Social Media Best Practices

Before creating a Facebook page, make sure your account will represent an official UMB unit, department or organization and that you have approval to create the account.

Facebook frequently changes its image dimensions, so check Facebook's latest guidelines for current specifications.

If you are managing Facebook from your phone, Facebook offers tools that allow you to keep your personal Facebook activity separate from the pages you manage.

• Post consistently. You can post every day, but aim for a minimum of one post per week to remain active.
• Develop a content calendar to plan your posts. Consider relevant holidays, events, awards and other occurrences. See the UMB Social Media Guidelines for additional topics to consider.
• Use your page analytics to determine the best times to post.
• Avoid writing long posts when possible. Facebook truncates longer posts in the news feed and requires readers to click “See more.”
• Do not automatically link Facebook and X accounts so that a post on one platform automatically publishes on the other. Each platform has its own target audience and should have its own voice. Automatic cross-posting can also result in inaccurate tagging because an account's @handle may differ between platforms.
• Engage with your posts and messages. If someone asks a question in the comments, respond appropriately and in a timely manner. Your goal is to build a community and remain active.
• The more engagement your posts receive, the more likely Facebook is to deliver that post and future posts to your followers' news feeds. Facebook publicly shares your response percentage, so try to respond to all messages in a timely manner.
• Tag other relevant, approved accounts to amplify your messages, including the main UMB Facebook page. Tagging can alert other UMB accounts to your post, encourage engagement and give your followers another relevant account to visit.
• Avoid asking users to like, comment on or share your posts or page. Facebook considers these requests “engagement bait” and may reduce the distribution of posts that explicitly ask for engagement. Repeated offenses can result in an entire page being demoted over time.
• Facebook heavily favors video posts, but experiment with photos, links and other content as well. Upload videos directly to Facebook, even if the video also lives on YouTube. Auto-play can help increase views and reach.

Review and report your Facebook Insights each month. Look for trends in the types of content and posting times that perform well, and use that information to guide your content strategy.

Your X bio is an opportunity to tell users about your unit or department. Use the 160-character bio to clearly describe who you are and what you do.

• Include relevant hashtags and refer to the UMB Hashtag Guide for guidance.
• Add a location and website so users can find out more about your organization.
• Review your notification and email settings and customize them according to how closely you want to monitor mentions, new followers and other activity

• Develop a content calendar to plan your posts. Consider relevant holidays, events, awards and other occurrences. See the UMB Social Media Guidelines for additional topics to consider.
• Establish your account's voice. Consider what you want to communicate, who you want to reach and how you can provide value to your audience. Localize larger stories and share relevant trends and information.
• Posts that include photos or visuals are more likely to be clicked on and viewed. Include relevant, high-quality images with your posts to enhance audience engagement.
• Aim to post two to three times per day, at different times throughout the day.
• If a post contains particularly important information, consider scheduling it several times throughout the week at different times.
• Follow users who post about topics relevant to your account.
• If another account posts something you would like to share with your audience, retweet it.
• You can like posts to show appreciation for the content.
• Engage with your audience. Ask questions, participate in conversations and respond to questions. X is a two-way conversation tool, not a broadcasting tool.
• You can pin an important post to the top of your profile so it is the first post visitors see.

Review and report your analytics monthly using the free X Analytics dashboard.

Analytics can help you identify trends in the types of posts your audience does and does not respond to and use those insights to guide your content strategy.

Instagram is a platform for sharing images and short videos and is one of the most frequently used social media platforms among students.

Before creating an account, consider whether Instagram is the right platform for your unit:

• Do you have enough strong visual content to maintain an active account?
• Does your unit have the resources to assign two UMB staff members as account managers, one primary and one secondary?
• Could your unit or department instead leverage UMB's main Instagram account and its followers?

If you decide to create an account, submit a request using the social media account request form.

When setting up your account:

• Write a short bio that clearly identifies your affiliation with UMB.
• Profile photo: Because of the small size, avoid images with too much detail.
• Add a website to your bio if your organization or department has one.
• Images of PDFs and posters are not a best practice for Instagram.

• Post only your best shots, rather than every photo.
• Aim for one to three posts per week and no more than once a day, unless it is a major event.
• Photo carousels and Reels are the most engaging content.
• Respond to comments on your photos. Replying to users' comments can increase followers and encourage activity and engagement.
• Use hashtags to increase the discoverability of your photos.
• Always search hashtags first to make sure they are appropriate and actively being used.
• Refer to the UMB Hashtag Guide for relevant University hashtags already in use.
• Use filters sparingly. For more serious posts, consider forgoing a filter altogether.

Only use photos that you took yourself or that you have permission to use. Provide photo credit in the post when necessary.

To use photos from your camera roll, select Library when creating a post. To take a photo within the Instagram app, select Photo.

To delete offensive comments or modify what you have written, use Instagram's comment and post-management tools.

When creating or updating your LinkedIn company page, follow LinkedIn's current image specifications to help prevent images from being automatically cropped.

• Accepted image formats: JPG and PNG
• LinkedIn recommends uploading a high-quality image with as little text as possible to ensure an optimal display across devices and screen sizes.
• Companies with logo images receive significantly more traffic to their pages.

When adding images to your page updates:

• Images on mobile devices will not be cropped. Images with other ratios will display in full with subtle white padding.

• Post consistently to start conversations, drive word of mouth and directly engage your target audience.
• LinkedIn recommends sharing organizational news, industry articles and thought leadership pieces, or asking followers to weigh in on relevant topics.
• Your posts appear on your company page and in the news feeds of your followers across devices and platforms.
• Updates posted in the morning usually earn the highest engagement, with a slight bump occurring again after regular business hours. Experiment with posting times and use LinkedIn's analytics to determine what works best for your page.
• Place hashtags at the end of a post and use a maximum of three.
• Use LinkedIn's search function to see how many people are using a hashtag before deciding whether to include it.
• Optimize your headlines and introductions. Concise introductions and engaging headlines are more likely to result in higher engagement.
• Ask thoughtful questions to involve your audience.
• Include a clear call to action whenever possible, such as a link.
• Always include an image or another type of rich media when appropriate.
• Images shared on LinkedIn typically result in a 98 percent higher comment rate.
• Links to YouTube videos play directly in the LinkedIn feed and typically result in a 75 percent higher share rate.

Make your LinkedIn company page easy to find:

• Google previews up to 156 characters of your page text, so lead your description with powerful, keyword-rich copy.
• LinkedIn members can search for companies by keyword, so include words and phrases that describe your organization, expertise and industry focus.