Social Media Policy - Marketing

Introduction

Juniata is interested in establishing and nurturing the feeling of community that all our students and alumni so faithfully cite as one of the primary reasons they choose to attend Juniata. Social media is above all a method of creating and maintaining a community focused around different aspects of the human condition, whether it’s cultivating connections on Facebook or LinkedIn, sharing images on YouTube or Instagram, or blogging about college on Tumblr. Juniata’s aim is to use these and other emerging media as part of Juniata’s communications strategy to make the world aware of our programs and to bring in new members of the Juniata community.

Why Have a Strategy
Juniata College has an inclusive social media strategy that encourages every person on campus to become part of the conversation. All offices and departments on campus should look at their communications goals and choose a social media strategy that best fits that vision. Each unit should pursue a mix of social media that will build and exemplify Juniata’s educational mission.
If our goals are defined and chosen for maximum effectiveness, the College can use interactive social media platforms to engage new audiences. Engagement, in this context means a ladder of interaction that goes like this: visit---repeat visits---“likes,” “comments” and “sharing”---appointment browsing. Engagement is nothing more than forming a relationship with the audience
A cohesive strategy makes things consistent across all campus offices and allows collaboration on how to take advantage of current and emerging media. It also helps the campus to adjust when older platforms are on the wane.

What is the Importance of Social Media?
Social media is the new backyard fence, the diner counter or whatever place is used to gather and exchange information about friends, acquaintances and business. Social media really is just an information distribution system, the next step after television and newspapers. There is a singular difference for social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest compared to the old media landscape. Today, any person or business can “own” the media. New social media can be used in higher education by establishing communities connected in some way to Juniata and providing opportunities to connect with the College and take part in College activities.
Social media is one of the few mediums where the owner of the “media,” whether it’s Facebook, the local newspaper or YouTube, can reach out directly to users who have a connection to their product. Juniata can engage with a variety of constituents with a clear message.
But, in order to have a clear message, the College must have an overall strategy for engaging our community. Every department should work cooperatively to deliver specific, consistent stories about Juniata’s faculty, students, research efforts, service and civic engagement. Collaboration also helps when a college has to adapt to newer platforms as the public moves on to the next evolution in social media. A consistent social media policy with common goals will allow the College to learn about new media and different social opportunities as a whole, rather than as an independent operator.

Juniata’s Social Media Goals
Deliver relevant messages of a department or the College as a whole to a large audience.
Create a sense of community by using a variety of social media platforms.
Deliver Juniata news, information and marketing to underserved audiences.
Give administrators, faculty and students access to the platforms so the college can bring in new audiences.
Use social media to establish Juniata as a credible news source.
Ensure that all Juniata social media are used to enhance, not dominate, the conversation.
Make sure that all messages, approaches and tone are consistent throughout the Juniata administration and on campus. Try to schedule a yearly seminar for faculty and staff on how to craft messages.
Give all Juniatians, from students to faculty to staff, training, advice and guidance in any social media strategies.

Juniata’s Strategy
Keep Juniata on the leading edge in social media by exploring, then joining emerging media that can best deliver Juniata’s messages to a new audience or expand an existing audience.
Constantly define and assess the audience and the College’s goals for that audience, particularly as it applies directly to whatever social media is employed. Typically the platform offers some rudimentary analytics, and Google analytics also can be used to assess some aspects of social media. When considering a new social media platform, make sure the services offered are truly a benefit to Juniata, and that there is a genuine need for the College to use it.
Use Juniata’s Social Media Policy, which is a guide to using social media and is continually updated to reflect current thinking on the various platforms and make sure the policy is posted on the website and available to all with social media responsibility.
Make sure that social media entries are involving, necessary, fun and have some sort of call to action that might inspire users to create an off shoot of the conversation and incorporate others into the discussion. Examples can be “likes,” or posting a question designed to inspire answer-posts.
Make sure everything entered on social media is interesting. Do not use it as a bulletin board or dumping ground for announcements.
Juniata Social Media Policy

Creating an Account
Any social media account that is used by Juniata College must be created by an authorized employee of the College. The entry information and passwords for a social media account should be submitted to the College webmaster. Students should not be named as administrators unless they are Juniata Associates.

Naming the Account
When in doubt, be as professional as possible. Juniata College should be listed first, after which should follow the department, club or program. Please do not just use Juniata. In Pennsylvania, there are many places and things associated with the name Juniata. This should apply to personal accounts, too. Remember, you are a representative of the College on your own sites, too.

Notify the Webmaster
Once you have started a social media presence, notify the webmaster (pheasaj@juniata.edu) or E-Communications coordinator (osbornl@juniata.edu).

Be Responsible
Users posting on Juniata-sponsored social media should heed College guidelines for property, privacy and politeness.

Posting Content
Content is redistributed throughout the Internet. Do not post content unless it furthers Juniata’s mission for education, research, service or community. Share only information appropriate for public viewing.
Stay away from posting policies or procedures on social media, because these often change. Direct users to websites or other publications instead.
Do not post content depicting questionable or dangerous behavior.
Do not post content that is racist, or demeaning, shows physical or mental humiliation or attacks, shows someone being hurt, shows any kind of illegal activity or could put the user or the College in a negative situation.
Before posting academic material that might be controversial, check with the department head or administrator. If it is posted, be sure to post disclaimers if possible.
If commenting on a social media platform in an official capacity, administrators should post only in the name of the department or office, not as an individual. Professors and administrators should post using their own name after checking with a department head or the provost.
Do not post confidential or proprietary information and follow the federal guidelines provided by FERPA, HIAA and the NCAA. Juniata must have written permission from a student to release any student records information. Do not include personally identifying information. Do not upload, transmit, share or store any private information of a student or unaffiliated third party. Do not post content that could be a security risk.
If you are posting on your department’s facebook page, post as that department. If you are on Juniata’s Facebook page, use your personal Facebook ID.

Juniata’s Logo and Wordmarks
Accounts and webpages should only feature the department’s name, logo or signature that has been previously approved by the College’s Department of Marketing. If the platform allows design changes, try to use school colors. The school colors are blue and gold. All marks, logos, fonts and graphics must comply with Juniata Policies. If in doubt, please call the Executive Director of Marketing at 814-641-3133.

Copyrighted Materials
Rights and permissions must be obtained before sharing or distributing music, art, copyrighted photos or writing, video clips or proprietary information.

Use of Identifying Photos
Juniata’s marketing department has a photo database of usable images that students and employees of the College have agreed to be used in College publications. If you use an image not provided by marketing obtain prior permission through a signed release.
Do not post any content of any kind that might prove embarrassing or could place the subject of the content in a negative or false light or content that could cause someone to believe his or her name, likeness or some other identifier is being used without permission for commercial use.

WARNING: Be particularly careful with images of minors, health care patients, research subjects or disabled persons. As a rule these images should never be used for social media.
Don’t use College social media to support individual campaigns or political parties.
Comments
Juniata encourages fans, followers, students, friends to share comments, suggestions and reactions to College content, but we ask:
Comments must be related to the topic being discussed.
Comments should be polite, constructive and refrain from swearing or posting obscene or vulgar material.
Posts that are off-topic, abusive and threatening in tone, or are personal attacks, will be immediately deleted by Juniata’s web team.
Posts containing links that are spam or related to sales and advertising or pornography will be deleted immediately.
Account administrators will review all comments and posted material and can remove inappropriate materials for any reason.