ASE Social Media Best Practices

Look at what our partners are doing with their social media designs

 

Read below for best practices on lens creations, social media promotion and ideas of how our partners use their designs. 

Lens Creation Best Practices

Review the following best practices for how to design your custom lens for Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
  •  Choose images, phrases, and logos that are (or will be!) familiar to students.
  •  The background behind students will be whatever is behind them in real life (unless you choose a design with a static background), so consider how busy/complex your design will be with a variety of backgrounds.
  •  Keep in mind what makes your institution unique! A few examples we’ve seen include:
    •  Using your mascot as falling confetti
    •  Iconic campus location as a static background
    •  “School Name” Bound language that matches your Accepted Student marketing campaigns
  •  Be mindful of using year-specific language. This will require you to update the lens each admission cycle and may change for students down the road.
Instagram and Facebook do not permit hashtags within filters. If there is a hashtag you’d like to promote, include it in your content card instead

Lens Promotion Best Practices

Students will be more likely to use and share your institution's custom lenses if they see them used outside of your ASE. Below are some additional ways you can promote your lenses:
  • Use your institution's social media accounts
  • Pin your custom lenses to your Instagram Accounts
  • Post in your Facebook groups using the lenses and encouraging others to do the same
  • If your have an institution TikTok account, post a video of ambassadors using the lens
  • Incentives
    • Run contests and promotions that provide incentives for using the lenses with specified hashtags
    • Giveaway school swag in the contests
  • Event promotion: Have a DIY photo booth at Accepted Student events where students are encouraged to take photos with the lenses
  • Internal recognition: Encourage prominent school staff, alumni, students, and mascots to post to social media with the lenses
📣 From Our Partner, To You
  • Kennesaw State University (KSU) promotes their hashtag in multiple places on their Accepted Student Experience, with it being the first thing accepted students see when opening their acceptance notification
  • As lenses are shared out with their hashtag, their team keeps track of these students
  • Their team then contacts those that enroll at KSU to ask if they would like to be an ambassador

Partners in Action 

1. Use Hashtags in Content Card

Appalachian State University incorporates their hashtag and suspense in their social media content block. This content block follows additional best practices: the inclusion of the student body, the "share the news" button for supporters to get in on the action and an engagement button for on-tap data tracking. 

2. Incorporate a Static Background and "School Name" Banner

Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles incorporates an overlook of their campus as their static background to help future Athenians picture themselves on campus. With their lens options they include two banner styles:
  •  One that promotes their hashtag on Snapchat #Mountbound
  • One that promotes their mascot and campaign tagline "Unstoppable"

3. Use Mascot as Falling Confetti

Danville Area Community College includes their Jaguar in their background and banner to create a sense of community.