Different social media platforms will appeal to different audiences. Consider setting goals for your post content based on the social media platform and the different audiences you’re trying to reach.
Questions to Explore
- What are you trying to achieve and why (goals and impacts)?
- Who are you trying to reach (audience)?
- What do you want people to do (increase engagement, awareness, etc.)? Any specific calls to action (register, sign up, etc.)?
Goal Setting Example
MSU CAL Instagram: Goals and Impacts
- Promoting a sense of belonging and affinity to support MSU community success and welbeing.
- Showing different experiential learning opportunities to support awareness of professional experiences available to students.
- Highlighting faculty and their areas of scholarship, research, and creative works to support the reputation of the College of Arts & Letters.
MSU CAL Instagram: Audiences
- Primary: Current and Prospective Students
- Secondary: Alumni
- Secondary: Current and Prospective Faculty
MSU CAL Instagram: Engagement & Calls to Action
Over the Instagram account is used to increase awareness and affinity of the College of Arts & Letters that includes students, prospective students, alumni, faculty, and staff. It is also used to share stories and increase awareness of student learning experiences, academic programs, and faculty research.
- Encourage engagement through account interaction (comments, likes, DMs) on Instagram.
- Tag relevant accounts with posts and Reels to increase awareness and reach.
- Seek new followers and new people to follow from the Instagram account, especially students and prospective students.
- Provide giveaways and event information via Stories.
Analytics
Each social media platform offers a set of analytics natively within your managed account. To start, we recommend tracking post reach and engagement/impressions to help gauge the effectiveness of your posts. Setting specific goals for your social media platforms and messages can also help you determine what makes sense to measure in terms of analytics..
If you are interested in a more in-depth look at your social media account analytics, there are separate social media management tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Sprinklr. With a social media management tool, you are also able to schedule content, manage all of your accounts, and track your engagement and interactions all in one place.
Michigan State University uses Sprinklr to help schedule and post content, as well as for social media reporting and analytics. The College of Arts & Letters pays for a seat in the institutional Sprinklr account and uses it mainly for college-level social account analytics.
