Sub-brand Account

Social Media Training

MCM

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Introductions

Hi, I’m Joyce — CCA’s Social Media Manager 🧑‍💻

I joined CCA in January 2021 and I’m responsible for the college’s social media strategy and creating content to foster and grow CCA’s following across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Visit my Portal Page

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Goals of this training:

• Work together towards a cohesive brand presence across social media (primarily on Instagram)
• Reset + reflect on why your program needs a social media presence
• Walk away with a “playbook” to share with staff and student-workers

Questions? Save them for the end of presentation or email your questions to me after this meeting

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What to expect in this training:

• Overview: social media strategy at CCA
• Setting yourself and your accounts up for success
• Content best practices
• Examples of strong sub-brand accounts
• References & Resources

CCA’s social media strategy

“Flagship account”

@cacollegeofarts

“Sub-brand account”

@cca_ceramics, @cca_furniture, etc.

Our flagship account’s purpose on social media

• A tool for recruitment — we provide a glimpse of life at CCA
• Sustain and improve brand image among competitors in higher education, AICAD network, and Bay Area arts & culture community
• Increase awareness of campus initiatives
• Increase awareness of academic programs
• Facilitate brand advocacy among faculty, staff, students, and alumni

How can sub-brand accounts support this?

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By default, the sub-brand accounts have their own micro-niche.

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While upholding CCA’s brand image, they have the unique opportunity to zoom-in on their programs and share a focused, intimate, and expert-led point of view.

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Use your Instagram page to offer that insider look into your program.

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Current status of sub-brand accounts

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• There are approximately 60+ CCA sub-brand accounts — many of which are inactive
• Most sub-brand accounts are reposting the same content from the flagship account + other sub-brand accounts. There is a huge absence of original content.
• Now is a good time to pause and reflect on your program page’s purpose — why it exists, who your audience is, and what your goals are.

Setting Yourself Up For Success

To set yourself up for success, ask yourself and your team the following questions.

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🤔 Why does your Instagram account exist?

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🤔 Who is your audience?

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🤔 What are your goals for this account?

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🤔 Most importantly, do you have the time and resources to dedicate to upholding the CCA brand?

Quality content = time, effort, and enthusiasm

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There are no shortcuts to a successful social media presence!

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There are alternative ways of getting your program’s message out to the CCA community, for example:

• Email newsletters
• Collaborating on content for flagship account
• Consolidating your account with other programs in your division
• and more! Let’s discuss.

Setting Your Account

Up for Success

1. Switch your user settings to Creator mode

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This allows you to see your analytics, like follower growth, impressions, reach, and top-performing posts.

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2. Update your profile pic, bio, and highlights

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PROFILE PIC: Is it clear which program this page belongs to? Is your chosen image high-resolution and legible?

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BIO: In one easy to read sentence, explain what your program is. You might even want to include info on who manages this page. Be sure to tag @cacollegeofarts (and make sure its hyperlinked). Avoid words like “official account” to avoid confusion with the flagship account.

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HIGHLIGHTS: Make sure they are up to date. Uploading cover images is an extra step you can take to make your page look polished.

3. Organize your messaging plan

Identify 3-5 content pillars (aka recurring themes) to stick to that will guide your messaging.

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Example of content pillars and the type of posts that fall under them:

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Map out your upcoming posts in a social media calendar using Google Sheets. (Template)

4. Establish a protocol for collecting content

Some suggestions:

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• Compile a list of students and faculty Instagram accounts and portal pages to reference
• Provide a way for students to submit tips/ideas/photos
• Feature current campus events, happenings, and milestones
• 🔍🕵 Put your detective hat on! Visit classrooms and studios, talk to the students and faculty, and share what you’re seeing. You can also find out a lot through user-generated content from the personal accounts of our students, alumni, and faculty.

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5. Use an online tool to schedule your posts.

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The flagship account uses Later.com (upgraded version), but the free plan is still helpful!

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Features:

• Schedule posts ahead of time via desktop
• Preview what your IG feed will look like
• Access to Later’s email newsletter and blog, filled with helpful beginner-level guides and endless inspiration for boosting your social media presence

💡 A FEW HELPFUL TIPS

• Remember to always ask permission from the creator before sharing their work.
• You can now hide the number of likes on your posts! This might help remove some pressure about measuring likes.
• Canva has hundreds of templates you can download to make Instagram Highlight thumbnails
• Need help structuring your bio? Try this format:

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Your Social Media Toolbox

Google Drive ✅ Later ✅ Canva ✅

❌ Repost ❌

Examples to Follow

Here are a few strong examples of sub-brand accounts + what they’re doing right

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@cca_arch_div

by CCA Architecture Division

• The page has a clearly defined purpose through their on-feed photos: to showcase student work from the Architecture program
• They adhere to high quality standards of image selection for their feed
• They commit to a posting cadence of 3x a week, all year-round

@metpaintingsconservation

by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Paintings Conservation department

• The page offer’s a conservator’s point of view of the day-to-day happenings of their department
• Captions are explanatory, but still brief and plainspoken
• They often use multi-photo posts to tell a visual story.

@nytbooks

by The New York Times Books section

• The page stays in it’s micro-niche: books!
• However, instead of solely posting pictures of books, they also post excerpts from books and spotlights on some authors.
• They stay consistent with The New York Times branding by using the publication’s brand fonts in their design assets.*

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*Access CCA’s DIY Brand Toolkit here.

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Content Best Practices

Cadence

Best practice is to post on feed 3 to 5 times per week. This might be unrealistic for some of us. Try to aim for 1 post per week and be consistent week to week.

Best time to post

The Instagram algorithm is evershifting and with the feed no longer appearing in chronological order, it doesn’t really matter.

Images + Video Assets

Use well-lit, high resolution images and videos. Portrait (4:5) and Square (1:1) perform best for on-feed posts.

Captions

Social media allows for a more conversational and friendly tone. Be careful of getting too casual — remember that your page represents your program and you are a representative of the college.

Current trends on social media

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Reels

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Reels are 15-:30 fast moving multi-clip videos on Instagram, designed to compete with TikTok. These posts are the biggest growth opportunity because the algorithm prioritizes this type of content and distributes it widely.

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Photo Dumps

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Photo dumps are a series of images uploaded in carousel format, and all loosely connected by a person’s everyday experience.

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Memes

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Memes are funny images/videos/text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by internet users because its relatability.

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Outdated trends on social media

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Repost app

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Reposting someone else’s post to your Story is good 👍 , but reposting someone else’s post to your feed is not 👎. The sub-brand accounts of CCA share an audience. They don’t want to see the same image + caption reposted by multiple accounts.

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#WCW, #TBT, #FBF

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Anything along the lines of #WomanCrushWednesdsay, #ThrowbackThursday, #FlashbackFriday, etc. were cheeky when Instagram first debuted about a decade ago, but are now in the past.

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Screengrabs of your Zoom room

Let’s leave these in the year 2020 :)

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How to make “interesting” and “exciting” content:

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• There’s no one-size fits all approach to this because the subject matter + focus of each program is different.*
• It starts with changing your perspective - what does your program look like from the outside looking in? What might a stranger want to know about this program through the videos and photos you share?
• Think about what’s already happening in your program or what assets you already have and how you can repackage those assets for Instagram.

*Send me a note if you want to set up a 1:1 brainstorming session.

How to make “interesting” and “exciting” content:

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• Ask the students in your program or division what they want to see on social media�
• Growth happens when you create content with your ideal audience in mind. Create content that adds value to your audience’s life at CCA.

• Valuable content includes posts meant to educate and inspire, like infographics, lists, news or anything that evokes a strong, positive emotion

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Some examples of makers & creators who are using Reels to their advantage

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@theaestheticunion uses Reels to demonstrate printmaking in their studio. (See more.)

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@ingridvwells uses Reels to show close ups of the painting process. (See more.)

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@blockshoptextiles uses a homemade video approach to show how they print their textiles. (See more.)

Takeaways

• In 2022, social media has evolved from the casual photo sharing app it once was. It’s not enough to just have a social media presence. Your social media presence is your first impression, and your page represents your program and the college.

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• Treat your Instagram page like the portfolio that gets you into art school. Use quality visuals and words to show what you’re capable of.

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• It takes time and effort to see results. See what you can do to make this a priority for your program.

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• If you have student-workers on your team, have them be a thought-partner (but not solely responsible for the account management.) It’s helpful to have them as ears to the ground and for their connections in the classrooms.

References & Resources

Campus Sonar

• Fundamentals of Social Media Strategy: A Guide for College Campuses

CoSchedule Blog

• The 6 Types Of Social Media Content That Will Give You The Greatest Value

Later

• Instagram - Later blog
• Should You Switch to an Instagram Creator Profile?

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Sprout Social

• The latest Instagram tips, strategy and guides

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Social Media Experts on Instagram:

• @curatedbypreeti
• @holler.academy
• @nextlevelfaiz
• @socialjoy_

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THANK YOU