McMaster Brand
Guidelines for Social Media Use
at
McMaster University
1) Have a plan
Before launching a social media account, potential administrators should have a plan in place for managing the site. The plan should take into account the following:
a. Your goal for the site – what do you want to accomplish?
b. Who your audience is and what tool is appropriate to reach them
c. A regular posting schedule (i.e. 1-3 posts/day for Facebook, no more than 1 post/hour for Twitter, etc.)
d. How the site will be promoted (linked to from other sites, posters, organically)
e. Tracking/measurement (traffic, interaction, comments, shares, etc.)
f. Temporary vs. permanent account – will the site only exist as part of a short campaign or will it exist indefinitely? (if temporary, how will you delete your account?)
2) Administration
Details around how to administer your social media site should be worked out prior to launching. The following guidelines are recommended:
a. That at least 2 staff members, at least one who is full-time, have administrator access to site
b. That others in your area are aware of site
c. That site administrators have some autonomy over moderation and conversation
d. That moderation follows existing McMaster policies (which include but are not limited to: The McMaster University Anti-Discrimination Policy, the McMaster University Policy and Procedures on Sexual Harassment, and the Student Code of Conduct.
e. That you submit a link to your account to daily@mcmaster.ca in order to be added to the campus social media directory
3) Personal vs. professional accounts
Professional accounts are those that are meant to represent the University, a department, Faculty, School or other area. They should closely follow existing policies and guidelines.
Professional accounts should identify your role and position at McMaster; be identifiable by using the McMaster brand and logo and use the same standard of care as any other communication within your position at McMaster. Respect confidentiality and remember that official McMaster accounts represent the University at all times.
4) Account deletion
Official accounts should be deleted when they have served their purpose and are no longer maintained/needed. Please notify daily@mcmaster.ca if you decide to delete your account and it will be removed from the campus social media directory. Doing so ensures the greater McMaser social media community remains vibrant and active and protects unmaintained sites from abuse.
5) Measurement
Measurement is an important part of any communication plan. Measuring your activity on social media sites helps determine the tactics that are most successful and allows you to track progress toward goal(s) set out in your social media plan. For example, has adding videos to a monthly e-newsletter increased click-rates? In this way, measurement can help you determine the effectiveness of the tools you’re using as well as the return you’re getting on your investment into social media use.
Some social media sites, such as Facebook (Facebook Insights) and YouTube (YouTube Insights), have built-in analytics pages that help measure things like site hits, comments/interaction, page views, active users and demographic data and can tell you how visitors found your site. Other social media sites can be measured with third-party tools (i.e. Tweet Reach for Twitter, bit.ly for URL shortening and HootSuite or TweetDeck for desktop dashboards).
a. Measure both statistics and trends (i.e. site traffic, comments, shares/likes, referring sites, sentiment, etc.)
b. Use Google Analytics on your website (to track social media site’s effectiveness at driving traffic, determine if visitors are finding your site via social media)
c. Compare measurements to original goal to help track success (Are you driving traffic to a certain site? Are you engaging certain audiences? Are you increasing your video views?)
d. If you require assistance in developing your measurement techniques, please contact daily@mcmaster.ca
6) Images/logo use
Branding is an integral part of launching a social media site. Proper branding lets people know that your site is official and allows it to be a part of the larger McMaster family of sites. Official social media sites must use the McMaster logo. Refer to the brand manual for examples/guidelines.