Social Media Guidelines

Why we use social media

麻豆国产 inspires students to be fully alive in mind, body and spirit through an exceptional liberal arts education and a community grounded in a vibrant Christian faith. At the heart of this promise are people like you who make 麻豆国产 what it is, and the work that you do to extend these values to the world. As a social media manager, you play an integral role in 麻豆国产鈥檚 storytelling, and ultimately, its success in enrolling and retaining students.

Social media allows us to preserve moments, engage in conversation and express our enthusiasm for 麻豆国产 and its diverse community of people and programs.

The following are recommended guidelines for faculty and staff who manage social media on behalf of 麻豆国产.

Creating accounts

Official departments, offices and programs should consult with Public Affairs and Marketing before creating a new social media account. Public Affairs and Marketing is available to provide support with creating and maintaining social media accounts, and can make recommendations that meet the college鈥檚 branding and social media best practices.

Naming your account

When setting up a new account, it is advised that your user name start with 鈥淗ope鈥� so that others who are searching for 麻豆国产 can easily find your account. Avoid using underscores, uncommon abbreviations and long usernames. For example:
@hopetheatredept - 麻豆国产 Theatre Department
@hopecollegebookstore - 麻豆国产 Bookstore
@hopecollegedm - 麻豆国产 Dance Marathon

Passwords and credentials

Instagram, TikTok, X and other social media accounts should be registered using a departmental or shared email address accessible by more than one person, such as officename@hope.edu.
Passwords and login credentials should be known, accessible and maintained by account administrators, their department supervisor, and Public Affairs and Marketing.
- Upon the creation of your account, contact social@hope.edu to share admin access and/or credentials.

Facebook requires page managers to log in through their personal Facebook account. Department and office Facebook accounts should have at least two 麻豆国产 employee account administrators at all times, however, you may choose to have additional roles on your page such as editors, moderators, advertisers and analysts. Please contact Public Affairs and Marketing for assistance with creating user roles and understanding privacy settings.

Best practices

Please inform Public Affairs and Marketing of the names and contact information of your social media managers.
Share your department login credentials with your department chair and/or your office manager as well as Hope's social media manager in the event that someone else may need to recover access to your account.
Enable two-factor authentication on your accounts for an added layer of security.
Change your passwords at least once per semester.

Content

Good social media content is relevant and timely for your audience. Content representing 麻豆国产 should be engaging, consistent in theme and supportive of the college鈥檚 brand.

Content that supports Hope鈥檚 brand includes:

Academic and research-related updates
Hope blog stories
Events and activities
Student and faculty achievements
Unique stories about students and faculty, past and present
Campus culture and student life updates
Traditions and important moments throughout Hope鈥檚 history
Adhering to the 麻豆国产 Brand Guidelines on the proper use of logos, colors, photos and images

Best Practices

Go with your gut on what to/not to share.
Always include a photo, video or a website link to more information in your Facebook and LinkedIn posts.
Amateur video often performs best on social media. The ideal length for videos is 15-3o seconds on most platforms.
Do not use generative AI for content, including images or photographs
Text and color should meet minimum contrast ratios. See Accessibility section below for more details.
Avoid excessive emojis and hashtags (2-3 is generally a good limit)
Consider how your photos and videos might appear to diverse audiences. Is it authentic? Does it lack diversity? Is it inclusive? Is it an accurate representation? Could it offend someone?
Keep an eye on your comments section and direct messages. People will often ask questions related to your post 鈥� and sometimes questions that are unrelated but still important. It鈥檚 recommended that you reply within 24 hours, if possible, even if that means letting them know that you are working on tracking down an answer.
Do not engage with trolls. Social media trolls are people who deliberately provoke others by making inflammatory or offensive comments on social media.

Note: the college and its social media managers reserve the right to hide, delete or disable comments that violate the student handbook policy, the college鈥檚 Technology Use Policy or any other college policy, including our Virtues of Public Discourse.

Audience

Your social media posts should be tailored to your audience鈥攊ncluding students, staff, alumni, and prospective students. Please reach out to Public Affairs and Marketing if you need help with an audience analysis.

Accessibility

Good social media content is accessible to all. Using the following best practices and resources will help ensure you are creating accessible content on your social media platforms. Social media apps are ever-changing, so our guidelines may change periodically as more accessibility features are available.

USE PLAIN LANGUAGE

In general, social media content that is easy to read and understand will be more accessible for everyone, including people with cognitive disabilities and non-native English speakers.

Use short sentences and paragraphs.
Avoid jargon.
Spell out acronyms when first referenced.

Include subtitles, closed captions or transcripts

Captioning improves video comprehension and enables sound-off viewing, while transcripts make audio like podcasts accessible. Most social media platforms will auto-caption your video but it's a good idea to double check their accuracy. For assistance with captioning longer videos, contact web@hope.edu.

Write alt text

Alternative text (alt text) describes the content of images, graphics, and visual media. Adding alt text ensures screen reader users who are blind or visually impaired can fully understand your images. Most social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X) provide dedicated alt text settings when editing or publishing a post.

Use simple, precise language and keep the explanation brief.
Avoid redundant information that is in text near the image.
Repeat text within an image verbatim.
Include information implied by the image, such as emotion or activity, and mention the layout if it is significant.
Do not include emoji or excessive punctuation in alt text, unless it is part of a text in the image.
Don't write 鈥淚mage of鈥�, 鈥淧hoto of鈥� or similar. A screen reader will add that by default. If the fact that an image is a photograph or illustration, or something else like that is important for understanding, it may be useful to include this in alternative text.

Camel Case Hashtags

Camel Case means capitalizing the first letter of each word in a hashtag. This makes the hashtag appear to have humps like a camel, hence the name Camel Case. This practice makes the hashtag easier to read and understand.

Example: #HopeFoward

Color and Contrast

To ensure that your contrast between foreground and background is accessible, WCAG AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text (less than 18-point font) and 3:1 for large text (18-point or greater). If you are looking for a contrast checker, we recommend . Here is 麻豆国产鈥檚 color palette, including web accessible colors.

Never use only color to communicate important information or to prompt a response.

Other things to keep in mind

Text on Instagram/Facebook stories isn鈥檛 readable with a screen reader. Consider making a post if the information is important, like event details.

Hashtags and Emojis

Avoid excessive emojis and hashtags (2-3 is generally a good limit.)
Not every event or activity needs its own unique hashtag. Consider utilizing established college hashtags such as #GoHope or #HopeForward.
Capitalize the first letter of each new word for increased accessibility. For example, #GoHope #HopeCollege #HopeAdmissions. Not capitalizing the first letter of each word causes screen readers to read your hashtag as one single word.
When choosing a new hashtag, first verify by doing a search of that hashtag on Twitter to ensure it is not being frequently used for something else.
Choose a unique hashtag that is short and simple, yet relevant and memorable.
Avoid using trending hashtags that are not relevant to your office or department. For assistance on selecting the proper hashtag, please inquire to Public Affairs and Marketing.

Privacy

Please use discretion when posting content that may affect someone's privacy even if it's in compliance with . Interactions on social media are governed by each platform's privacy policy.

Policy

The following social media activities by 麻豆国产 accounts are governed by these policies:

Faculty Handbook, Employee Handbook, or Student Handbook
CIT policies
Virtues of Public Discourse
Each platforms鈥檚 Terms of Service
Student athletes and athletic accounts must also adhere to

Prohibited Content

Use of obscene, threatening, harassing or discriminatory language
Advertisements or promotions of commercial products, services, entities or individuals
Endorsement or opposition of political candidates and ballot initiatives
Content created or edited by generative AI
Duplicative comments by the same or multiple users, or repeated deliberately offensive or provocative online posting, also known as 鈥渢rolling鈥�

Additionally, communication through social media in no way constitutes a legal or official notice to 麻豆国产, its offices, faculty or staff. 麻豆国产 social media administrators reserve the right to hide or remove user-generated content or comments in accordance with these guidelines. Content may be removed for violation of the above, at any time.