Social media

management
THE VIDETTE | SOCIAL MEDIA HANDBOOK
@The_Vidette
Defining The Vidette’s social media presence
u In today’s ever-evolving Ask yourself these questions when defining social media
media landscape, social purpose/processes:
media is VITAL to The Vidette’s
present and future success. 1. What makes The Vidette different than everyone else?
u While The Vidette has seen immense 2. What is its social identity?
social growth in the last few years,
continuing to implement tactful social 3. What is the purpose for the main account?
media strategies will create a greater 4. How can it leverage competition?
relationship between the outlet and its
target audience. 5. How does The Vidette generate users to “stop scrolling and
stare” at its content?
u Goal: Primarily maintain The Vidette’s
social media presence as a reliable 6. How can it utilize interactive content?
news source while crafting fun, 7. How can The Vidette produce more engagement with its
accurate and visually appealing posts target audience?
in effort to maximize user
engagement. 8. What is the outlet’s strategic goals moving forward?
 Social Analysis
u Objective: Mirror The Vidette’s
identity as “The student voice of
Illinois State University” via social
media. Our Difference
u Target audience(s): Students, __
faculty, ISU alumni and surrounding
Blo-No residents.
u Social identity: As The Vidette is
“The
often seen as “a learning lab” for student
student-journalists, its social media
accounts correlate to the outlet’s
voice of
overall identity. Reporting on Illinois
students, RSO’s, local businesses, art,
athletics etc. is where it should
State
maintain focus @The_Vidette. University”
u Finding and utilizing the balance
between newsworthiness and
trendiness is the outlet’s biggest
obstacle.
 u Consistency is truly key in strengthening The Vidette’s social
identity. Daily output should at least average 2-3 posts/day. The
Vidette operated anywhere from 3-7 posts/day during the
academic year.
u Purpose(s): Promote stories from videtteonline.com, oversee
advertising/marketing social media promotional posts, actively
support other ISU-related accounts by commenting, retweeting
posts, interacting with users through impactful posts and
meaningful journalism.

Analysis
u Leveraging competition: There’s many student-centric accounts
(i.e. Barstool Birds) that have 10-15K+ followers in which students
strongly interact with. Since The Vidette must maintain a
(2) professional scope of news, sports and features, it can occasionally
contribute to social media trends in proper subject matter, but it is
NOT a priority. Be mindful of this balance as it will set the tone for
the account’s voice and outlook within the Blo-No community.
u Maintaining that “student voice” perspective is key to success; The
Vidette’s identity is its leverage. It has historically (and from 2019-20)
gained significantly more engagement than both TV-10 and WZND, as it
currently trumps other student competitors in both following and
engagement. Competing with local outlets such as WGLT, WJBC and
The Pantagraph is what The Vidette should strive to achieve when it
comes to social presence.
 Analysis (3)
u Interaction with other accounts & related posts makes all the
difference. Asserts main account’s inclusion in the community;
that the Viddy’s voice is more than solely news stories and
updates.
u Commenting on posts is a huge factor for account interaction.
For example, if @IllinoisStateU tweets out a cool picture of
something, simply replying “Cool photo!” not only puts the main
account in better position to be interacted with by ISU; but builds
a positive relationship with the other account.
u Generating higher engagement: By tagging related accounts
and including hashtags in posts, the main account should direct
users to overarching topics stemming from keywords and related
trends. (i.e. #COVID19, #BloNo, #Redbirds)
u Impactful retweets/reposts: Maximizing interaction from
accounts with high follower counts is imperative in achieving a
broader audience base. Main goal: Strive to be retweeted by
@illinoisStateU or an account tagged in any of The Vidette’s
social media posts. ALWAYS retweet Vidette Sports tweets.
u Interactive content: Polls, videos, photos; Multimedia elements
are a necessity for social growth and increase engagement.
u Graphic designs and gifs should also be implemented for
content that is not news: holidays, special campus occasions
(Founder’s Day) Homecoming, “the big game” etc.
 Social Media Duties
1. Must maintain and oversee the overall well-being/aesthetic of The
Vidette’s social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter (Sports and
main account) and Instagram.
2. Craft clean and creative SM text style; Tactfully implement social
media trends to formulate posts, all while following AP Style
guidelines.
3. Assure that use of hashtags and @’s are used accordingly to
properly link posts, people to other sources of media, accounts.
4. Maintain image and social identity of The Vidette; oversee posting
processes and overall maintenance of social media accounts.
5. Strive to better audience engagement; generate an increase in
following while constantly providing news to the target audiences
The Vidette values: ISU students, faculty, alumni and the
surrounding community.
 u Focus on the impact/engagement made with
audience rather than followers/likes/retweets
u Use methods to immerse target audiences of
Vidette content by way of multimedia
packaging, interactive content such as polls,
forums, videos, photos etc.
u BE ACTIVE on Twitter DAILY: posting, liking,
commenting, retweeting. Commenting is
Goals & something that offers the HIGHEST of
engagement, allowing other users to find our
account easier when commenting on other posts.
Expectations This is imperative for success, use it like you would
your personal account, just solely ISU related.
u Allow room for creativity: Allow for generation of
original social media content via graphic design,
live coverage, self-promotion and other organic
processes.
u Constantly be informed on issues surrounding the
ISU community. (i.e. use both FB and Twitter feeds)
 Account Uses
Ø Twitter: Our social media is revolved around
our Twitter presence. Facebook and
Instagram are great, but our Twitter account
is where we really need to drive most of our
focus since it holds our highest engagement
rates and follower base. It’s the “modern
day newspaper.”
Ø Facebook: Facebook presence should
revolve around meaningfulness content
pertinent to its audience. Alumni are a
HUGE driver of engagement on Facebook,
Posting stories (and multimedia posts via
Facebook) will garner great engagement
complementing The Vidette’s Twitter feed.
Ø Instagram: Photos – emphasize photo
galleries, Instagram exclusive content that
could be scraps of photos not included on
photo galleries from the website as well as
our front page designs every Tuesday.
Instagram stories of live coverage of photos
generate the most impact.
Work with the Photo Editors to discuss specific IG
duties, as they should help.

Quote Lead/Posts
This post style drives the most
engagement on the Twitter
account and to the site.
ALWAYS strive to find the most
impactful quote in the story or
something the reporter says in
his/her piece. Caters to
Features content.
ICYMI/Straight
news copy style
These are perfect for if a story is
a day late or a few hours after
its original post time, allowing
for a repackage. ALWAYS @ the
reporter who wrote the news
story somewhere in the post.
Post Examples
Press Release
This works best for breaking
news situations if the breaking
news story is not yet on the site.
If it is a Vidette story, adding a
“BREAKING:..” before the copy
style will work here. Write these
according to AP style/straight
news copy.

Podcasts
Tweets for podcasts are written
like descriptions for each
episode. Always ask
podcasters for their description
before posting it onto
TownNews – taking pieces of
their description into Twitter/FB.
Videos via YouTube
This process is done through
both YouTube and Twitter
Media Studio. Once a video is
posted via YouTube, you can
take the YT link into Twitter
Media Studio (available in your
Twitter menus) and craft tweets
with an embedded YouTube
link, gaining both views and site
engagement.
Multimedia
elements
Galleries
Always lead with “Gallery:” with
proper @’s and hashtags to
maximize engagement
strategies. ALWAYS tag the
photographers in the photo slot
where ‘who is in this photo?’ is
marked

Threads for
Breaking News
This is always a great tool when
in the middle of live coverage
for a prominent breaking story.
Look how it is used for JB’s initial
stay-at-home order
announcement. Use this
carefully, finding the right event
is best for this style.
Cartoons
ALWAYS tag the cartoonist and
always ask them for a
description that one can
change/fix in the post
accordingly.
Covers/Latest
Editions
These posts should be handled
by the Editor in Chief every
production day or day of paper.
Converting PDF files of desired
pages (does not just have too be
cover page) into JPEGS are
imperative for success here.
Other examples

Social Success
Linking makes all
the difference
Social is a shareable
experience, so really focus
when formulating tweets on
these things: @‘s, Hashtags and
links to relate content with all of
Twitter, not just our feed. So
things like #RedbirdAlumni and
@IllinoisStateU make our
content easier to find.
Ø When leading with an
account handle, always
have a period before it
(.@IllinoisStateU) so it shows
up in the feed. If you post it
without the period and the
tweet already has some
engagement, retweet and
like it so it’s on our main
feed.
Tips and Tricks for...
Emphasis on
visual content
Use Pictures, GIFS, Videos as
much as possible when
tweeting. (EX: Xmas break —
GIF or picture) Find things to
draw eyes!
AWARENESS of the feed is
essential for success — For
example, ISU basketball
tweeted out a pic of the
progress of Redbird Arena
renovations... comments are
asking to see what it would look
like when it’s finished.
Commenting a link to a Vidette
story with finished
results/progress is key for
traction. Awareness = Success
Scheduling and
organization
Use and abuse Hootsuite when
you have stories that are
timeless: Feature stories, ASFs
and profiles are great to scatter
throughout the day when trying
to stay ahead of the day’s
social slate.
Set a daily routine
Whether it be through
scheduling tweets beforehand
or writing tweets from your
phone, find what works best
for YOU to push out impactful
content consistently.
 Tips/tricks cont.
Routine cont.
Last year: the main account
would post anywhere from 3-
5 times a day on Twitter and
1-2 per weekday on
Facebook. Instagram was
less used due to lack of
photos more times than not.
Separate each post an hour
or two hours away from each
other (depending on how
many stories you have for the
day) to set precedent to a
social media schedule.
Consistency in posting
creates a higher
engagement rate which in
turn drives both impressions
and profile clicks (+
followers).
Account regulation
Constantly regulate the site
and Twitter during the week
for new content to Tweet out
— BREAKING NEWS is the
biggest thing for this. If it’s
breaking news on the site.
You can do this via your cell
phone.
ALWAYS begin posting in
between 10AM -11AM.
Posting can end at 5PM-6PM,
depending on the amount of
stories per day. Breaking
news or event coverages
don’t follow this guideline.
Tweet ASAP. Download the
app and set breaking news
notifications so you’re always
informed. Twitter needs to be
where the front lines of our
content lives.
Writing
1. Do what is best to showcase what
is included in the story. Posing
questions is great for columns or
editorials, since it’s an opinion
piece, but for features (quotes
work best) and news stories
(Catchy preview or most
interesting and relevant fact from
the article) works best.
2. 2) Involve hashtags in your
sentences or things like ICYMI to
play into the post, EX) “ICYMI:
@NormalIL’s #MakeMusicNormal
festival is set to kick off Friday...”
3. Tweets should be short and
snappy, not run-on sentences.
Other tips to
keep in
mind
u Like, Retweet and COMMENT
to keep constant flow of the
feed — people will likely circle
back to The Vidette if they see
the handle posting daily.
u Use bit.ly to link content on
multimedia posts — saves
character space and looks
great for showcasing photos
on both stories and galleries.
u Instagram has a “Share to
Facebook” feature... doing
this is like killing two birds with
one stone — less to worry
about when something from
Instagram content (covers,
galleries and IG stories)
transfers to Facebook
Analytics
Ø The Vidette’s range of average
impressions per month/overall
range of engagement/profile
clicks per month and total
followers from 2019-2020 are as
follows:
1. Impressions: 200K-265K
2. Engagement rate: 1.69% - 2.09%
3. Profile clicks: 6200-7100
clicks/month
4. Followers: 6,541
Setting target goals for each month,
like these numbers above, will help
you achieve short-term success
when it comes to measuring your
social media engagement.

Analytics
(2)
u Utilizing and recognizing
analytic trends on The
Vidette’s social media
accounts are vital to charting
account status as well as
planning for improvement.
uTwitter analytics is an
important tool to measure
where most of The Vidette’s
social traffic comes from. In
the Twitter menu on desktop,
you can access analytics to
see The Vidette’s monthly
statistics.
u Use the first full month of
data as a target area for
social media analytics to
reach monthly. This will assist in
setting the main account’s
base number of
engagement/goals to hit over
the course of the year.
Nate Carpenter (ISU’s Convergent Media
Director/SMACC Lab) has worked with The
Vidette’s social media accounts throughout
2019-20 and is an extremely valuable source
when collecting analytics. Always utilize him
for questions, guidance or walkthroughs when
you are striving to target specific social media
goals.
Video: Twitter Analytics for
Social Media Success
The video above
showcases and explains
the different strategies for
effectively using Twitter
analytics. Pay attention to
the segments about...
Ø Engagement Rate
Ø Hashtag Comparison
Ø Tweet metrics via
Excel
Ø Dashboard/ Top
Sept. 2019 Analytics Tweets (Starts at
base engagement stats for 4:04)
2019-20 academic year
 Questions?

uAlways feel free to reach out to

me with any social media questions
you may have! Best of luck!
___
Jonathan Barlas
Former Vidette Editor in Chief/Social
Media Manager
E: jgbarla@ilstu.edu
C: 708-557-0405