Be active. Being successful on social media requires time and effort. Make sure you have the resources to check in on each of your profiles at least a few minutes each day, and to post fresh content several times each week. Have a plan for summer and other breaks so accounts do not go quiet for long periods of time. Your profile is only as interesting as your last post; if that post is several months old, visitors will consider it out of date and irrelevant.

Be engaging. Don’t leave the "social" out of your social media. Listen to conversations, answer questions, engage with comments, and keep your account fresh with regular posts. It’s important to converse with your audience and address their needs directly. When your followers mention you on social media, engage with them whenever possible and appropriate to do so.

Streamline your presence. A successful social media plan does not require a presence on all platforms. When in doubt, pick the most appropriate platform and do it well. If you don’t have the time to manage all your current accounts effectively, consider deactivating or deleting the pages you no longer need.

Plan first. Make sure to review these important questions to ask yourself when planning your social media presence. Consider messages, audiences, goals, and your strategy for keeping information timely. Creating a content calendar can help organize your posts and ensure that you won’t forget to post new content.

Have clear goals. A successful social media strategy requires research, clearly outlined goals and objectives, and dedicated effort. All these should be in support of your area’s larger communications goals and the college’s overall mission.

Stay accurate. Get the facts straight before posting them on social media. When possible, link back to the original source. Always review content for grammatical and spelling mistakes. If you share something and find an error in it, correct it quickly and visibly.

Accept and monitor comments. Members of your audience may share stories or positive feedback, or ask questions that require a response. Some comments may not be positive, but that doesn’t mean they should be removed. Respond to negative comments professionally and by providing any additional information that may help resolve the issue. However, people consistently posting rude or argumentative comments (trolls) should not be engaged. Only remove comments that contain vulgar language, those that attack any one group or individual, and those that are obviously spam. Review the college's Social Media Comment Guidelines for more information.

Be respectful. Anything you post in your role as a Colorado College employee reflects on the college. Be professional and respectful at all times on your social media accounts. Do not engage in arguments or extensive debates with negative commenters.

Protect the CC brand. Make sure you’re following the Social Media Guidelines in place for all institutional accounts, as well as the college’s Master Communications Plan, Editorial Style Guide, and Visual Identity Guidelines. Use the avatars created by the Office of Communications & Marketing for each of your profiles (you can request these when you register your accounts). Templates to create graphics are available in Canva (reach out to the Office of Communications & Marketing if you need help accessing Canva). Also remember that once content is shared online, it’s there forever, and that social media posts are available to the public, including the press. Conduct conversations in direct messages as if they were public; you never know who may screenshot and share a DM publicly.

Promote your accounts. Make it easy for people to find you on social media. Have icons and links to each of your accounts on your webpages and include them on everything you send out (email newsletters and updates, flyers, posters, etc.). Also make sure you’re listed on the official CC Social Media Directory (if you’re not, we can help with that). 

Measure the results. Make use of analytics and tracking tools to evaluate your posting activity and interaction. Knowing how your content is performing will guide when, how, and what you post. Each social platform offers varying analytics and measurement data that you can use to report on performance. Establish a process to track your performance over time and use the results to inform your strategy. Key terms and definitions:

• Impressions are the number of times your content is displayed on social media. It reflects your brand awareness and serves as a base statistic for improving content posting.
• Reach is the number of users who have seen your social media content, which measures the spread of the social media conversation and quantifies potential audience size.
• Engagement Rate measures the interaction between your audience and the brand and demonstrates how people engage with your content (i.e. likes, comments, shares, retweets).
• Conversions are the point at which your audience performs a desired action (i.e. clicking on a link to a website, subscribing to a mailing list).
• Follower Growth tracks how many new followers were gained over a specific period of time. This is important for defining your social media account’s overall growth.