Takes over Arts & Sciences account, develops design standards
Harrington School is now in charge of social media content in the College of Arts and Sciences. Contributed by: harrington.uri.edu
The Harrington School’s social media accounts have recently undergone major changes, including the start of Harrington’s TikTok account, as well as the school taking over the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) social media accounts.
The social media accounts are run by Leah Cooper, the social media specialist for Harrington, with her team of eight interns.
Since she started two years ago, Cooper said she has tried to ramp up the Harrington social media accounts, giving them all a bit of a new look. When Cooper started, the Instagram account had approximately 1,000 followers and, as of Oct. 27, the account has 3,165 followers, she said.
The Harrington team also recently took over the A&S social media accounts, including their LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“In September, we took over all [of] Arts and Sciences socials to keep the brand a little bit more integrated,” Cooper said. “For us to grow, we want to make sure that we help them grow as well.”
According to Abigail Amatucci, a social media and video production intern for Cooper, the social media interns come up with content ideas and pitch them to Cooper. If they are approved, they are the ones going out and getting the content, whether that be pictures or videos.
“From my internship with the Harrington School, I have learned so much about working in social media and digital video,” Amatucci said. “This internship has given me a great opportunity to build my portfolio and work with other students I normally wouldn’t work with at URI.”
She said that one of the most important aspects of social media is making sure that everyone involved is following the same style guides. This includes having the same fonts, colors and overall look between different accounts.
“We’re trying to unify Harrington socials and their message,” Cooper said. “We’re working to show how we’re a unified brand.”
One of the big projects that Cooper and the social media interns are working on is connecting the A&S’ Instagram branding to be more connected with the Harrington Instagram. New style guides have been put in place for the account to match the Harrington Instagram account.
According to her, the team is hoping to establish the new style rules so that no matter which major within the school is making a post, they can still follow the same format as other established accounts, giving them a boost.
Outside of appearance and consistency, the team’s strategy also lays out how often they are posting and what each social media platform’s content should be.
“We try to post three to five times a week,” Amatucci said. “We just want to have a clear voice and branding strategies that come across in a very clear way to everyone, so there’s certain things to consider. If we post on Instagram that’s mostly targeted towards students. If we post on LinkedIn, that’s mostly targeted toward alumni and donors.”
Recently, both the Harrington and A&S social media accounts have pivoted towards posting more video content. This pivot included the creation of the Harrington TikTok account that features different content than what people might see on other platforms.
On the Instagram accounts, Cooper said there are frequent spotlights on alumni and faculty, trivia questions on their stories and posts about major events that are coming up. The TikTok account has been more focused on following current trends, including a recent TikTok Bones Day or no Bones Day video, based off of a viral trend, that was posted.
Right now, Cooper said she feels like a lot of students don’t identify with A&S because of how large it is as a school and how many majors it covers. She hopes to create the same pride for A&S students that Harrington students have.
“We want to make sure that we help connect everyone with Harrington or with Arts and Sciences,” Cooper said. “Arts and sciences is a little harder. Harrington students have the identity of a Harrington School student, but it’s more of a challenge with Arts and Sciences since it is one of the biggest colleges on campus.”
These social media accounts also show current and prospective students, as well as alumni, the different experiences individuals have as part of these schools.
“It just really shows who we are as a school,” Amatucci said. “It’s also important, especially to prospective students, to get an idea of what we have to offer and what we look like from the inside because getting that insight through social media is something you won’t always get from a campus tour.”