UofG Central Social Media Channel Plans: Jan 2026
Published: 14 January 2026
This outlines the current approach the central University of Glasgow social media team is taking to channel and content management.
Introduction
This outlines the current approach the central University of Glasgow social media team is taking to channel and content management. It sets out platform-specific strategies based on evidence from our own performance and sector-wide best practice. As social media platforms and user behaviours continue to evolve, so too will this plan, and updates on new insights will be shared.
What works well across all channels
- Short, authentic video: Quick clips that entertain, inform or humanise consistently perform best, especially when filmed vertically and edited for the platform. They don’t need to be too polished as the ‘in the moment’ style of video often outperforms more corporate and over-polished productions.
- Human stories: people-led content, personal milestones, and behind-the-scenes campus life draw strong emotional engagement . Finding a personal story can really bring a piece to life. For example, with a research story, if you can find someone the research has impacted this can help explain why the research really matters.
- Visually striking content: Beautiful campus shots (especially with a seasonal or fun hook) generates a wide appeal. This can appeal to community in Glasgow as well as building nostalgia for stakeholders like alumni.
- Timely and topical posts: High engagement follows well-executed posts about big news (big research breakthroughs for example), rankings, or cultural moments (e.g. LGBTQ+ History Month).
- Celebration of success: Graduation, awards, student and alumni successes and research breakthroughs, particularly when framed through people, perform well across most channels.
What tends not to work
- Overly branded or corporate content: Heavily designed posts or those that feel like ads generally underperform. It’s far better to show, not tell. And if something appears like an ad it will have restrictions on some of the Chinese social media channels.
- Content not optimised for social media: For example, a landscape video won’t perform as well as a vertical or square video. The content has to be created for the channel, what works on one channel, will not necessarily work for another.
- Text-heavy graphics: These tend to be ignored unless very well designed or highly informative.
- Slow or niche videos: Long videos or those with limited visual interest often lose attention quickly. Longer stories sometimes have a place but the story has to be very engaging.
- Basic event promotions: Unless creatively packaged, these receive low engagement and should be repurposed or boosted through other means. Big events that have mass appeal, still receive good engagement.
BLUESKY 
Summary of Channel Plan
Bluesky is emerging as a niche but promising platform, particularly among academics, journalists, and early adopters. For UofG, it offers a space to highlight news, research, and thought leadership. We started by sharing most of our X posts on Bluesky as well, as we build this platform and continue to test performance, and we have now moved away from X.
Objectives
- Showcase UofG’s academic expertise and research
- Share high-profile news from the University
- Amplify the voices of UofG researchers, students and thought leaders.
Best Practice Highlights
- Authenticity over branding: Bluesky users value authentic commentary and reject overly corporate content.
- Intellectual tone: The community engages more with reflective, values-driven or research-led posts. A good place to share research stories.
- Open conversation: Inviting replies and sparking discussion increases visibility.
Target Audiences
Academics, researchers, journalists, research students and alumni.
Main Content Pillars
- Institutional values – Posts highlighting our values eg sustainably, equality, values campaigns.
- Research – Summaries of recent UofG discoveries, publications or news. Often linking to news stories for more information.
- Academic voices – Quotes or posts from UofG academics on topical issues.
- Celebrating achievements – Rankings, awards, appointments, grant wins and anniversaries.
Posting Schedule
- Frequency: 3-4 posts per week. Max 3 times a day.
- Best time: Weekday mornings (08:30–10:00) when academic audiences are most active
Poor Practice
- Overly promotional or one-way announcements
- Text-heavy graphics
- Generic event listings that only have a limited audience interest.
FACEBOOK 
Summary of Channel Plan
Facebook’s organic reach has declined, but it remains a key platform for engaging alumni, parents, and the local community. For UofG, Facebook should serve as a storytelling and celebration space, focused on emotion, memory and community. News and rankings, human- led stories, content that promotes discussion, photography of campus and highly engaging and entertaining videos still performs well.
Objectives
- Share feel-good human stories and achievements of our community that reflect UofG values and identity.
- Strengthen alumni engagement and foster community pride, particularly through good news stories and rankings announcements and anniversaries like #UofG575 celebrations.
- Showcase the beautiful campus and campus development.
- Drive interaction through nostalgia, discussion prompts and story-rich posts.
Best Practice Highlights
- Nostalgia drives reactions: Throwback photos, campus shots, and alumni shoutouts perform well.
- Winning content wins: Celebratory moments (rankings, research awards, graduations, special anniversaries like UofG birthday and commemoration day) reliably generate engagement.
- Human first, institution second: Posts that focus on people, their story, achievement, or journey, outperform generic university news. Stories that can either celebrate individual or group success or demonstrate the impact something related to the University has had. For example, widening participation or how research has had an impact on a person or a community.
- Narrative format: Longer captions are acceptable here if they tell a good story with an image.
- Video remains useful: Vertical video with subtitles performs well. Videos of current student life can engage students and alumni.
Target Audiences
Alumni, parents/families, Glasgow community members, prospective and current students
Main Content Pillars
- People stories – Inspiring student or alumni journeys, behind-the-scenes colleague highlights.
- Wins and good news – Academic honours, awards, league table rankings.
- Campus and student life – Beautiful photography, student videos, student opportunities.
- Community engagement – University involvement in the city or causes.
- Nostalgia and tradition – Throwbacks, old photos, alumni achievements.
Posting Schedule
- Frequency: 3–5 times per week. Max once a day unless a very busy (good news) day.
- Best time: Evenings
- Format: Photo-led posts with strong captions; short native videos
Poor Practice
- Event promotions (those with limited audience interest) posted with no narrative or hook
- Text-only updates
- External links with no visual or context
- Overly corporate, formal tone
- Reposting from other platforms without adapting the style or voice
INSTAGRAM 
Summary of Channel Plan
Instagram remains one of UofG’s strongest platforms for student engagement. With Reels and Stories dominating the algorithm, success depends on vibrant, authentic, people-led content. A blend of polished campus visuals and spontaneous, student-focused posts creates a feed that’s both aspirational and relatable. With the right mixture of content that informs and inspires.
Objectives
- Attract and engage current and prospective students through visual storytelling
- Humanise the University via student voices (peer-to-peer content) and behind-the-scenes content
- Build a sense of belonging and community identity - #TeamUofG. And promote our friendly, diverse and inclusive community.
- Maintain a consistent, warm and visually cohesive brand presence
Best Practice Highlights
- Reels performing well: Short, vertical, fast-paced videos are top-performing content.
- Candid beats curated: Posts with a ‘real’ feel – student takeovers, reaction clips, quick Q&As – deliver stronger engagement than polished video.
- Stories are for interaction: Polls, quizzes and Q&A stickers help gather feedback and spark two-way conversation.
- Carousels are performing well. Use them for tips, showing student life and research explainers.
- Visual hook matters: The first frame of any post or story must grab attention in a crowded feed.
- There is still a place for photography: Although videos are a core part of our content strategy, a picture can paint a thousand words. Not everything has to be a video. For each message, ask yourself whether it is best told through photo or video. Beautiful photos of the campus always perform well.
Target Audiences
Prospective and current students, colleagues, alumni, local community.
Main Content Pillars
- Student life – Reels, carousels or takeovers showing a day in the life, a human story, societies, student events, tips and guidance or an element of the UofG student experience.
- Campus and city – Beautiful shots and seasonal views. Tours of campus areas eg the library tour. Things to do/places to eat and drink around campus and the city.
- Tips and insights – Study hacks, campus how-tos, career advice etc in carousel or video format
- Celebrations and milestones – Graduation, award wins, open days, rankings, weddings and University anniversaries.
- Culture and belonging – Content around identity, inclusion, support, communityand values
Posting Schedule
- Feed: 4-5 times per week (mix of Reels, photos and carousels). Max once per day.
- Stories: 3–5 days per week, mostly takeovers to showcase a wide view of the university. Ideally interactive (polls, quizzes, question boxes)
- Best time: Lunchtime (12–2pm) and early evening (5–7pm), weekdays
- Style: Friendly, upbeat, inclusive tone. Captions should invite comment (e.g. ‘Tell us your favourite study spot’)
Poor Practice
- Reposting videos from other channels without reformatting (e.g. landscape YouTube content)
- Filming videos through Zoom, this was ok during the pandemic but it’s best to film in-person on a phone or camera and ensure the shot is well framed, well-lit and sound quality is good.
- Graphic-heavy content with too much text
- Slow moving videos (for example talking heads with no interesting cutaways.) Grab the audience’s attention quickly and keep up the pace
- Generic promotional or events posts with no people or clear narrative
LINKEDIN 
Summary of Channel Plan
LinkedIn is a strong platform for reaching academics, alumni and prospective postgraduate students. It should be used to highlight the University’s thought leadership, research, graduate outcomes, and contribution to society, all delivered in a professional but human tone.
Objectives
- Position UofG as a leader in research, education and innovation.
- Showcase the achievements of alumni, students and colleagues
- Engage prospective postgraduates, partners and policymakers
- Strengthen the University’s reputation within professional and academic networks
Best Practice Highlights
- Research performs best with a human lens: Posts about breakthroughs or impact should lead with people or stories, not just data.
- Alumni content has reach and relevance: Posts about graduate success get high engagement and are often reshared by alumni networks.
- Photos outperform video: Especially images with a human subject – e.g. graduate portraits, lab scenes, students on campus.
- Document posts and carousels: You can insert a PDF to act as a photo carousel. These increase the time spent on our page and are increasingly favoured by the algorithm (e.g. ‘5 best study spots’)
- Professional, not corporate: Use a confident, informative tone without sounding like a press release.
Target Audiences
Primary: Alumni, prospective and current postgraduates, academics, institutional partners
Secondary: University staff, media, undergraduates
Main Content Pillars
- Alumni and student success – Career profiles, awards, achievements
- Student life – videos and carousels of current student life can connect with alumni for nostalgia and prospective students for aspiration.
- Research and innovation – Discoveries, partnerships, societal impact stories
- Institutional wins – Rankings, funding successes, new programmes
- Values and community – Diversity, equality and inclusion, sustainability, global engagement and campus shots
Posting Schedule
- Frequency: 3–4 posts per week. Max twice a day. If sharing twice, the posts will be as spaced out as possible.
- Best time: Mornings (08:30–11:00)
- Format: Text with photo, PDF documents, short video with captions, carousels
- Tone: Proud, professional, informative. Avoid formal jargon. Invite conversation or reflection.
Poor Practice
- Stock images or overly generic graphics
- Posts without a clear audience or purpose
- Events – particularly ones which have limited audience interest.
- Research stories that fail to connect with real-world impact
- Excessively internal language or acronyms
TIKTOK 
Summary of Channel Plan
TikTok is an effective platform for reaching Gen Z, particularly prospective students. For UofG, it’s a space to be playful, human and spontaneous. Success here depends on embracing trends, showcasing student life, and letting real voices lead.
Objectives
- Attract prospective students by showing the real UofG experience – this can challenge the stereotypes of UofG and show that it is accessible to all.
- Build recognition through relatable, trend-aware content
- Humanise the University through student-led storytelling and show our personality.
- Increase reach through platform-native editing, humour and interaction
Best Practice Highlights
- Short, snappy, authentic: Fast-paced videos (ideally 15–45 seconds) using trending audio or native captions perform best.
- Student-led = higher trust: Content made by or featuring students resonates more than branded videos.
- Trend + twist: Top universities succeed by adapting TikTok trends to reflect their campus culture or humour (e.g. Hogwarts vibes, weather jokes, inside references).
- Made for TikTok: Reposts from Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts can sometimes work but the best performing video is made with TikTok in mind, to fit in with trends or conversations on the app.
Target Audiences
Primary: Prospective undergraduates, especially those researching unis, current students, offer-holders and early-career alumni
Main Content Pillars
- A UofG take on trends – Keeping up to date trends to find ones suitable for our brand and where we add a UofG authentic feel to them.
- Student Life – Short vlogs from different student perspectives.
- Tips and guidance - “3 things I wish I knew before…” or myth-busting content.
- Campus moments – Filming in iconic or unexpected spots, with trends or humour layered in. Tours and behind the scenes for prospective students.
- Student challenges / reactions – Light-hearted, relatable content (exam stress, weather, you’re a UofG student if …)
- Celebrations – Graduation, Freshers’, rankings, anniversary celebrations - captured with energy and fun.
- Research – This is an area we haven’t explored much but is an area to do more in. Research on TikTok has to be fun and accessible. Tying it to a current trend or event can help boost engagement.
Posting Schedule
- Frequency: 3–5 videos per week
- Best time: Evenings (18:00–21:00)
- Format: Always vertical; use captions, trending sounds, jump cuts and in-app text
- Tone: Fun, informal, witty. Keep it real, don’t over-polish or script too heavily.
Poor Practice
- Polished promo videos or repurposed content from other platforms. Not every story works on TikTok, don’t force it. Better to use another platform. Need to be made specifically for the channel.
- Slow interviews or videos that are too long
- Trend attempts that feel forced or inauthentic – that don’t fit with our brand and values
- Posts without a clear hook in the first 2–3 seconds
Examples of Content by Category
| Category | Content |
|---|---|
| News & Achievements | |
| People Stories | Journey to UofG |
| Student Life | |
| Trends | |
| Reactive - Things that are happening right now |
|
| Research & Impact |
Partnership UofG and UofEdinburgh |
| Celebrations and Milestones |
Congratulations graduating class! |
| Campus | |
| Tips, Lists & Explainers |
Exploring the levels of the Library |
| Community & Belonging | |
| Throwbacks & Nostalgia |
People behind the buildings series |
First published: 14 January 2026