September 21, 2026 · Blake Mischley
What Analyzing 500 College's Instagram Story Highlights Revealed | Reach Report No. 27
September 21st, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | We studied 500 college Story Highlights, Threads becomes free podcast distribution, and a dancing dog takes over campus footage.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report.
This week is about squeezing more out of what you already have. We pulled every Story Highlight from the 500 biggest college accounts to see what opportunities exist. And Threads just rolled out a full podcast toolkit, turning a show you already record into free content for the feed.
Let's dive in!
What’s New In Social Media
An Analysis on Story Highlights in Higher Ed
We pulled every Story Highlight from the 500 biggest college accounts. 13% keep none at all. Graduation gets a dedicated highlight on 33% of profiles while how to apply gets one on 11%, and the median apply highlight has not been touched in 348 days. Highlights sort by whatever you updated last, so posting one story into a highlight moves it to the front of your profile. It is application season, Common App opened in August, and early deadlines are November 1. I wrote up why this is an opportunity unique to higher ed [over on LinkedIn]. The full study with all the benchmarks is below.
Meta Launches Meta One, and Links Now Come With a Price Tag
Meta rolled out Meta One on September 15, a subscription bundle across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The core apps stay free, but the tier worth your attention is Advanced at $49.99 a month. It includes links in organic posts and Reels, Story scheduling up to 30 days out, exportable analytics, and team access without sharing a password. Meta tested charging for Facebook links back in December, so this isn't a surprise, but it is now official.
Threads Adds a Full Podcast Toolkit
If your institution runs a podcast, and plenty do between alumni interviews, faculty research, and president shows, Threads just became free distribution for it. Meta rolled out podcast tools on September 16. Profile banners, an episode picker, tappable episode link cards, guest cards when you tag someone, reminders when a new episode drops, saved episodes for listeners, and Podcast Insights with clicks and saves. Threads is not hosting anything, so your episodes stay wherever they live now. Start with the transcript cards. One episode turns into a week of posts you can pull quotes from, and a readable version of the audio is an accessibility win too.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
College Freshmen Are Returning for Sophomore Year at Higher Rates
The National Student Clearinghouse released its 2026 High School Benchmarks on September 17. Immediate enrollment held flat, but persistence, meaning freshmen who came back for a second year, rose across every income group. Graduates of high-poverty high schools were up 1.7 points to 76% Graduates of high-poverty high schools experienced the largest gain, with persistence increasing 1.7 percentage points to 76.0 percent. Most higher ed content is built to get students to apply. This is the reminder that the harder number is whether they return, and current student content is what carries it.
Weekly Higher Ed Social Snapshot
Here's how higher ed accounts performed this past week. Averages across the board, who grew fastest, who got the most engagement, and the posts that pulled the biggest numbers.
Weekly Social Media Benchmark Averages
How the average higher ed account performed over the past 7 days on each platform.
| Metric | TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| % Follower Growth | +0.27% | +0.06% | +0.77% |
| Engagement Rate | 1.9% | 0.2% | 3.2% |
| Posts Made | 5.4 | 6.4 | 2.6 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @univpugetsound +5.7% +1,002 followers | 1. @TheCitadel +6.9% +5,553 followers | 1. @bereacollege +18.8% +2,800 followers |
| 2. @southernadventistuniversity +4.1% +694 followers | 2. @WashingtonAdventistUniversity +2.1% +204 followers | 2. @PurdueUniversity +5.6% +138 followers |
| 3. @babsoncollege +3.8% +2,211 followers | 3. @HollinsUniversity +1.7% +237 followers | 3. @druryuniversity +5.3% +81 followers |
Top Engagers This Week
The accounts whose posts from the past 7 days earned the highest average engagement rate — engagements (likes, comments, shares) on a post as a % of followers, averaged across the week’s posts. Minimum 3 posts.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @univpugetsound 113.0% 84,080 engagements | 1. @CarletonCollege 5.1% 5,590 engagements | 1. @nichollsstate 71.3% 19,979 engagements |
| 2. @hollinsuniversity 28.0% 9,376 engagements | 2. @texassouthernuniversity 2.1% 6,084 engagements | 2. @kennesawstate 14.9% 9,588 engagements |
| 3. @blackhillsstate 26.1% 7,131 engagements | 3. @AveMariaSchoolofLaw 2.1% 285 engagements | 3. @fredoniau 12.5% 1,042 engagements |
Top Instagram Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top Facebook Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top TikTok Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Trending Hashtags in Higher Ed
Hispanic Heritage Month kicked off on September 15 with Constitution Day two days behind it, and campuses are already teeing up National Voter Registration Day on the 22nd — a three-week civic run that's carrying higher ed feeds into the end of the month.
| 1. #hispanicheritagemonth | ▲ 2,775% |
| 2. #constitutionday | ▲ 1,300% |
| 3. #nationalvoterregistrationday | ▲ 667% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
 | Hispanic Heritage MonthHispanic Heritage Month kicked off September 15th. This was a wonderfully produced video, and it really engaged their entire community, as you can see in the comments. |
Same Spots on Campus Then Vs. NowI thought this was a very cool concept for a video. A live shot with an old photo superimposed on top, showing how campus has changed but also stayed the same. Really cool effect. |  |
 | On-The-Rise Trend: Dancing DogI've started seeing an uptick in posts that use these animated creatures overlaid on aesthetic shots of campus. I'm not going to pretend to understand the origin, but it's a very simple concept with some footage you might already have on hand. |
What’s New At Reach
Webinar Announcement:
October 15 at 1:00 PM ET. Connor at Ursinus and Emma at Elmhurst are joining me to talk through how research and benchmarking data shapes what their student teams actually make.
We'll walk through some Reach data live, then get into how each campus operates. What they look at before assigning something, how a student goes from an idea to a finished post, and how they keep it organized without it turning into a second job.
That's it for this week.
I want to hear what you thought. What was actually useful, what you skipped, what you'd want more of. If there's a section missing, a metric you'd rather see, or a post you think belongs in Blake's Bookmarks, send it over. Just hit reply, I read all of it.
And if something in here was useful, forward it to whoever on your team needs it.
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Until next time.
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