Audience: General. The best place to reach older demographics. BUT younger audiences are still consuming content on this platform and also need to be catered to.
Strengths
- Reaching a broad audience.
- The ability to easily support with paid content.
- Appropriate place to share articles and news.
Weaknesses
- Busiest platform so content has to work harder to stand out.
- Diverse demographics to cater to.
Pro tips
- Facebook is a great place to engage with communities.
- Like comments on your posts.
- Respond professionally to positive comments.
- Tag partner accounts that content is relative to.
Things to avoid
- Long video content (more than four minutes) - If it’s informational in nature (a tutorial, etc.) it should be uploaded to YouTube and the link shared.
- Long captions - Even though there’s no character limit, try to keep captions as short as possible. Preferably under three sentences.
- Posts without visuals - Short of critical or emergency communications, posts on Facebook without visual assets should be avoided.
- Long links - Long web urls can muddy up captions. When sharing urls use either the webframe option that facebook gives you, or use a bit.ly link (more info below). Never include a full url in the visible caption.
- Using hashtags - Unless you’re using a branded hashtag as part of a campaign (i.e. #JMUGivingDay, #JMUGrad – see below for more info). Hashtags do very little on Facebook and make content less professional.
Audience: General. But skews a bit younger. Can be a good place to reach students. Media are also very active on this platform, and tend to troll Twitter for content. Assume media are an audience.
Strengths
- Can post more frequently.
- The best platform to share updates and information.
- Integrates well with content from partners.
- Best and easiest platform for sharing content from other JMU accounts.
Weaknesses
- Content limits - Short captions. Videos limited to 120 seconds.
- Critical Audiences - Twitter is the platform where audiences are most vocal in their critiques of news or content.
Things to avoid
- Posting controversial news, updates or opinions *Consult with University Communications if you feel your content may be controversial (socialmedia@jmu.edu)
- Using all 240 characters - Even though Twitter doubled their character limit for captions, captions that are overly long won’t appear fully on user’s feed. Try to keep captions characters as close to 120 as possible.
- Videos that open with black - Twitter defaults the thumbnails for videos to be the first frame of your video. Avoid this by cutting in a custom thumbnail as the first 2 seconds of your video, or simply not opening with preroll black.
Audience: Current students, prospective students and young alums.
Strengths
- Very engaged platform - users are more likely to engage with your content here than on other platforms
- Posts can be simple, captions matter less.
- Visually focused.
Weaknesses
- Not a great place to share in-depth information
- Can’t include links
Pro tips
Content should be highly curated - Your profile page can be just as important as your posts. Many users on this platform determine whether to follow an account based off their profile page ‘grids’ rather than an individual piece of content. With carefully curated posts that are consistent in voice and themes, your profile can give your account credibility.
Things to avoid
Posting graphics (Images with text overlay, text-only graphics, illustrated graphics) - Instagram audiences are expecting photos. Photos or graphics with lots of text can be a turn off to users. Additionally, because of how images are displayed on Instagram, it may be hard to read small text detail. Get around this by sharing event detail info first thing in your caption instead of the image itself.
Instagram Stories
Strengths
- Incredibly engaging
- Can include links
- Interactive
- Content can be diverse
Weaknesses
- Only last 24 hours
- Audience expectations determine engagement - Since your audience can ‘choose’ whether to open a Story or not, their past experiences with your Story can be influential on open rates.
Pro tips
- Instagram Stories can look great and be on brand.
- Stories can be more than cellphone photos and hand drawn text.
- A great place to show off full-screen graphics, images and branded content.
- Use polls to engage.
Things to avoid
- Long Stories - Keep stories consumable.
- Overly casual content - Instagram Stories should still be professional in tone and voice.
Snapchat
Audience: Prospective students, current students, young alumni
Strengths
- Incredibly engaging - Real-time sharing gives an authentic feel. Campus partners are able to “takeover” the JMU handle and will be able to show their event/space/project. To request for a takeover of the @jamesmadisonu snapchat account, contact socialmedia@jmu.edu.
- Can include links
- Interactive
- Content can be informal
Weaknesses
- Only last 24 hours
- Audience expectations determine engagement - Since your audience can ‘choose’ whether to open a Story or not, their past experiences with your Story can be influential on open rates.
- No re-share option- therefore content is restricted to followers.
Pro tips
- Give followers behind-the-scenes access and share exclusive information.
- Create branded geo-filters for events
- Avoid posting an entire story at once - Snapchat organizes Stories by how recent they are. The newest content goes at the top and anything older follows. If you’re posting all of your content at once, you risk being pushed down the line of your followers’ Snap Story page without them having the chance to see your content.
- Posting every two hours give you a greater chance to appear on the top of your followers news feed.
- Use the platform to demonstrate or showcase any new services.
- Use it to broadcast events in your department.
- Curate thoughtfully - Just because Snapchat is more casual, doesn’t mean it should lack quality. Users will leave a story if it’s not engaging.
- Produce content that will keep them clicking for more.
Things to avoid
- Horizontal images or videos. People view snapchat on vertical screens and make sure your content fits this format.
- Complicated CTAs (Call-to-Actions) - Avoid posting too many instructions to enter contests/giveaways
- Long stories of someone talking. Mix up your content and make sure it is easily consumable.
- Noisy areas - If you are talking in you snap, make sure you are in an area where it is quiet. Additionally, opening loud snaps can turn followers off.
- Adding followers back or responding to direct messages. If you are interested in opening up two-way dialogue on this platform, please email socialmedia@jmu.edu for further assistance.
YouTube
Audience: Prospective students (USA and abroad), parents, current students
Strengths
- Important tool to achieve virality
- Able to embed content on websites
- Platform processes over 3 billion searches per month - with the right YouTube SEO (search engine optimization) tactics, your content can be found and picked-up by a wider audience.
- Lasting connections through channel subscription - followers will get updates of new content
Weaknesses
- Lack of flexibility - you can only customize through your profile picture and header
- No guaranteed audience - an easy way to overcome this challenge is by using YouTube Views Services
- There is a high level of competition on this platform
- In-video advertisements can interfere with how viewers consumer your content
Pro tips
- Verified accounts can upload content that is over 15 minutes long
- You can create channels and start groups, enhancing your engagement with fellow users and viewers.
- Use a splash image in the beginning and include a CTA at the end to encourage new viewers to subscribe.
- Establish a regular posting time
- Announce on your other social media accounts when you post a new video
Things to avoid
- Videos that are over 15 minutes long
- Long video titles
- Low quality videos
For a more detailed look at trends, familiarize yourself with this fact sheet.
Hours of Operation:
Mon - Fri 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
