Social Media
Effective Communication is at Your Fingertips
Social media can be an amazingly effective tool in telling your story, showcasing success, promoting events and programs, and building a community. Social media best practices continue to evolve and we invite you to seek out guidance on this page or from one the many valuable websites or YouTube videos that focus on social media practices.
Active social media is effective social media.
University Communications maintains St. Cloud State's official social media platforms and provides other units guidance on how to effectively use social media to promote their own programs, offerings, student/staff/faculty success, and more.
Our Social Media Following
followers on Facebook
followers on Instagram
followers on Twitter
followers on LinkedIn
Top 5 Tips for Effective Social Media
Be Consistent
Post often and do not take long breaks in between posting. Think to yourself: "What do we want a person to see when they visit our site for the first time?"
Engage in Conversations
Put the "social" in social media. Don’t overlook the importance of conversing with your audience. Engagement can happen through likes, comments and shares. Social media is a living, breathing entity.
Choose Your Platforms Wisely
More social media platforms are not always better. Select the one(s) that best fit your needs and work towards making and keeping them strong and vibrant. If your area has unused accounts that may portray your area in a negative light, it is okay to delete those accounts and put energy into ones that will thrive.
Use Analytics to Measure Success
Most social media platforms offer analytics to illustrate how posts are performing and how quickly a following is growing. Make a point to review these analytics on a regular basis and adjust your tactics accordingly.
Be Patient. Be Engaged.
Results will not happen overnight. But with patience and consistency, success can happen. Be sure to target the right audience, post intriguing content and converse with your followers on a regular basis.
Best Practices: Use These Tips to Stay Vibrant
1. Learn from your competitors. How do you compare? Look at their content and ask yourself:
- What media are they using - video, images, polls?
- What demographics are they targeting?
- How frequently do they post?
- What is performing well (and not well) on their platform?
2. Understand your target audience's social media preferences. Which platform(s) does your customer base use? Which platform supports the type of media they want to consume their information?
3. Establish and maintain your brand's voice. Maintaining a consistent voice helps your brand be recognizable among competitors. Establish a visual style and tone, use niche words related to your area, tap into hashtags to expand your reach.
4. Develop a social media calendar. Become proactive and develop a plan for what you are going to post in the coming days, weeks, and months. Put a reminder on your calendar to post at least 2-3 times per week on your platform.
5. Set goals and pursue them. Know how your social media is making an impact with measurable results. Are you gaining at least [insert your goal here] followers each year? Does a post get at least [insert your goal here] likes or comments? It is important to work towards those kind of goals to avoid a stale social media platform.
6. Be precise. Errors of fact, bad grammar and inaccurate spelling reflect poorly on the university.
7. Shorten URLs with our branded utility at scsu.mn/LinkShorten.
8. Accept appropriate criticism of university decisions, actions and policies. Deleting critical content undermines the legitimacy of a site and sabotages the sense of community that is the hallmark of social media. Personal attacks on members of the university community are not considered appropriate criticism.
9. Monitor comments. Social media managers are responsible for all postings, including those made by visitors.
Instagram Spotlight
This Platform is On Point!
The SCSU Dance Team's Instagram page is an excellent example of what a successful Instagram account looks like.
- Profile image is clean, simple, and legible.
- They boast that they are "6x National Champions."
- Utilization of linktr.ee to push visitors out to learn more information on events and recruitment.
- Story highlights are organized and on brand spelling out "Huskies." If a person wants to consume the content of one of those topics, they easily can.
- High-quality images.
- On brand with our red and black school colors.
- Regular postings with "Meet the Team" and "Happy Birthday" posts.
- Active Reels, which is a driving force for Instagram engagement.
Guidelines: The Finer Print
Expectations
In general, the laws, ethics and behavior expectations that govern your professional life apply equally when posting content on behalf of the university. Specifically, the Employee Code of Conduct and Student Code of Community Standards are in force when social media managers publish on behalf of the university.
The university is responsible for content staff members publish on university social media. Assume all postings are in the public domain and may be re-published and discussed in all forms of media. Personal perspectives are best aired on personal social media sites.
Obligations
- Do not post confidential information about St. Cloud State students, employees or alumni. HIPPA, FERPA and NCAA regulations, among others, are in force when managing social media.
- Social media managers will not post content or allow others to post content that is offensive, including, but not limited to, content that diminishes others based on race, color, creed, sex, age, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, mental or physical disability.
- Respect the intellectual property rights of others. Using copyrighted material in its entirety, without permission, is a violation of federal law. Having said that, comment and criticism are among the exceptions to federal copyright enshrined in the Fair Use Doctrine.
Restraints
- As with all St. Cloud State resources, university social media cannot be used to advance personal views, political agendas, political candidates or political parties.
- In compliance with Minnesota State Board Procedure 5.22.1 (Part 4, Subpart B 7d.), St. Cloud State University prohibits commercial and fundraising activity using system technology, including on social media, that is unrelated to its mission. Some examples of permitted commercial and fundraising activity that supports the university mission include offering tickets available online for our Husky athletic events or to promote a campus speaker or entertainer. Fundraising to directly benefit our students or serve their organizational or educational goals is also allowed. If you are uncertain whether your activity aligns with the university’s mission, please contact University Communication prior to posting online.
Roles
- St. Cloud State social media sites typically operate as “limited open forums.” Social media managers should encourage free speech except when that speech violates the Legal Obligations and Restraints sections, above.
- Social media managers should not engage in discussions or arguments. The manager’s role is to publish. Commentary and criticism are best left to site visitors. Social media managers may, however, politely correct major errors of fact about university actions, decisions and policies.
- Social media managers will obey the terms of service of the social media tools they use.