Social Media Best Practices

Basic Content Strategy

Social media works best when people remain at the center of what we share. For this reason, focusing on students, faculty, and staff – the people who make this university such a special place – should be the central theme of your content strategy. Here are some specific examples:

  • Impactful stories that illustrate our land-grant mission of teaching, research, and service to our state
  • Consider the university’s guiding principles and unifying themes to help convey your content strategy goals in social media and other narratives. These goals and themes are important in developing impactful and inspiring content.
  • What social media viral trends are occurring and how can you creatively use them to highlight something of note in your college/school/department? These trends can be a great way to show how our campus is a place of diverse thoughts and experiences with engaging content.

Instagram Highlights

Instagram Highlights should be kept current, organized, and easy to understand at a glance. Regularly review highlights to remove outdated stories and add new, relevant content. Use short, clear names that are easy to scan and consistent with brand language. Highlight cover photos should be simple, high-contrast, and readable at a small size, avoiding cluttered images or thin text. When used well, highlights serve as a quick-reference tool that provides helpful information while maintaining a clean, on-brand appearance.

Hashtag Usage

Even though hashtag usage has changed in recent years, it still has a place in effective post caption copy. Your strategy might vary depending on the platform, but in general we recommend using fewer hashtags per post (1-3 hashtags work best on most platforms).

The following are some regular hashtags University Relations will occasionally add to posts on main U of A social accounts:

  • #uark: General university news and information as well as referring to the U of A as a whole
  • #uark[graduation class year]: Content referring to specific cohorts (Class of 2025) or for incoming freshmen (#uark28)
  • #arkansas #northwestarkansas #fayettevillear: Geolocation-specific hashtags used for certain content emphasizing geographic location

Comments

If there are negative comments on a post or your account is tagged in a negative exchange, contact University Relations for guidance before taking any action. You may include the following statement on your official social media profile page when appropriate:

“We encourage thoughtful discussion about the topics we post. However, if comments or messages contain advertising/spam, are off-topic, offensive, defamatory, infringe someone’s rights, or are a violation of law, we reserve the right to remove them.”

Emergency Communications

In times of an emergency, such as a campus crisis or inclement weather, information needs to reach the university community as quickly as possible. It is essential that all crisis/emergency messages originate from the main U of A social channels and that all other U of A–affiliated accounts amplify accordingly to ensure safety and awareness. No one should make statements and/or address emergencies without coordinating with University Relations first.

Policies

Be aware that the following policies affect social media usage on campus. We’ve summarized them, but for the fine-tuned legal details, please look at the language of the policy itself.

  • Political Activity – Board Policy 465.1 – No employee may involve the institution’s name, symbols, property or supplies in political activity.
  • University Graphic Identity #208.0 – Official accounts must follow the university’s graphic identity standards.
  • University Communications and Brand Usage #325.0 – Establishes brand, style and usage guidelines for the campus.
  • Code of Computing Practices #201.0 – General principles regarding the usage of computers and other digital resources.
  • Public Information and Media Relations #217.0 – Major campus-wide policies and news should first be reviewed by University Relations. Sports and agricultural publications are exempt from this policy. University Relations is the official office representing the campus with the external media in all emergency situations, or those situations that may have potentially negative implications.
  • University Websites and Online Communications #225.0 – Only official webpages can use the university’s logo. University Relations has the right to review official websites for consistency of design, appropriateness of language and site architecture.
  • Employee Conduct, Use of Property & Facilities (Staff Handbook - 9.2 on this page) – University equipment should only be used for work-related purposes.

Other General Guidelines

  • HIPAA and FERPA: Never divulge the health status of a student or anything that pertains to their grades on an official account without the student’s express permission.
  • Posting a co-worker's condition: Never post personal details about a coworker's or supervisor’s medical condition on social media outlets affiliated with the university. If the person is a public figure, work with University Relations to draft a public statement about that individual.
  • Copyright: It’s important to respect copyright law regarding usage of photos/images, video, and audio assets on social media. We recommend minimal usage of stock photography as photos, video and audio created by your team will be timelier and more specific than stock assets.
    • You can also use the university’s photo database, Resource Space, for images of campus buildings, people, and events. Contact University Relations or the director of communications in your college/school for access.