November 9, 2026 · Blake Mischley
Your Best TikToks Look Like Flops in Week One (Guide to Creating Evergreen Content) | Reach Report No. 34
November 9th, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | Why your best TikToks flop in week one, Instagram pays up for long-form, and the dramatic horses are back pitching majors.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report. I wrote this one on the plane to AMA Higher Ed, so if you’re at the conference this week, come find us at booth #614.
First-gen week just wrapped, Giving Tuesday is on the horizon, and the College Board says public tuition stayed under inflation again. We also dug into 60,000 college videos to see what keeps getting views long after the first week, and Instagram is putting real money behind long-form video.
Let's dive in!
What’s New In Social Media
How To Create Evergreen Social Media Content (Analysis of 60,000 Posts)
We tracked 60,000 videos from 2,076 colleges for a full year to find out what keeps getting views after the first week. Reels are basically done by day 30. TikToks keep growing, especially the ones students search for, like dorm tours, financial aid and majors. The catch is that those videos often look like misses in week one. The full analysis breaks down which content stays evergreen, when to post it, and how to tell if it’s working, with 11 charts and real college examples.
Instagram Is Paying Creators to Go Long
A follow-up to last week’s 90-minute video test. Digiday reports Instagram has offered some creators between $50,000 and $500,000 to post long-form videos, though it says it’s “too early” to share how long-form will make money for creators. Meta wouldn’t be spending that much on a side experiment. If longer videos roll out more widely, campus tours, info sessions and event recaps that live only on YouTube today could start earning views on Instagram too.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
Public Tuition Stays Under Inflation, Again
The College Board’s annual Trends in College Pricing report came out on Nov 5. Public college tuition rose less than inflation again this year, which it has done every year since 2021-22. Average in-state tuition at public four-year schools is $12,290, up 2.9%. Over the past decade, inflation-adjusted tuition fell 8% at public four-years and 12% at community colleges. After grant aid, the average net tuition at public four-years is about $1,920. That’s all while campus budgets get squeezed. Most families still only see the sticker price, so affordability content is worth making.
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 | +0.18% | +0.03% | +0.42% |
| Engagement Rate | 1.5% | 0.2% | 4.4% |
| Posts Made | 5.8 | 6.5 | 2.7 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @nipissingu +2.5% +362 followers | 1. @ncatsuaggies +1.2% +1,437 followers | 1. @universityofvictoria +9.3% +1,000 followers |
| 2. @easternflorida +2.5% +195 followers | 2. @DESUedu +1.2% +394 followers | 2. @uofmemphis +7.5% +1,200 followers |
| 3. @enap_universite +2.4% +60 followers | 3. @notredame +1.2% +3,069 followers | 3. @kingscollege_pa +5.2% +84 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. @calstatela 32.5% 117,262 engagements | 1. @illinoiswesleyan 2.9% 2,169 engagements | 1. @georgefoxuniversity 524.7% 41,289 engagements |
| 2. @wallawallauniversity 22.3% 5,857 engagements | 2. @NorthCentralCollege 2.2% 1,584 engagements | 2. @montclairstateu 50.9% 101,037 engagements |
| 3. @trinitywestern 17.5% 19,242 engagements | 3. @Bowdoin 2.0% 1,714 engagements | 3. @ucsantacruz 20.8% 13,124 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
First-gen week took over campus feeds — schools counted down to National First-Generation College Celebration Day on November 8 with student spotlights and all-campus group photos, while advancement teams started warming up their audiences for #GivingTuesday on December 1.
| 1. #celebratefirstgen | ▲ 3,500% |
| 2. #givingtuesday | ▲ 2,400% |
| 3. #firstgen | ▲ 940% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
National First-Generation College Celebration DayNovember 8 was National First-Generation College Celebration Day, and many universities used the week to celebrate their first-gen students. I really liked this day in the life as a way to bring attention to the resources available to first-gen students. It’s useful for both current and prospective students, and it’s a great piece of content to have in your library. I’m sure it’ll stay evergreen. |  |
 | MAJOR EngagementThese horses have been around social for a while, pairing overly poetic, melodramatic dialogue with random, majestic horse footage. This version was redone to focus on majors. If you’ve been following along with the Reach Report, you know Snoopy took over feeds with majors content too. It’s clear students love seeing content that’s about them, especially their majors, and there are so many ways to take it. |
Hiding Study Resources in MemesAs we get further into the semester and exams pile up, hiding resources inside entertainment is still one of the best ways to grab attention and get your point across. I especially related to this one, because this was me last night working on something for MeetYourClass, haha. |  |
What’s New At Reach
Come Say Hi at AMA!
We’re live at AMA Higher Ed in Aurora, Colorado this week, and we’d love to meet you. Joel Renner and I are at booth #614. Stop by for a live demo of Instagram Takeovers, which lets students run your account for the day without you handing out the password. We’re running a takeover of our own @higheredsocialmedia Instagram during the conference, so follow along. If you’re here, reply and let me know!
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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