Guidelines
- Registering an Existing Account
- Registering a New Account
- Managing Social Media Accounts
- Account Branding
- Best Practices
- Content
- Personal Use Social Media Guidelines
Registering an Existing Account
Administrators of existing accounts associated with Wingate University are required to register each account.
To register the account, please complete the online registration form (add link). Upon submission, the social media manager will contact the account administrators listed about next steps. Registration will result in the inclusion of the account in the University’s official social media directory (add link), along with access to a University branding package, design software, access to university photos, and entry into a campus-wide network of social media administrators, who can share ideas and resources.
Please review the following considerations before registering an account:
- All officially recognized accounts must be operated by at least two individuals serving as account administrators at all times. Both a primary and secondary account administrator are required and must include a Wingate University student, faculty member or staff member.
- Account credentials and/or granting of administrative privileges to the University’s social media manager is required of all accounts as part of the registration process. Please use the email address wingatemarketing@gmail.com to register the university's social media manager.
- If you wish to consolidate or delete an account, please notify the social media manager so that the social media directory can be updated.
Registering a New Account
Operating a university-affiliated social media presence requires planning, management and execution. Before creating an account, please fill out the request form and consider the following:
- What is the purpose of the requested account?
- How does this purpose align with your organization’s goals and objectives?
- Is your account purpose unique from what already exists in the University’s social media space?
- Do you have the resources to maintain a consistent presence?
- Do you have the personnel and time to effectively manage the account?
- Is there a steady stream of timely and relevant content to pull from?
If you have questions or would like a recommendation on your social media presence, please contact the social media manager at j.kay@wingate.edu.
Managing Social Media Accounts
Although social media management is not “one size fits all,” it can be helpful to keep best practices and tips in mind surrounding the following areas when working to keep your presence timely and relevant.
Community Management
- When possible, respond to messages and questions in 24-48 hours.
- If issues arise, attempt to respond or reach out in a private direct message to take care of the issue in a more individualized setting. Notify Wingate University’s social media manager with any issues pertaining directly to the University.
- All commentary present in the social space does not warrant a response, but commentary should still be monitored.
- Where possible, answer questions or issue corrections where misinformation might be present.
- Remember that you are representing the University when responding to concerns or questions or when clearing up misinformation. Tone and voice should be respectful, helpful and professional.
- If you encounter commentary that is concerning (inflammatory, derogatory, racist, violent, etc.), please contact the university's social media manager, Jill Kay at j.kay@wingate.edu.
Engagement
- Engage in proactive social media listening to identify conversations by regularly searching hashtags to identify positive or negative conversations about your topic or our brand.
- Reciprocate when your audience engages with you. Comment on or like their comments, respond to mentions, and like their content.
- Refrain from entering conversations in which your account has not been invited or that may be controversial or do not pertain to the University.
- Ensure that your accounts are appropriately monitored if the main account administrator(s) will be unavailable.
Trending Topics + External Conversations
- Complete a social media landscape scan to assess the space for breaking news and general commentary before posting content.
- Refrain from posting content during major breaking-news events, and remember to turn off any scheduled content during that time.
- Do not from use University social media channels to comment on trending topics, currents events or political views.
Account Branding
Social media is an effective and engaging way to showcase Wingate University’s brand. The information below focuses on the visual aspects of the brand and adhering to brand standards. Learn more about our Wingate University's branding guidelines here.
Profile branding
All social media accounts should be branded according to the University’s guidelines. Please contact the social media manager for assistance.
Visual assets
- The University has created a repository of visual assets that are available for use on University-affiliated social media platforms, including:
- Cover-photo imagery
- Graphic elements sized per platform
- Templates for promoting events
Account-branding best practices
- Think like an audience member. What might help reinforce to them that this account, post or message is from or about Wingate?
- Try to build consistency across the various social media platforms, if applicable.
- Use the University logo as an identifier, not as a graphic element when applying to social media graphics. It should not appear in the background of other elements, stretched, or transparent.
Best Practices
Establish a Strategy
It’s never too late to implement a social media strategy. Reflect on the communication goals that you want to achieve and how they will help accomplish broader goals for your organization/department. Use these goals to inform a strategy that will drive your platform and content decisions, and measure against them to understand your progress.
Prioritize Accuracy
It is our duty to maintain accuracy and transparency in the information shared with our audiences. It is best to carefully verify information before sharing on a public platform. If there is a mistake in your content, delete the post, fix, and re-share.
Protect Privacy and Adhere to Policies
Whether shared in the platform feed or through private messaging, keep in mind that all information disseminated by a University account can become and remain public for many years to come. Do not share confidential or personal information that can potentially compromise the privacy or safety of individuals.
Maintain Activity
Manage a regular posting cadence and engagement with other users to maintain an active presence. Planning ahead and using calendars or scheduling tools can help maintain a steady stream of content.
Accountability
All content shared on affiliated accounts is an extension of the University’s brand and reflective of the University’s stance on public policies or issues. Be intentional with all content shared, realizing that reputational damage can result from missteps.
If you have any questions related to the management of your social media accounts, please contact the social media manager.
Content
With so many audiences and channel types making up the social media landscape, tactics to engage and connect with audiences may differ depending on which audience you’re targeting and which platform you’re on.
Oftentimes, audiences can be disinterested if messaging isn’t engaging, targeted, and custom. It’s important to know that brands don’t have to be everywhere — or on every platform — to make an impact. Focusing time, resources and energy on the platform(s) where your content can provide the most value is recommended over being present on every social media platform.
When developing materials that promote the University, use words and phrases that reinforce the appropriate tone:
- Inclusive – welcoming / open / understanding / embracing / value
- Inspirational – believe / excellence / challenge / opportunity / mission
- Active – spirit / vital / diligent / engaged / energy
- Optimistic – hope / future / promise / vision / upbeat
Facebook
Since Facebook is one of the oldest flagship social media platforms, you may see a wide variance of audiences here, but can expect the largest concentration of families, faculty and staff. This platform is optimized for video content and human interest articles, and it is best practice to post 3-5 times a week.
- Try creating organic content and posts whenever possible.
- Sharing from the main University account may be requested in certain instances.
- Facebook algorithms reward content that generates activity by showing the post to more people. To increase reach, try asking questions of your audience. This encourages authentic engagement from your audience and helps your content perform better.
- Maintain a mix of photos, videos, and articles.
You may also see a wide variance of audiences here spanning all members of the University community, but most users come here for news and timely content. Real-time updates, announcements, features, news articles and engagement-based content performs well here, and it’s best practice to post often.
- Tweets do not live in the feed for very long, so repurposing a single piece of content (news story, feature, etc.) more than once is a good way to maximize your reach.
- Use threads for tweeting around events or sharing detailed messages.
- Be an active member of Twitter by liking relevant tweets, retweeting with and without comments, and responding to mentions when appropriate.
This is the most popular platform among prospective students, current students and young alumni. Since this platform is extremely visual, use it to showcase campus beauty and campus life. Consider using a variety of formats – feed posts, video, stories, or reels – to provide an authentic experience. It is best practice to post 2-4 times a week.
- Refrain from including links in the caption of photos on Instagram.
- Include the wording “link in bio” and update the profile link to the corresponding URL.
- If you often post content with links on Instagram, use a link “tree” for making links accessible on this platform. Learn more about link trees here.
- Consider relying more on photography and using the caption or Instagram stories for posts more promotional in nature.
- To avoid competition between your posts, aim to post no more than every 2-3 days.
Other Social Platforms
The above social media channels are not inclusive of all platforms that exist. If you are looking to start a TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest or any other social media account not listed above, it will need to be registered with the University. Be sure to consider your capacity and the performance of your current channels before requesting a new account.
Analytics
Measuring and analyzing the data created by your social media efforts is important in understanding how content resonates with your audiences and how to apply those learnings to future content plans.
- Each social media platform has built-in metrics to help you analyze your content. This can be a simple way to explore what metrics are available, learn terminology, and understand what dashboards and reports may be available.
- When assessing content performance and audience engagement, determine what is right for your channels based on the communications goals you’re aiming for. Important metrics could be engagement rate, clicks, reach and more, depending on the purpose of the content.
General Content Best Practices
The below recommendations pertain to all social media platforms and are helpful to keep in mind as you develop content and manage your channels.
General Content
- Consider desktop vs. mobile.
- Graphics, text and overall content presentation appear differently depending on the device the audience is using to access the content. Be aware of how it appears on both desktop and mobile devices once sharing to ensure that no elements are cut off.
- Size graphics to the appropriate channel you’re posting on.
- Although graphic sizes for Facebook and Twitter can be synonymous (1920 x 1080 px is recommended), you should use only square graphics for Instagram.
Hashtag Usage
- Approved hashtags: #WingateUniv #DifferenceMaker #OneDog
- If you’re using hashtags, when possible, try working them into the text instead of sharing them at the end of the post to avoid looking too promotional.
Text (copy)
- Avoid use of buzzwords or jargon.
- When sharing articles or websites, ensure that your copy is unique from the headline instead of using the headline as the copy. Consider expanding on the headline or adding a quote from the article.
- Break up long chunks of copy with line breaks, emojis, etc., to make it easier for the audience to read on mobile devices.
- When in doubt, do not post.
- Always proofread each post, and have at least one other person read it before posting.
- For posts or comments that promote violence or those that appear discriminatory, harassing, defamatory, or obscene: do not respond, save for your records and notify the social media manager immediately. Then, delete the post if necessary.
Visual assets
- Please do not use photography that is more than 3 years old, unless the post specifically references a given time period or is being used for historical representation.
- Quality photography performs best across all channels. Contact the social media manager for access to PhotoShelter, the university's photography archive.
- When using photography off of the internet, ensure that you have the appropriate rights to use it. Do not use others’ photographs without their permission.
- Only use photography or graphics created in a design application. Contact the social media manager for access to Canva.
Personal Use Social Media Guidelines
Wingate University supports its employees’ personal use of social media to encourage discussion with key audiences. This page outlines guidelines and best practices for personal use of social media.
- Remember to identify views as your own. If you identify your affiliation with Wingate in your profile or comments, other users will naturally associate you with Wingate. You should include, where possible, a statement on your profile indicating that your views do not constitute official statements on behalf of Wingate. Employees may consider adding the following phrase in some permanent location on their page(s): The views expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect those of Wingate University.
- Protect confidential and proprietary information. Employees may not post confidential or proprietary information about Wingate or its students, employees or alumni. For example, employees must follow all applicable federal requirements, such as FERPA, HIPAA and NCAA regulations, adhering to all applicable University privacy and confidentiality policies (available in the intranet).
- You are personally responsible for the content you publish on social media. Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. For example, individual bloggers have been held liable for commentary deemed to be proprietary, copyrighted, defamatory, libelous or obscene (as defined by the courts). Consequently, Wingate will not be liable for and will not indemnify an employee for any liability that results from postings from personal social media accounts.
- Respect copyright and fair use. When posting, please respect and comply with the copyright and intellectual property rights of others and of the University.
- Wingate trademarks and logos may not be used. Except as permitted by law, employees may not use the Wingate trademark or logo without prior written approval by a Senior Management Team member or their designee.
- Terms of service. Employees should observe the terms of service of any social media platform.
- Be aware of content. A social media presence can easily be made available to the public. Consider this before publishing to ensure that any post(s) will not alienate, harm, provoke, bully, intimidate, disparage or discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), national origin, age, disability or genetic information. What seems like a private post can easily be disseminated into the larger digital ecosystem, where it could live on indefinitely.