Please ensure you have the resources to plan, execute, and maintain a social media account. The 5 basic practices below will help guide your social media content strategy:
1. Understand
What would you like to accomplish for your office or department with social media? How will your channels support your organizational goals? Social media is another form of communication that requires us to keep our goals in mind at all stages of social media content creation and management.
Who are you trying to reach? Understanding our audience guides the elements of our content strategy and helps us communicate with them as effectively as possible.
2. Plan
Plan and organize your content assets according to your goals. The platform best suited for your goals will influence the kinds of assets you create and curate. Your copy should be tailored for your audience. We recommend using high-quality images and videos that reflect the mission and values of your office or department. You can access university photos and b-roll with your UCMNetID at images.ucmerced.edu.
3. Execute
Follow your plan. Use UC Merced's brand guidelines, which can be found on UC Merced's Marketing website. Engage with your audience and remember that social media is a way for them to directly interact with your office or department. When answering questions, do not answer on behalf of the university. Defer to subject matter experts or direct audience members to UC Merced websites as appropriate. Be mindful of social media guidelines regarding privacy, confidentiality, accessibility, terms of use, and more.
4. Assess
Tracking and reviewing metrics is an important process in understanding your audience's needs and expectations. It is also critical in understanding how your content strategy is performing based on your goals. These results inform your strategy and help you adapt accordingly.
5. Refine
Are you revisiting your goals to ensure that your content strategy is performing in a way that supports your organizational goals? Do you understand your audience? Are you positioning your brand as a solution to a challenge that your audience is experiencing? Do your visual assets and copy reflect your target audience and the values of your office or department? Are you building rapport and nurturing relationships? These are a few questions that can help you refine your content strategy to help you achieve your organizational goals using social media.
If you are interested in discussing your content strategy with our social media team, please submit a request via our "Contact Us" form.
