Tweet All About It: 3 Key Tips for Sharing News on Social
More and more, social media users turn to Facebook, Twitter and Reddit for news. What does that mean for educational institutions?
Like many universities, Colorado State University has grappled with how to best share news online. Based on the premise that people consume news via social Colorado State University launched an experiment in the summer of 2017: It created a Facebook page solely to share news.
"We have so much news coming out of our PR shop that we found we couldn't post it all to our institutional sites," explained Kimberly Stern, director of social and digital media at CSU. The new news-only Facebook page is part of the university's broader news dissemination strategy.
"In addition to our news Facebook & Twitter accounts, we'll typically share news on the institutional Twitter account and LinkedIn. We occasionally share news on the institutional Facebook page," said Stern, who led a December #casesmc Twitter chat about sharing news.
What's the most effective strategy for sharing and boosting engagement on news stories? Here are takeaways from chat participants.
There's no single model for sharing news.
Some institutions, like CSU, maintain dedicated, news-only accounts. Some institutions add news to the content mix featured on main platforms; others share news from main institutional channels and retweet or share again from individual colleges' or schools' accounts.
Whatever the model, the key for communications professionals is to learn what works for their organization. Chat participants shared that, for instance, political content works best for some institutions on Twitter; athletics content plays well for others on Facebook.
Find the hook.
Not all news is necessarily glamorous. But all content should offer value to institutions' followers and stakeholders, so it's up to content creators to find "the why" behind a big donation, or what makes a piece of research exciting. Find a human face or voice for the story, too, suggests chat participant Tim Nekritz of SUNY Oswgo.
"That hook will always do better on social," he said.
Consider, too, how to leverage takeovers or behind-the-scenes content for big games, graduation or performances. It takes advantage of the "news/promo value while surfacing student experiences," tweeted Nekritz.
Think platform first.
When building news articles, videos or packages, content creators should think about where the piece will be distributed. Who's the audience? What are the strengths of the distribution platform? For instance, institutions trying to reach a student audience should package news stories Snapchat-style rather than as an article, shared chat participants. Here are a few of their platform-specific considerations.
On Instagram, consider how to feature student voices and leverage stories instead of videos.
Major news stories tend to draw more engagement on Facebook than niche stories; pay to boost those. For smaller stories, consider boosting to specific audiences.
Reddit is an emerging platform for some institutions. Ultimately, it calls for a careful strategy to highlight research or experts while maintaining the community's norms.
On Twitter, don't forget to tag media outlets and reporters. Leverage Twitter moments for major events or updates.
This article is from the January 2018 BriefCASE issue.