Content Publishing Checklists

Pre-Writing Checklist 

First things first, you must gather your materials! Here is a checklist to help you while you are in the pre-writing stages of making your content: 

• Pick a topic – Figure out which topic you want to post about. This can be a timely update, an event, a fun fact or tidbit, really the options are almost limitless. For a calendar and timely topic ideas, visit our social media calendar resources. 
• Make it visual – Not necessary, but content that has something visual (photos, graphics, video, even emojis!) tend to perform better than text-only content.
• Pick a few keywords to incorporate into your post – Making a post about gardening in Arkansas? Be sure to include the words “gardening,” “garden,” “plant,” “vegetable,” etc., in the description of your post or in the alt text to help your content get found in a search.
• Find a link or two to include (optional) - Including a link to our website helps to drive traffic and gives readers an opportunity to learn more about the topic you are posting about.
• Put it all together – Once you have all your materials gathered, you can start crafting your post! When you’ve finished your rough draft, you can move on to the next checklist for a guide in editing your content prior to sharing. 

Editing Checklist 

Once you’ve got a general layout of what you want to say in your content, you will need to edit it for accuracy, effectiveness, style, accessibility, and more. Use this checklist to help you with the editing process: 

• Ask yourself, “Does this post add value for my audience?” – If you don’t immediately say yes to this question, ask yourself, “Is there something I can do to the content to help make it more valuable?” If not, you may need to recruit a co-worker or scrap the idea entirely. 
• Check your voice – Does the tone you wrote in match the rest of your content? If not, make the appropriate changes to your work.
• Proofread – Check for spelling, grammar, formatting, and other issues before sharing your post.
• Check your links – If you are sharing links, make sure they open properly before AND after publishing.
• Make your first line attention-getting – The first 1–3 or lines of your caption are the most important, as everything that follows is typically hidden by a “See More” button. Make your first line engaging enough that people will want to click “See More.”
• Add alt text to your images – Some platforms allow you to edit the alt text of an image easily while posting. If you are using a feature that allows you to do this, add your alt text. For info on how to write alt text, visit our resource all about alt text. If you cannot easily add alt text with the publishing tool you are using, you can bypass adding the alt text by a.) adding a “photo description” in your caption, or b.) adding the alt text after you publish.
• Double-check glaring issues with captions on videos – If you are posting a video, edit any glaring issues you find in the auto-generated captions.
• Check color contrast on graphics – Using the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker, check that any graphics you made are readable (We recommend using www.canva.com to design your graphics. To get access to a Canva account, fill out a Software Request Form). You can also try squinting, and if you have a difficult time reading your graphic, try using a different font or color combination. For questions about color contrast and accessibility, contact accessibility@uada.edu.
• Let someone else look at it – Before posting, share the content with a co-worker to get a second opinion on the content. 

Post-Publishing Checklist 

Once you have published, you still need to assess your content. Use this checklist after you’ve published your post: 

• Add your alt text in case the publishing feature you used to publish didn’t allow you to add your alt text to your images – If your publishing feature did not allow you to add alt text to your image, you can do that once it’s live. 
• Check your published link – Click your link to double-check that it opens properly. 
• Share into relevant groups – Find the most appropriate groups to share your content to and share it with them. Make sure you are following any group rules they have established. Try to avoid posting too often to groups, as this can seem spammy. 
• Share to your Story on Instagram and Facebook – To promote your post, you can share it to your Story on Instagram and/or Facebook to let your followers know you have a new post.
• Share to personal account, if applicable (completely optional) – If you have a personal account and would like to share your content to that account, feel free to do that as way to help promote the content.
• Tag accounts in the comments that may be interested in seeing the post – Do you know of another page or person interested in the topic? Either with your UADA page or your personal page (NOTE: you do not have to use your personal page for work purposes unless you want to), tag other accounts in the comments of your post.
• Add any extra links, remarks, photos, questions, etc. to the comments to encourage audience engagement – You can use your comments as a discussion board by supplying extra links, articles, accounts, comments, ideas, questions, stickers, etc. To get the conversation going. 

 

For a printout of these lists, download our Printable Social Media Content Publishing Checklist.

 

For questions on making content, contact socialmedia@uada.edu.