Social media sites with university content are considered official communications and as such are covered by UNA policies and best practices. To maximize the effectiveness of your social media site it is helpful to develop a simple strategy to direct its operation and flow. The following outline provides areas for consideration when preparing a plan for your site. 

Primary objective:

What is the primary outcome you hope to achieve with your site? The more specific, the easier it will be to evaluate the success of the site. What do you want your social media site to reflect and how do you want the overall appearance to be known? 

Secondary objective(s):

What other possible objectives might be achieved, such as increasing overall awareness for the unit? Do you plan to host awareness via contest, challenges, trivia, etc.? 

Key message(s):

What are the key points you hope to deliver consistently and why are they important? The points should match the type of social media site you are planning to display. How will you deliver your messages daily in a creative manner that draws in the target audience? 

Awareness/following:

How will you develop a following for your site and maintain engagement? How do you market yourself to a certain group? What tactics will you use to enhance user participation? 

Target audience(s):
Whom do you want to follow your site, and why? Will the target audience be upcoming students, current students or alumni? If there is a mixture, how will you include all target audiences?

Primary motive for following:
Using the specific name of the group that you are promoting will enhance the user/follower activity. How will you promote your social media site? 

Influences that could encourage following:
This is the perfect section to consider what is popular and how to apply it to the followers of the social media site. How will you use the influences of today’s society to make your social media site more appealing? 

 Trends:

What trends have the potential to affect your audience and your messaging? The best way to attract an audience is to know what social trends are currently in motion. The best idea is to keep an eye out for other forms of social media and keywords that are floating around on posts. Also, most blog sites are available for assistance with this area. Simple word searches on a search engine can point you in the right direction. 

Red flags:

What aspects of your content could involve privacy or intellectual property issues? Also, how will the act of “sharing” the content effect the privacy policies? 

Operational:

How will you manage the site in terms of staffing and time allocation? Normally there is an option for scheduling posts, and applications that assist with keeping up with posts and replies. Should there be a calendar that allows all staff to know what is being posted? How will you manage this feature? 

Progress assessment:

How will you track and evaluate your progress? What trends will you choose to follow? This is determined by the amount of feedback that is given from the target audience.