Social Media Options
What platform is best for you?
Looking to start a social media presence? Consider your options.
Why Facebook?
Facebook is one of the most widely used platforms. It’s also by most accounts the easiest to jump into. It’s a great platform for building a community and engaging with a loyal audience, and if you’re interested in advertising, it’s also the best bang-for-your-buck. Facebook groups can also be used to foster more intimate, niche communities, and Facebook Insights is a stellar monitoring tool and it’s totally free of charge.
Downsides
There aren’t many, but there are some. If your primary audience is below the age of 25, this may not be the best place to reach them. While Facebook may not be the go-to platform for the younger generation anymore, it’s important to know that they still go there.
Why Instagram?
Instagram is extremely easy to use, and is very popular within the young adult population. Instagram is visually-driven, making it perfect for sharing high-quality images and videos. It is a great platform to build a brand image, and allows you to connect with audiences through images, stories, and reels. This is a great platform for reaching both current and prospective students in one place.
Downsides
It honestly doesn’t have many downsides, but it has started to shift its primary focus from photos to videos (reels), so it is crucial to stay on top of not only what is going to be engaging to your audience, but what content will perform best on the platform.
Why TikTok?
TikTok is all about short, creative video content. It has a younger demographic, primarily teens and young adults, though its audience is expanding. It’s a platform where you can showcase your personality, participate in trends, and reach a younger, highly engaged audience. This is one of the best platforms for reaching prospective students, and it is new and trendy within the social media world.
Downsides
The algorithm for TikTok focuses a lot on what is currently trending, so it can be difficult to keep up with what the current trends are, especially since they change quickly and frequently. TikTok also tends to reward authentic content, so try and keep it a little less formal than other platforms.
Why LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is aimed at businesses and professionals. If you’re aiming for an older audience (alumni for example) this is a great way to go. If you’re looking to hire someone, it’s the only social media platform you’ll ever need. It is also a great platform for connecting with current students and putting out information about events and career advancement opportunities.
Downsides
There is a lot less conversation happening on a LinkedIn page then there is on other social media marketing profiles. One way around this is to join groups or communities where you can ask questions and engage in conversations, but creating and maintaining one of those communities is much harder than it seems.
Why YouTube?
If you’re making longer videos, this is a great platform for you. It’s also a great supplementary account. If you want to post a video on Facebook or Twitter (or anywhere else for that matter) you can host it here and just link to it. YouTube shorts are also a great way to add in shorter videos to your feed, similar to the videos you would see on Instagram or TikTok.
Downsides
Creating a video is much, much harder than composing an Instagram story, and if the production values of your video aren’t that great, then that could have more of a negative impact than positive.
Why X?
Posting 10 times a day on Facebook will make you an annoyance, posting 10 times a day on X (formerly known as Twitter) will make you normal. While Facebook is great for having a conversation, X is great for getting quick snippets of information out there while also having public discourse. Hashtags are also a great way to drive conversation. Although hashtags were born on X, they’re ubiquitous in nearly all forms of social media now. The younger generation has a much larger presence on X in comparison to Facebook, and it’s also by far the best social media platform to get your message heard by “traditional” media outlets.
Downsides
While Facebook has algorithms that will keep your post (if it’s well constructed) towards the top of your followers’ news feeds for a good length of time, posts on X have a lifespan of just a few minutes. X is much more fleeting than Facebook and while that has its downsides, it’s also more “in-the-moment.”