Overview
Social media can help serve our students and expand our reputation in the community. To maintain consistency, social media accounts must adhere to SF’s brand guidelines and best practices associated with accessibility. Account administrators should post frequently, at least twice a week, using high quality content to reach the highest number of users. “Sharing” or “retweeting” content from primary SF accounts is encouraged. Posts about important events, deadlines and activities should be sent to the college social media specialist.
Creating New Accounts
New social media accounts must be approved by MarCom. Social media accounts include, but are not limited to: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Vimeo, Snapchat. All accounts representing the college must have MarCom included as an account administrator and should have a minimum of two department-specific account administrators. The Facebook administrator for MarCom is an account named “Caesar Saint.” Note: This account does not accept friend requests.
Profile Image
Creating a unique profile image can be challenging, with multiple accounts having "SF" in common. Contact MarCom for help with creating an image that will best represent your area.
Account Names
Names of social media accounts should follow these SF brand guidelines:
- Department or program pages should include "SF" or "Santa Fe College" in their name
- "SF" should be used if "Santa Fe College" is too long (e.g. “SF International Student Services” instead of “Santa Fe College International Student Services”)
- Never use SFC as an abbreviation for Santa Fe College, particularly in the account name
Groups
Student clubs and groups are encouraged to make groups rather than “fan” or business pages on Facebook. To determine whether your organization should create a group rather than a page, contact the college social media specialist. Groups associated with SF on social media should be public, not private.
Content
For information on writing style, including how to refer to the college, read the Language and Messaging section of this Brand Guide. Social media editors should also consider the following:
- Contact information – Every account should include contact information. If space allows, include a primary phone number and email address, or a link to additional contact information.
- CamelCase – CamelCase is the term for when you write compound words or phrases without spaces. For functionality, it is required when typing hashtags. Use capital letters for each new word with no spaces or punctuation (e.g. #SantaFeCollege).
- Hashtags – Hashtags help pepper a post with metadata that makes it easier for fans to find you. The best hashtags to use are #SantaFeCollege, #SFCollege, and #WeAreAllSaints. Several hashtags are used for special and obvious purposes: #SFTeachingZoo, #SFStudyAbroad and #SpringArtFestival. Athletics uses #SicEmSaints. For the first week of classes, students are encouraged to post with #SFFirstWeek. And the #SaintsofSantaFeCollege series features the portraits and quotes or stories of students, faculty, staff, alumni and donors of the college.
Sharing photos and video online
Whether on social media or the college website, it is important to follow the rules set forth by our General Counsel related to liability, licensing and accessibility.
Accessibility
Photos and gifs should have descriptive captions that could sufficiently describe the picture to a person with low vision using screen reading software. If they are posted on the website, they must have alternate "alt" text with a short, accurate description of what’s happening in the image.
Keep text layering on images to a minimum! Too much text on an image, including Facebook cover and event photos, is not only difficult to read, but can cause your post to be ignored or disregarded by algorithms. To determine if you have too much text on an image, use Facebook’s Image Text Check tool.
Videos should be adequately captioned, and their subtitle (SRT) files should be uploaded with them. When embedding videos, YouTube is preferred. A representative from Marketing & Communications (MarCom) must be included on the YouTube account. See Creating Accounts on the Social Media page in the Guidelines section of this Brand Guide for details. Never set audio and video content to begin playback automatically or screen reader users will be unable to hear the output of their screen reader. Limit blinking or flashing content to three seconds.
Academic departments and programs can contact the Center for Academic Technologies & Training for questions regarding the accessibility of their instructional content. For any other questions about making photo and video content accessible online, contact the MarCom team.
Liability and Licensing
Photo releases – If you are marketing the college, make sure you have our photo/video consent form signed for everyone who is recognizable in a photo or video. This releases the institution from liability when using images or video for commercial purposes. If you are posting images or video from a "news event" on the day that it happened, it is not necessary to have consent forms, but those images cannot be used again to promote the college.
Intellectual property – Santa Fe College is an institution. It is subject to different usage restrictions than are individuals, particularly where marketing is concerned. Fair use does not apply. As such, do not post clip art, audio clips, music, images or private/stock footage that you find online (e.g. Google image search, creative commons) without first making sure you have the proper rights. In some cases, it is possible to use material if it is properly credited. For more information, contact the college marketing assistant.
Frequency and Scheduling
Page administrators should create a post schedule and share it with all account administrators and editors to ensure strategic placement of posts and prevent double posting. Make no more than four posts per day (excluding Instagram story posts), and schedule them at least one hour apart. Exceptions include emergency notifications, weather updates and system maintenance or outages.
Peak post times include:
- 8 a.m.
- 10 a.m.
- Noon
- 8-9:30 p.m.
Responding to Comments or Messages
Administrators should develop a system for responding to messages and comments. It is recommended that one or two individual(s) be responsible for reviewing and funneling messages/comments to the appropriate area experts. If you don't know where to send someone with a question, remember the experts at the SF Contact Center: 352-395-5000. Be sure to tell them you appreciate them.
You don't have to respond to every post thread, but you do need to respond to direct messages. Response rates are published on your account page, and a higher rate improves your visibility. Respond to inquiries or postings on official accounts only. All replies should use professional, conversational language that encourages comments and engages follow-up conversation. Never use non-college or personal accounts to respond to inquiries or postings, including those related to events.
Facebook Events
When creating a Facebook event, be sure to include:
- A cover photo related to the event. If no event-specific photo exists, Facebook will automatically populate your page cover photo.
- A simple event title; no more than six words.
- Correct date, time and location.
- Appropriate event co-hosts. Note: Personal/individual accounts should never be added as event co-hosts.
- A phone number and/or email address for the primary contact.
If you would like to boost the event, see below.
Ads and Boosted Posts
Social media ads and boosted posts are subject to the guidelines detailed on the Media and Advertising page of this Brand Guide.
Advertising on social media:
- Confirm that department funds are available to pay for the ad or boost.
- Submit a project request to MarCom. Include approved budget, department name and department account number.
- Work with the college social media specialist and/or photographer and videographer to create an ad that will represent the college brand.
- Follow up with the college marketing assistant to complete the interdepartmental billing
(IDB) process.