Quick Start Guide

Most importantly: Choose a content owner and a back-up moderator.

Have an idea of who you'd like to be the content owners, and know that they should dedicate at least ¼ of their work hours to social media management.

Follow 5 best practices.

Best practices make (practically) perfect.

The internet boasts an endless supply of social media tips, tricks, rules, and advice. We encourage you to dive in and learn everything you can, but if you’re struggling to recall and incorporate all the information you read, one simple guiding principle will help you stay on track: Communicate through social media as you would communicate in person.

Keep these best practices in mind when you’re using your DGSOM-branded account:

Communicate on social media as you would communicate in person.
Provide your followers with thoughtful and relevant content.
Respond to conversations and questions in real time.
Proofread; posts stay “published” online indefinitely.
Get permission before sharing others’ pictures or quotes.

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Dive deeper into best practices

Set social media goals in 5 easy steps.

What will you do with your account?

Setting goals for your social media presence is as necessary as entering a destination into Google Maps; you need goals to get where you want to go. So before you take the next steps in getting social, ask yourself a simple question: What do you want to accomplish?

Establish your core audience.
Consider what your audience wants from a social media exchange.
Compare what your audience wants with what you want to accomplish.
Establish your promise, a summary statement of your social media strategy.
Choose social channels suited to your audience and goals.

See Full Quick Start Infographic →

Dive deeper into setting goals

Divide your time across 5 strategic activities.

Buiding your social media strategy.

How much time do you have? What assets do you have? Do you have staff or volunteers who can dedicate time to social media? Establishing your time constraints is key to your strategy; even the best strategy won’t lead anywhere if you don’t have time to implement it.

Even if you have only a few hours a week, you can still participate in social media. Below, we’ve listed 5 simple activities that make up a social strategy. We’ve also included what percent of your allotted social media time to spend on each.