika Freiburger and Juliana Villa.
"I didn't even know this [ranking] was a thing," Aguilar said. "I am so excited for all of us. It’s not just me, it’s all the students that are saying, 'Yeah, sure, we’ll be in your TikTok.' It’s also the professors who are more than willing to be silly on social media. So, it’s not just my accomplishment, it's theirs too."
According to RivalIQ, engagement rates by views for schools averaged at 3.69%, and SMSU tallied a 17.17% rate. The top-ranked colleges have high engagement rates with average or better audience size and posting volumes.
"That’s insane. The fact that we can jump all these other Division II schools that probably have a more dedicated following, just speaks to the traffic we can reach, or the audience we reach outside of SMSU," Riibe said.
Aguilar, a graduate student in business administration, works as an assistant in the marketing and communication department, with Riibe who is a marketing strategist and Groff who also works in the department.
"I honestly am more like a helping hand as far as it comes down to TikTok. I kind of take the lead with Mitch," Aguilar said. "I’m more familiar with students and what college students are more inclined to look at, so I do a lot of that ... Figuring out what kind of trends are happening."
Riibe does videography work for the university, but supports Aguilar in the mission to grow their platform.
"I try to put the reasoning behind the numbers, essentially," Riibe said. "Jenny more so will film with her phone the TikTok style stuff that we do, and the more university-level full video stuff, that’s where I step in and focus on that."
Groff said the team will have monthly content planning meetings where they brainstorm ideas of what needs to be covered on campus and other ideas.
"She [Aguilar] usually just takes it and runs a bit herself, and she gets other students from campus involved and her friends," Groff said. "It’s just really awesome to see her creativity thrive, and for others to enjoy her creativity."
The drive for success the team has established is keeping their content relatable to the college student demographic, because it quickly boosts engagement and oftentimes gets widely shared, leading to a bigger outreach outside of Minnesota.
"We spend a lot of time trying to make sure that we’re framing the video in the right way to make it work for SMSU," Riibe said. "Anything that we try to post out there, we try to make sure it’s going to speak well to the audience we are posting it for."
Aguilar said she also pays attention to what is going viral and plans ways to twist them in relation to their audience.
The jump from 64th to first place caught the team off guard, but showed them how their platform is growing.
"I thought it was so crazy. We’re a smaller school in comparison to other schools on that list, so the fact that we had such a dramatic jump was so cool," Aguilar said. "I started here this last year as a GA [graduate assistant], but before that was Juliana and Annika. They were starting the account."
Riibe also said he didn't know social media was ranked, and had been focused on growing their follower count.
"I was so surprised ... You just don’t get that engagement jump going from 64th to first without engaging people from outside of the university, and people outside even the southwest Minnesota region. This is like a national reach," Riibe said. "If they’re seeing the video, they see the SMSU head for our profile picture. So, they’re aware that we exist."
Groff said she was out of town when the accomplishment was revealed, and also thought it was a great achievement.
"That’s like one of [Aguilar's] primary roles as part of our team, is to do our TikTok," Groff said. "I’m just glad to see that her hard work is paying off, and I hope that she feels like she’s accomplished something while she’s been here."
Detailed in the RivallQ report is that most universities post at a frequency of about two videos a month. SMSU averages two a week.
"Our goal is to post every day, realistically. It’s tough to come up with ideas, because it’s a mix of trend hopping, and also original content," Riibe said. "Sometimes, it’s just keep it simple and it works. That’s the fickle thing about social media. When you work really hard on something and it works out, it’s great. Sometimes, you put a lot of forethought and effort into a video, and then it flops."
Aguilar detailed that consistency is very doable, and a goal they will continue working to maintain.
"There’s always something fun happening on campus. So, it’s so easy having content to film about," Aguilar said. "There’ll be services that we have on campus. I’ll go out of my way and be like, 'Hey, how can I help you? How can I encourage students to come and visit you guys?'"
The SMSU TikTok page currently has a little over 1,400 followers. They had a video in April go viral with over a million views and over 200 thousand likes, engaging in a trend at the time and relating it to students studying for final exams.
"A lot of credit has got to be given to Jenny," Riibe said. "She definitely is the one that comes up with a lot of the content."
Moving forward, the team will continue to aim for relatable content between trends and original ideas, and capitalize on their achievements even more.
"To carry this success that we’re having is just making sure that we’re doing the small things right," Riibe said. "Making sure we stick to who we are as a university, and knowing that our students feel like they’re related to."
Aguilar has become known around SMSU for her work.
"I’ve had people in the hallways and in classrooms kind of acknowledge that this has happened. They all know me as the 'TikTok girl,' and when they see me coming with my phone and the camera, they know something’s going to happen," Aguilar said. "We’re hiring for another graduate assistant right now. So, encouraging other students that if you like what I’m doing, you can come join us."
Groff said they are starting a new social media analytic tracking system this year, in hopes they will continue to improve their social media across the board and honing in on what works well.
SMSU can be followed on TikTok and Facebook @SMSUOfficial, and @SMSUToday on Instagram and X [Twitter].
"There are definitely some challenges, but I almost feel like the most exciting part of this job," Aguilar said. "This is just a cool thing that has happened, this is awesome. I am so excited."