Below you will find the steps you need to follow to create a new EIT Food social media channel if you are a regional colleague. 


If you are an EIT Food project partner or functional area colleague, please read this article: Should I create a social media channel?


For some great tips and alternative options to setting up a new social media channel to promote your work, go to: How can I promote something on EIT Food's channels?


If you are interested in having a personal social media channel and want to make it more professional, here's a quick guide.


If you are a regional colleague and are ready to set up a social media channel, this guide will help get you started:


TABLE OF CONTENTS


What do I need to do?

Decide if you need a new channel

Before establishing any new channels, please consider how long it takes to build an engaged following and manage a social media channel.  


Read our guide to creating a social media strategy and also consider whether a new social media channel is the right thing to do. This article will help you to determine this: Should I create a new EIT Food social media channel?

 

Create a plan

If you have everything in place and a clear requirement to create a new social media channel, send the core communications team a summary of your plan via socialmedia@eitfood.eu. Please use the form at the bottom of this page to submit your request. 

 

The core communications team will discuss your plans and will help you to determine what the next steps are. Please note that not all requests are approved and there needs to be a clear long-term plan in place.


Set up your channel

Once the plan has been agreed with the core communications team, you can set up either a Facebook or Twitter channel, or both. 


Follow the EIT Food branding guidelines 

Don’t forget the brand guidelines when setting up the profile images for the channel. The EIT Food logo and EU flag always need to appear.


Profile image and logo guide 

Your new channel's profile picture should follow the same layout as new project logos. For example: 

 


Header Image

The EIT Food logo and EU flag need to appear on the social media header image as per EIT's requirements.

Please select an image that represents your region or your functional area and embed it into one of our social media header image templates:


EIT Food social media header image templates (click on the image to access the template)


fixed EIT Food Logo and EU flagexchangeable EIT Food Logo and fixed EU flag 
Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn


Please make sure you choose an image that follows our guidelines for choosing EIT Food images. If you want to exchange the EIT Food logo with a regional logo select one of the templates on the right. If you want to keep the EIT Food logo select one of the templates on the left. 


The colours used in the templates were deliberately chosen to match the colour palette of our brand guidelines. If you wish to change the green to another colour, please keep it within the colours of the EIT Brand Book, pages 38-42. Do not change the colour of the light-green and white elements.


You should set up links in your Twitter Bio and Facebook "about" section to the "In Your Country" regional page on the EIT Food website. 

Setting up a Facebook channel

  • You need to follow the guidelines outlined by Facebook to create your Facebook channel. 

  • Naming conventions should follow the core channels:

    • EIT Food West

    • EIT Food South

    • EIT Food Poland

    • EIT Food North East


  • Adapt the "About" section to suit your region and narrative. Use these tips as a guide:

    • Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy, and trusted.
    • Take inspiration and messaging from the EIT Food website: https://www.eitfood.eu/about-eit-food. 
    • Include a description of the countries you cover.
    • Always link to https://www.eitfood.eu/ or your EIT Food "in your country" page from your profile.
    • Link out to the EIT Food Privacy Policy.
    • Follow the guidelines above to create your profile image and cover photo.

Setting up a Twitter channel

  • Set up a regional EIT Food Twitter channel using Twitter’s guide. 

  • Naming conventions should follow the core channels:

    • EITFood_South  
    • EITFood_Italy
    • EITFood_NWest
  • Usernames must be fewer than 15 characters in length.
  • You can adapt EIT Food’s profile description to suit your region and narrative. Use these tips as a guide:
    • Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy, and trusted.
    • Include a description of the countries you cover or say "for the full list of countries, see link in bio".
    • Always link to https://www.eitfood.eu/ or your EIT Food "in your country" page from your profile.
    • Follow the guidelines above to create your profile image and cover photo.

Setting up a LinkedIn Showcase Page


Showcase Pages are extensions of an existing LinkedIn company page, designed to spotlight individual sub-brands, business units and initiatives. Once created, a Showcase Page will be listed under 'Affiliated Pages' on the main LinkedIn Page.  


Creating branded images for your social media channel

Ensure the channels are secure

 

Take steps to ensure your social media channels are properly secured and protected.

Password security

  • Passwords must be strong. They should: 

    • Be over 14 characters.
    • Use a combination of both upper and lower case letters, symbols, and numbers.
    • Avoid common substitutions such as p@ssw0rd instead of password.
  • Random password generators can be used from reputable sources.  
  • Passwords should be changed every quarter, or when your team members or agencies change.


Users and roles

  • Limit who has access to the channels as an admin or with the password. Access should only be given to those who have permission to post on the channel.
  • For Facebook, you can limit the level of access offered so that some admins are only able to view analytics or manage conversations.

Data protection

With social media being used as a direct means of communication, it is important that you keep social media platforms secure and handle your social media contacts' data appropriately.


The handling of any personal data should always be taken seriously, especially as GDPR brings with it significant consequences for non-compliance. If you will be using contact details obtained via social media in a way not described in the existing EIT Food privacy policy, this must be updated to inform users of how their information will be used. Please write to communication@eitfood.eu providing the relevant information that needs to be added.


Some data protection tips:

  • As long as data is kept within the native social media platforms, the social media channel is the data controller:
  • Downloading contacts from a social media channel makes EIT Food the data controller so it is best to keep everything within the channel (e.g Twitter lists). 
  • GDPR restrictions are mainly relevant for paid social media, where custom lists and behaviours are tracked and managed. Uploading contact lists to a social media channel makes EIT Food the data controller and consent is needed. Ensure you continuously update your custom audiences.
  • On Facebook in the "About" section you can link to the EIT Food privacy policy.

Scheduling tools

These tools help you to plan and schedule content in advance, so you don’t need to log in to Facebook or Twitter as regularly, or at weekends. They also have social listening and analytics all in one place. 


Good ones to use are:


You can also schedule content for free within the native platforms on Facebook or Twitter if you don't have budget to pay for a scheduling tool.

Social media content calendars

It is good practice to create a content calendar to help you manage your social media channels and develop posts in advance. Some sample social media calendars are included at the end of this article to help get you started. 


Create unique and informative content

If you are wondering how to find relevant content for your channels, this video provides some quick insights for personal channels and might give you some initial ideas. 




What do I need to do? Closing an official EIT Food social media channel

Official EIT Food social media channels should only be set up with a long-term vision. It should therefore not be necessary to close the channel. In the eventuality that a channel can no longer be regularly sustained, it should be deactivated or deleted. 

Please follow the following process in order to do this: 

  1. Contact the EIT Food core communications team via socialmedia@eitfood.eu to explain the reason for closing the channel and to check that there is no reason against doing so (e.g. It is possible that a different team decides to repurpose the channel) 
  2. One month before deleting the channel, please include the following message in the profile description and latest post, to explain that the channel will soon be deactivated or deleted: “This account is no longer active and will be deleted on [DATE]. Please go to @EITFood for the latest information and updates.” This will give interested followers the chance to remain connected to EIT Food via other channels.
  3. Follow the social media network’s rules for deactivating or deleting the channel completely.



Quick tips
  • Ensure your social media channel has a different focus to the existing EIT Food channels, such as reaching very local audiences with cultural and language differences.
  • You can reuse anything from core social media channels, as long as you also have content that is relevant to your local audience. 
  • On Twitter you can reshare third party content to make it less resource-intensive. 
  • Act responsibly. As soon as you act on EIT Food’s behalf by distributing information, you are upholding the company image. 
  • Spend time. Official EIT Food channels must be continually updated and monitored by a dedicated account manager, available to create daily content and work on a long-term strategy. 
  • Be responsive. Respond to comments and Direct Messages in a timely manner when a response is appropriate and will provide value. 
  • Be respectful. Be careful discussing things where emotions run high (e.g. politics and religion) and show respect for others’ opinions, always keeping it appropriate and polite. It is always best not to respond to negative comments. Never contribute anything that could be considered offensive. 
  • Always proofread for spelling and grammar before hitting the publish/post button. Don’t violate company privacy or confidentiality. 
  • Never post confidential EIT Food, project or partner information or discuss internal strategies on social media. 
  • Conversations are a two way street. The goal is to become part of a community conversation. This can be through commenting, contributing ideas, voting on content, posting/responding to questions, or posting, including re-shares.
  • It’s not always about EIT Food. Don’t continuously talk about EIT Food and EIT Food opportunities and activities. Ask interesting questions and invite opinions and discussions. Interact. Find ways to engage with other social media users who are providing valuable content and information. 
  • Don’t take credit for information that is not yours. It’s fine to share relevant and useful information/images that have been generated by others, but always provide credit and be certain you are not violating copyrights, trademarks, or publicity rights without obtaining permission. 
  • Remember: the core EIT Food communications team is on hand to help if you get stuck - email socialmedia@eitfood.eu.


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This article was last reviewed in November 2022 and will be reviewed again in April 2023.

If you have feedback on this article, do let us know. You can drop us a note via our contact form.