Metropolitan State University of Denver
RED reboot
MSU Denver’s RED gets a revamp after the pandemic
Metropolitan State University of Denver’s news site was repurposed to attract the news media as well as students and other key audiences. It’s a winner for Digital Content in PR Daily’s Nonprofit Communications Awards.
Metropolitan State University (MSU) of Denver’s RED news site was due for a refresh. The official online newsroom of MSU Denver, RED was launched in 2018 as the anchor for the university’s brand journalism storytelling approach and media relations strategy, targeting a broad general audience that included university stakeholders, business and civic leaders, alumni, students and prospective students, and journalists.
Although RED was successful, overall traffic declined over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Boosting the university’s brand awareness and reputation was more crucial than ever as it sought to reverse pandemic-induced enrollment declines. The revamp aimed to reach more people with stories that appeal to prospective students, influencers and other stakeholders who support students through financial support, legislative and policy advocacy and community partnerships.
To achieve this, the staff refined the site’s editorial focus with an emphasis on news media as a primary audience. Prospective students, parents, civic leaders and alumni remain important RED audiences, but the university wanted to use the platform to inspire and generate earned media coverage, expanding the reach of its content. Instead of traditional news releases, the media relations team pitches stories to the media reflecting RED’s authentic, journalistically crafted content.
Content categories were revamped, and the site was redesigned to be more appealing, user-friendly and useful, with video, photography and visuals becoming a prominent component of the newsroom.
Following a soft launch, the new site was introduced in May 2022 with a weeklong sponsored content campaign in collaboration with the Denver Axios newsletter, which ran RED stories alongside its own news content. The team also implemented its own social media campaign and launched a new RED Instagram account focused on newsroom content.
From April 1, 2022–April 1, 2023, new users of RED more than doubled, up 103% (270,891 vs. 133,442) over the previous year. Page views nearly doubled during the same period, up 93% (444,529 vs. 229,404). Importantly, media coverage inspired by RED content also doubled, from 99 to 199.
Finally, applications for the fall 2023 semester were up 24%, and the number of applications accepted was up 30% from the same time in the previous year. And as of April 2023, enrollment for the fall 2023 semester was up more than 2% from last year.
Congratulations to MSU Denver’s RED for this powerful and impactful revamp.