By the time a new student arrives on campus for their in-person orientation program, they’ve usually been orienting themselves for months. For many students, some of their first orientation experiences happen online. It starts with an email or registration portal. On their own, they’ve followed your accounts, joined the official (or unofficial, IYKYK) class group, watched campus TikToks late at night, and probably DMed a current student or two. They’re arriving warmed up and curious, sometimes anxious, and often already emotionally invested in whether this will work out for them.
Which means the welcome doesn’t start at check-in. It starts the moment a student commits — and it doesn’t end when orientation wraps, either. Even after they’ve shown up, toured the dorms, and met their orientation leader, students are still deciding. Summer melt is real, and a great orientation experience is only one piece of the yes. It’s an opportunity to move beyond a warm welcome and begin building the foundation for genuine belonging.
Five Practices for Orientation Teams Who Want to Welcome Students
Before we get into specifics, one quick note: most of what follows works best when orientation isn’t operating in a silo. Your MarComm and social media teams are often hungry for great summer content, and your incoming class is some of the warmest, most engaged content out there. Loop them in early. Co-create the Instagram collabs. Share the calendar. The best digital welcomes tend to come from orientation and MarComm working as actual partners, not handing things off at the last minute.
Design the pre-arrival digital experience like it's part of the program.
Most orientation teams have a detailed schedule for the in-person days, but many have nothing written down for the weeks and months before. That gap is where a lot of students quietly fall through the cracks.
It’s also where a big shift is happening across the field. More and more campuses are moving the educational pieces of orientation online — academic policies, Title IX, financial aid basics, tech setup — sometimes as required modules, sometimes as optional resources. That move can be a real gift for the in-person experience, freeing it up for connection rather than compliance. But it also means students are experiencing more of orientation alone, on a screen, before they ever set foot on campus. The work is to weave community-building through those online touchpoints so the educational content doesn’t feel like homework in isolation.
Try mapping a loose communications arc across the months leading up to orientation. Not a rigid calendar, but a rhythm. For example:
- As early as you can manage (some orientations kick off in June, so don’t wait): Welcome and celebration. (“We’re so glad you chose us, and here’s a peek at what’s ahead.”)
- One month before: Introductions to the humans who will greet them, including orientation leaders (OLs), staff, and division leadership.
- A few weeks before: Practical preparation around what to bring, what to expect, and what to ask.
- One week before: Anticipation and arrival energy, with real stories from students and a clear idea of what they’ll be doing during orientation.
This doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should be intentional.
Let your orientation leaders (OLs) be the faces of the welcome.
Your OLs are already one of your greatest assets. They’re relatable, they’ve been trained well, and they’ve lived the transition recently enough to remember exactly how it felt. Pulling them into your digital welcome in meaningful ways – not just as recruitment content, but as actual voices in the ongoing conversation – can transform how a new student experiences the lead-up to orientation.
But they’re not the only ones worth featuring. Academic advisors and faculty often show up in the smaller, more meaningful moments of orientation and students rarely get to meet them until they arrive. Introducing those humans ahead of time, even briefly, can take some of the mystery (and anxiety) out of the academic side of the transition.
One of the most effective moves you can make is handing your OLs the keys to your social accounts during the summer for that in-the-moment, on-the-go content scripted posts can’t replicate. Of course, this works best when students are properly trained to represent your institution well — which is exactly why we created the Student Social Media Academy, a self-paced program that teaches student creators how to bring their campus’s brand, voice, and tone to life on social. It’s a smart investment if you’re leaning into student-led content this season.
A few ideas that tend to land well from your OLs:
- Short “day in the life” videos from an OL
- Q&A stickers on Instagram stories, with an answer video hosted by a rotating OL each week
- An “ask me anything” thread where OLs answer incoming student questions publicly
- Behind-the-scenes content from OL training so new students can see the real humans who will greet them
@universityofga the one and only swetha pendela ✨ #fyp #universityofga #georgiabulldogs #godawgs #college #uga #universityofgeorgia #foryoupage #collegelife #orientation #dayinthelife ♬ original sound - UGA
@uofuorientation POV: Watching one of our Orientation Coordinators, Khayla speak about our new 2026 Orientation Leaders! #orientationleader #university #universitylife #college #2026 ♬ original sound - Giullia Cartaxo
A few ideas that tend to land well from your academic advisors and faculty members:
- A written or video intro from each department chair welcoming incoming majors, with a sentence or two about what makes their program distinctive
- A “what I wish I’d known my first semester” reflection series featuring faculty across disciplines — short, human, and relatable
- Quick clips of faculty answering one student-submitted question (How do office hours actually work? What’s the difference between a 100-level and a 200-level course? Should I email you or stop by?)
@ullafayette Ask us how excited faculty were to be with the Class of 2028 as students started their academic journey at New Student Convocation. 🤗🎓 #Convocation #Louisiana #geauxcajuns #doctorsoftiktok #fashion #regalia ♬ Very demure - meredithbull
@universitycollegedublin 💙💛 Orientation week is in full swing. UCD President Professor Orla Feely greets some of our incoming students. Wishing you all good luck on this journey 🫶 #ucd #dublin #studentlife #ucddublin
♬ original sound - University College Dublin
The lift here is real, and it’s worth being honest about that. Faculty are busy, advisors are stretched, and “make a video” lands differently in their inboxes than it does in a 19-year-old OL’s. But even a handful of these — produced once, used across multiple cycles — can shift how prepared and welcomed students feel before they ever step into a classroom.
Build in space for new students to connect with each other before they arrive.
One of the quietest anxieties a new student carries is this: what if I don’t like it here? What if I don’t make friends? Those questions don’t get answered by a welcome email or a roommate match. They get answered slowly, in small moments.
Digital spaces can help with this. Not entirely, but meaningfully. The good news is you don’t have to build something from scratch. Plenty of systems already exist to facilitate this kind of pre-arrival connection, and the right mix depends on your campus, your capacity, and where your students actually are.
A few approaches worth considering:
- Official class accounts on Instagram or TikTok. A dedicated page for the incoming class where new students can be tagged, featured, and introduced to each other throughout the summer.
- Purpose-built higher ed platforms like ZeeMee. Tools designed specifically for pre-arrival community building, where incoming students can join interest-based channels, find roommates, and connect with current students and admissions staff in one place.
- A monitored class subreddit or Discord server. These often spring up organically whether you create them or not. Being intentional about supporting or lightly moderating them means you can help shape a welcoming tone rather than leaving students to the wild.
- Interest-based group chats or meetups. Smaller, more specific gatherings for commuter students, first-gen students, out-of-state students, or students in particular majors or learning communities.
This isn’t about controlling the narrative. You want to make sure students have warm, welcoming spaces to connect, instead of rogue group chats and platforms where no one is watching for their wellbeing.
Let parents and families be part of the welcome, too.
Orientation season is also a family season. For many new students, especially first-generation students, the people helping them make this transition are family members who are just as new to this experience as the student.
A thoughtful digital orientation strategy makes room for them in a real way, without feeling patronizing:
- Dedicated family newsletter during the summer with clear expectations, and short videos explaining what family members can and can’t expect
- Live or recorded session for families that address the emotional side of letting go
- Digital checklists to help families prepare for what’s ahead
When families feel welcomed and informed, they tend to become partners in a student’s transition rather than sources of additional stress – and that’s a good thing for both their student and your team.
Make your in-person orientation worth the wait.
Here’s the tension we need to balance: if your digital orientation is warm and personal but your in-person event feels like a series of mandatory PowerPoints in a stuffy auditorium, the disconnect is jarring. Students will notice, even if they can’t articulate what feels off.
Use your digital welcome as a compass for what the in-person experience should feel like. The tone should match, and the promises you implied online should be delivered in person.
A few small moves that help close the loop:
- Reference the digital community in the opening session. For example: “Some of you have been in our class group for weeks. Thank you for making this a meaningful place already.”
- Invite OLs to share their own orientation stories rather than just read the schedule.
- Build in genuine small-group conversation time early on instead of stacking all the large-group sessions.
- End each day with a reflection rather than just logistics for tomorrow (if it’s a multi-day event).
The Deeper Work
Orientation is the first chapter of a student’s college story, and the way we illustrate that chapter — across every channel and every touchpoint — shapes so much of what comes after. A student who feels genuinely welcomed in June is primed for a different experience than one who feels processed in August. They show up on day one with more trust, more curiosity, and more willingness to take the kinds of risks that real learning and growth require.
That is the work of belonging.
And that is the work my team and I help campus partners center.
Yes, digital tools, communication strategies, and social media tactics matter. But they are not the end goal. They are simply the vehicles that help institutions create deeper relational outcomes, where students feel seen, supported, and connected from the very beginning.
Because when orientation is designed with belonging at the center, it does more than help students find their classroom. It helps them find their place.
If Your Team Needs a Thought Partner
If you’re reading this and thinking “we need help with this,” or “we don’t have time”, you don’t have to figure it out all by yourself.
My love for higher education started in Orientation, as a new student, overly excited, in my 1999 summer session at SDSU. This led to serving as an orientation leader for three years and as a NODA intern for the next two years. The core curriculum of orientation has changed over the years, but my passion for it has not.
My team and I focus on sustainable, student-centered approaches that feel right for you and resonate with your community. Whether you’re rebuilding your orientation communications from the ground up or just looking for a second set of eyes on what you already have, we’d love to walk alongside you.
