The Loyola Rockwall has ushered in new attention on campus through its social media this year. With a new team and strategy behind the Rockwall’s Instagram, the 35-foot climbing wall has reached new heights.
In their debut video this semester, the team played off of the viral ‘performative male’ trend with a climbing twist to catch the attention of students. The video, which actively involved students in the filming process, currently has over 120,000 views, 7,700 likes, and 2,100 shares on Instagram.
In the video, rock climber Nik Musante ‘27 traveled through campus looking for the Rockwall. The video featured silly bits like Musante attempting to climb the Humanities building, picking up a matcha from Starbucks, and pretending to read a rock-climbing book, which was jokingly placed upside down.
Musante first got involved with the Rockwall as a break from his 14 years of swimming and has worked at the Rockwall since the beginning of his sophomore year. This year, he has also joined their marketing team.
“We didn’t really expect it to go too viral, but that’s been our goal this semester, to have the best social media on campus. Kind of explicitly, we said we wanna do stuff better than other clubs and other organizations. I think it is only possible because of the kind of the minds we put together: myself, and Aidan Medina, who’s a marketing senior,” Musante said.
Musante enjoys the chance to challenge himself with climbing and now enjoys the opportunity to creatively share his appreciation for the Rockwall in this new way on social media. While Rockwall staff used to see five people in a 3 hour shift, Musante notes helping upwards of 13 people in a single night during a shift earlier this month.
According to Musante, this attendance increase is only part of the plan for expanding the impact of the Rockwall this semester.
“We’re really just trying to get people excited about climbing, outside of the rock wall. We generally find that we’re kind of a really hidden spot on campus. We’re in the back corner of the FAC, and we want people to be intrigued by this. Our idea is to have an event and have a draw,” Musante said.
By creating more visibility on campus, the Rockwall team hopes to work around the limitations of their location hidden in the back of the Fitness and Aquatic Center (FAC), which they find less than ideal. Rockwall staff also noticed trouble with visibility on their Instagram page, which lacked student engagement. The video was the first of many this semester to display the exciting new persona portrayed by the Rockwall’s Instagram.
Rockwall employee Aidan Medina ‘26 noticed the Rockwall Instagram’s lack of engaging content last year and started working in the spring to use social media as a way of better connecting the Rockwall with the Loyola community.
“It’s been a noticeable difference, and year over year. Like, last year was pretty significant, like once I got involved in the spring. And even now this semester, we’ve had a lot more regulars, a lot more people coming in. I’m curious about it, and I always ask, ‘Do you guys follow the Instagram?’ And it’s like ‘Yeah we saw that video.’ You know, so it’s definitely getting that reach,” Medina said.
This direct correlation between social media engagement and in-person engagement is a testament to the strategy and relatability the marketing team created. Using his classroom and professional experience, and with the help of FAC Supervisor David Bierwirth ‘26, Medina applied his marketing knowledge to his role on the Rockwall’s marketing team.
“In terms of generating a marketing strategy and plan, that’s definitely something that I’ve picked up in some of my classes. But also, I had a really awesome internship this past summer, and so I worked with a bunch of great local companies. So that has helped me translate to be more professional,” Medina said.
The team is hosting a Halloween Climb event on Oct. 29 at the Rockwall. Participants are encouraged to climb in costume. More information and content can be found on the Rockwall’s Instagram, @loyolarockwall.