Social Media and Blog Guidelines

Social Media Guidelines

Guidelines for College Social Media Accounts

If you’re posting to official accounts, or contributing to online conversations as an official representative of the College, review and follow these policies and guidelines.

New Accounts

Social media efforts should be part of a larger communications strategy. Know what you’re trying to accomplish, and why. Before launching a social media channel, you should be able to answer these questions:

• Who is your audience?
• What do you want them to do?
• Is social media the best way to do this?

You must receive permission from your department Vice President and the Office of Marketing Communications before creating a social media account for the College.

Use shared email addresses for registration (when possible) and keep track of passwords using a shared department folder so that others in your office have access to department accounts if needed, or in case you are not available. Access to any social media account must be given to the Office of Marketing Communications for the master list they maintain to ensure no social media sites become “orphaned.”

Interaction Guidelines

There’s no such thing as a private or temporary social media post. Search engines can turn up your posts years later and screen captures live forever. Don’t post something today that may haunt you later.

• What you say officially represents the College. All statements must be true, accurate and not misleading. Never comment on legal matters, litigation or parties with whom Emmanuel College is in litigation without appropriate approval. Do not comment on other institutions.
• Be aware of divisive issues in the general public. Be mindful of how you represent the College around those issues, adhering to Emmanuel College’s values and mission when posting digital content.
• Any advertising, solicitation or overtly favorable acknowledgments or endorsements of political parties, candidates, third-party products and services is not permitted, except with express written permission of the college.
• Provide expertise and positive insight about Emmanuel College. Strive for accuracy, correcting errors quickly and visibly.
• Engage in conversation. Talk to users respectfully like you would talk to people face-to-face in professional situations.
• Communicating through social media is different than academic writing. Formality is replaced with friendliness, and content should be kept as brief as possible.
• Be mindful of copywrited and embargoed materials.
• Make sure to include alt text on your photos and closed captioning on video whenever possible for accessibility.
• If leaving a comment, post something meaningful, encouraging, informative or respectful. Before posting, re-read your comment to make sure it couldn’t be misconstrued negative or inappropriate. If you have any doubt, don’t post it.
• Be responsible. Participation in Emmanuel College social media is an opportunity, not a right. Treat it as seriously and professionally as you would any other aspect of your job.

Privacy, Confidentiality and College Policies

Do not post confidential, proprietary or protected health information about students, employees, patients or other members of the Emmanuel College community. Use good ethical judgment. All federal guidelines such as FERPA, HIPAA and College policies such as Non-Discrimination, Legal & Privacy Policies and Acceptable Use Policy must be observed on Emmanuel-sponsored or Emmanuel-maintained social media channels.

University Time and Property

As stated in Emmanuel College’s Acceptable Use Policy, computers and work time are to be used for College-related business. It’s appropriate to post at work if your comments are directly related to accomplishing work goals, but maintain your personal social media on your own time using non-Emmanuel College computers.

Comment Moderation

By nature, social media is participatory and involves sharing among multiple users. The College strongly urges using social media as the open forum it is intended to be. If your office or department is uncomfortable about allowing comments from followers, social media is not the right platform for your messaging.

As a rule, the College does not remove comments or posts, even if negative, unless the content is racist, threatening, bullying, vulgar, illegal, an advertisement or otherwise found to be highly questionable. When in doubt, contact your supervisor, Vice President or the Office of Marketing Communications.

• If you are not sure how to handle a challenging topic or respond to a negative post, please contact the Office of Marketing Communications for guidance.
• Clearly state in your account or site’s posting policy your comment and moderation policy and how users can report comments to your team.
• Correct misinformation. If a user posts a false accusation or an inaccurate statement, don’t delete it (unless it clearly falls into one of the categories noted in the above paragraph). Instead, respond—in a respectful and friendly manner—with accurate information.
• Respond to questions or inquiries in a timely fashion.
• Use direct person-to-person messaging to address complaints when possible.

 Branding and Graphics

When you post to social networks from an official Emmanuel College account, you are representing the Emmanuel brand. Here are some simple guidelines to help ensure you remain consistent with the College’s brand standards. If you have specific questions on branding, please contact the Office of Marketing Communications.

• Begin with “Emmanuel College” or “EC” when creating a name for your social media channel.
• Do not use the College seal alone as your profile image. This is used for the main institutional platforms and channels overseen by the Office of Marketing Communications.
• Departments may reach out to the Office of Marketing Communications regarding the development of a department logo. The Office of Marketing Communications will supply an approved logo based on existing guidelines for use on social media profiles.
• Please follow the Office of Marketing Communications’ guidelines for use of College logos, colors, photography and graphics.

Guidelines for Personal Use of Social Media

Social media sites, including—but not limited to—sites such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram are powerful communication tools. These sites can have a significant impact on a person’s reputation, relationships and livelihood.

The guidelines for personal use of social media are not intended to and do not limit your right to engage in protected concerted activities related to terms and conditions of employment. Rather, these are recommendations to Emmanuel College employees on how to balance their personal uses of social media sites, while protecting themselves.

1. Think before you post: Be thoughtful about your post’s content and potential audiences. Be civil to others and their opinions. Be mindful that once something is posted online, it can live on forever, even after it has been removed by the original poster.
   
   
2. Even if you are personally engaging on social media, an Emmanuel College affiliation on your profile (i.e. listing your position on your Facebook or Twitter profile) or within your comment has the ability to affect the College as a whole.
   
   If you include your employment information in your personal profile or in your username handle, be aware that you will be held to a higher level of responsibility.
   
   In personal posts or accounts that reference your affiliation with Emmanuel College, be clear that you are sharing your views as an individual, not as a representative of the College.
   
   
3. Do not post confidential or proprietary information about Emmanuel College or its students, parents, alumni or employees. Follow all required College policies including, but not limited to Privacy Policies, Acceptable Use Policy, FERPA and HIPAA.
   
   
4. To help ensure that no one mistakes employees’ personal postings for official Emmanuel College communications, it is recommended that employees refrain from postings that have the appearance of speaking on behalf of the College on their personal channels.
   
   
5. Employees are encouraged to share College news and events that are a matter of public record with their family and friends. Linking straight to the information source is the easiest way to ensure clarity.
   
   
6. When deciding to follow/friend current students, employees, alumni or others affiliated with the College, please do so prudently and with an abundance of caution. Witnessing certain comments or imagery could put you in difficult positions. If unsure about something, please address questions and concerns to the Office of Human Resources.
   
   
7. As stated in Emmanuel College’s Acceptable Use Policy, computers and work time are to be used for College-related business. It’s appropriate to post at work if your comments are directly related to accomplishing work goals, but maintain your personal social media on your own time using non-Emmanuel College computers.

Blog Guidelines & Tips

Who can Blog?

Blogs hosted under the emmanuel.edu domain must be actively maintained by a College department, or member of the faculty or staff. Groups that can own blogs include:

• College-Sponsored Blogs: Departments, offices or programs of the College may sponsor and maintain non­-curricular blogs. Blogs are subject to review and prior approval by the area's Vice President, as well as Emmanuel Marketing. Students may contribute blog posts, pending review and approval by the blog manager.
• Academic Departments and Areas of Study:  Project teams, working groups, curricular groups and academic committees may use blogs to facilitate collaboration. These blogs are subject to the College's policies and procedures, and should be approved and reviewed by the Office of Academic Affairs.
• Faculty Blogs: Individual faculty members may blog about their research and areas of study, provided they comply with the College's policies and best practices.

Personal Blogs

The College does not provide a blog service or blog software to members of the community for personal blogs that are unrelated to their work at Emmanuel College. It is recommended that members of the community who desire such blogs use one of the many blogging services available on the Internet (e.g., blogger.com, livejournal.com, etc.), or establish their own website and use one of the many free blogging tools/software applications (e.g., WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, Greymatter). In this way, the blog may remain available after members have left the Emmanuel community.

Blogging Best Practices

• Write with personality and authority: Show off how much you know about your subject, and keep your readers' interests and needs in mind. Blogs are meant to be informal, so don't be afraid to be funny, bold, quirky, or off-the-cuff.
• Don't be afraid to write: Get in the habit of writing regularly, aiming to add new content at least once a week. Don't be afraid to add posts that are very short, imperfect, or are simply links to other content your readers will enjoy.
• Create a publishing calendar: Set a schedule that works for you, and stick to it. At least once is ideal for new blog posts, but the most important thing is setting goals you can achieve.
• Measure your audience: WordPress has several tools that will tell you how many and how often visitors are visiting your blog. Keep track of what content is the most popular, and what is being shared on social media.

Comments and Moderation

Emmanuel College supports the free exchange of ideas, and as such strongly recommends that all bloggers allow comments. It is strongly suggested that comments be moderated, as unmoderated comments can often accumulate spam, despite Emmanuel’s use of a filter. It is each individual blog’s responsibility to monitor and respond to these comments and to maintain block lists for any individuals who repeatedly post offensive content or try to use the comment space for advertising. We strongly encourage bloggers to create a policy regarding comments and to make that policy available on their individual blog.

Imagery and College Logo Policies

No Emmanuel College photography, graphics, seal or logo may be used without the express permission of the Office of Marketing Communications. Contact website@emmanuel.edu for more information.

• Do not use the College seal alone as your profile image. This is used by the all-College pages. You must use something else to differentiate yourself.
• Be sure you are not violating copyright laws by using an artist’s work without permission. If in doubt about the copyrights for a particular photo, reach out to the OMC. If you are an artist concerned about a copyright violation or improper attribution of your work on an Emmanuel web page, blog or social media site, please contact us at dmca@emmanuel.edu.
• If incorporating the College logo or word mark into your image, consult the Office of Marketing Communications.
• Be consistent across your various pages, using an identifiable image or logo across all pages to brand yourself.
• Ensure proper image resolution and dimensions

More information about the College Seal and Logos »