The Social Media team uses social media to generate as much organic (unpaid) reach and engagement as possible for the university. In addition, the team advises colleagues and departments on how to use social media to increase their impact.

Do you have questions about using social media?

First, contact the communications advisor for your faculty or department. The advisor will review your communication goals and recommend the mix of communication tools you can use. If necessary, the advisor will consult with the Social Media Team about what’s possible on social media.

Do you have questions about running paid social campaigns?

Please contact your communications advisor. If necessary, the advisor can set up a paid campaign with the help of the digital marketer.

Do you have questions about creating videos or about YouTube?

Please contact video@vu.nl with your question.

Paid Social Media

Paid social media is used within the VU for the following purposes:

Raising awareness about a research project, event, app, podcast, publication, etc.

• Promoting degree programs, workshops, seminars, webinars, courses, etc.
• Recruiting registrations or participants for an event, survey, etc.
• All other types of “inside-out” messages

The majority of social media inquiries received by Communications & Marketing relate to the above. To spread your message or post as effectively as possible on social media, we recommend placing your post in a targeted and paid manner.

Organic social media

Within the VU, there are several official VU organic social media channels:

The corporate, or main, VU channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

1. The faculty social media channels on Facebook.
2. The social media channels of research centers and institutes.

The Communications & Marketing Department manages the corporate and faculty social media channels. The objectives of these organic accounts are to raise the profile of the VU as a brand, with a focus on the key priorities of diversity, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. The social media strategy is an extension of the VU’s corporate communications strategy.

The goal of the social media strategy is to position the VU brand as strongly as possible and to continue achieving annual growth in reach among relevant target audiences. The strategy takes into account major news stories involving the VU, its profile themes, and key priorities, guided by the rules and algorithms of social media platforms, as well as the social media team’s expertise on what does and does not work on social media.

Frequently Asked Questions

"Can I post my message on the VU’s social media channels?"

If you have interesting content, the first step is to contact the communications advisor in your own department. The communications advisor will assess your communication needs and can advise you on the appropriate strategy and resources. Social media may not be the right fit for your objective. Content is not “reposted” on the VU’s social media channels. All content is created by an editorial team and social media specialists. Any relevant input can be forwarded to the editorial team via a communications advisor.

“Can our program/department start its own social media account?”

VU’s social media account management follows the VU brand policy. This entails the following:

1. For units that are 100% part of the VU, a single main brand is used, so that everyone benefits from the international name recognition and logo of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. On social media, degree programs, faculties, and services fall under the main channels of VU Amsterdam.
2. VU units that have their own secondary-level logo may, upon consultation, create their own social media account.
3. Degree programs, projects, departments, activities, and acronyms do not have their own logos and are therefore not eligible for their own social media accounts.
4. The use of other, separate logos for VU organizational units, projects, groups, etc., is not permitted, in accordance with existing brand guidelines.
5. Sub-brands can contact designstudio@vu.nl to coordinate the design of a social media avatar. In general, if you do not use your own logo, it is also not possible to launch your own website or social media account as part of the VU.

"How can I have a paid post published?"

Please contact your department’s communications advisor; he or she can assist you with your inquiry.

"Why can’t a post be published ‘for free’ on the corporate channels?"

There’s a difference between posting a message on social media and whether that message is seen by followers. Over the past 10 years, all social media platforms have been designed so that corporate accounts can no longer post “free” messages to promote their own initiatives. That makes sense; otherwise, all companies would dominate social media platforms with their “spam,” and regular users would be driven away by this type of content. Social media users are primarily on social media for entertainment, consuming a mix of personal content from friends and family and a mix of inspiring and easily digestible content from their favorite soccer club, brands, and companies they follow.

As a university account, we should therefore be as human and social as possible, and post content that followers actually find enjoyable and/or interesting. In terms of metrics, this quality is measured by “likes,” “comments,” and all other forms of engagement. If we fail to do this and post content that is heavily one-sided and uninteresting to a large portion of our followers, the social media platform will not only suppress that specific post but also our future content. The result is that our account and all our posts will no longer be shown to followers. In practice, a successful social media strategy is a process of refining our content on a daily basis, experimenting extensively, and making adjustments based on developments on social media.