I learned a lot about our state over the past 20 weeks. 🧐

Yesterday, our #CougCounties organic social media campaign concluded when we featured Whatcom County. The final post of the campaign followed Washington State University alumna Meg List to Birch Bay, a chill beach-side community. This concluding post was the 40th feature of the campaign as we successfully spotlighted all 39 counties in the state of Washington plus the Colville Reservation.

Our #CougCounties campaign ended yesterday with Megan List in Whatcom County.

But first, let me back up. #CougCounties was born at the beginning of November 2023 when I summoned some of the most creative minds in our University Marketing and Communications department to pitch the concept. Detailing my vision via a Powerpoint presentation and creative brief, I outlined a campaign that would use Cougs across the state to highlight each Washington county in a creative and engaging way.

#CougCounties was a very successful organic campaign that debuted in February and wrapped up yesterday.

Thankfully, my team liked it and promised to support the campaign any way they could.

This was the gist: A volunteer or “rep” would be designated for all 39 counties in Washington and the Colville Reservation. Each rep would then be mailed an exclusive #CougCounties t-shirt. From there, the rep would throw on the t-shirt and go to a point of interest or landmark in their county and take photos. The images would then be sent to us along with some info and we would finesse it into social media posts and deploy them strategically over the course of 20 weeks.

A look at the format of each #CougCounties post. Thanks for Madeline Wetch for representing Yakima County.

It worked! Thanks to our design team, we had a sharp campaign logo and t-shirt design ready by December. Once the new year arrived, our t-shirt shipment arrived. By the middle of the month we announced the campaign and asked for county “reps” to volunteer. The response was overwhelming. The second half of January was spent shipping out the 40 t-shirts. Once February kicked off, content started trickling in. On Feb. 26, 2024, #CougCounties officially debuted with Adams County. All it took was that first post to know that we were onto something.

As mentioned, Adams County led off the #CougCounties campaign. Kyle Niehenke started it off by taking us to the Coug Shed.

For the next five months, two counties would be featured each week—one on Monday and one on Thursday. We moved through the counties alphabetically as the posts were published on our WSU Facebook, LinkedIn, and X accounts. The consistent structure of the campaign combined with the anticipation of where the next rep would go captured the engagement and imagination of our audience.

The #CougCounties logo served as the front of the shirt. This design is what was screened on the back.

What also made the campaign fun was the diverse nature of our reps. #WSU students, staff, alumni, and fans all participated. #CougCounties was open to everyone and we definitely captured a vibrant sample of our Coug community.

We even had #FutureCoug students participate. Devin Bobbett, who will begin classes on the WSU Pullman campus this fall, represented King County. He went to Kerry Park on the south slope of Queen Anne Hill.

As mentioned, it was up to the reps to decide where at in their counties they would take their photos. We encouraged them to snap numerous images and we made every effort to include as many of them in the post as possible. In addition to the images, each post was accompanied with three sections of snackable info. After the rep was introduced, we gave background info on the county itself. We described its geographic location in the state, when it was founded, what made it unique, and the county seat/largest city. Next we focused on the landmark that the rep visited. We provided its history, current usage, and other fun facts. We then concluded by shining the spotlight on the rep. After explaining how they were connected to WSU, we included a short quote straight from the person about what WSU meant to them.

You can get a better idea for how the copy was organized in each post by reading the feature we did on #WSU alumna Debbie Galbraith of Skagit County.

Thanks to #CougCounties, we went to some really neat places in our state. Lighthouses, theaters, statues, train depots, bridges, and museums were all popular places that reps proudly showcased in their respective counties. Other spots included an old schoolhouse, award-winning candy store, historical airport, and mountain trail. My personal favorites? I really enjoyed the Wild Horse Monument in Grant County, the replica Stonehenge in Klickitat County, and the Cedar Creek Gist Mill in Clark County. You also can’t forget about the eclectic spots such as Christmastown USA in Mason County, the squirrel statue in Cowlitz County, and the Stonerose Fossil Dig in Ferry County.

Numerous county reps went to lighthouses. This is WSU Pullman student and Pierce County rep Kyla Klym who went to Brown Point Lighthouse in Commencement Bay.

But instead of me using words to describe all the fabulous content, just tap here so you can see photos of all 40 locations yourself.

This is one of many awesome photos that Grant County rep Troy Franzen sent us when he visited the Wild Horse Monument.

The #CougCounties campaign was a smash hit. All posts received engagement way above benchmarks and numerous times people broke through social media to tell our UMC team in-person that they really enjoyed #CougCounties. The WSU Insider even did a story on it.

#WSU alumna and Pend Oreille County Ashley Dana showed us around the Pend Oreille River.

Of course, at the end of the day, the success of #CougCounties rests entirely on the shoulders of our reps. They answered the call and delivered the content. Thanks to them, we were able to paint our Washington counties crimson! What a blast it was. Don’t Blink.