IC News

If you want to get a closer look at everything Ithaca College has to offer, its recently revamped YouTube channel would be a good place to start. The channel recently underwent improvements to increase engagement, and it now boasts nearly 3,100 subscribers.

Last month alone, visitors to the channel watched IC’s videos 10,762 times and spent more than 500 hours watching IC-made videos. The channel had over 76,500 impressions during that time, too.

Giovanni Santacroce, senior multimedia producer in the Division of Marketing and Enrollment Strategy, led the update process. One of the key changes was categorizing videos into playlists.

“We had to ask ourselves what prospective and current students wanted to see and how they'd go about searching for it,” Santacroce says. “We wanted the playlists to help students, as well as the greater campus community, easily navigate the channel, and we wanted to highlight important stories or features of IC at the front of the channel. Before, some of our work was getting lost in the mix.”

Natalie Daffinee ’09, associate director for social media strategy and content strategist on the project, spoke to the aesthetic changes that were made and how the channel contributes to the overall social media presence of the college.

“The channel is also now more reflective of the vibes and culture you'll find at IC,” she said. “Fun, bright colors dot the landing page, along with quirky video concepts like ‘Guess the Potato Chip Challenge’ in honor of National Potato Chip Day. YouTube is a great supplement to our other social media efforts because it tells more in-depth stories of student and campus life compared to platforms like Instagram and Twitter.”

One new addition to the channel is “IC Vlogs,” a series of videos made by students who document their experiences at IC. In fall 2020 Santacroce hired a team of four student content creators to offer authentic perspectives on campus life that would appeal to both prospective and current students.

This has allowed Alyssa Carbonell ‘22 to turn a hobby into a resource for prospective students. One of her posts chronicling her move back to IC garnered the channel 12 new subscribers. 

“Having these supplemental resources helps potential students get a gauge on the college,” she said.    

Alexandra Barrett ‘22 agrees that the vlogs are a valuable addition to the channel, especially considering prospective students have been unable to visit campus due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“I would have loved seeing videos like this when I was looking at colleges because you only get so much from the tours and visiting,” she said. “But we are a little bit more authentic with it because we're actually students showing you our daily lives.”