It’s no shock campus rec accounts thrive on Twitter. One campus rec account in particular leads the pack in popularity and performance: @LSU UREC.
With 6,997 followers and approximately 11,800 tweets, Meagan Morvant, the university recreation marketing coordinator for Louisiana State University (LSU), employs a number of tactics to stay ahead of the Twitter game. It all starts with a content scheduling platform called Sprout Social.
“Sprout allows us to schedule posts days and weeks in advance as well as publish posts organically,” said Morvant. “However, the key to our social media success involves our student staff – we have three students dedicated to creating social media content and to actively going out around campus to gain followers.”
Creating Content
When it comes to generating content, Morvant emphasizes the importance of always reflecting your brand’s voice, even through promotional posts. “Our students start by creating promotional posts about our upcoming events and programs,” she said. “Even our promotional posts are engaging, often comedic, and sometimes reference relevant memes. Promotion doesn’t have to mean hard sell. You can promote subtly, which we find most people prefer.”
To allow students to connect with the LSU UREC brand on a deeper level and enjoy following the account, Morvant has her students sprinkle in non-promotional posts such as current memes and other trending content on Twitter, followed with relevant university-related posts. “Once they create the content for the week, I review and approve the posts, making sure they fit within our brand’s voice and standards,” said Morvant.
Although Morvant and her student staff schedule out most Twitter posts, they find a lot of success in organic posting as well. “We engage in social listening to see what other brands and recreation centers are doing, and we try to stay up-to-date and trendy,” she said. “We also often search our hashtags and tags and engage with our audience by responding to them.”
What’s the Frequency?
How often should you be posting on Twitter? The LSU UREC account aims for 20 to 30 times per week, at least four posts per weekday. One of their goals is to have a variety of visual content rather than strictly copy posts. For example, they might use a series of memes, GIFs, videos, graphics, animations and photos. Morvant also adds it’s important to know your audience and to post when your followers are most active.
“If you have student staff, trust them,” Morvant explained. “They are the audience you are trying to reach, and they know what other students want to see – give them the autonomy to generate content.”
Having a Twitter account for your campus rec center provides you with a platform to speak to your audience, explore a brand voice and make university recreation more accessible when students are looking for something to do. “We believe the voice and brand we portray on social media makes our members feel welcome in our facility,” said Morvant. “If they can laugh with us on Twitter, maybe coming to our facility won’t be so intimidating. It humanizes our brand, staff and facility.”
Twitter Tips from LSU UREC
- Develop a brand voice that works for your rec center and campus.
- Redefine promotion to incorporate your brand voice as well as engaging and relevant trends.
- Don’t over promote, and don’t sell like a department store.
- Have a variety of content (GIFs, animations, pictures, video, etc.).
- Show your audience in your posts. Try not to have all graphics. Use pictures, quotes, etc. of your members, so they can see themselves in your content.
- Trust your student workers; they know the trends.
- More minds are better than one when it comes to creative content, but make sure everyone knows the brand’s standards and voice.
- Develop engaging social media themes/campaigns each month.
