Social Media Guidelines

Creating social media for your school or unit? UW Tacoma's Marketing & Communications team offers these guidelines and best practices. For advice on using social media, please contact Marketing & Communications (uwtmktg@uw.edu).

Be committed

Social media success takes more work than you might think. Before you create a social media account for your unit, consider who you are trying to reach and whether you have the resources to make it work.

• Choose the right platform. Young people (under 21) currently prefer TikTok, community leaders are going to more likely be found on LinkedIn. Do some research to see which platform offers the best match to your audience.
• Algorithms reward prolific posters. Social media platforms live and die on content, so it’s important that you post regularly. We recommend at least one post per week. Make sure you have the time – and the content – to keep things fresh.
• Launch for success. A common misconception about social media is that if you build a site, people will automatically come. Fill your new site with content, so your site doesn’t feel empty. When you launch, announce it through your traditional channels: email, newsletter, and website. New audience members may not participate right away, but let them know you value their presence by sending them a welcome message or thank you for joining.
• Stay engaged. Social media is about conversations and building community. Fostering dialogue, connecting with your community and building relationships are critical components of social media management. This means checking and responding to comments and messages in a timely manner.

Be effective

• Keep it short. For social media content, shorter text is better and images (and video) are better still. In a content-saturated online space, social media users are not going to stop scrolling to read a long post. Ideally, your posts on social media should link to content housed on your website (to help drive traffic there), so don’t include every detail in your post. Use the fewest number of words that will draw the reader in and entice them to click the link.
• Create a dialogue. Social media is not just about pushing out content, it is meant to be about building a community. Make sure your content will be useful — e.g., actionable, valuable, helpful — to your followers. If your content gives them something to comment on, act on or share, people are more likely to engage.
• Speak the language. Social media is an informal space and works best with a conversational, relatable voice. Try to have fun with your posts but be careful with humor.
• Take time to measure results. Look back at posts from the last week or month and see which ones performed the best. Do they have anything in common? Build on what works best. Social media success is measured not by followers but by the number of likes, comments and shares your posts receive.

Be careful

• Follow FERPA. Be careful not to reveal confidential or proprietary information about UW students, employees or alumni. Adhere to all applicable University and federal privacy and confidentiality policies. All employees are subject to FERPA and other laws mandating the nondisclosure of personal information.
• Comply with intellectual property laws. Be aware of copyright, fair use and intellectual property rights and don’t use graphics or content UW Tacoma didn’t create (unless you are clearly attributing the original source). 
• Be authentic. When you are posting on your unit’s social media site, it’s ok to bring some personal style to the posts; people like to feel like they are interacting with a real person. But always keep in mind that you are representing the University, not yourself. Keep it professional.
• Moderate only when absolutely necessary. Do not delete or hide comments because you disagree with someone’s point of view or because of negativity. Comments are an important part of social media and users have a right to disagree and express their opinion. The best way to respond to negative comments is to ignore them; often other followers will chime in to support you. Deleting or hiding posts should be used sparingly, unless:
  
  • Libelous, threatening, racist, abusive or obscene language.
  • Comments that are unrelated or off-topic to the original post.
  • Content that violates the rights of another party, including intellectual property (e.g., copyright, trademark, trade secret) and privacy rights.
  • Spam posts and/or repeated posts that are duplicative in nature by an individual or group of users.
  • Solicitation, advertising, or endorsement of a third-party business or service.
    
    If you are concerned about a post or comment or are unsure if it should be deleted or hidden, please contact Marketing and Communications. If you believe a post poses a threat, notify Campus Safety.
• Doublecheck your work. Get the facts straight before posting them on social media sites. When possible, link back to your source. Review content for grammatical and spelling mistakes. If you make an error, correct it quickly and visibly.
• Connect thoughtfully. Connecting to other social media members and sites builds credibility and community but could also give the unintended impression that your site endorses a certain cause, group or person. Consider carefully whom you “friend,” “follow,” link to or allow into your site and to what extent you will allow comments. Help the UW Tacoma community stay connected by following other UW Tacoma social media sites.