Planning your content
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Any social media channel鈥攁 Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel鈥攊s a content beast that must be fed. And being social can be hard work if you don’t have a plan.
It鈥檚 like being the host of a party. Like a good host, we want our guests to have a good time talking to each other. We don鈥檛 want to dominate the conversation, but we can鈥檛 be completely absent, either. You wouldn鈥檛 throw a party and then leave your house, telling your guests, 鈥淥kay, have fun. Don鈥檛 break anything.鈥�
Content = Cocktails and nibbles
A good host gets the party started and keeps it moving. We provide the atmosphere and the cocktails and nibbles. And that鈥檚 what your content is: the cocktails and nibbles. The stuff you provide that your guests can鈥檛 get anywhere else.
When planning your content for a social media channel, think: What do we provide that people cannot get anywhere else? Do we host guest speakers or other events? Do we provide an important student service? How do we turn that information into something that makes sense to share on a particular social channel and will help us meet our goals?
Shareability
That last question, “How do we turn that information into something that makes sense to share?”, is a big one. What kind of content do we provide that people want to be social around?
For example, you may post to a Facebook page that an important deadline is approaching. That might be an important piece of information, but it鈥檚 not strictly social. Better to say something like, 鈥淭he deadline for applications to the XYZ summer internship is this Friday. All forms should be submitted to the office by 3 p.m. Does anyone need any help or have any questions at all?鈥� And then be prepared to answer those questions on the Facebook page鈥攄on鈥檛 direct them to an email address or phone number. Keeping the experience on Facebook keeps it social and shareable among community members. They will all benefit from any questions or answers posted.
What to post?
The short answer is that different social channels have different tolerance levels. For example, it may be fine to post five to 10 items a day to a Twitter account, but on a Facebook page that is probably overkill. However, by not posting to Facebook regularly, you run the risk of disappearing from people鈥檚 newsfeeds.
Here鈥檚 a rule of thumb: Post when you have awesome content to share, but also post regularly. Generally speaking, that means daily for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and weekly for YouTube and LinkedIn.
As for advice about the times of the day or week to post on social media, take it with a grain of salt. The data in such articles often represent a broad sample, one that might not apply to your specific audience. Instead, try experimenting with different times of day and then聽measure your success. Fortunately, social media is a relatively low-stakes and low-cost way to try something, learn from it, and then try again.
How often?
No consensus exists, although one posting a month is far too little, and posting 10 items an hour is far too much. Different social channels have different tolerance levels. For example, it may be fine to post five to 10 items a day to a Twitter account, but on a Facebook page, that is probably overkill. However, if you do not post to a Facebook page at least daily, you run the risk of falling off the 鈥淣ews Feed鈥� of a user鈥檚 most popular pages.