Best Practices for Social Media

Consider the following recommendations as a social media educational resource for launching accounts, developing strategy and content, monitoring accounts, and analyzing results.

Launch New Drexel Accounts

All new social media accounts must be approved by the Division of University Marketing and Communications (UMAC). If you are interested in creating a new social media account for a Drexel school/college/office, please submit this Social Media Questionnaire to the UMAC Social Media team for review.

Before submitting the Social Media Questionnaire, please consider if the account is needed, if an overall strategy has been developed, if professional staff or faculty will support the account (i.e., develop and post content regularly, monitor and respond to comments, etc.), and if you have solutions to account security.

Secure Social Media Accounts

Social media security is crucial for your and the University’s protection. Without proper online security, information is more vulnerable to cyberattacks and brands are more exposed to misinformation, which can damage reputation.

Recommendations to maintain strong social media security include:

Use strong unique password per Drexel Password Policy guidelines and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all social media accounts. Do not use the same credentials for official and personal accounts.
Utilize a password manager that has an option for team use to manage credentials for different social media accounts. Drexel Information Security does not endorse or support a particular password manager. However, they provide these recommendations of well-known and established solutions
Use caution when visiting external links from posts on social media websites. Do not click any suspicious links sent by unknown senders.
Be aware of which social media account is active (personal, Drexel Official, etc.) before posting.
Only use Drexel approved physical devices to access official social media accounts. For social media accounts (Snapchat, Instagram, etc.) that can only be accessed via a mobile device, personal devices can be used.
Protect your devices. Do not use public devices to access official social media accounts. Lock your devices and log out of accounts when not in use. Enable a passcode lock on mobile devices.
Make sure only authorized users have credentials for official accounts.
Manage and review privacy and security settings to secure your account on social media websites.
Verify which third-party applications or services have access to your account, and what information is being provided to those applications and services.
Connect to the Drexel VPN when using Drexel-affiliated social media accounts from off-campus locations.

Understand Your Audience

Each social media platform is built to serve and speak to different audiences. It is essential to take the time to understand your target audience when creating content for social media. Consider who your content is intended for, their potential age, location, interests, and background. This information will inform your social media content strategy and help you create effective content.

Develop a Social Media Strategy

Maintaining social media accounts takes time, planning, and dedication. We strongly recommend creating a social media strategy document for all social media accounts at Drexel University. This strategy will serve as your guide when planning social media content and maintaining accounts. While social media strategies do not need to be elaborate, at minimum, they should outline your target audience, goals, and frequency of posts.

Create a Content Calendar & Quality Content Across Platforms

Social media accounts rely on frequent, consistent posting to boost engagements and grow followers. We recommend creating a social media content calendar to determine a posting schedule, based on your team’s capacity to produce and publish content consistently. Calendars are a useful tool for strategic planning and identifying opportunities for content creation around a given time of year, holiday, day of recognition, etc. Calendars can be as simple as a living document maintained by your team or as elaborate as a content management system, such as Sprout Social or Hootsuite.

While there are similarities across social media platforms, it is important to become familiar with each platform and its unique requirements for posting, such as image size, text length, video length, etc. We encourage your team to be knowledgeable about the specifications for each platform and to stay informed about platform updates or changes.

In general, social media posts are created from a combination of photos or videos and caption text. All photos/videos should be visually appealing and relevant to your post’s content. All caption text should adhere to the Drexel University Editorial Style Guide. While tone/voice on social media may vary, remember that all content created under the Drexel University brand is representative of the University and should adhere to brand and style guidelines.

Student-centered and -created content – videos/photos from the student’s perspective – are ideal when reaching prospective student and current student audiences. The content can capture their educational experiences or everyday life. All student-created content must be reviewed by school/college/office social media leads before posting on university channels. Things to avoid when developing student-centered and -created content include:

Derogatory language, violence, drugs or alcohol, any behavior that would violate the Drexel Student Code of Conduct
Focusing on a given brand/logo that is not an official partner of the University, where possible
Focusing on non-Drexel students where possible; crowd shots/people in the distance are okay
Political affiliations/representations of candidates

Monitor Social Media Engagement and Comments

It is strongly encouraged to closely monitor post comments and page engagement at least daily.

Text, links, or images that are spam, derogatory, discriminatory, or hate speech should be “hidden” based on social media platform capabilities. Turning off comments for a post or across the platform is recommended if hate speech continues. Do not delete comments as it could cause more issues with users. Please inform the UMAC Social Media team if spam, derogatory, discriminatory, or hate speech escalates. If a comment or interaction is likely to generate negative attention, contact UMAC, news@drexel.edu.

UMAC maintains a strong, daily monitoring presence on core social media channels. UMAC partners with divisions/departments across the University to regularly monitor the digital landscape from a crisis communication and community safety perspective.

Social media connects us in online conversations. UMAC believes in fostering online conversations on UMAC-run social media platforms (i.e., Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, X/Twitter). It is a UMAC team best practice to not engage with users outside of UMAC-run social media platforms (i.e., Reddit, Discord, Twitch, etc.), which allows platform users to authentically connect and share knowledge.

Social media platforms encourage you to engage with content from other accounts and doing so can increase reach. Features such as comments, tagging, and shares can connect your content to a wider community. Remember to engage thoughtfully when liking, commenting, or sharing content from other accounts, as your actions online represent Drexel University as a whole.

Report Suspicious Activity

Remain watchful of social media accounts and posts, as well as activity on Drexel social media profiles that are out of the norm (i.e., odd posting times, aggressive or controversial posts, high frequency posting, etc.).

Recommendations for reporting suspicious activity or compromised social media accounts include:

Use the in-app or in-platform features to “Report,” “Flag,” or “Block” a social media account or post
Leverage Drexel social media security recommendations, password policy guidelines, VPN directions, and password management tips
Change account passwords immediately
Review account settings and history for any suspicious activity and remove any third-party apps that are not familiar
Scan computers, tablets and cell phones for malware
Monitor other social media accounts and follow tips above to best secure platforms (i.e., report issues, change passwords, leverage Drexel guidelines, etc.)
Notify University Marketing and Communications at umacsocialmedia@drexel.edu and Information Security team at informationsecurity@drexel.edu – this will allow both teams to monitor Drexel’s online security and brand

Get Familiar with Analytics

Measurement and analytics tools are essential when assessing the success of your social media content. Each social media platform offers data-driven insights into post and platform performance. Be sure to take time to access and become familiar with these tools on each platform. These data points can inform your social media strategy and lead to greater reward in social media performance.

However, remember that no single data point can serve as the whole measure of your social media account’s performance. Consider the many factors affecting your social media performance and how you can adjust your strategy over time. Key terms and definitions for social media analytics:

Impressions – The number of times your content is displayed to users. Impressions measure brand awareness and serve as a baseline data point for the health of social media profiles.
Reach – The number of individual users who have seen your content. Reach measures potential audience size and the number of people who are aware of your content.
Engagement – Actions taken by users to interact with your content, such as likes, comments, reposts, shares, etc.
Video Views – The number of times a user views a video post during a reporting period. Calculation of video view depends on watch time length, which differs per platform.
Link Clicks – The number of times users click on links within posts on social media platforms.
Engagement Rate – The measure of what percentage of your audience is engaging with your content.
Follower/Audience Growth – Measure of how many new followers an account gained over a certain period. While it is normal to lose followers while growing your social media accounts, keep an eye on your audience growth to track its progress over time.

Leverage Organic Social Content for Paid Ads

University social media leads have the option to turn an organic piece of content into a paid advertisement by “boosting” it in-app. If the paid ad budget is larger than $500, school/college/office social media leads must work with UMAC’s agencies of record to implement the campaign.

All boosted content is considered advertising and must align with the Division of University Marketing & Communications’ brand guidelines and photo rights must be secured for visible subjects. Organic content, photo rights documents, budget allocation, and boosting strategy must be shared with UMAC for approval before boosted content is live.

Stay Up to Date

Social media is an ever-changing landscape. Be sure to stay up to date on the latest news, features, and trends on each platform. Resources such as Hootsuite and Sprout Social can provide more information on best practices, social media news and updates, and how to craft compelling content.

In addition to industry-leading resources available online, the UMAC Social Media team connects with Drexel social media managers and communicators during a quarterly, virtual meeting and shares regular updates in a private Social Media Group Teams channel. Reach out to our Associate Director(s) of Social Media and get connected if you have not already been invited to join this resource group.