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Intelligence
Microcontent: The Fuel that Lights Social Media Fire

Intelligence

Microcontent: The Fuel that Lights Social Media Fire

Feb 17, 2016By mStoner Staff

So, you’ve gotten the hang of turning long-form content into microcontent on your website — great news! Now, let’s take microcontent to the streets of social media and become expert at enticing current and prospective students, parents, and alumni to check out more on your website. 

Social media is an important element of your overall content strategy. Each piece of social media content has a purpose and that purpose is often to drive traffic back to your website. With only about eight seconds to capture the attention of your target audiences, social media content needs to be visual, concise, witty, and purposeful. Microcontent is a great way to use photographs, memes, short video clips, and interesting hashtags to compel users to visit your site for a deeper dive and to take action.

[Tweet “It’s time to fuel your social-media fire with microcontent. Here’s how. #mStoner”]

Time to Treasure Hunt

Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? But, guess what? You already have a large menu of rich content to choose from. Check out your alumni magazine, for instance — full of great photography and storytelling articles? What about your newsletters, survey results, and blog posts? These are great places to glean microcontent. With a little finessing, you can repurpose this content into bite-sized information and, when combined with a vibrant visual and a call to action, you’ve got microcontent! 

I Found It, Now What? 

As you repurpose your content for social media, keep in mind that it should tell a story that will connect your target audience with your institution and remain true to your brand. Keep the following tips in mind as you develop microcontent:

  • Tell a story with your photo.
  • Use relevant hashtags.
  • Post regularly.
  • Take advantage of user-generated content to give a peer-to-peer recommendation of your brand that’s more authentic.
  • Humanize your brand by featuring photos of your faculty, students, and alumni that represent your brand attributes.
  • Use memes sparingly and make sure they are unique to you.
  • Showcase videos.
  • Implement calls to action.
  • Tie content back to your goals, such as driving traffic to increase applications, donations, visits, or enrollment. 

Check out these Twitter Examples:

Cornell University grabs attention with these furry friends — after all, who can turn down puppies? (Research says not many.) The photo draws you in, the topic of the research is true to Cornell’s brand, and you are invited back to the Cornell site to read more about this scientific breakthrough with in vitro fertilization. Nicely done, Cornell!

Here’s an example from Loyola Marymount University that promotes an upcoming Graduate Open House, emphasizes that the university has many academic programs to choose from, and highlights LMU alum all in ONE Twitter post! 

For more reading about how to reduce, reuse, and recycle your content, check out Rescue the Content from mStoner’s Susan T. Evans. 

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