How does your front door look?

We all know how crucial social media platforms are when it comes to welcoming new students to our University and CU community.

They’re the window we look through to glimpse at what’s inside. They’re the door we enter through, hoping we will be a welcomed guest.

As CUs we hope and pray that the new students who walk past our door will ring the bell, come on in and know that, whoever they are, whatever their background, they are welcome at our CU.

We hope and pray that the welcome they receive from us will lead them to the greater welcome they will receive from God through Jesus.

So, if social media is the CU front door, how does it look? Is it a mess, full of old posts, forgotten events and not been updated for years? Or is it welcoming, interesting, current, and vibrant?

We Welcome Because God Has Welcomed Us

At its heart the gospel is a message of welcome. Through the cross of Jesus, God has opened His door to us. He ushers us in, He brings us to the table, He feeds us, He makes us welcome. We now long for others to know this same welcome for themselves.

Now more than ever, social media is the place where people make first connections. Considering how we welcome people means intentionally seeking those who are searching and warmly welcome all who find us, just as we’ve been welcomed by Christ.

Finding Community

When God welcomes us, He welcomes us into community.

It’s about more than likes on our feed or to gain the status as an influencer. We want people to experience the CU community.

Instagram, TikTok and Twitter are great platforms for engaging people and raising awareness of CU.

But how does someone come into the community and start meeting people?

To build the kind of community you want, your CU needs to be on Facebook.

While a significant proportion of 18 year olds arriving at university this year may not be active on Facebook, we all know that university life is almost impossible to organise without Facebook. There is good reason for this: Facebook is the best social media platform for community, with the most functionality built in for group activity.

A CU Facebook page is the best option when seeking to welcome new students because it:

• Can be easily found by those who are looking for you and those that aren’t.
• Allows the public to see into the life of your community.
• Enables you both to post to everyone and to message individuals.
• Makes it easy to interact with other groups and pages.
• Provides a great first platform from which students can then join fresher-specific and accommodation-specific Facebook groups and events, and really get stuck into the community.

(See appendix 1 – Should I start a new page from scratch or clean up our current page?)