Social Media Best Practices
Why should I be on social media?
- Facebook offers the opportunity to showcase and build recognition, while encouraging participation and networking. It is the most broad network, reaching audiences of all ages and demographics. In most cases (but not all) Facebook serves as the flagship of a social media presence.
- Twitter is useful for sharing frequent content about meetings, events, news, emergency information and engaging in conversation with specific audiences. These audiences may range from prospective students to media and community leaders.
- LinkedIn provides professional benefits for individuals but for universities, it provides the opportunity to connect with prospective students and alumni, two very important audiences of our university. A major aspect of LinkedIn is the ability to create groups to connect, encourage discussion and post information to audiences who are already interested and invested in the university.
- Instagram gives the opportunity to capture the essence and culture of the university through photography. It offers an insider's perspective into the different areas, programs and relationships on campus.
- YouTube is an effective communications tool to share videos about a variety of topics ranging from student life activities to classroom lectures and other significant events or conferences on campus.
- Livestream is an effective way to increase participation and spread a message for events across campus. It provides a way to livestream events that individuals who are not in the area to attend the event can still participate. It assists in reaching a much larger audience than what we know is out there.
What are the best times of day to post on social media?
- Facebook: weekends 9 pm- 1am, weekdays 6-8 am, all days 2-5 pm
- Twitter: Monday-Thursday 8-9:30 am, 12-2 pm or 4:30-5:30 pm
- LinkedIn: Tuesday/Thursday 7-9 am and Monday/Friday 1-5 pm
- Instagram: Afternoons and evenings
How do I report a duplicate account on social media?
If you have found a duplicate account on Facebook, (many times these are abandoned pages once used by an official representative of the university) please visit this link to follow claim instructions.
What is the best type of content to post on social media?
- Facebook: video
- Twitter: images/gifs receive more retweets
- LinkedIn: linked posts, images and engaging CTAs
- Instagram: photos or video with a consistent editing style, high quality vertical content on IG stories
- YouTube: High quality video