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Executive Leadership Social Media Guide

Establish Your Presence

  • Decide the best platform for your needs - Institutional Communications recommends establishing one platform at a time. Below are suggested platforms to begin with:
    • Twitter is an online social networking tool in which users post 280 character updates (tweets) of what is going on in their lives or their thoughts, along with links to things they think are interesting, funny, or useful to their followers. “Following” is essentially what “friending” is on other sites. Twitter is recommended as the best option for establishing a leadership social media outlet. It is the best way to follow and join the conversation with your students, alumni and community members. You can update them on University events, share achievements and even show your personality by sharing fun tweets or pictures of how you spent your weekend.
    • LinkedIn is a social media platform geared towards professionals. It enables you to network and build your professional portfolio. It is commonly used by employers and recruiters who are seeking job candidates.
    • Facebook is a social network that allows you to connect with other Facebook users and to follow events, businesses, causes, not-for-profits and interest groups. You can also share your photos, thoughts and links through posts. You can create personal Facebook accounts and Facebook pages.
    • Instagram is a photo sharing application for smartphones that combines social networking applications with easy-to-use filters and options for personalizing the photos you take. Captions are usually short on Instagram but can be long depending on the post. By adding hashtags like #UWF to your photos, people can discover them and may choose to follow you for UWF content. You can also follow other users, universities, businesses, organizations, etc. Instagram works best as an app on a mobile device.
    • Blogs are a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events or visual elements such as photos, graphics and video. A blog can be it’s own website or a section of another website that is updated with relevant content on a regular basis, usually daily or weekly.
  • Determine your key audiences - consider all of your audiences when developing content:
    • Media
    • Students
    • Faculty and staff
    • Alumni
    • Community members
  • Decide how much time you plan to dedicate to your social presence each week. One hour a day - 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon may be a good starting point. This is up to you and your schedule.
  • It is acceptable to be sporadic in your posting. Consider sharing posts in light of exciting happenings, events and news stories. Pay attention to what the main UWF accounts are posting about and join the conversation. You do not have to be on social media 24/7 to maintain a strong presence. Downloading the app for each platform on your phone will help you better access them during your busy schedule.
  • Create a bio. Your bio is the first thing that people read when visiting your profile. This bio can be formal or casual, depending on your preference. Bios are important to have on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. They let the audience member viewing your profile get a sense of who you are and what you do. Below are a few examples:
    • Official Twitter page of Dr. Gregory Tomso, Vice President of Academic Engagement and Student Affairs at UWF. #GoArgos!
    • VP of Academic Engagement and Student Affairs at the University of West Florida
    • Provost at the University of West Florida. “[favorite quote]”
    • Dad, husband and Argonaut. @UWF Provost. Go Argos!
  • Include images and links in your posts depending on the platform. Utilize the Institutional Communications image database to find corresponding photography for a post if you do not already have a picture. You are able to search for a photo based on keyword, as well as browse through various categories like academics, student life, athletics and campus locations. You can even find photos from specific events. After finding the photo you want to use, you are able to download it and include it in your post.
  • If you make a mistake on any of your social media outlets, it is always best to be transparent about your mistake and correct it quickly.

Know Your Audience

Consider the content you would like to share and the platform(s) you will be using.

  • Know that your audiences on each platform will be very different, and your content should be crafted appropriately for each one. Most of your Twitter followers will probably be students, alumni and news outlets, so your posts should be concise and can be somewhat informal. Most LinkedIn contacts you will come in contact with will be students, alumni, peers and other working professionals. Your posts should be more formal including content such as UWF job postings and recent personal or peer achievements. Facebook pages can be a mix of informal and formal posts. This platform is a good way to share updates about your life. Facebook has more than two billion users worldwide. Instagram has a wide variety of audiences including students, alumni, staff, businesses, organizations, etc. Instagram has one billion users worldwide. You can choose to make your Instagram personal with posts including your family life or you can choose to create an account that is exclusively to showcase your professional persona. Mixing up your posts is always an option but remember you are always representing UWF when you post. On Facebook and Instagram, you may choose to keep your account private or public. Keeping your account private allows you to review and accept follower requests, while keeping it public allows anyone to see your posts. A blog will mostly be read by community members and parents of students that attend UWF, so your content should be more comprehensive. It is important to interact with your audience. This can be done by “liking” their posts, commenting on their content or replying to comments or questions they leave on your posts.

Tips and Examples for Your Profile and Posts

Twitter

  • Interact with a range of departments on Twitter. Keep an eye on events that pertain to UWF and incorporate that into your feed either via retweets or replies.
    • Ex.: UWF football makes it to the playoffs, either make a new tweet (“@UWFFootball, congrats! -football emoji- #Arete”) or simply retweet theirs.
    • Ex.: Student Involvement is hosting Argopalooza, either share their tweet announcing the event or create a new one (“Find the student org that’s right for you. @UWFSI”)
  • Do not be afraid to show your fun side on Twitter. While memes and humorous content garner student interest, it also gives them a glimpse into your personality. Not only will this be a source of occasional humor for your followers, it can humanize the person behind the account and make administration more approachable. However, be sure to be genuine - it’s easy for students to tell when something is forced. Avoid slang, unless it’s something you would normally say daily.
    • The best way to keep up with trends and memes that students want to see is to see what your students are posting and sharing. Be aware that trends fall just as quickly as they rise - don’t be caught sharing something too late.

LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn allows members to create profiles and "connections" to each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. It is a professional social media platform that allows you to update your audience on your previous and current job positions. As you input your previous and current place of employment, LinkedIn will begin to suggest “connections” and members who may write a recommendation for you.
  • You can use LinkedIn as a way to market yourself and your employer. Share things such as your achievements, articles related to your work or job openings. Make sure to keep your LinkedIn profile professional and updated to maintain the best representation of yourself and your employer.

Facebook

  • A profile is a personal Facebook account where you can share information like your interests, photos, videos, current city and hometown. Pages are public profiles that let artists, public figures, businesses, brands, organizations and nonprofits connect with their fans, customers or constituents. You can choose to keep your personal Facebook account private to only stay updated with friends and family. Creating a Facebook page is a great option if you want to maintain a Facebook presence to interact with students and other audiences but don’t want them on your personal profile.
  • Be wary of Facebook updates and algorithms
    • While Facebook can be an excellent way to connect with certain audiences, especially UWF alumni, it is not a platform without challenges. The constant updates to its algorithms can make it difficult to reach followers with your messages. It is oftentimes better suited for larger brands to reach mass audiences using paid content. We recommend establishing a Twitter presence before moving into this realm.
    • If you do decide to maintain both a Facebook and Twitter presence, keep in mind that they are very different platforms, and followers and fans expect different posts and interactions. Avoid tweeting your Facebook updates or auto-sharing tweets with Facebook.
      • Be aware that within Facebook exists algorithms that fight spam. It is known that using certain phrasing and links in posts that go to outside web pages will flag these as spam posts, forcing your post further down your followers’ feed.

Instagram

  • You’ll want to maintain a regular posting schedule, but don’t bombard your followers with too many posts. Instagram is all about the visuals, so aim to build a cohesive and recognizable brand identity. Your brand identity is essentially the theme of your photos and the first thought that comes to your audience’s mind when they hear your name or see your pictures.
  • You can set your Instagram to the “public” or “private” setting depending on how you plan to maintain this page. If you only want to stay connected with friends and family then you can set it on “private” and control who you let follow you. If you want anyone who searches your name to find you and see your posts, then you can set your Instagram page to “public”. We recommend setting your page to “public” if you want to maintain a strong leadership presence among your fellow university students and employees.
  • Hashtags and emojis are a great way to keep your captions entertaining. You can access the UWF brand portal to find commonly used UWF hashtags.
  • You can use the Instagram story feature to upload quick shots and let people know what you are doing right then. For example, if you attend a fun event on campus then you can take a quick photo of the event and add your location to let people know what’s going on that day.
    • Try adding GIFs, stickers, locations and hashtags as often as possible. By using all these features, you’ll have a better chance at keeping your audience engaged and will give them a reason to spend more time viewing your Instagram Stories.

Blogs

  • Blogs can be utilized in a few different ways. You can update your readers on your initiatives and projects, offer insight on current events (on campus or nationwide), share tradition and culture about your campus, and even talk about your personal life if you’d like.
  • Several provosts around the country have a blog, and they discuss all of these topics and more. Example: Georgetown University
  • Don’t be afraid to thoughtfully approach difficult topics. This could give you an opportunity to connect with your students and readers on a new level. Given the recent events in the U.S. regarding immigration, you could discuss how it affects DACA students at your university.

UWF Social Media Resources

Institutional Communications has developed a number of resources that are available to UWF Social Media Administrators. Please visit the Brand Portal's Social Media section to explore.