Case Study: University of St Andrews achieves major student engagement and social growth with Hootsuite

How the University of St Andrews is enhancing the student experience with social media content

The University of St Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university, wanted to modernize how it connected with digital‑native students by building a more consistent, collaborative and data‑driven social media presence. The challenges included improving engagement across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, coordinating content across departments for events like Orientation Week and Graduation, demonstrating ROI to senior leaders, and monitoring student sentiment during critical incidents.

By partnering with Hootsuite (and Talkwalker) the university centralized scheduling, social listening and analytics, launched initiatives like Instagram student takeovers and a video strategy, and improved cross‑department collaboration. Results included stronger growth and engagement—Twitter +4.5k followers, Facebook +9k fans, 436k Instagram engagements (student takeovers grew followers from ~7k to 22k), video content reached ~197k users—and the team secured additional investment to expand digital capability.

University of St Andrews

Christine Tudhope

Senior Communications Manager