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Managing IG profile requests from departments within a college

  • 30 May 2024
  • 2 replies
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I'm looking for some advice on handling departmental Instagram profiles for a college within a university setting. We've had a few departments express interest in creating their own Instagram profiles, separate from our main college account.

While we understand their desire for targeted communication, we're concerned about maintaining a cohesive brand, managing content effectively, and ensuring consistent engagement. 

  • What do you do in similar situations?
    • Do you allow departments to create their own profiles?
  • If yes, how do you ensure they align with the overall college brand and messaging?
  • If no, how do you manage their specific needs and requests through the main college account?

Any best practices or guidelines you can share?

Thanks!

2 replies

Nycole
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The age old problem, “we want an Instagram too” 😉. I’ve gotten this a handful of times throughout my career and have been able to navigate away from it. I’ve found more often than not that people asking have no idea the amount of work that it takes, that it won’t just gain a ton of followers because they opened it, that it may not get any traction without a ton of work, that Instagram isn’t even the right platform based on their goals, etc. If you can help level set with what they’re really trying to achieve you should be able to better focus them to a solution that makes the most sense. I’ve learned that most people have the best of intentions and just want to be a part of social because they know it’s power but they don’t get how it actually works behind the curtains. So you have a chance to educate them and come up with a plan that makes them feel heard but keeps you

 

Here are some things to dive into with them:

  • Why do they want one? What is the goal? 
    • Does their goal also makes sense to incorporate into the main account or is the main account already achieving that?(Let’s be honest, sometimes people ask for things they have NO idea are already happening.) 
    • If the goal isn’t completely unique and compliments what you’re already doing, how about shifting them to a focused hashtag they can encourage people to use? That way you’re still rallying everyone around the main account and building something for that school through hashtag usage. Would you be open to making their hashtag a highlight where you can share updates from them ad reshare any UGC or student posts?
    • Is Instagram even the right place for what they think they want to achieve? Or were they hoping to be more conversational, etc?
  • Who is going to create the content? What is the content they think they want to put out into the world?
  • What value do they plan to provide to people? 
  • Is the content they want to share appropriate for the main brand channels?
  • Creating multiple brand profiles can confuse and sometimes split audiences, which is something most people don’t consider unless they’re hands on social. 

Just some quick (yet long when written) thoughts! Hope it’s helpful. Happy to help if there are specific questions they have. 

 

A
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Thanks so much for your response...very helpful! Will definitely keep these in mind during the conversations we have with our stakeholders. Thanks again!

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