Guide to PR Relation

Whether your council is just beginning its Facebook presence or looking to enhance its reach, there’s always an opportunity to improve your exposure using this social media tool. Check out the tips below for guidance as your council looks to optimize its Facebook experience.

Utilize a public page.

A public Facebook page allows your council to share its message and mission on campus, in the neighboring community and with alumni. This creates broader engagement, increased brand awareness and a more widespread network of fans and partners for your council.

Be active!

Appoint a person to your Facebook page to post regularly (at least four times per week).

Bonus tip: Simplify your life by scheduling posts ahead of time. Instead of hitting “Publish,” click the drop-down menu button, just to the right, to schedule posts later in the day, week or month.

Maintain integrity.

Content posted to your Facebook page should be appropriate and relevant to your audience. This will help build your page and council’s credibility. Original content is great, but you can also share from groups that have a mission and values similar to your own. K of C-branded sites (especially the College Councils page) are great places to look for shareable content.

Mix it up!

To keep content interesting, there should be a natural mix of photos, links, videos and text-only posts. An easy way to manage content is to take it in thirds.

One-third original content, created by your council specific to its needs (such as event promotions and photos).

One-third subject matter related to your community and campus (such as events around you that is of interest to your audience, or information about other groups, if any, that you collaborate with on campus).

One-third topics related to the Catholic Church (such as feast days, significant holidays, and papal news).

A council Twitter account is valuable to the council's communication plan and can build a presence on campus and in a local community. To help your council utilize Twitter, here are some tips:

Don't Stop Tweeting!

Everything everyone posts on Twitter is mostly 100% visible. Twitter is very fast-paced and competitive. Post multiple times a day to remain visible to your followers and maintain a following.

Aim for a diversity of content. Focus some content on the council and its events; this may include promotional tweeting prior to an event, live tweeting during an event, and post-tweeting following an event, to thank attendees and volunteers. Avoid tweeting unrelated content to nonmembers to ensure not losing followers. Keep content focused on the council's programming and things related to the mission of the Knights of Columbus to keep tweets relevant. For example, if your local bishop has a twitter account and tweets about something relevant, consider retweeting that post. 

Use a Balance of Photos and Text.

Twitter allows you to use photos as part of your post. When live tweeting or promoting an event that has an engaging poster or graphic, use photos in your tweet. High-quality photos have greater impact, so focus on taking well-lit photos from good angles. Twitter formats photos in a landscape orientation (as opposed to portrait), so hold the phone or tablet horizontally, rather than vertically. 

Use Hashtags.

Twitter is a great platform for participating in conversations, and hashtags can be used to your advantage. Be on the lookout for specific hashtags that apply to your council's interests and activities; this way, you can join conversations that others are having about the same topic or event. Twitter always displays a widget with trending hashtags, and event planners often include hashtags in their printed materials.

Use hashtags when sponsoring or participating in campus-wide events so other groups and students who are not yet Knights know about your involvement. Also, when tweeting about specific council events, use hashtags like #CollegeKofC or #CollegeKnightsInAction so that other college councils and the Supreme Council can follow along. Try using two hashtags per tweet.

Retweeting vs. Favoriting

When retweeting you share third-party content on your own Twitter page like sharing a post on your Facebook page. When you “favorite” a tweet, it goes into your favorites list, which is accessible to the public but is less likely to be viewed by other users. Retweet content you value and want to share with your own followers from sources you trust, and favorite tweets that you like and don't mind other people seeing, but which may not be fully relevant to your messaging.

For example, if your council is partnering with another group to co-sponsor a campus event and their group makes a promotional tweet, or if a Catholic leader shared a nice meme for a feast day, you may wish to retweet. If @KofC tweets about an activity or event that another college council is doing but might not be relevant to your council, you might want to favorite the tweet to show your support.

Sometimes it is appropriate to advertise in the Newspaper. In order to get this done for free. You must do it a week ahead of the Thursday you want it published.

Our contact is dkott@brookingsregister.com