LinkedIn is a valuable social networking site for professionals and graduates to connect with colleagues, potential employers, and business contacts for resources and employment opportunities. Before you create a LinkedIn presence for a University of Houston-Clear Lake unit, contact the Office of University Communications to discuss your needs and for guidelines on managing your profile. Refer to the UH System Social Media Policy for official policies for all UH System campuses. The following recommendations serve as a guideline to managing your social media site to best reflect your area on LinkedIn. If you have any questions, email socialmedia@uhcl.edu.
Review LinkedIn’s User Agreement. Note: You must be a LinkedIn member to create and manage a Page or Group.
- Company Pages serve as a business page within LinkedIn. It is for members to follow and research your company news, employees and employment opportunities. Since the university is the overarching company for potential employees, a group page is to be used by an individual department, office or center.
- Groups are smaller networks of LinkedIn users focused on a particular topic or interest to post discussion items, links and opportunities. For example, classes or groups can discuss projects, class topics, field trends and internship/employment opportunities. Groups can be open, where any LinkedIn user can view, or private, where group members are approved and content is only visible to members. If you choose LinkedIn, create a group to represent their area to connect with students and alumni.
When setting up your LinkedIn Group, incorporate the university name in the following manner: UHCL Department name, UH-Clear Lake Department Name or University of Houston-Clear Lake Department Name. This name should be consistent with other social media sites you manage, if any.
Examples:
- UHCL Psychology Program
- UH-Clear Lake Curriculum and Instruction
- University of Houston-Clear Lake Accounting
Content for Groups
Focus on the needs and wants of your group members. Think of the information that would appeal to them (job opportunities, internships, conferences, career and industry articles, etc.)
Lead group discussions by posting relevant information that spark conversation and feedback from your group members. For example, you can share industry news, career tips, industry/university, or job opportunities.
Use Links
Use links to drive followers to your area’s website. This will help reduce the possibility of misinformation and drive traffic to the university website. You may use a link shortener such as https://bitly.com/ to shorten links. This tool allows you to track things like clicks and referrals for your links.