Social Media header

Social Media

UNCW’s Office of University Relations (OUR) has developed social media guidelines for best practices. Review the policy here. OUR presents workshops offering tips about best practices for social media managers. Registration and information here: uncw.edu/web.

Remember to:

  • Follow the University’s brand guidelines – See OUR's Brand Identity Guide
  • Adhere to the UNCW Privacy Policy.
  • Respect copyright and fair use.
  • Verify information before you post it.
  • Make sure your links work.
  • Try to create dialogue. Give your fans something to respond to or act on.
  • Be relevant and timely! 

Facebook Best Practices

  • Post fresh content regularly. Use videos! Video is by far the most popular form of content shared on social media, on all platforms. Share links instead of photos, whenever possible.
  • Create Facebook events to push notifications about CHHS programs.
  • Do allow fans to engage with your page via wall postings, photos, videos, etc.
  • Remember to use Facebook to promote events that are open to the public.
  • Don’t set up an account if you’re not going to feed it regularly.

 Twitter Best Practices

  • Post fresh content regularly.
  • Keep it short and relevant. Include a web link if a longer message is needed.
  • Use visuals: an image, video or GIF.
  • Incorporate relevant hashtags. Look for daily trends or wider national and/or cultural events.
  • Curate content and connect with retweets and reply. Retweets should align with CHHS purpose and values.
  • Cover news and events relevant to CHHS’s mission. Offer accurate information and a unique perspective.
  • Interact with your audience. Organize live chats, live tweet during events, offer to takeover other accounts (and promote on your own), write thank you messages along with their Twitter handles.
  • Don’t set up an account if you’re not going to feed it regularly.

Instagram Best Practices

  • Post fresh content regularly. The sweet spot is one to two posts a day.
  • Become a story teller via captions, videos and Instagram Stories. Videos generate more interactions than images.
  • Keep captions short. Captions with 1-50 characters see the most engagement. Share a link the bio if a longer message is needed.
  • Use Instagram Stories and make sure your followers see your Stories by asking them to “check out our story” in a post. Add a link. Create a poll.
  • Use emojis effectively.
  • Use GIFs and the right hashtags. Fewer (one to three) hashtags is better.
  • Post at nights and on the weekends. Saturdays and Sundays see high interactions.
  • Don’t set up an account if you’re not going to feed it regularly.

Questions?

Email chhscomm@uncw.edu. We're happy to help!