Social Media Best Practices

The transition from being a social media user to managing social media accounts and producing content can be daunting. Finding the best ways to connect with your audiences and to keep them engaged takes strategy, diligence and creativity. Successfully navigating potential crises and staying abreast of how users are interacting with your account can take a lot of work. But the work can also be rewarding as new users engage with your content and deepen their connections to your account and our university.

So take a deep breath — we’re here to help. This page is designed to be a resource for anyone — student, faculty, staff or alumni — who is involved in managing accounts associated with the university and producing content to fill their feeds. You’ll find tips for how to approach this work strategically and creatively, and how to deal with challenges that may come from posting. Additionally, we are providing a series of social media training modules that provide additional insight into best practices as well as how to communicate during a crisis.

Be Strategic

• Consider why and how you’re using your social account. – What are your goals? Who are you talking to? And what do you want them to take away from your posts? Just because there is a new social platform doesn’t mean you have to be on it. It’s better to be doing one platform well than stretching yourself too thin.
• Make a social media content calendar. – This will help you visualize your content strategy by tracking all posts. It also gives you better control over publishing and allows you to focus on the big picture rather than day-to-day posting. And of course, it will keep you organized.
• Determine the best time to post. – This is an often-asked question. There are a lot of answers out there, and they might work for you, but they also might not. It all depends upon your audience. Try out the ones listed in this link, but keep track to see if they work for you. If they do not, adjust.
• Measure your success. – Each platform has ways of checking in on how your posts are performing. This is the best way to troubleshoot what works and what doesn’t resonate with your audience.
  • Impressions: The number of times that your post was displayed to a user during its lifetime.
    Reach: The number of unique users who saw your post during its lifetime.
  • Engagements: The number of times a user interacted with your post. This includes likes, reactions, reshares, comments and link clicks.
  • Engagement rate: The number of times that users engaged with your post as a percentage of impressions during its lifetime. This is one of the best ways to benchmark how your post is doing.

Consider Your Audience

Who are you trying to reach? Not everyone is on every platform. And what do they want to hear from you on those platforms? Get to know your audience on each platform. Be sure to tailor your content to each platform to best engage your audience.

• Facebook
  • Millennials and older. Gen Z is not on this platform. Parents and older alumni will be most active on Facebook.
  • More respectful tone, not as into trends, a great place to share news and highlights.
• Instagram
  • Broad demographic including everyone from prospective students to parents. This is used mostly to engage with prospective students, current students and young alumni.
  • If students are your target market, then talk like a student. You have room to be funny and on trend.
• X (Formerly Twitter)
  • Broad demographic but much more niche. We use this to talk about news, sports and faculty.
  • This is a fast, real-time platform. With a character limit of only 280 you have to get to your point quickly. But you have the room to be both on trend and professional depending on the content.
• LinkedIn
  • Some current students but mostly for alumni and faculty.
  • Career-focused content, much more professional tone.

Get Posting

• If it’s something you would NOT want your grandmother to see, don’t post it.
• Photos tend to do better than graphics.
• Stay timely! If you’re posting about an event, make sure it’s not weeks after the event ended. Social moves fast, so try to be as timely as possible.
• Be authentic, accurate and respectful.
• Consistency on social media is key. It helps your followers stay connected and see your content.
  • Facebook: Aim to post no less than once a week, ideally 3 times a week.
  • X (Formerly Twitter): Aim for at least once a day, but there is no maximum number of posts on this platform.
  • Instagram: Aim for once a day at a maximum and once a week at a minimum. Instagram stories allows you to post more often but try not to have too many story slides a day as people will likely skip them.
  • LinkedIn: Aim for once a week.

Get Social!

• Engage with your followers – This helps build a sense of community on your channel. This can be commenting on their posts and sharing relevant content.
• Listen to your audience
  • Are they asking questions? Answer them. Social media is an incredible tool for customer service.
  • If it’s a comment that is hostile, do not answer and do not be defensive. Per the Elon’s social media policy, most comments are allowed, even those that are critical of the university.
• When to delete comments – Per our Social Media Policy, only delete comments if:
  • They include a personal attack on an individual.
  • They are hostile, threatening or obscene comments that are not allowed under Elon’s employee policies or student honor code.
  • They include commercial messages that are meant to use the university’s social media sites as vehicles to promote ongoing businesses.
• Tagging – Don’t be afraid to tag other university departments or organizations if the content is relevant. This helps them see your content and provides an opportunity for them to reshare.
• Sharing – Share content from your followers and others across campus.
• Hashtags – Hashtags can be a powerful tool for people to find you.
  • Use them sparingly and when they are relevant. Example: Way to go Grads #ElonGrad #Elon24
  • When there are two or more words in the hashtag, use capital letters to differentiate for easier readability.
  • #Dont #Use #Hashtags #For #Every #Word
  • Elon’s most-used hashtags: #ElonGram, #ElonDay, #ElonHome, #ElonGrad, #ElonBound, #PhoenixRising