Social Media Style Guide
UNCG has hundreds of social media accounts operated by various offices and programs on campus. These accounts, like other forms of external and internal communications, should follow the University’s brand guide. However, social media platforms carry their own writing conventions and considerations that are not specifically addressed in those guidelines.
This document offers best practices for managing your channels and writing effective, engaging social media copy while aligning with the University’s voice and message. See this as a starting point and adjust based on engagement metrics and audience feedback.
VOICE & TONE
Social media posts follow the University’s brand guide and social media standards, demonstrating a commitment to excellence, opportunity, and impact.
Excellence: Our writing is bold, professional, purposeful, concise, and clear. Social media posts should follow campus editorial guidelines and AP style, except where character limits and readability present an obstacle. We use active verbs, and avoid cliches and institutional jargon. We check our spelling and grammar before posting.
Opportunity: We’re positive and supportive in our communications. We share information that fosters connection and pride, and enhances the academic, social, and professional experience of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff.
Impact: We write to demonstrate the local and global impacts of our academics, research, and community engagements. We answer the question: “Why does this matter, and to who?” in our posts. We include calls-to-action that prompt readers and viewers to engage at a deeper level.
POSTING GUIDELINES
Every post should be written with a specific audience in mind. Posts should generally include the following:
- A strong lead that sparks curiosity and engages specific audiences.
- Spacing between sentences, as appropriate, to increase readability.
- A call-to-action (i.e. visit a site, complete a form, share a picture, use a hashtag, etc.)
- An optimized story headline and image for link previews on owned content. Remove the URL if the link preview displays. (Consult your department’s web manager or ITS specialist to optimize the text and image metadata imported into social media platforms.)
- Account mentions and hashtags (see below).
- A strong visual (see below.)
- Emojis, if appropriate (see below).
- Video post tags, if applicable.
- Alt text and image descriptions, if possible.
GENERAL STYLE GUIDELINES
Account mentions: We encourage tagging relevant handles in our posts, as long as those accounts are active and don’t include offensive or controversial material in recent posts. If tags would disrupt the flow or clarity of a message, add them at the end.
Hashtags: One to three hashtags are typically appropriate for each post. In some cases, additional hashtags might be called for on Instagram, but move them to the comment section. Hashtags should not disrupt the flow or clarity of a message. For accessibility purposes, it is preferable to use CamelCase with multiple-word hashtags, when possible. Examples: #PeaceAndConflictStudies, #WomenInSTEM. Note: This doesn’t apply to brand hashtags like #letsgoG, and it doesn’t work well for hashtags that contain acronyms.
Emojis: Use these sparingly (i.e. one to three per message) to save space and add emotional emphasis, especially on celebratory or “spirit” posts. Note that emojis may disrupt the flow of a message for people using screen readers. Thus, emoji use should be purposeful and generally follow the most important information in a message, such as calls to action. Use the standard yellow, or cycle through different skin tones for hand/face emojis to reflect the diversity of your audience.
Gif/stickers: Use branded gifs/stickers on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to add emotional or atmospheric emphasis to a post. Use of non-branded gifs/memes is acceptable on a case-by-case basis.
Images: Use high-resolution images. Add light edits to photos taken on a cell phone. Graphics should be designed and sized for social media channels, not repurposed from print fliers. Additional guidelines for avatars, cover images, and social media graphics can be accessed here.
Exclamation points: Use sparingly to signal excitement.
Hyperlinks: These should be preceded by a colon and space. Pointing fingers, arrows, or news or hyperlink emojis should be used sparingly.