GVSU Social Blog

Permanent link for Creating a new social media account on October 1, 2019

Written by Olivia Windorf

The social media landscape is constantly advancing, sometimes even overnight. Organizations, clubs and departments around Grand Valley could greatly benefit from the positive exposure and self-expression that accompanies a strong social media presence. Strategically creating social media accounts has been proven to increase awareness about the mission statement, vision and goals of thousands of institutions and brands.

By creating social accounts, you get to choose how to brand your organization and the message behind it. A few notable benefits of establishing a presence on social media include increased traffic for your site, connect with your audience, and boost awareness.

Here are some important strategies to consider when creating new social media accounts: 

Before you create a new account:

  • You don’t have to create an account on every platform, at least not immediately.
  • Focus more on platforms your target audience is engaging with.
  • Set goals and objectives
    • Think of what you really want the page to consist of
    • What will be your “voice” and tone on social?
    • What tactics will you use to gain followers?
    • Do you want to incorporate contests?

If you already have accounts on social media platforms, the steps outlined below can be used to revamp and update the current content being posted.

After you’ve created a new account:

  • Create a social media calendar.

This will help you keep track of important dates and content while also allowing you to craft copy in advance.

  • Assign certain platforms to team members.

It can be daunting to attempt to juggle the content, strategy and managing multiple social media posts. This is especially so if you have limited resources. Delegating tasks can save a lot of time, energy, sanity, and even budget dollars for your team.

  • Pay attention to the competition.

You never know what a little inspiration will strike. Keep your eyes open for new ideas and concepts that other users are sharing out on social, and how those ideas can be customized to fit your brand.

When creating content:

  • Quality over quantity. The material that you put online is going to represent the entirety of your organization, so be sure to choose wisely and strategically with what content you post.
  • Be consistent. Most platforms use algorithms to base each user’s timelines off of posts and accounts they engage with the most.
    • Facebook and Instagram will decrease the views of your posts on your followers timeline if the posting from your account decreases so the more consistent you are on social media, the more time you get on your follower’s timelines. However, be aware of the fine line between posting often and posting too much.
  • Leverage third party sites to schedule posts.
      • For Instagram, it has to be a business account in order to schedule future posts. For Twitter, tweets can only be scheduled using Twitter ads. But there are many sites that will do this for you.
      • Some reliable websites to use for scheduling posts are: Sprout Social, Buffer and Hootsuite.

By staying consistent in your social strategy, content and values, your target audience will gain an understanding of the message you want to communicate. It’s all about trying to reach your designated consumer from any angle or platform that they may be using, and getting them to engage and respond in as many ways as possible.

Categories: best practices strategy
Posted on Permanent link for Creating a new social media account on October 1, 2019.

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Page last modified October 1, 2019