Frequently Asked Questions

Photo Posts: 

Instagram posts are photos that appear in your grid and others’ feeds; it’s how the platform was initially created. They involve posting a photo or series of photos. Posts generate more engagement than reach. 

The CU Anschutz social team has found our best-performing posts are the following: 

• Content: Event highlights, user-generated content, campus photos; student photos 
• Contain more than one high-quality image 
• Use the new collaborator tool

Note: Hyperlinks in captions do not work in Instagram. You must add a link to your bio and/or story.

Stories: 

Instagram stories are a way to share what’s happening in your world right now. By posting Instagram stories, your followers know you are active. While Instagram stories receive less engagement, they are an excellent tool for brand awareness and things you wouldn’t want to post in your feed. 

Since Instagram stories now allow users to include live links, stories have become a great tool for driving website traffic.

The CU Anschutz social team uses stories for the following: 

• Newsroom stories, infographics, campus announcements, event announcements, save-the-dates, user polls, resharing other’s posts and more
  

If you want an account to share your story, you must mention them in it. Otherwise, they will not be able to share it.

Reels: 

Instagram Reels are Instagram's newest feature in efforts to duplicate TikTok’s success. They generate less engagement but more reach, which is an excellent tool for getting your account started and increasing brand awareness. 

Reasons Why You Should Make Reels: 

1. Better Reach: You are more likely to be seen with Instagram reels thanks to its algorithm. This means most of your views will come from users who don’t follow you and are seeing your post on their IG discovery page.  
2. Trending Content: Reels give you the opportunity to highlight that you're “in the know” on social media. Adding trending sounds and using the right hashtags are all great ways to beat the algorithm.
3. Showcase Your Brand’s Tone: You can use reels to create helpful, informative and celebratory content according to your audience. 
   

How to Create a Reel: 

1. Tap the (+) icon at the top of the screen and then choose the Reels option.
2. Use your pre-recorded video or start recording your Instagram Reel by hitting the record button. You can record the video with or without popular Instagram filters. You can also upload your already shot video and start editing. (We mainly use pre-recorded videos unless we are filming live at an event)
3. Click the music icon button to add music from Instagram's music library to your video. You can find your favorite music through the search box.
4. Tap “Edit clips” in the bottom left corner. You’ll then see all of your clips lined up at the bottom.
5. To make clips shorter: tap a clip. Drag the left and right ends of the progress bar at the bottom of the screen to shorten your clip.
6. To move clips: Hold your finger down on a clip you want to move. When it enlarges, drag it back and forth.
7. To delete one clip: Tap the clip you want to delete. A delete button will appear at the bottom of the screen. Or, hold your finger down on one clip and tap on the minus signs that appear.
8. Insert captions and subtitles to your video to increase viewership, accessibility and reach.
9. Finally, write a catchy title for your Reel. Then tap the "Share" button at the bottom of the screen. You can publish your Reel immediately.
   

Top Tips for Finding Trending Songs & Sounds for Reels: 

1. Scroll Your Instagram Reels’ Feed on the Discovery Page
2. Browse Instagram’s Weekly Trend Report: https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-trends-2023
3. Get Inspired on TikTok 
4. Follow Trending Reels Instagram Accounts 
   

Resources: 

• Instagram Reels in 2023
• How to Make an Instagram Reel
• How to Create Instagram Reels like a Pro in 4 Easy Steps

Tagging Others on X 

Type the ‘@’ and continue typing an account’s username to see results.

For example, @CUAnschutz. If you are unsure of an account’s username, use the search bar to find and visit their profile.

When starting a tweet by mentioning another account, include a ‘.’

For example, “.@CUAnschutz, thank you for sharing this!” By including the period, your tweet will show to everyone; not just the people that follow you and the account you tag.

Before launching a new social media account, ask yourself, your team or your leadership the following questions: 

• Why do we want to join social media? What are our goals for our school, department, center, program, etc? 
• Who is our audience? 
• What platforms will help us achieve our goals and reach our intended audience? 
• Who are our competitors? What are they doing to be effective? 
• What type of content and how much content do we have to share? What does our target audience want to see, learn or watch? 
• Do we have the capacity to consistently and regularly create content to maintain our social presence? 
• How can we promote our organization while also maintaining authenticity?

If you can successfully answer these questions, you are on the path to building strong social media strategy and foundation. 

If you feel like you or your team does not have enough content or bandwidth to follow best practices of maintaining a social account, consider asking a related unit, department, school to post something on your behalf. 

In general terms, you can grow your following by posting consistently on the platform; following others; engaging (commenting, liking, sharing) others’ posts; incorporating appropriate hashtags; reaching out to campus and community partners to share your posts. 

Similar to growing your following, you get more engagement by posting consistently on the platform and engaging with your followers, including colleagues, students and department/school-level accounts.

Yes, social media design templates are available for Instagram stories and posts, X, Facebook and LinkedIn are available specifically for free Canva users.

Please click here to get access to event flyer templates, quote templates, news article templates, shout-outs and more.

You’re not alone, creating and developing engaging content is one of the most time-consuming tasks for social media managers. However, these tips can help: 

• Look at your competitors for inspiration
• Visit CU Anschutz newsroom
• Reshare and engage with other CU Anschutz accounts 
• Look at geotagging, your mentions/tags to reshare user-generated content. (Always ask the user for permission.) 
• Visit the CU Anschutz events calendar 
• Highlight your faculty and students 
• Scroll on platforms to see emerging trends and replicate for your organization

Don’t engage or respond. Please reach out to the Office of Communications with any negative comments or crisis communications for guidance.

In the case of a campuswide emergency or an event impacting our community, please remember to remove any of your unscheduled posts.

Please visit the official CU Anschutz Guidelines for more information.

Please avoid statements (political or otherwise) on university platforms or elsewhere that in any way imply or infer that the statement is on behalf of the university or one of its units.

While university units can issue statements on behalf of the institution, that can only be done with the explicit approval of university leadership. If you would like to know if a university statement will be issued, please reach out the CU Anschutz social media manager. 

In addition, individuals or units cannot lobby on behalf of the university unless they are in compliance with the University’s Administrative Policy Statement on Federal Lobbying Activities.

Please visit the official CU Anschutz Guidelines for more information.

Hashtags are used to amplify messages to larger communities and the number used depends on each platform. Prior to using hashtags, search for them on each social platform to ensure no derogatory associations exist. Less is more. If your content relates to a hashtag that is trending on a social platform, even better. 

Recommended Hashtag Use: 

• Instagram: 3-5 
• Facebook: 1 (The CU Anschutz social team rarely uses hashtags on Facebook.) 
• X: 1-3
• LinkedIn: 2-3 
  

Common CU Anschutz Hashtags:

#CUAnschutz = general CU Anschutz hashtag 

#CUAnschutzGrad = evergreen CU Anschutz hashtag for commencements 

Try to direct message the account you’re seeking to take over. Most likely if they’re inactive, however, they won’t respond. Try to send a support inquiry on the specific platform.

In many cases, however, it is extremely difficult to get access to previously created accounts.

To avoid this in the future, when making a new account, please use a centralized email and password, document it and share it with your communications director or your manager. 

After determining your audience, select the most-effective platform to reach them.

It’s best to start out with one platform at a time, growing an engaged audience rather than being spread thin managing multiple accounts.

We also encourage you to use a social media management software to schedule posts ahead of time. This will reduce time spent on specific platforms for scheduling as well as monitoring/reporting analytics. 

For more information on social media management softwares, please reach out to socialmedia@cuanschutz.edu.

1. Engagement: Total of likes, comments and shares  
2. Reach: The number of people you reached 
3. Impressions: The number of times your post was seen (You can have multiple impressions for one person reached) 
4. Engagement Rate Percentage: The number of times your post was seen vs. your number of followers (A high ERP means your content resonated with your audience) 
5. Followers: The number of people following you (Take note if your followers are growing or shrinking. This provides insights into if your content is relevant.) 

Spend time on the platforms; there are a lot of accounts you can follow that monitor the latest trends and show you how to execute them. Sign up for newsletters in your industry. 

LinkedIn Learning also has many digital marketing courses that are free for CU employees. You can also browse Later’s free webinars. 

Conducting a swag giveaway on your profile can be a useful tool to increase engagement.

Here are a few additional tips to ensure your giveaway is a success:

• Establish clear goals and guidelines for your audience to follow.
• Determine a time frame, how you will keep track of entries, how participants will be chosen, if necessary.
• Include prizes relevant to your brand and audience.
• Leverage Canva template designs to promote your giveaway.
• If giving away CU Anschutz-branded swag, make sure to use a licensed vendor and to follow the guidelines that can be found here.

Whether everyone will receive a swag item or if there are only select recipients, monitoring entries and using the Direct Message feature to notify the winners is extremely simple. On the home tab, you should see the DM icon on the top right corner. Once selecting it, click the plus sign and write a congratulatory message. You are then prompted to select the users with whom you’d like to message.

If the contest involves users submitting photos, feel free to create a collage of the winning entries and post to your account. This is the perfect way to give the winners a shout-out, while encouraging others to participate in future contests. It is also consistent with the ways in which Instagram runs and promotes its very popular weekly challenges.

Please note: Contests cannot include a purchase requirement.

CU Anschutz social media accounts may not endorse or participate in giveaways hosted by external vendors or companies. Full university endorsement guidelines can be found here: https://www.cuanschutz.edu/offices/communications/brand/vendors#endorsement

We welcome any researcher who has had work accepted by a peer-reviewed journal to reach out to us as soon as they learn it is accepted. We will review the paper and discuss next steps with you. Please email media@cuanschutz.edu.

Ideally, we will have the release finalized two weeks before the paper’s publishing date. We will work with the journal to follow their embargo policies which will allow us to pitch reporters under embargo, thus increasing the chances of media coverage on your paper.

We’re looking for an interesting peg or news angle that encourages reporters to cover your research. We will ask you questions such as what makes your study unique? Is it the first of its kind? Is it groundbreaking? Is there a discovery?

Yes! We are always pitching story ideas to the media, and if your idea meets criteria we determine for a newsworthy story, we’re happy to work with you to distribute it. These include ideas pegged to upcoming dates/events (National Cancer Month, the Super Bowl, anniversary of a discovery, etc.), important news pegs (King Charles’s cancer diagnosis, mental health aspect of natural disasters) or compelling human interest stories.

Please, still let us know. We will work with whomever is leading these efforts on including a mention of the CU Anschutz experts; whether that’s a quote or identification of any kind. Additionally, we are often able to utilize their press releases for our own newsroom and local media efforts, edited to be CU Anschutz-forward. Multiple releases about the same research from multiple institutions is confusing and discourages reporter interest, so coordination is key.

Involve us early either way. As mentioned above, we will work with the media team leading the press efforts. If a lead institution isn’t established, then we can take lead on writing and distributing a press release. Either way, involving us will ensure we are featured in press efforts.

Please either forward the request to a media team member, or respond with us copied to keep our media team informed. We’re happy to provide guidance to CU Anschutz faculty and staff.

Absolutely! We work often with our experts on preparing for interviews. We are happy to set up a time to go over best practices and tips.

If you are working with a reporter based on research, or based on a request that has come through the CU Anschutz media team, then you are speaking as an affiliate of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Always ensure you provide your affiliation via email and in the interview to confirm your title. Reporters do not have room for multiple titles, so using your school (University of Colorado School of Medicine, Colorado School of Public Health) or CU Anschutz will work.