Tips for Effectively Managing a Social Account
Be consistent. While daily posts may not be necessary, continual communication is, if you want to keep a social structure alive. Determine what your resources (time, personnel) will allow you to do. Create content calendars every semester to have ideas ready for what to post about. A period of silence can be noticeable and will not create an engaged community.
Be social. Of course you want to promote your events and mission, but don’t forget to listen and interact with your followers (and potential audience). Offer your followers information they can’t get elsewhere. Share insights on related topics and news to encourage dialogue.
Be responsible. As an account based out of Occidental, your posts reflect the campus. Be professional and intentional with your words. Stay aware of local and global news that could affect your content schedule and authenticity. Posts are always subject to negative reactions; be prepared to react (or not react) to these sentiments. A posted comment policy can prove helpful when determining what content can be accepted and tolerated.
Best Practices
Thinking of starting an account? With any social media marketing campaign, it’s important to think through goals, resources and strategy in order to create a sustainable conversation. There are roughly 100 accounts each on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram affiliated with Occidental. It’s up to you and your team to find and share the information that is unique to your group year-round.
Do you have short-term goals? It may be worth seeing if related groups at Oxy with a social presence can share your message with their audience first.
As you start a new social account for your group/club/department, remember to keep your profile and header photos consistent with Oxy’s style guide. Determine who will be in charge of managing the account and for what length of time. Create a year-round content outline with your group and decide how you will assess effectiveness.
The College’s Social Media Accounts: Policies & Principles
The Office of Marketing and Communications (OMC) manages Occidental’s primary social media accounts, including those on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The primary purpose for these channels is to highlight the Oxy experience on campus and beyond to a wide range of audiences including on campus (faculty, students and staff) and off campus (prospective students, families and alumni). Types of content posted by the College typically include, but are not limited to, student life in and outside of the classroom, academic achievements and highlights from students and faculty, and other major College news.
The accounts are generally not used for event promotion—that is, to promote events in advance to the College community. Occasional exceptions are made for major college-wide events. Community members seeking to promote their events via College-wide channels should utilize the Oxy.edu events calendar and the RAFTR app operated by SLICE.
For Instagram, the OMC invites students to highlight their Oxy experience through Instagram takeovers. Takeovers are a helpful way of sharing Oxy stories through the students’ perspective. Takeovers are not intended for student groups to build awareness of their specific event. View some examples here.
The College’s social media accounts are not used to express the political views of individuals/specific student clubs. The College reserves the right to remove any external content, including comments or user-generated content that is deemed inappropriate.
