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OFFICE OF STUDENT LIFE
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 2
STRATEGY ................................................................................................................................. 2
OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................................................. 2
AUDIENCE ................................................................................................................................. 2
VOICE AND TONE ...................................................................................................................... 3
PLATFORMS ............................................................................................................................... 3
CONTENT .................................................................................................................................. 4
PROCESS ................................................................................................................................... 6
MEASUREMENT ......................................................................................................................... 6
RESOURCES .............................................................................................................................. 7
ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR RESIDENCE HALLS ................................................................... 8
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INTRODUCTION
Use these guidelines to inform and enhance your department’s social media strategy. Be sure
that your marketing specialist and Student Life digital communications coordinator are aware
of all social media efforts.
Social media is constantly evolving and the most successful users are those who plan for growth
and change, track their progress to identify opportunities for improvement and keep an eye out
for updates in social media.
Therefore, these guidelines should not serve as your only resource for social media. Instead, they
should inform the development and implementation of your social strategy and provide an
overview of Student Life’s standard social media practices.
STRATEGY
Before getting started with social media, document a thorough strategy. Your strategy should fit
into your overall marketing plan – social media is one of multiple pillars supporting your
department’s marketing and communications. Your strategy should answer the following
questions about your department’s social media efforts:
• What are my objectives?
• Who is my target audience?
• What is my voice?
• What platforms will I use?
• What content will I share?
• What will my process look like?
• How will I measure my success?
You can find a sample social media strategy at osu.box.com/v/sl-social-strategy-example
and a
blank social media strategy template at osu.box.com/v/sl-social-strategy-template.
OBJECTIVES
Documenting your department’s social media objectives will give you a baseline to reference as
you build your social media efforts over time. Take into consideration your department’s purpose.
How can social media support your department in fulfilling it?
Create measurable goals so you can more easily track your success, and define the primary
metrics by which you will measure progress.
AUDIENCE
Social content is not “one size fits all;” it will vary depending on who is consuming it. When
defining your audience, be as specific as possible. For example, “students” is too broad –
“students living in residence halls” or “students looking for internships” are better.
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VOICE AND TONE
Voice and tone are important pieces of your department’s brand. Voice is a consistent writing
style that makes your content recognizable. Tone varies depending on the content itself.
NOTE: Refer to University personality guidelines found at brand.osu.edu/our-brand/
when
developing a voice and tone for your department.
Voice
A good way to define your voice is to break it down into personality, rhythm and vocabulary.
• Personality: How you come across (straightforward, personal, witty, etc.)
• Rhythm: The way your content reads (short and sharp, slow and musical, etc.)
• Vocabulary: The words you use to get a message across (simple, wordy, poetic, etc.)
Tone
While tone can change depending on the content, as a Student Life department, always be polite
and respectful.
When deciding what tone you should use for a given piece of content, consider how your target
audience is feeling and how you want them to feel. A frustrated or angry audience is unlikely to
respond positively to a witty remark – opt for a more serious tone instead.
PLATFORMS
The quality of your social profiles is much more important than the quantity. In other words, do
not put your department on more social media platforms than you can effectively manage.
When deciding which platforms to use, take into account your goals and audience. Different
social media platforms reach different audiences and serve different purposes.
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
Demo
18 to 29
Under 35
18 to 49
Overview
High volume of easily
digestible information
Medium to high volume
of engaging visuals
Low volume of impactful
content
Content
Customer service
Event reminders
Event coverage
Deadlines
Tips
Event coverage
Product/service photos
Short videos
Highlighted people
“Stories”
Ohio State news
Third party content
Photo albums
Videos
Events
Other platforms
Student Life does not use social media platforms outside of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
except on a case-by-case basis. Consult your marketing specialist and digital communications
coordinator with any inquiries regarding YouTube, LinkedIn, Snapchat, blogs, etc.
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CONTENT
Your content will inform your users’ understanding of your department. Planning ahead and
having a process will contribute to the success of your social media efforts. Remember to:
• Use a calendar for planning
• Submit marketing requests at least four weeks in advance
• Listen to and engage with your audience; monitor closely for issues requiring elevation
• Be consistent, accurate and appropriate
Content calendar
Use a calendar to keep track of upcoming campaigns, events or blog posts and determine how
you will promote them on social media. If you have year-round or evergreen messaging,
schedule posts ahead of time so you will not forget to push them out.
You can find a sample content calendar at osu.box.com/v/sl-content-calendar-example
and a
blank content calendar template at osu.box.com/v/sl-content-calendar-template.
Marketing requests
Request graphics from Student Life marketing as early as possible (minimum four weeks in
advance) using the marketing request form at studentlife.osu.edu/secure/marketing/
.
You may also want help planning a social media campaign, amplifying messaging or connecting
with others around the university. Consult the digital communications coordinator to strategize.
Listening
Watch for content that is relevant to your department to discover feedback; opportunities to
share user-generated posts and engage with your audience; and alerts that attention and action
are required.
Follow other Ohio State departments and organizations on social media. Track hashtags,
keywords and locations by searching or setting up streams in Hootsuite.
Some useful hashtags are:
• #BuckeyeBites
• #BuckeyeforLife
• #BuckeyeLove
• #BuckeyesGive
• #GreenBuckeyes
• #wellnessOSU
• #MyOhioState
• #new2osu
• #OSUgrad
Engagement
Maintain an active presence by joining the conversations you find when listening and monitoring.
Be sure to:
• Like, reply, share/retweet/repost
• Tag relevant departments/units and people
• Use hashtags and location tagging for increased visibility
• Share content from other Student Life units and individuals
• Follow up with users who express concerns, but ignore inflammatory/profane feedback or
complaints about things that cannot be changed or helped
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Elevation
Elevate negative feedback to appropriate staff. Profanity, threats of any kind, self-harm, etc.
MUST be reported to your marketing specialist and digital communications coordinator.
Consistency
From a posting standpoint:
• Avoid gaps in the frequency of your posts by sticking to a schedule
• Define the minimum and maximum posts per platform per day or week
From a branding standpoint:
• Use a few hashtags frequently; when possible, choose existing Ohio State hashtags
• Always check if a new hashtag has previous uses that may not align with our brand
• Refer back frequently to the voice and tone defined in your strategy documentation
• Use unique visuals that align with Ohio State and Student Life visual identity guidelines
Accuracy and appropriateness
Accuracy and appropriateness are priorities, as each department is a reflection of Student Life
and of Ohio State. Here are some ways to ensure your content works:
• Check for both typos and accuracy of information
• Check that content complies with Ohio State’s editorial style (www.apstylebook.com/osu
)
• Ensure that content is completely free of profanity and bias
• Confirm that content and design elements have the proper approval before publishing
• In case of emergency or tragedy, remove scheduled content and seek direction from your
marketing specialist and digital communications coordinator before posting
• Always consider your team’s capacity for handling negative feedback
NOTE: If you have any doubt as to the accuracy, appropriateness or legality of your content,
consult your marketing specialist and digital communications coordinator before publishing.
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PROCESS
Before opening any social media accounts, confirm that you have the time and staff to manage
your department’s social media presence. Be sure you have the capacity to:
• Respond to crises 24/7 to the best of your abilities
• Regularly monitor social media on weekends, evenings, holidays, etc.
• Maintain social media activity when the typical social media managers are out of office
• Have all content created by students approved by a staff member prior to publication
Staff social media managers should have social media applications on their phones for easy
access to alerts and the ability to respond quickly when necessary. Students, however, should
never log into Student Life accounts on their phones.
Documenting your process
Set your department up for success by documenting a process for current and future social
media managers to follow. Include the following:
• Team members
• Content review and approval processes
• Back-up plan for when normal social manager is out of office
MEASUREMENT
By defining a plan for tracking and reporting from the outset, you can better evaluate your
progress toward your objectives. Decide how often you will evaluate social media performance
and identify the metrics you need to track in order to determine progress toward your goals.
Focus on the numbers that matter to you. For example, if your goal is to get a message in front of
as many users as possible, reach is a better indicator of success than likes or comments.
You can find a sample monthly social media performance report at
osu.box.com/v/sl-social-
report-example. Contact the digital communications coordinator for help with social analytics.
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RESOURCES
The following resources are available to help you optimize your social media efforts.
Ohio State
• Brand Guidelines: brand.osu.edu/
• Brand Guidelines – Social Media: brand.osu.edu/social-media/
• Editorial Style Guide: brand.osu.edu/editorial-style/
• University Marketing: universitymarketing.osu.edu/
• Buckeye Social Media Community: universitymarketing.osu.edu/resources/buckeye-
social-media-community.html
Student Life
• Student Life Marketing Request Form: studentlife.osu.edu/secure/marketing/
You can find these templates, examples and resources at osu.box.com/v/sl-social-guidelines.
• Social Media Best Practices: osu.box.com/v/sl-social-best-practices
• Opening a New Account: osu.box.com/v/sl-new-account-checklist
• Social Media Strategy example: osu.box.com/v/sl-social-strategy-example
• Content Calendar example: osu.box.com/v/sl-content-calendar-example
• Social Media Strategy template: osu.box.com/v/sl-social-strategy-template
• Content Calendar template: osu.box.com/v/sl-content-calendar-template
• Social Media Report example: osu.box.com/v/sl-social-report-example
• Student Life Social Media Accounts list: osu.box.com/v/sl-social-accounts
Industry
• Buffer Blog: blog.bufferapp.com
• Hootsuite Blog: blog.hootsuite.com
• Sprout Social Blog: sproutsocial.com/insights
Social Media Demographics:
• blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-social-media-demographics
• sproutsocial.com/insights/infographics/social-media-demographics-2017
• www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016
People
• Thea Dellas, Digital Communications Coordinator: dellas.1@osu.edu
• Carol Harper, Communications Specialist: harper.904@osu.edu
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ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR RESIDENCE HALLS
Residence halls may create Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter accounts for the purpose of
sharing events and updates relevant to their residents.
Before opening an account
• Become familiar with Ohio State brand and social media guidelines at brand.osu.edu
• Review Student Life social media guidelines and resources at go.osu.edu/sl-social
• Make sure an account does not already exist for your residence hall
• Inform Paul Bellini.5 and Thea Dellas.1 that you want to open an account
• Download the Student Life social media avatar at go.osu.edu/sl-social – all Student
Life social media accounts should use this avatar; they can customize their profile
banners
Account naming conventions
In order to establish consistency, residence halls wishing to open social media accounts should
create account handles that follow the conventions below. Existing accounts do not need to
change their social handles.
• Facebook: @[HallName]OSU
• Instagram: @[hallname]osu
• Twitter: @[HallName]OSU
Profile titles should follow the conventions below. Existing accounts should update their profile
titles as needed.
• Facebook: [Hall Name] at Ohio State
• Instagram: [Hall Name] at Ohio State
• Twitter: [Hall Name] at Ohio State
Profile bios should open with the following copy. Existing accounts should update their profile
bios.
Official [Platform] account of [Hall Name] at The Ohio State University.
Example: Official Twitter account of Raney House at The Ohio State University.
Keep in mind that
• Residence halls may not open Snapchat accounts or create Snapchat geofilters
• Residence hall social media accounts must comply with Student Life and university
social media guidelines and requirements
• Names and contact information of individuals who manage residence hall social media
accounts must be provided to the digital communications coordinator
