Social media hub
The University of New Brunswick has a lot of amazing things to be proud of. We want the world to know who UNB is and what we stand for — and social media is a great medium to share our story!
To grow our digital community, increase our engagement and communicate our key messages it’s important to understand which platforms will help us achieve our goals and how to use them successfully.
Social media best practices
Thinking about setting up a social media account for your UNB faculty, department or unit? Check out these best practices to help you grow your audience and achieve your goals.
Setting up a new account?
Before creating a social media account, there are a few things to consider:
- Will this account help you achieve your unit’s objectives?
- Do you have the resources, knowledge and training to represent your unit, and the university, well?
- Will this be sustainable over time? (e.g., Do you have time to gather and create content and respond to your audience in a timely manner?)
- Is this the right platform to reach your audience?
If the answer to all these questions is yes, contact the Digital Marketing Team at socialmedia@unb.ca for help building your social media strategy and to get your official UNB avatar.
Goals
All UNB social media accounts should have measurable goals. Goals can range from developing a community of like-minded individuals to increasing event attendance or recruiting more students.
How will you measure success?
- Awareness: Reach and audience growth
- Attendance: Click-through rate, attendance numbers
- Recruitment: Audience size, web visits, leads, applications
Audience
When crafting social media content, be mindful of the audience you are aiming to reach and keep them in mind when curating and creating content. Who are you trying to reach? Remember, each channel has a different demographic, so your audience may change from platform to platform.
Tone and personality
Before you begin, determine what tone and voice your account should speak with and stick to it when the context allows (e.g., an emergency isn’t the right time for a fun post with emojis).
Our accounts typically use the “we” pronoun. If you have to use a singular pronoun (e.g., I’ll get back to you right away), let your audience know who they are speaking with by providing your name or initials.
Be personable, but professional. Don’t be afraid to sound human — but be clear that you’re speaking on behalf of a unit or group. You can use the ‘personality’ from UNB’s Brand Foundation as a guide to developing the tone of your account.
Content
Post about topics that matter to your unit and audience, everything from student and faculty success stories to new programs and events.
Your posts need to be engaging and relevant (scannable text, quality visuals, etc.). Most social media platforms use an algorithm to curate content so that the most engaging and relevant information is what appears on your timeline instead of displaying content in the order it was shared.
Questions to take into consideration:
- Does it fall within your account’s voice?
- Is it appropriate coming from your unit?
- Could it be problematic in terms of affiliation? (e.g., politics, industry, etc.)
Sometimes it’s best to avoid trying to build and grow your own following when you can take over an institutional account. Feel free to reach out to other UNB faculties and accounts that you might want to collaborate with or contact socialmedia@unb.ca for guidance.
Training opportunities
Have you been UNB Social Media Certified yet? UNB’s Digital Marketing Team is offering a series of training opportunities for UNB faculty and staff who manage UNB accounts:
- Social Media Strategy & Creative Standards
- Social Media Advertising
Send us a note at socialmedia@unb.ca and we’ll get you signed up for the next session.
