Social media: tips for the EPFL community

Want to switch to social media?

In order to harmonize EPFL’s digital presence and maximize its efficiency, it is important to ask yourself a few questions before embarking on the social media journey.

The Mediacom Content team is available to help you make the best decision according to your communication objectives. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to arrange a meeting: [email protected]

What are your objectives?

In other words, why do you want to be on social media?

Which social media platform do you want to use and who is your target audience?

Each platform has its own characteristics in terms of audiences. The choice to be present on a social media channel or another is not random – you have to know who you want to talk to in order to make the right choices.

What kind of content do you want to share?

To meet your objectives, you have to know what kind of content you want to share on social networks. Do you want to talk about science and research, share administrative or studies-related information, announce your events…? The messages to be conveyed must have added value and be adapted to the target audience. The format (text, article, picture, video…) must also be carefully chosen in order to have an impact.

How often do you want to publish?

To increase your visibility on social media, it is necessary to publish on a regular basis, but also to regularly monitor what’s going on in your digital world.

Do you have the necessary human resources and time?

Animating social media channels requires investment: time and human resources. It is not only about sharing content – it’s also about creating it (text, pictures, videos..), publishing it and monitoring the impact (including the moderation and responding to comments).

According to your answers to the questions above, does it make sense to open an account?

There are approximatively 250 EPFL-related Twitter channels for a total of 320’000 followers. Nevertheless, many followers are subscribed to several channels, which lowers the number of “unique” followers to 243’000. This redundancy suggests that creating numerous channels won’t be as effective as finding ways to collaborate and unify institutional communication.

Through its main social networks, EPFL tries to support faculties, schools, laboratories and projects as much as possible. If you don’t meet the criteria listed above and/or that you don’t have enough resources, Mediacom will be happy to help share your content on its platforms. Please note that other communication channels are also available to help you promote your activities (more information here).

Close an account?

Lack of time, not enough human resources, little content, not enough subscribers or minimal impact: there are lots of valid reasons to close an account on social media. It is a possible option, but it should be carefully analyzed beforehand.