SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES
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Social Media is an essential component of Eugenio MarĂa de Hostos Community College’s communications, marketing, and promotional efforts across divisions and departments. It is how we engage with the public, foster community, and share information about and for our students, faculty, staff, and extended Hostos family. Hostos’ main Facebook (@HostosCC), Twitter (@HostosCollege), Instagram (@HostosCollege), YouTube (HostosCollege) and LinkedIn (CUNY Hostos Community College) accounts are managed by the Office of Communications (OC). All Hostos-affiliated social media accounts must be registered with the OC. Staff, faculty, and administrators interested in launching a new account on behalf of a College entity must first contact the OC team at publicrelations@hostos.cuny.edu for a consultation. The responsibilities and best practices provided in this document apply to all social media accounts operated on behalf of entities of the College, and all individuals who manage the accounts must adhere to them. This guide is intended to help account managers optimize their online engagement and present a unified and cohesive presence on social media.
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GUIDELINES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Uphold Hostos’ mission, and familiarize yourself with Hostos’ and CUNY’s existing information technology and branding guidelines. • Hostos Community College Logo • Hostos Community College Graphic Standards Manual (PDF) • CUNY Brand Voice Guidelines • Making Content Accessible (CUNY) Also, review and adhere to each social media platform’s terms of service. 2. Contact the OC to register your existing or prospective social media account(s) and share how the profile will be presented and linked to other Hostos sites or pages. Also, provide the OC with information regarding each account’s administrator(s) and login credentials.
NOTE: Each platform should have at least two administrators/managers to ensure accounts do not go unattended should one of the administrators be inaccessible for any reason. 3. Official Hostos-affiliated Facebook pages must be “fan pages,” which allows other users to “like” rather than “friend” the page. • Use the College’s name in the handles of Hostos-affiliated social media accounts. Make the account’s affiliation with the College apparent by identifying “Hostos Community College, CUNY” in the profile’s about section or linking to the College’s main account in your bio. 4. Exercise good judgement concerning what content is shared via Hostos-affiliated social media accounts and respect privacy laws. When in doubt about whether you should post or share something, consult the guidelines and/or email publicrelations@hostos.cuny.edu. 5. Do not post personal, private, proprietary information about Hostos or any of the College’s administrators, faculty, students or staff on Hostos social media accounts. Observe all applicable federal regulations, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which restricts the disclosure of personal identifiable student information. 6. Make and maintain a clear distinction between Hostos social media accounts and administrators’ personal accounts. 7. Hostos-affiliated accounts may not be used to express personal opinions, endorse political candidates, regardless of any connection to Hostos, or promote causes, opinions, products, public figures, and/or services. 8. Always proofread and confirm the accuracy of information before posting it on social media. If the content you posted is inaccurate, be transparent and correct it immediately. 9. If a member of the media reaches out regarding content shared on any of your Hostos-related social media accounts, notify the OC.
CONTENT AND IMAGERY 1. If you would like to incorporate an official Hostos logo or ID in your Hostos-affiliated social media account design or an avatar/profile image, contact José García, Brand and Communications Associate, at jrgarcia@hostos.cuny.edu.
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NOTE: While account managers may increase or decrease the size of the Hostos logo or ID provided to them, altering the Hostos logo itself is not allowed. For more information, see Hostos’ graphic standards manual. 2. Ensure you have the right to publish content before you post. Account managers must adhere to image copyright laws for all images and text used on social media profiles and posts. Obtain permission and provide proper attribution when using or sharing content you do not own or have the rights to, such as text, images, videos, or other media. Link to the original content if possible. 3. Use discretion in determining what pictures to post and seek permission from individuals whose photos you wish to take and/or share—or their parents’ permission if the individual is a minor.
NOTE: Use a release form whenever a person’s name, image, and/or voice may be used for advertising purposes or in publicity materials. Keep and maintain records of releases. Contact the OC for forms. 4. Account managers are responsible for ensuring material posted on social media is accessible. Per CUNY’s guidelines, all photos posted must have descriptive text, also known as alternative text or alt text, and videos must contain captions. See CUNY’s guidelines for making content accessible on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, and YouTube.
SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE 1. Develop a social media strategy. Whether you are considering launching a new Hostos-related account or managing an existing one, you must: • Assess your objectives. • Identify your target audience. • Evaluate your resources. • Determine what content you have or hope to share, and how often will you be able to post. Doing so will enable you to select which social media platform(s) will best suit your goals and help optimize your social media engagement. 2. Post with regularity—a few times a week, if possible. However, limit the number of times you post each day so to avoid spamming your audience. 3. Post and share multimedia content (written content, photos, videos, etc.) to engage with your audience. Include links in your posts when available. 4. Collaborate with and pitch your published posts to other Hostos social media managers. To increase visibility and engagement among the College’s social media pages, the OC regularly shares posts from other registered Hostos-related accounts on the main feed(s), and we encourage all of the College’s social media managers to do the same. 5. Track and analyze your social engagement every month. 6. Monitor incoming messages and comments. Should you receive messages or questions that are beyond the account managers’ scope of expertise, reach out to the OC for assistance. For further information, contact the Office of Communications at publicrelations@hostos.cuny.edu. In developing these guidelines, Hostos thanks The City College of New York, the CUNY Graduate Center, and Lehman College for their examples.
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NOTES
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Office of Communications | Office of the President 500 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10463 718-518-4300 | publicrelations@hostos.cuny.edu
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES 2019–2020
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