Snapshots Announcements Spotlight UTSA Athletics

February 2015, Issue 2

Social Media Tips

Choosing a Social Media Platform for Your Department

A question many departments often face is, "Which social media platform should we be active on?" After all, we want to be active, and we want to answer our students’ questions, but we have limited resources. Here are a few things to consider when facing this question:

  • What message is your department trying to communicate?
  • Who are your stakeholders?
  • Which social media platforms do they use and why?

If you need help designing your department's social media strategy, consider contacting the VPSA Social Media team.

For help identifying and connecting with your stakeholders, the following blog posts by Andrew Watts, a student at The University of Texas at Austin, can help you get started:

Here are some approaches Campus Rec has taken with our social media engagement strategy:

  • We can't be everywhere, so we often seek out our students on Instagram using different hashtags. When we find one related to Campus Rec, we “Repost” that image to our account and it not only highlights our students, but allows us to connect with our stakeholders.
  • One of our most "liked" Instagram posts has been a meme during finals week. Over 200 likes, and comments were made where our followers are tagging their friends (friends who may not already be following us).
  • On the first day of this semester, we had another “Snapchat Takeover” by one of our student staff and her first day of classes. We had over 200 views that day on each of the various snapchats that were added to “My Story”.
  • In January, we produced a video for YouTube and have over 3,200 views to date. It’s our rendition of “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, and highlights our facility without having to push information out.
  • In February, we produced another video and it’s been viewed over 300 times so far. It’s Maroon 5’s “Sugar”, and we not only danced, but also gave out lots of FREE HUGS!

A favorite phrase — echoed by Eric Stoller and #FollowTheLeader — goes, “Perhaps the one best way to assess whether social media engagement is meant for you is to try it.” You won’t know unless you do.

Submitted by —
Leigh Darilek,
Assistant Director of Communications,
Campus Recreation