Social Media
University Marketing and Communication
Social Media
Social media serves as a powerful communication tools, with each Loyola-related account playing an essential, integrated, and supportive role in narrating the University's story.
Loyola University Chicago utilizes social media to connect with a diverse, global audience, including current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, external media, and local community members.
Get Started
Connect with UMC’s Social Media team to create a thoughtful, strategic social media approach driving relevancy and reach.
Register Your Channel
Go live by registering your social media channel and begin the process of posting to fuel awareness and engagement.
Learn More
Collaborate with UMC’s Social Media team to define a social media action plan, track what type of content resonates, and build your following.
Ready to get started?
Is creating a social media account in your best interest? If so, what channel(s)? What’s the go-to-market strategy? What content is most needed?
Launching a new social media channel is a significant effort. Here are five questions you should be able to answer before going live:
What is the purpose of this account?
Is your goal to increase awareness among specific audiences, student prospecting or recruiting, event attendance, reputation, constituent affinity? Answering this will be the foundation of your overall strategy. Creating an account just because everyone else has one is not the proper foundation for social media account creation. Many elements go into account creation and each social media platform offers different advantages that may—or may not—align with your overall goals. Defining the purpose of your account should direct you toward the social media channel(s) you should be utilizing.
Do you have the resources to manage the account?
Do you currently have a social media team? If not, who will be part of this team or catch these responsibilities? Who is creating your social content and who will manage the account?
Creating and maintaining social media channel(s) adds up. We recommend budgeting at least one hour per day to manage your social media channel(s). This hour should include not only posting, but time to monitor, respond, and engage with your audience. An additional hour should be set aside each month to review analytics on your channels, assess what worked, and benchmark your successes. Additionally, content creation and curation takes time and effort from the whole group. It takes about 90 days of lead time to properly create strategy, identify resources, create content, and launch a social media channel.
Who is your audience and are they on the platform you want to join?
Defining your audience is another key component of any social media strategy. Who are you speaking to: current students, prospective students, parents, alumni, media, faculty, or staff? Different platforms offer different advantages based on your primary vs. secondary audiences. Take a look at Sprout Social’s most recent insights into demographics on various social media channels to help refine your channel selection.
Where will you source your content?
Video, images, text, stories, and live video—where will you source this content? Your content has a direct influence on what channel(s) you should be utilizing. Do you have access to a library of photos/videos? Who will capture this content? Do you have the necessary equipment to gather the type of content you wish to post?
Be realistic because content creation and curation take time. When you start out on a new social media network, you want to make sure you have the right type and amount of content to post on a consistent basis.
How will you define success?
What are your key performance indicators (KPIs)? It’s best to pick at least two metrics to track to start. While those can—and likely will—change over time, setting a goal and benchmarks for at least two metrics will help drive the overall strategy. These KPI’s should also be simple. If you’re trying to grow your audience or you’re experimenting with content types, engagements are a great place to start. Take a look at Sprout Social’s “how to set (and achieve) meaningful social media goals” to start this process.
Register Your Accounts
All social media channels must be registered with University Marketing and Communication. Official accounts are those authorized to speak on behalf of a school, department, or other official entity at the University. UMC’s Social Media team will routinely review all official University accounts to ensure they adhere to Loyola’s social media policies and guidelines and will contact social managers as needed to discuss solutions for pages needing support.
Benefits of registering
- Get your channels added to the Loyola University Social Media Directory. (coming soon)
- Receive official Loyola-branded social tiles for your channels
- Receive back-up account access in an emergency
Requirements
- Approved, registered channels must have a demonstrated, strategic need
- Approved, registered channels advance their area’s goals, divisional priorities, and the University brand
- Social channels must be overseen by Loyola faculty or staff, not students
- Channel administrators must be able to commit to a content plan that includes at least one post per week
- Channels must use an official Loyola social tile
- Channel administrators must adhere to and enforce Loyola’s social media policy and all relevant University policies
STARTING FALL 2024
- All official University accounts must provide their login credentials to the UMC Social Media team for emergency use purposes
Policies
There are several considerations and parameters to be aware of when planning social media initiatives. Please reference University policies before engaging any social media platform on behalf of the University.
Training Opportunities
Sprout Social: Loyola's Social Media Management Tool
Sprout Social enables Loyola social media managers to spend more time creating content and less time managing social feeds. Sprout Social assists in keeping up with the rapidly changing social media space while measuring the most important key performance indicators (KPI). Specifically, Sprout will help you:
- Plan, organize, and deliver social content and campaigns that support brand identity
- Schedule postings across various social media channels
- Track campaign performance and identify, personalize, and respond to incoming messages quickly
- Evaluate outcomes with access to comprehensive social data and customizable reporting tools
Ask us about Sprout
Other Resources
Already been through the training and have access to Sprout but need a refresher? No problem. Video recordings of trainings and documentation guides are available by request. This information is to refresh your knowledge. It is not the training required for onboarding. Email us for more information.
Sprout Social Learning Portal
Sprout Social's Learning Portal is a newer customer-exclusive space that makes it easy to learn how to start using the platform and beyond, either through live webinars or through on-demand videos. Using the provided filters, users can go from learning the basics about Sprout to being a power user. Learn more
Sprout Social Help Center
Sprout has a robust Help Center featuring videos, how-to-guides, webinars, and articles to keep you up to date with Sprout and its various offerings. This resource is available to all, whether you're a current user or just interested. Learn more
Please contact us:
Is creating a social media account in your best interest? If so, what channel(s)? What’s the go-to-market strategy? What content is most needed?
Launching a new social media channel is a significant effort. Here are five questions you should be able to answer before going live:
All social media channels must be registered with University Marketing and Communication. Official accounts are those authorized to speak on behalf of a school, department, or other official entity at the University. UMC’s Social Media team will routinely review all official University accounts to ensure they adhere to Loyola’s social media policies and guidelines and will contact social managers as needed to discuss solutions for pages needing support.
Benefits of registering
- Get your channels added to the Loyola University Social Media Directory. (coming soon)
- Receive official Loyola-branded social tiles for your channels
- Receive back-up account access in an emergency
Requirements
- Approved, registered channels must have a demonstrated, strategic need
- Approved, registered channels advance their area’s goals, divisional priorities, and the University brand
- Social channels must be overseen by Loyola faculty or staff, not students
- Channel administrators must be able to commit to a content plan that includes at least one post per week
- Channels must use an official Loyola social tile
- Channel administrators must adhere to and enforce Loyola’s social media policy and all relevant University policies
STARTING FALL 2024
- All official University accounts must provide their login credentials to the UMC Social Media team for emergency use purposes
Sprout Social: Loyola's Social Media Management Tool
Sprout Social enables Loyola social media managers to spend more time creating content and less time managing social feeds. Sprout Social assists in keeping up with the rapidly changing social media space while measuring the most important key performance indicators (KPI). Specifically, Sprout will help you:
- Plan, organize, and deliver social content and campaigns that support brand identity
- Schedule postings across various social media channels
- Track campaign performance and identify, personalize, and respond to incoming messages quickly
- Evaluate outcomes with access to comprehensive social data and customizable reporting tools