When planning to close a Georgia Tech social media account, consider timing and follow the communications schedule and best practices outlined for you here.
Timing
- Consider the best time of year to begin the process.
- Notify your communications team and discuss the strategy/approach with them.
- Direct followers to shared/partner Georgia Tech accounts that target similar audiences.
Once you have made the decision to close your social media account(s), it is recommended that you complete the following four-week account deactivation process to ensure that your followers have seen your communications and have had sufficient time to migrate to any new or existing account(s).
Recommended Schedule of Actions
Four-week account deactivation process.
Use the following schedule as a guide to communicate account closings:
Post 1:
One month before closing the account:
- Announce to your followers that the account will be closing.
- Encourage your followers to follow any shared/partner accounts to stay updated on your given subject matter.
Post 2:
Two weeks prior to closing the account:
- Post a reminder that your unit/department will no longer be utilizing the account and again encourage your audience to follow any shared/partner accounts.
- Change the bio/about section of the page to acknowledge the close of the account and direct followers to go to the shared/partner account's page for updates/news.
Post 3:
48 hours prior to closing the account:
- Post a notice that the account will be permanently closed as of [DATE] and will no longer be accessible. Include a final reminder to follow any shared/partner accounts.
- Remove branding from the accounts (in the cover photo, profile image, etc.). Leave the bio intact.
- Do not post any additional content to the account.
- Remove or update references to the social account from other sources, such as unit websites.
Account Closure Best Practices by Channel
Facebook Pages
Step 1:
Go to Page Roles OR Meta Business Manager and update the list of people who have access to the account and remove any linked accounts, ads, or apps.
- Leave at least two people from your unit/department as owners of the page, as to not lose access. Remove all others.
- Be sure to store relevant account information in a shared location (e.g. Box).
Step 2:
If you’d like to preserve any information from your page, request a download of the page info or data. It typically takes about 48 hours to receive the information but can take up to one week.
Step 3:
On the date of close, select Deactivate the page and complete the following actions:
- Click Continue and follow the steps to deactivate the page. This will allow you to effectively remove the page from public view (only people with access will be able to see it) but retain access in case you need it or want to reactivate the page.
- Set a reminder for 6 months to assess whether you want to permanently delete the page.
- If, at that point, you feel confident about the new direction and means of communicating without the social account, delete the page. If you still have reservations, take another 6 months to decide.
- If you don’t need the account after a year, it’s probably safe to remove it.
Instagram Pages
Step 1:
If connected to Meta Business Manager, remove any people who no longer need access as well as any linked accounts, ads, or apps.
Step 2:
Save your account credentials in a shared location so that your department/unit retains access to the account.
Step 3:
If you’d like to preserve any information from your account, request a Data Download. This typically takes less than 48 hours but can take up to one week.
Step 4:
On the date of close:
- Temporarily deactivate the account. This will hide your page and your content from all users but allow you to retain access in case you need it or want to reactivate the page.
- Be sure to log out of all devices.
Step 5:
Set a reminder for 6 months to assess whether you want to permanently delete the page.
- If, at that point, you feel confident about the new direction and means of communicating without the social account, delete the account. If you still have reservations, take another 6 months to decide.
- If, after a year, you find that you do not need the account, it’s probably safe to remove it.
Step 1:
Make sure you meet LinkedIn’s criteria for page deactivation. Make any necessary adjustments.
Step 2:
If you’d like to preserve any information from your account, export the page analytics.
Step 3:
On the date of close, permanently deactivate the page.
X/Twitter
Step 1:
Consider changing the email address associated with the account to an email address that you do NOT plan to utilize for a future/new X/Twitter account, as it will continue to be linked to that email after it’s deactivated.
Step 2:
Save your account credentials, including the updated email address, in a shared location so your department/unit has a record of it for the next 30 days (the time it will take for the page to be permanently deleted).
Step 3:
If you’d like to preserve any information from your account, follow the instructions below to download your account content or analytics. It typically takes about 48 hours to receive the information but can take up to one week:
Step 4:
On the date of close, choose one of the following options:
- Deactivate your account.
- The account will no longer be visible on X/Twitter. (X/Twitter will not permanently delete the account for 30 days after the deactivation request.)
- Be sure to log out of all devices.
- If you wish to retain access to the account OR retain ownership of the username (@handle), you can instead make the account private (rather than permanently deleting it) by following the steps below:
- Update your settings to protect your tweets. This will limit visibility of your account to your followers only.
- To ensure that no one can see the account's past activity, you will have to manually remove each follower.
Additional Resources
For more social media best practices, guidelines, and consultation services, visit: Social Media at Georgia Tech.