Social Media Guidelines

Why do I want a social media account?

Focusing on why you want a social media account can help you decide if you actually need one.

Some good reasons:

• Wanting to give potential students in your program a look at what it’s like to be part of the group.
• Sharing content that will make current and past students feel more connected to your group.
• There are many people in your audience, and social media could be a way to reach them and give them a chance to share your information.

Some not-so-good reasons:

• A similar program has social media.
• Social media is the only way to get information out to a large amount of people.
• Anyone can do social media, so might as well.

Who is my audience?

Knowing who your audience is will guide what content you should create, what platforms to use, and what your growth expectations should be. Some things to consider in your audience:

• What's their relationship to Xavier? Are you targeting current Xavier students, parents, alumni, employees, and/or community members?
• What are their ages? Social media channel preferences are largely influenced by the user’s generation.
• What school year are they? First years and seniors are going through very different things, and depending on your program, you might be engaging with them in very different ways.

Will making a new social media account make it easier for my audience to find information that will make their life better?

If Yes: Great! This should be the minimum before starting any new account.

Not Sure? There are many other ways to share information with your audience! Think about email, web updates, collaborating with a similar program or organization with pre-existing social media accounts, having a GroupMe, making Xavier announcements, or working with MarComm on the main Xavier channels!

What content will I share?

 What content do you like to engage with on your personal accounts? It’s probably updates from people and groups you care about, things that make you laugh or are interesting, and/or posts that otherwise make you feel good. Make a list of 8-10 content types that you’ll put out, such as photos from events, success tips for my program, student internship features, or alumni advice, then run it past a couple of people from your audience. Do they think they’d find these content types interesting? Would they want to follow an account which posted about these things?

Who will be contributing to this account? How much time will they be spending per week?

Social media is a time commitment (MarComm has a full-time team of people creating content, writing posts, and monitoring accounts), and it can be difficult finding time to dedicate to running accounts in addition to your own job. However, there are also challenges with knowing who is posting if you have multiple people running an account.

Identifying who will be posting, when they’ll be posting, and how you’ll keep track of responsibilities can help you have a more successful account.

How will I get people to follow my account? 

In order to have a meaningful account, you need to make sure your audience knows about and follows it. Before launch, determine how you’ll be promoting it to your audience.

Match Your Account Platforms to Your Audience

You don’t need to have an account on every social media platform. If you’re trying to reach current students, we recommend Instagram and/or Twitter. If you’re trying to reach a broader audience, consider Twitter or Facebook.

Complete Your Profile

Choose a name that is short and clear, add your website, have an engaging profile photo that helps show what you do, and fill out your bio to show why someone would like you and would want to follow you.

Make Your First Couple of Posts

It’s okay to make your first couple posts into the digital void before you get followers. First, it’ll get you used to the logistics of posting and editing. Second, many students we’ve talked to have said they look at past posts to see if they’re interesting and consistent before following a new account.

Share Your Accounts

Once you have a couple posts up, start sharing your accounts with the promotional plan you created in the planning stages!

70-20-10 Guide for Content

Think about grabbing lunch with an acquaintance. If they spend the entire time talking about themselves, would you want to spend any more time with them? Probably not. But you’d likely keep them as a lunch buddy if they talk about things they have experience in that they know you’re interested in too. Social media accounts should be the second type of lunch friend, and an easy way to do this is with the 70-20-10 rule.

• 70 percent of your posts should be about things that are related to your brand that would be helpful to your audience. This shows that you understand your audience and are an expert in the field. (e.g., Xavier posting about ways to make friends at college).
• 20 percent of your posts should be sharing other people talking about your brand. (e.g., Xavier posting about our rankings or a story of an alum written by the Enquirer).
• 10 percent of your posts can be self-promotional. (e.g., Xavier posting about admissions deadlines).

How often should I post?

All social media platforms have algorithms that decide what users will see in their newsfeed, and most give precedence to accounts that post regularly. You want to be providing interesting and high-quality content, but you don’t want to post just for the sake of posting or spam your audience so much that they’ll ignore your messages.

We suggest posting at least 8-10 times a month on each platform.

Can I share someone else's content?

In many cases, it is okay to share other people’s content or posts. However, keep the following in mind before sharing:

Sharing content, whether you’re posting an article or retweeting someone, is like giving a mini-endorsement, so make sure you feel comfortable endorsing the person from a University account.

• Is the author/poster in any way controversial, or do they have views that don't represent the values or mission of your department and the University?
• Is the content credible? It doesn’t have to be from an expert, but if it’s from a non-expert, then they should be talking about a personal experience or citing people who ARE experts.

Do I need hashtags? Which ones should I use?

Hashtags are a way to aggregate posts about the same thing and/or give additional context. Xavier frequently uses #AllForOne and #LetsGoX. Occasionally, we’ll use an event-based hashtag for large events like graduation.

Individual accounts or programs likely do not need to create their own hashtags. If you are using a hashtag with multiple words, make sure to capitalize the first letter of each word to make it easier to read and more accessible.

Image Selection

The best visuals are uncluttered, interesting and inclusive. Be mindful of any corporate branding and anything in the background that might raise eyebrows.

When you're looking for visual assets that haven't been created by you or for the University, make sure you're using images with the proper permissions. Don't just rip a photo off Google!

Adding alternative text (a description of what’s happening in a picture) to your photos

This will help people using screen readers or who are using a device that won’t load the photo to know what’s going on.

Captioning your videos

This helps Deaf and hard-of-hearing people understand a video, in addition to people watching videos with the sound off. If you are using an auto-captioning app, make sure to read through the captions to confirm they’ve picked up the actual words used.

Including any important copy in a designed image in the post copy

Screen readers can’t pick up text on a graphic, so making sure any graphic text is also in the post copy will make it more accessible to all Musketeers.

Using the app’s default font

Copying and pasting a different font into your post can look cool, but the text won’t be picked up by screen readers and often can’t be found by people using the search function.

Sticking to a few emojis

Each emoji has a name that is read aloud when screen readers come across them. Using emojis can make a post very confusing for someone using a screen reader if they're used excessively or instead of words. Some emojis also have different meanings among different cultures, so they may not show what you were intending.

Accessible-Social.com

Accessible-Social.com is an incredible resource to help you make your content as accessible as possible.

Creator Studio

Creator Studio lets you post and schedule Instagram and Facebook content.

Tweetdeck

Not only does Tweetdeck let you schedule posts, but it is invaluable for social listening using keywords and/or location.

Social Media Examiner

The Social Media Examiner website puts out many different forms of content to keep you up-to-date on all things social media. 

Sparks and Honey 

Tune into the Sparks and Honey podcast to know everything about Gen Z, and check out their quarterly intelligence reports for cultural deep dives.

Social Media Today Newsletter

The Social Media Today newsletter takes broader look at the social landscape and what's going on.

Higher Ed Social Facebook Group

The Higher Ed Social Facebook group is an incredible forum. Ask for advice, see what other higher ed institutions are doing, and even get trainings and mentorship.