Founded in 1884, Temple is a top-ranked research university and a leader in education, science, healthcare and the arts, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With a diverse community and a vibrant local culture, Temple is dedicated to providing students with endless opportunities and powerful connections to blaze new trails—no matter the industry.
Temple University aimed to increase national awareness and drive excitement for its 2015 admissions applications amongst young millennials.
"We were surprised that the same amount of readers came from California as Pennsylvania! We find this particularly interesting, as LA is a demographic where we have a large alumni base and a focus for recruitment!" – Jamie Sapphire Stubbs, Advertising Manager, Temple University
BuzzFeed and Temple partnered to create six pieces of branded content using the right voice and tone to connect with Temple’s young millennial audience. Posts like ‘Can you Pass A Standardized Test About Life In 2015?’, ‘10 Senior Year Moments We Remember All Too Well’ and ‘16 Struggles Anyone Who Took Midterms Know Too Well,’ aimed to connect with young readers at crucial life stages using nostalgic, identity-themed posts to build awareness for Temple University’s offerings. While the ‘13 Reasons To Live In Philly At Least Once In Your Life’ post aimed to highlight the benefits of Philadelphia’s diverse urban location while connecting with the local community.
Temple Branded Posts Beat BF’s Benchmarks And Earned Free Views!
The branded posts collected over 796K total views and resulted in a 1.3X Social Lift–exceeding the 1.2X BF goal! BuzzFeed refers to Social Lift as the additional views earned from social sharing. In this case, for every ten paid views, Temple received three free views via social sharing!
BuzzFeed Delivered The Right Content To Temple’s Target Audience.
The branded content was distributed both on and off-site, targeting a custom BuzzFeed audience. As a result, the content was 4x more likely to reach readers A18-24 and 2x more likely to reach readers who are interested in education and employment. *Source: Quantcast
And Drove Social Conversations!
The branded posts garnered over 66.5K total Facebook engagements (likes and comments) and generated organic conversation across the social web–proving that the branded posts resonated with readers. Temple was also able to use click-out patterns as direction for future content that aligns with reader’s interests!
High Engagement Amplified Temple’s Content Reach.
Readers connected with and shared the branded content with their circle of friends and family–extending the content’s reach beyond the intended target audience! BuzzFeed also found that 89% of the campaign’s total traffic came from outside of Pennsylvania–aligning with Temple’s objective of generating awareness on a national level while still connecting with the local Philadelphia audience.
Temple Further Distributed Branded Content Across Its Own Channels.
Temple incorporated the BuzzFeed content within its weekly student newsletter, Nutshell. Three newsletters featured BuzzFeed posts and were each distributed to Temple’s 37K students!
BuzzFeed Drove 600+ New Students To Register For Temple's Online Application System.
BuzzFeed worked closely with Temple’s media agency to better understand how the branded content impacted the users exposed to it. After monitoring the digital activity of those exposed, we found that over 600 readers registered as new users to begin Temple's undergraduate online application process.
By partnering with BuzzFeed for its Fall 2015 program, Temple University drove awareness and excitement for its admissions applications amongst its young millennial target audience. With 796K total views and 66K Facebook engagements, the branded content proved to have resonated with readers. Furthermore, with 89% of the campaign’s total traffic coming from outside of Pennsylvania, Temple successfully generated brand awareness on a national level–exceeding all campaign goals!
"Partnering with BuzzFeed we learned that sponsored content is extremely valuable—the amount of growth it provides us in other channels is unheard of. It also has a “cool” factor. Everywhere we went there was buzz about the campaign and our team and campus partners found it very cool." – Jamie Sapphire Stubbs, Advertising Manager, Temple University