For today's college students, using social media is second nature. College Knights grew up posting to Facebook, sending tweets and snapchats and watching videos on YouTube and Vine. Here are tips to help a council optimize its social media presence.
Give one council member the task of maintaining the council's social media outlets. This allows the council to focus on programs and activities while one person is dedicated to fostering the council's online presence. The chancellor, whose duty is to strengthen members' interest in council activities, or the recorder, who is tasked with keeping accounts of your council's history, would be good candidates for the position. The person in this role should share all login credentials with grand knight, who should be granted admin status to all social media accounts and share some of the maintenance responsibilities.
Don't try to engage on too many platforms. Instead establish a robust presence on one or two social platforms. Facebook is a great place to start the council's social media presence because of its status as the largest social media platform and its relative ease of use. Update the page a few times a week to be effective. Twitter and Instagram are two platforms that can be easily used in conjunction with Facebook.
It may seem difficult to know exactly what content to post on your social media platforms. The best strategy to follow is the Rule of Thirds: one third of posts should be related to the programs and initiatives of the Knights of Columbus (both those of the Supreme Council and your college council), one third of the posts should relate to the campus and local community, and the final third of the content should contain information related to the Church. The Rule of Thirds creates a balanced social media presence, expand the reach and impact with topics of interest to those outside the college council as well as within it, and fosters a positive image of the council and the Order.
Stay positive when posting content to the council's social media accounts. Promote the charitable works, programs and initiatives. Do not criticize or reprove another campus group, political ideas or public figures. Negative content aimed at a group, idea or figure on social media platforms only distracts the good works of the Knights of Columbus, and it is never the behavior of a Catholic gentleman. Instead, posting content that supports the charitable works of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic faith will allow the council to promote the Church's teachings and the initiatives of the Knights of Columbus while remaining engaging. Posting information about council events and sharing resources for spiritual development will encourage the audience to become involved with the Knights of Columbus and grow in their faith.
One of the easiest ways to enhance the council's presence on social media is to share content from official Knights of Columbus pages and organizations that are well respected. The wider the selection of trusted Catholic sites you share from, the wider your online audience becomes.