Social media provides an easy, affordable, and impactful way to promote your business and connect with customers. Utilizing social media platforms enables you to draw in new customers, broaden your market reach locally and globally, and foster brand loyalty and trust. These platforms facilitate real-time customer interaction, product or service promotion, and website traffic generation. Moreover, social media offers valuable insights into public sentiment about your business and allows you to monitor your competitors.
General best practices
Presence and maintenance
1. Daily engagement: Social media accounts at Tufts must be logged into at least once per workday to monitor and respond to posts, comments, mentions, etc.
2. Responsiveness: Be present and responsive. Regularly check and interact with users to maintain an active presence.
3. Account access: Ensure at least two staff or faculty members have access to each Tufts social media account. Use a Tufts.edu email address for new accounts.
4. Security measures: Implement two-factor authentication for all social media managers to prevent unauthorized access.
5. Brand consistency: Follow Tufts’ brand guidelines in all messaging and interactions across social media platforms.
6. Platform analytics: Utilize built-in analytics on Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube to assess post performance.
7. Data-driven decisions: Match social media analytics data against content and engagement to refine strategies.
Content frequency and quality
1. Editorial calendar: Use an editorial calendar to efficiently schedule content creation and publication.
2. Channel-specific updates:
– X/Twitter: Post daily and log in daily to check mentions and direct messages.
– Facebook, linkedin, instagram: Post 3-5 times a week, with daily logins to monitor interactions.
– Instagram stories: Post a few times each week and engage daily.
– YouTube and photo services: Update based on available content; frequency is flexible.
Visual content
1. High-resolution images: Always use high-res images optimized for web.
2. Image permissions: Only share photos you have permission to use.
3. Hashtags: Capitalize the first letter of each word in hashtags for accessibility.
4. Alt text: Use alt text for all images to ensure accessibility for all users.
Engagement and moderation
1. Encourage interaction: Foster engagement and interaction while reserving the right to remove inappropriate content.
2. Content moderation: Remove content that is spam, commercial, off-topic, obscene, harassing, or derogatory.
Community building
1. Personality and accessibility: Develop a personable and accessible voice to build your audience.
2. Cross-promotion: Promote your social media channels across different platforms, both online and offline.
3. Quality over quantity: Focus on the quality of engagement rather than follower count.
4. Consistent engagement: Maintain consistent presence and engagement to build a successful community over time.
Platform-specific best practices
1. Daily monitoring: Check the page at least once per workday; post at least once a week.
2. Proper use of profiles: Create official pages instead of personal profiles for departments or offices.
3. Unique content: Craft unique updates for Facebook and X/Twitter, avoiding identical posts on both platforms.
4. Utilize insights: Leverage Facebook Audience Insights to understand and engage your audience better.
5. Visual appeal: Use visually appealing layouts and posts, removing unnecessary links once thumbnails are populated.
6. Handle criticism: Respond to critical or negative comments constructively, unless they are profane or threatening.
7. Algorithm awareness: Share engaging content to increase visibility in followers’ feeds.
8. Alt text and security: Use alt text for images and enable two-factor authentication.
X/Twitter
1. Frequent updates: Post frequently and respond promptly to mentions and messages.
2. Monitor keywords: Set up searches for relevant keywords to monitor discussions beyond direct mentions.
3. Hashtags and mentions: Use hashtags and mention other users to expand reach.
4. Analytics: Use X/Twitter metrics to understand post performance and refine strategies.
5. Follow practices: Follow and interact with the main Tufts handle and other official accounts.
6. Use clients: Utilize clients like X-Pro for scheduling and monitoring posts.
7. Alt text and tagging: Use alt text for accessibility and effective tagging practices.
8. Two-factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication for account security.
1. Regular posting: Post a few times each week and engage with users daily.
2. Hashtags: Use relevant hashtags to increase visibility but avoid overuse.
3. Interaction: Engage with relevant photos and comments to build user experience.
4. Location tags: Tag locations to provide context and increase discoverability.
5. Stories: Utilize Instagram Stories for temporary, engaging content.
6. Algorithm awareness: Share engaging content to improve visibility.
7. Alt text: Use alt text for all images to ensure accessibility.
8. Two-factor authentication: Enable two-factor authentication for account security.
Developing a social media content strategy
1. Set goals: Define clear, actionable goals aligned with overall marketing objectives.
2. Know your audience: Create detailed buyer personas and understand audience preferences on each platform.
3. Choose the right platforms: Focus on platforms that best align with your audience and business goals.
4. Plan your content: Use past performance data to plan content that engages your audience consistently.
5. Experiment and be flexible: Continuously try new ideas and adjust to trends for optimal engagement.
6. Optimal posting times: Post when your audience is most active to maximize engagement.
7. Create a content calendar: Plan and schedule posts to ensure consistent and timely content delivery. Automate posting using social media scheduling tools for comprehensive scheduling, organization, analysis, and monitoring.
8. Promote and distribute content: Actively promote content across various channels and encourage engagement for broader reach.
Conclusion
By following these comprehensive best practices, you can effectively manage Tufts’ social media presence, engage with your audience, and build a strong, consistent brand identity across all platforms. This strategic approach ensures that social media efforts contribute meaningfully to the university’s goals and community engagement.