It's important that your content is appealing to your audience and is also made with the relevant platform in mind. Here we list some of our top tips for creating content and some essential pointers on images and videos for each individual platform.
Be on brand
It's important that when creating any content for social media that it adheres to our brand guidelines. This maintains a level of professionalism and uniformity across affiliated accounts.
Make it accessible
All content shared on social media should be in a format that is accessible to everyone – as well as helping individuals with specific accessibility needs, accessible content also helps present information in a clear way, ensuring all social media users have a great experience. Please refer to our social media accessibility guidance for more information.
Relevance is key
When you share content, in whatever format it may be, you need to make sure it is relevant to the audience you want to reach. For example, sharing a photo of a cat when you want to get the attention of dog lovers probably isn’t going to work! Similarly, sharing details of an event that's only open to staff when your audience is predominantly prospective students won't be received well. You are likely to see a decline in your following if you regularly post content that's irrelevant to your audience.
Strike a balance
Be sure to create content that engages and informs your audience as well as more overt forms of promotion, such as encouraging bookings to an event or applications. Too much promotion can seem like spam to some users and may result in a drop in engagement. Always keep in mind the question, would my audience find this useful?
Be clear
Make sure your posts are easy to digest and if they have a direct call to action such as encouraging people to sign up to an event or visit a particular web page, make sure it is clear how this is done.
Be positive
People respond well to positivity on social media but this doesn't mean that you can't share posts or content about topics that are serious. Just make sure that the end goal is a positive one!
Share user-generated content
User-generated content is content created by other social media users – often those who are part of your organisation's community – that you can then share on your channel. It can include things such as guest posts, takeovers, images, reviews, videos and much more. Sharing this type of content allows the audience to get a real feel for the organisation through the people that make it – it's all about community!
Imagery
All imagery should adhere to our brand guidelines and photography guidelines.
Each platform has specific social media image size requirements.
Videos
All videos should adhere to our brand guidelines and video guidelines.
Each platform has specific social media video requirements.
GIFs
A GIF is a series of images or soundless video that can loop continuously and doesn't require anyone to press play. They're great at grabbing the attention of social media users as they scroll.
If you'd like to learn how to create a GIF, please contact us at social@londonmet.ac.uk and we'll be happy to help.
Live video streams
Live videos can be a great way to get engagement – here are our top tips for making sure they go as smoothly as possible:
Make sure you have a strong internet connection
We would recommend connecting to a WiFi source whenever possible. It is also important to remember to make sure your stream is clear and stable so it's worth using a tripod to help with this.
Engage with the viewers
It's good to let the audience know that its a live stream and get them involved in the broadcast where possible. Try saying hello to commenters, reply to questions and encourage activity in the chat function.
Stream for longer periods of time
The longer you're live streaming, the more people are likely to discover the stream and possibly share and invite others.
Build anticipation
It's always a good idea to let people know a date and time that you'll be going live so that they can make sure they're available. Of course this doesn't mean that you can't go live spontaneously but you just may not get the result you were hoping for.
Experiment
Test variations of live content to see what works best for you. Once you find out which attracts the biggest audience and engagement you'll be able to create more tailored content.
Be careful and vigilant
Be aware that the broadcast is live so you won't have control over what people say in the comments. It's important to make sure the comments are always being monitored so that you can respond and act appropriately.
Not sure? Get in touch
If you need any help with any of the above, please feel free to email social@londonmet.ac.uk.
