When New York University's Tandon School of Engineering launched a start-up hub for military veterans, there were a lot of moving parts. The November 2017 unveiling for the Veteran's Future Lab—which was sponsored by Barclay's and is the first incubator of its kind in the U.S.—included NYU's president and the lieutenant governor of New York.

The key to making this launch run like a well-oiled machine? Smart planning, says Sandra Ordonez Rios, Tandon's social media administrator. She and her strategic planning partners used a detailed social media plan to cover the event.

"[Broadly,] we use social media to connect with community groups, local partners, influencers, press and government officials," says Ordonez Rios. "Our objective is to employ social media to increase brand awareness by connecting with the right individuals we are able to amplify our message."

During the May 8, 2018, #casesmc chat, Ordonez Rios and fellow social media professionals shared their tips for connecting with community partners on social media. Keep these tips in mind for clear communication and strategic planning, whether your institution is hosting a public event, launching a community initiative or dispatching alumni for community service.

Coordinate with the right people. Identify and connect with the partner organizations' social media coordinators or public relations contacts.

"Let them know about the channels you manage and what hashtags or handles are being used. Go the extra step and include a social media post as an example," suggests Ordonez Rios.

If at all possible, suggested another chat participant, meet in person. Information and nuance can get lost in emails; a face-to-face talk, especially about a high-profile event, can help make sure all parties are on the same page.

Strive for utmost clarity. When it doubt, share it out. Provide clear guidelines or details about a project.

Make your toolkits—with hashtags, graphic elements, logo guidelines and more—as specific and clear as possible.

Win at live coverage with pre-planning. Go into an event armed with as much information as possible. What's the room setup? Are photos and videos allowed? What's the internet connection like? Know—and confirm with community partners—what channels to prioritize.

Use the text from speeches to pre-write posts or create quote graphics. (Plus, keep an eye on engagement—those snippets indicate what ideas had the most resonance with your audience, chat participants advise.)

Generate media buzz. To raise the profile of community events and partnerships, use social media to share updates with the media. Learn how reporters like to be contacted, suggests Ordonez Rios.

"These days, Twitter is the social channel of choice and they are often more responsive to tweets than emails," she says.

To that end, keep messages to reporters "very brief, polite, and ask if they'd like more information," she advises. At Tandon, she invites partner organizations and journalists to events directly by tagging them in posts.

Read the full recap of the #casesmc chat.

Join CASE's #casesmc Twitter chats, bimonthly conversations on the latest issues in social media and advancement. The chats, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, explore topics from social ads budgeting to content strategy to alumni engagement. Chats are 2-3 p.m. Eastern.

The next discussions are May 22, June 12 and June 26.

Here's how to participate.

• To join the conversation, first log into Twitter and search for the hashtag #casesmc at the time of the chat.
• Chats last one hour and typically cover five to seven questions. Questions, asked from the @CASEAdvance account, are numbered Q1, Q2, etc.
• To respond to a question, either reply to the tweet from CASE or open a new tweet. Label your answer A1 to respond to question one, A2 to respond to question two, and so on. Make sure to use the hashtag #casesmc in your answer.
• Refresh your browser as needed to see chat participants' responses.
• Feel free to respond to fellow participants, ask follow-up questions or share resources.
• After the chat, CASE will create and share via Twitter a recap of the discussion.

This article is from the May 2018 BriefCASE issue.