Running a successful Winona State University social media account takes planning, brainstorming, and knowing your audience.
To make sure Winona State faculty and staff are successful, the Marketing and Communications Department (MarComm) will help you come up with a plan for your social account. We’ll also make the account for you – which includes it under the university social media umbrella.
Being under the university social media umbrella ensures your account is verified through our process, is listed on the university website, and is supported through MarComm. Support includes adding and removing members to accounts, troubleshooting challenges, and ensuring the account doesn’t get abandoned during job transitions.
Departments, as subject-matter experts for their area, are responsible for creating content and managing the account -- although MarComm's Content Team is always open to partnering and collabing on content.
After finishing the steps below, you’ll be logged in and ready to use your new social media account. You’ll also have a clear plan (social strategy) for what to post and how to interact with your audience.
Create a Social Media Account
Step 1) Start a “Create a Social Media Account” Request Ticket in the Service Portal
Read through the requested Social Media Account Commitments and when you’re ready press “Request Services.” The form will take about 10-20 minutes to fill out.
Step 2) Define goals, audience, topics, content creation, and timeline for the account
Our Service Portal form will walk you through all the information needed to get started. It will also help in focusing and defining your social media strategy.
Step 3) Agree to Requested Commitments
With nearly half of our 400+ Winona State social media accounts inactive or abandoned, we’re working hard to make sure the accounts we do create have the resources and time commitment necessary to be set up for success. That’s why we ask that you agree to a list of commitments that will help make sure the account will be utilized and active for years to come.
Step 4) Digital Content Manager Responds with Questions or Provides Final Social Strategy
The Digital Content Manager will either respond to the Service Portal ticket with questions or will provide a condensed social strategy for your account based on your answers. Use this document to guide decisions and keep your account goals in mind.
Step 5) Finalizing Account Creation and Completing Social Media Training
To finalize account setup, the Digital Content Manager will schedule a time to connect. During that meeting, your account will be verified through whatever email is associated with the account (usually a general department email). The Digital Content Manager will also provide training for whatever social media platform the account is on, will give you a welcome packet that includes best practices and an analytics tracker, and will make sure you feel confident in your ability to start managing the account!
Step 6) Scheduling One Year Check-In
The last step is to schedule a check-in one year from the time the account is created. That will give us a chance to support you, answer any questions, update goals, and help you brainstorm ways to grow!