Eastfield has a lot of cool events, but oftentimes students are left in the dark due to a lack of visibility.

Some walls around campus are caked with posters. A lot of time, students hear about events from word of mouth—that’s our event marketing’s biggest flaw.

The problem doesn’t lie within a department, rather the lack of a strong social media strategy from our student-focused organizations. Considering Student Life has a Facebook page with only 75 followers, it begs the question if we’re making an effort to reach students online.

Online resources such as the event calendar exist, but students hardly ever use it and it isn’t updated around the clock.

We’ve seen how cut well a solid online presence can remind students about new resources and offices in the B Building, which shows that we have a strong communication network on campus.

Students are already engaged with departments dedicated to social media usage, such as our sports teams. While sports is a different beast from events, it shows there are swaths of students present on social media platforms such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).

Consistent updates give them a strong online presence, which the calendar contrasts. Part of the The Et Cetera staff’s routine is scanning the calendar and staying updated on what’s happening around campus, but occasionally we stumble across events that seem to have popped up out of nowhere.

It’s common to run into a student who isn’t up-to-date on campus events. Several students we’ve spoken to weren’t informed about events going on campus. Others we’ve worked with aren’t even aware of recurring events such as the Club Fair. A new framework for event marketing doesn’t have to be made. Marketing is aware of this by advertising events on campus TVs, but there isn’t enough campus-centric content. Considering these displays rarely indicate anything new, it’s easy to forget they exist. Little touches could remind students that Eastfield has more to offer than classes.

Events aren’t all fun or games—they can provide enrichment, but students need to be made aware of it in places they can be reached. Twice now, The Et Cetera has gone to the AS+K Suicide Gatekeeper Training and was met with no turnout. 

Although there was an online calendar, additional marketing was nonexistent. We can’t have important events on campus if students aren’t made aware of them.