Plan Your Social Media Accounts

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Do you want to create new or update existing social media platforms for your school, department, or program? Great! You need to make a few decisions first. Please consult the University’s Social Media Guidelines before creating any new University social media accounts.

Social media is about connecting with our community. Following best practices can help social media users maintain a successful online presence. Do you want to create new or update existing social media platforms for your school, department, or program? Great! You need to make a few decisions first. Please consult the University’s Social Media Guidelines before creating any new University social media accounts.

SET GOALS AND DETERMINE STRATEGY

  1. Identify your audiences. Who do you want to reach and engage on social media?
  2. Set goals for your social media efforts. What do you hope to accomplish?
  3. Use your goals and audiences to determine your strategy. What type of content will you post, and on which platforms? How often will you post? Choose the platforms that will best engage your audiences and help you accomplish your goals. 
  4. Compile the information you’ve gathered into a plan that outlines your objectives, key messages, and your target audience(s).

DETERMINE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

  1. Identify the main point-of-contact for social media communications for your social accounts as well as everyone who will have administrative access to your accounts.
  2. Be familiar with how each platform provides control and access to your account. Some platforms like Facebook have multi-tiered access controls, assigning the control over a page to a Business Manager account instead of an individual person.
  3. Ensure that everyone has the same expectations and understands who is responsible for what.
  4. Determine the approval process for posting content, responding to comments, and engaging with other social accounts across all platforms on which you will have a presence.

See the guidelines, best practices, tools and resources in this section for more information to help guide your social media efforts.