Social media

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• Why use social media
• Getting started with your channel
• Images and film
• Inspiration, guides and trends
• Lund University on social media

You are welcome to contact your local communications officer to discuss whether and, if so, how you could use social media in your activities.

Contact a communications officer 

Why use social media?

Social media provides opportunities for co-creation, dialogue, engagement and interaction with your target group. Successfully communicated content allows you to spread your message very quickly, to a large number of people. You also have the opportunity to direct your communication to very specific target groups.

Through social media intelligence in the various channels, you can also learn more about your target groups, capture conversation topics, take part in debates and keep track of new formats, trends and behaviors.

• Addressing comments
• Public authorities on social media

Getting started with your channel

Working with a social media channel is an undertaking that requires time and commitment. If you open an account, you will need to monitor the channel and its posts regularly, create relevant content that invites interaction and reaches the intended target groups, as well as make sure that questions and comments are addressed and, in many cases, encouraged. 

Questions to be asked before you get started

• Why should we be in this channel? We sometimes create new accounts in channels just because others have, but forget to consider whether our content is relevant or our target group uses the channel.
• Is Lund University already in the channel? Can we coordinate? Can we learn from each other?
• Has the purpose of the account been clarified and can it be formulated?
• Have time and resources been allocated for the work? Successful social media initiatives require time to learn, listen, establish a dialogue and gain social media intelligence, as well as to formulate and package the material in a manner that fits the channel and invites interaction. As a public authority, we are also obliged to monitor our channels, respond to incoming questions and remove any illegal material.
• Has the line manager and others concerned been informed or included in the work?
• Are there procedures for filing, monitoring and responding to possible questions or comments?
• Are there procedures for handling illegal or unwanted materials?
• Have clear goals and procedures for evaluation been developed?

Recommendations for account descriptions, name and profile picture

How to reach your target group 

Creating relevant content that the target group, in various ways, wants to engage in is key to social media. Everything you produce should raise an issue, a thought, a feeling or a need. If you only want to work with one-way communication and use the channels as a bulletin board, social media is not the right way to go. Therefore, it is important to dare to target the content at a specific group of people. In some channels, e.g. a blog, you can do so by choosing and prioritising a direction and target group for the entire account, for example, a particular field of research. In other channels, such as Facebook, the page itself is less important – here it’s all about targeting each post by advertising it to one or more smaller groups, for example.

Furthermore, working towards narrower target groups facilitates setting concrete and measurable goals for your communication.

Evaluation and intelligence

The algorithms control the channel

Social media is largely controlled by the algorithms for each specific channel. The algorithms are constantly changing, which requires fast adaptation to new conditions. Learn more about how to stay up to date on the respective channel’s algorithms, development, and new features:

Tips on the different channels

Protect your account

Tips to minimise the risk of unauthorised access to your account:

• Choose a secure password. By stringing together a number of randomly chosen, preferably unusual words into a sentence, you create a password that is easy for a human to remember, but difficult for computers to crack. Avoid using passwords based on details that can be found via your social media profiles or public records (such as the names of pets or relatives, or birthdays). It is important that the words do not have any connections, and that they cannot be linked to your organisation/the University.
• Change the password regularly, between one and four times per year. Never use the same password in several places. 
• Avoid simple mistakes such as emailing passwords to a large group of colleagues.
• Use two-factor authentication. This comes in various forms, but the most common is that in addition to the ordinary password, you are sent a code via SMS when logging in from a new device, for example. You can easily activate two-factor authentication on an existing account, by going into the channel’s security settings and turning it on. 
• Link the account to a shared email address if possible. Unfortunately, most channels only offer access to the company page via your private account, which automatically means your private email address is the one that gives you access. Where possible, however, you should use a role-based email address rather than an individual one. 
• Minimise the number of administrators. Do not grant more colleagues than necessary access to the organisation’s account. Always have one or two administrators – with full privileges and access to all functions on the site – and make other colleagues editors or similar if that kind of division exists.
• Remember to remove colleagues who are no longer working on the account.

Source: Sveriges Radios handbok för sociala medier (in Swedish)

Images and film

In order to stand out and get people’s attention, your content must be readily accessible and clear – your audience should be able to quickly and easily grasp (and respond to) your message. All communication in social media becomes more effective by including images and/or video content.

• Lund University’s Image and Media Bank
• Images, film and music

Inspiration, guides and trends

Meltwater offers blogs, guides, reports and free webinars on social media and digital marketing:

Meltwater.com

The Swedes and the Internet is a an annual study conducted by The Swedish Internet Foundation, which also maps how we use social media: 

The Swedes and the internet, summary in English 

The Storykit blog gathers ideas, inspiration and plenty of handy social media how-tos:

blog.storykit.io

Social Media Today is keeps you updated on the latest social media news:

socialmediatoday.com

Social media guides

The Swedish Radio Social Media Handbook gives you tips on how to create editorial strategies, handle criticism, create dialogue and how to present your content using images, videos and links: 

Swedish Radio's Social Media Handbook (in Swedish)

Storykits guide ”How to structure a winning scripts for social videos” focus on the copy as the most important part of video creation for social channels. Download the pdf guide to take part of all the tips. 

How to write winning scripts for videos on social channels, on storykit.io

Lund University on social media

Lund University has university-wide accounts in the channels below. There are also other accounts within LU – if you have questions, please contact your immediate communications officer.

Facebook

• Lunds universitet
• Lund University
• Lund University Alumni Network 
• International Desk

Twitter

• @Lunduniversity

Instagram

• Lunds universitet
• Lund University
• Lund University Abroad
• Lund University Alumni Network
• Lunds universitet forskning

LinkedIn

• Lund University’s page
• Lund University’s alumni group

Youtube

• Lund University
• Lunds universitet

Read more about the purpose, objectives and contact persons for these channels through the matrix below:

Download an overview of university-wide social media channels from the Image and Media Bank (in Swedish)