While you may be familiar with social media as an individual user, managing your chapter's social media can be a bit overwhelming at first. With help from WFAA's social media expert, Andrea Stegman, we have pulled together some tips and best practices for your chapter's social media efforts.
Overall Social Media Tips
- "Content is King" on social media! What you are sharing will be the biggest factor in your social media engagement.
- Integrate social media efforts into the overall chapter marketing plan.
- You don't need to have a social media presence everywhere. Having a great social media presence on one network is better than a small presence on all networks.
- Seek out alumni in your area that have social influence.
- Connect, nurture, and partner with them to help share your story.
- Most importantly, be consistent, have fun and keep at it!
Facebook Tips
- Leverage Wisconsin Alumni Association Facebook Page and Website for content.
- Posts should be visually appealing.
- Iconic photos and videos perform the best.
- Use the 80-20 Rule
- 80% of the time share content not asking your alumni to do anything.
- 20% of the time promote events and volunteer opportunities.
- Minimum 1 post per day, Monday through Friday.
- Use Facebook Insights to post at ideals times.
- Create official Facebook events for all your events.
- Video is king right now on Facebook.
- Humanize your chapter.
Twitter Tips
- Follow all the major UW-Madison accounts.
- Create UW-Madison Twitter List with all those accounts.
- Craft a good bio.
- Accurate, entertaining, and targeted at engineering alumni.
- Good visuals are critical.
- Tweet 2-5 times per day.
- Use relevant Hashtags.
- Hashtags double engagement on Twitter.
- Tag related Twitter accounts in all Tweets.
- Use media rich Tweets -- links, photos, videos, etc.
- Be responsive to everyone that engages with your profile.
Instagram Tips
- High quality images are a must.
- Filters are not needed.
- Post 1-2 times a day to get the most engagement per post.
- Instagram users are more active on weekend and evening hours.
- Highlight your followers.
- Crowd source images using the “Repost” or “Regram” app.
- Tell the chapter story with images.
- Hashtags are the key to content being found on Instagram.
- Use between 2-10 relevant hashtags on each post.
- Hashtags work well for comments as well.
- Experiment and see what works for your audience.
Social Media Metrics That Matter
- Increase Engagement
- Reactions, Likes, Retweets, Mentions, Comments and Shares
- Brand Awareness
- Measure follower growth rate over time.
- Are your impressions increasing consistently?