Social Media Best Practices

Facebook

On Facebook, the title of your page or group should include “St. Lawrence University” at the beginning of it to make it easier for people to search for and find it. Because several institutions are known to their communities as SLU, using “SLU” in place of “St. Lawrence University” is not acceptable, nor is dropping “University” from St. Lawrence. Please note we do not spell out “Saint” – always use the “St.” abbreviation.

Acceptable Facebook Page Example:  St. Lawrence University Communications Department

Not Acceptable Facebook Page Examples: Communications Department at St. Lawrence University; SLU Communications Department; St. Lawrence Communications Department; Saint Lawrence University Communications Department

TikTok, Instagram, X

On TikTok, Instagram, and other places with character limitations, please include “St. Lawrence University” in the description of your account. You may use "stlawrenceu" or "stlawu" to meet character limitations in your handle. 

Acceptable Instagram Account Examples: @stlawrenceu_english; @stlawu_english

Not Acceptable Instagram Account Examples: @sluenglish; @stlawrence_english

University Communications will provide departments with an acceptable logo to use as your profile icon. Please fill out a creative request and we'll be in touch shortly. 

If you would like to use any other logos, images, videos, audio, or additional content that is copyrighted or owned by St. Lawrence University, please contact Email Olivia White, Associate Director of Marketing and Content Strategy. Per the University’s Visual Identity Standards, do not modify logos.

Once the content is shared online, it can be hard to take back, even after deleting. Be confident in the sources you are sharing from. 

Choose content that highlights the student experience and vibrant life at St. Lawrence. Prioritize strong imagery featuring people doing something interesting or unique to your department/organization. Prioritize original photos and visuals over stock images.

Imagery or video almost always perform better than graphics. Refrain from posting text-heavy graphics or "posters" to your Instagram grid or Facebook. Consider sharing event posters in your Instagram Story and then saving them in a highlight to your profile. 

Incorporate variety to ensure your content is balanced. If you do post a graphic, aim for your next few posts to be images. 

Before creating your account or profile, consider what your primary goals are. Is it to inform the campus community about upcoming events? Is it to help attract prospective or current students to your program? Is it to share the work that's happening in your department? Plan content that supports these goals. If you're ever stumped for content, revisiting these goals can be a great first step in brainstorming. 

Social media users expect new, relevant content, so posting with some regularity is important. Find a balance that works for you and your team—once or twice a week is ideal. It's much more important to post quality content your audience wants to engage with at a steady cadence than it is to meet a lofty daily or weekly posting quota.

Post content when your users are more likely to engage with it. If you create content that aligns with a trending topic, post while it's still on people's minds. 

Set aside time not only to create posts for social media but to respond and react to your community’s questions and comments. Users expect responses quickly, so prepare yourself to monitor and check in with content after you’ve shared it.

It’s more important to post correct information than it is to be the first to post about it. Take the time to confirm the facts and information you are sharing, proofread your captions, and double-check your grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If you are sharing content someone else created, make sure you give them the appropriate credit.

Everyone makes mistakes now and then. If you share something and find an error in it, some platforms (Facebook and Instagram) allow you to make edits to correct it. In some instances, members of your community may point these errors out to you. Be sure to thank them for pointing it out and adjust if you can. We don’t recommend deleting your post and reposting it except in extenuating circumstances (e.g. content meant for a personal social media presence was shared in error on a department or organization’s account).

Social media are two-way communication tools. You want your audience to like your content but you also want them to comment, share, ask questions, and hopefully contribute their own content. You also want to contribute to the conversation. Follow other, relevant Instagram accounts and engage with their posts. If your account is tagged by a member of our community, like it, share it, or comment on it as appropriate.  

Instagram in particular makes it easy to reshare content to your grid or Story, so don't hesitate to repost from @stlawrenceu or other campus accounts. We can all strengthen each other’s social media presence by sharing content from each other’s accounts.

Administrative rights to each social media account should be granted to a minimum of two people. One person should be designated as the primary administrator who is responsible for posting the content, while all administrators should be involved with the strategic planning of the content. This structure will prevent multiple people from posting content simultaneously while ensuring there is a consistent voice for the account. If student interns are assisting with the management of your social media accounts, make sure a faculty or staff member has administrative rights. (Remember, students graduate and leave campus!)

If possible, create a shared email address, username, and password so the account is not tied to a specific individual and can be passed to a successor if the primary manager leaves or graduates. 

We expect every person who is responsible for a St. Lawrence-affiliated social media presence to be attentive, courteous, reasonable, and understanding. Refrain from the use of obscenities and other inappropriate remarks that could be construed as offensive or inconsiderate. Alcohol shouldn’t be featured, nor should anything else inappropriate/illegal: drugs, nudity, and sexually explicit content. Make sure you are keeping personal and professional accounts as separate as possible. Also, be cognizant when sharing content that others have provided you. Make that any content you share, repost, or add to your Story, is aligned with St. Lawrence’s guidelines and best practices, as well as the goals of your department.

Plan content ahead of time. Set aside time at the beginning of each month to brainstorm and plan your posts. Maintaining a content calendar is a great way to stay on top of posting and maintain an active presence. 

The more you learn about the community you’re hoping to engage with and what kinds of content they most enjoy, the more ideas you’ll be able to generate. 

Content ideas are everywhere! Ask your colleagues or students for input and ideas. 

We expect every person interacting with your account to show you the same respect and courtesy. We encourage you to post community rules for your page whenever possible. For example, the St. Lawrence University main Facebook page’s “About” section includes the following:

"St. Lawrence University's social media accounts are online communities for our prospective students, current students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and fans. We welcome people to post photos, engage in discussions and ask questions of each other and of us; we will do our best to respond promptly. Social media is designed to be a social space, and people may likely share views and perspectives that differ from your own or don’t align with the University’s mission. While we believe in everyone’s right to free speech and encourage Laurentians to engage in constructive and respectful dialogue, we do not tolerate messages that attack or use pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are (e.g. their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender, or other identity factors). We also do not tolerate messages that include vulgar language, contain advertisements/spam, are off-topic, infringe on someone's rights, or are a violation of the law. We reserve the right to remove these messages. Repeat violators of these guidelines may be removed or banned from any University-owned social media accounts where the violations have taken place. We thank you in advance for helping us make this space one that best reflects the Laurentian spirit."

Do not discuss confidential or sensitive internal issues online without authorization. Be conscious of the laws and regulations governing the privacy of student education records (FERPA), protected health information (HIPAA), personally identifiable information, and private information about colleagues. Do not post confidential information about faculty, students, alumni, or other employees.

Also, be mindful of copyright and trademark protections that may limit what materials you use online. This is especially important with pictures, which may require you to confirm that the people in the photo consent to the use of their image and to determine whether it is clear who owns the picture. It is not okay to copy photos or logos from the Web and post them to your social media pages without permission from the owners.

If you have a question related to copyright and trademark laws, email Olivia White, Associate Director of Marketing and Content Strategy.

The Instagram collaboration feature, also known as Collabs, allows two or more accounts to co-create a post or reel, sharing the content and engagement across all participating accounts. 

We encourage campus-run accounts to collaborate with other campus-run accounts when appropriate. This is a great way to boost awareness and engagement across accounts. We recommend against accepting collaboration requests from outside institutions, businesses, non-profits, or organizations not directly affiliated with St. Lawrence. Exceptions may apply. 

The University Communications social media team reserves the right to accept or deny collaboration requests. Any requests made without advance notice will be denied. Should you wish to collaborate with @stlawrenceu, please contact account managers via DM or email (socialmedia@stlawu.edu) in advance. Please provide all content, including photo/video assets and captions for review by the social media team. We reserve the right to review and make changes to content to ensure accuracy and brand compliance. 

Have a plan for responding to negative or inaccurate comments. Sometimes the comments just need to be monitored and you’ll need to tune in and listen; other times, they'll require a response. In some cases, you’ll be the commenter's initial contact with St. Lawrence regarding their issue, so it’s important to show them you’re interested in resolving the situation. If they ask a question you don’t know the answer to, let them know you’re finding out for them and will be in touch—and then follow through.

Depending on the nature of the comment, we encourage you to reach out to University Communications for support when crafting a response or deciding the best way to proceed. 

Do not delete a social media post just because it received a negative comment. Politely correct any inaccuracies and point commenters to additional resources if you know of any. If the issue persists, contact University Communications for advice on how to respond.

University Communications and the Emergency Planning Team ask that during an active emergency on campus, all social media accounts associated with St. Lawrence, except the main university accounts operated out of University Communications, refrain from posting until the emergency is over.

If you come across a post related to a member of our community’s health, safety, or security, or a post that is perceived as a threat to the University, bring it to the attention of Safety and Security immediately by calling 315-229-5555. Get a screenshot of the post for the record. Once you have saved the screenshot and shared the information and post with Safety and Security, delete the post. Do not attempt to contact the person/entity who created the post.

If you identify an issue related to other concerns (facilities, technology, etc.), please contact the appropriate office.