Planning your content

Any social media channel—a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel—is a content beast that must be fed. And being social can be hard work if you don’t have a plan.

It’s 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’t want to dominate the conversation, but we can’t be completely absent, either. You wouldn’t throw a party and then leave your house, telling your guests, “Okay, have fun. Don’t break anything.”

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’s what your content is: the cocktails and nibbles. The stuff you provide that your guests can’t 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’s not strictly social. Better to say something like, “The 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?” And then be prepared to answer those questions on the Facebook page—don’t 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’s newsfeeds.

Here’s 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 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 “News Feed” of a user’s most popular pages.