Social Media Policy

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Purpose

To develop and maintain a reputation for Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s (OKWU) social media presence as an essential forum for conversations and relationships; to use social media as an integral part of an overall communications strategy to maintain and increase the prominence of university programs, initiatives, and members of its community; and to engage a full range of constituencies in new and flexible ways.

To maintain the university’s reputation of excellence, the different departments and offices of OKWU should work collaboratively to communicate to our various constituencies about the quality work of faculty and students, the endeavors we undertake in higher education, and the many service efforts we make in our community to create sustainable programs.

Application of this policy

This policy applies to social media accounts affiliated with the university for the official business purposes of OKWU, including:

  • Schools
  • Departments and/or programs
  • Student groups/clubs
  • Official athletic teams

All officially-recognized social media accounts will be monitored by the university Creative Impact team.

Exemptions from this policy

This policy does not apply to private student or employee social media accounts.

Employees who use social media are expected to refrain from presenting themselves as official representatives of the university or from portraying the University in a negative manner. Employees are expected to use good judgment and discretion when using or accessing social media, ever aware of the importance of advancing the University’s mission, upholding its policies, and dedicating their best efforts to the broad interests of the University. Employees are liable for anything they post to social media sites in violation of this policy.

Definitions of this policy

Administrator or manager: A person who is approved to manage and/or post on an officially recognized OKWU social media account.

Poster or user: A person creating and/or posting content to any social media site.

Social media: Media designed to be disseminated through social interaction using highly accessible publishing techniques. Social media includes, but is not limited to, networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and podcasts.

University’s best interest: To represent the university in a fair, accurate, and legal manner while protecting the brand and reputation of the institution.

Accounts/Pages

  1. Any new account must be created or approved by an authorized administrator of the university’s Creative Impact team.
  2. All accounts recognized by the university must be created with an official okwu.edu email address. 
  3. All accounts recognized by the university must have no less than two OKWU employees as administrators at all times to ensure adherence to this policy.
    • If an OKWU employee administrator of an account leaves the university for any reason or no longer wishes to be an account administrator, it is the department’s responsibility to remove that person as an account administrator and designate another employee to that role.
    • If there are not two employees available to serve as account administrators, a member of the university’s Creative Impact team may serve in that capacity.
    • A graduate assistant may serve as one of the administrators. If graduate assistants are serving as administrators, verify and update passwords at the end of each semester.
  4. Authorized administrators are fully responsible for all content posted by his/her departmental account and any actions that take place using the account.
  5. Pages should maintain up-to-date content with the goal of posting new content 2-3 times a week during the academic year.

Brand Management

Users of official Oklahoma Wesleyan University social media channels should reinforce the OKWU brand at all times.

  1. Recommended social media avatars/icons are available from the university’s Creative Impact team.
  2. Strive to limit typos, grammatical errors, and content that is irrelevant to OKWU’s audience.
  3. Maintain the university’s brand guidelines (voice and tone) in content.
  4. Respect and comply with all privacy laws, including, but not limited to, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Avoid using confidential information about the university, its staff, or students in social media content.
    • Such information includes student grades/performance, admission status, GPA, Social Security numbers, personally identifiable health information (medical conditions or injuries).
    • The university will not ask for, nor should an individual send, credit card or payment information, classified information, privileged information, private information, or information subject to nondisclosure agreements via any social network internet communication service.
    • Additionally, account administrators should be aware of rules governing interactions between the university, its employees, and prospective student-athletes.

Use of University Marks

  1. Accounts and pages should, where possible, feature the university’s official name, logo, and/or signature.
  2. If available, accounts and pages should use their designated avatar provided by the university’s Creative Impact team.
  3. Keep in mind the university colors when posting graphics.
  4. Refer to the University’s Style Guide when needed.

OKWU Main Social Accounts

OKWU’s official social accounts use the handle @OKWUniv or @OKWUeagles on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram and Oklahoma Wesleyan University on LinkedIn. The audience of the university’s main accounts consists of current students, prospective students, influencers, alumni, and friends. We aim to provide content about OKWU that is engaging, relevant, and informative for our audience.

    1. Collaborations with the university’s main accounts can elevate a sub-group or organization’s reach and grow its following. Collaborations can happen in two ways:
      • Working alongside the university’s Creative Impact team to create a content campaign;
      • Submitting created content for review and approval.
    2. External Communications
      • OKWU’s social content is designed to be external communication, which means it is designed for an external audience. Content that is targeted for internal audiences like faculty/staff will only be shared on a must-need basis.
    3. Promotional Posts
      • Promotional posts are defined as content that asks the audience to pay for an item or is fundraising in nature.
      • Promotional posts will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. (Exceptions: Year-End Giving and Give Day)
      • The addition of a Facebook Donate Button must be pre-approved by the VP for Creative Impact. 

Content

  1. Content should be posted with the understanding that it may be redistributed through the Internet and other media channels and may be viewed by the general public. Keep in mind that some versions of content may continue to exist even if they are deleted or modified.
  2. When possible, content should direct users to www.okwu.edu.
  3. Social media platforms are not to be used to post lengthy policy or procedural information, nor should they be used as a means of sharing admission criteria. Users should be directed to official university websites, electronic resources, or publications for such information.
  4. Do not post content that may be considered controversial or portray the university in a negative light.
  5. Content must be posted as the department and not as an individual. This maintains the privacy of the individual maintaining the page and preserves the consistency of the University’s voice online.
  6. Personal text, photos, videos and other material posted on social media pages should be in keeping with generally accepted professional and/or ethical standards for your field(s) of work and/or study.
  7. Do not use hate language, profanity, placeholders of profanity, or statements that may be viewed as offensive to a reasonable person.
  8. Do not engage in arguments or post inflammatory comments or statements in response to any negative or derogatory comments about the university.
  9. Endorsing companies, organizations, political parties, commercial products, services, or outside events is not permitted.

Engaging with Users

Social media platforms should encourage communication through commenting, replying, and liking posts/tweets. The following guidelines are in place to prevent malicious comments on university pages:

  1. Comments must be relevant to the topic discussed.
  2. Comments that are off-topic, abusive, contain profanity, are threatening in tone, or devolve into personal attacks should be hidden/deleted immediately.
  3. Posts that contain links that are determined to be spam, sales, or advertising should be removed immediately.
  4. Enabling public wall posts is at the discretion of the authorized user of the page. By enabling this feature, the department is responsible for addressing public posts promptly and professionally.

Students

Tag officially registered student groups/teams (OKWU Baseball, etc.) when appropriate instead of individual students. Use caution when retweeting or reposting content originated by a student user. While retweets are not endorsements, they display those users (and their content) to our audience.

Emergency/Crisis Communication

  1. In the event of a crisis or campus emergency, social media is used as a vital communication channel. The information posted on social media channels during such an event should direct followers to the university’s homepage. All accounts should follow the lead of the main OKWU accounts on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram.
    • A crisis or campus emergency includes inclement weather, fire, campus shooting, a threat to campus, etc.
  2. Administrators of university social media channels should not post information about an emergency/crisis before the main University accounts.
  3. Administrators of university social media channels should not reinterpret, add to or delete from language used in crisis or campus emergency notifications.
  4. If there is a safety concern resulting from a post on an account you oversee, contact Campus Safety immediately. After contacting Campus Safety, send an email to creative.impact@okwu.edu with a screenshot of the post.

Troubleshooting

Accounts/pages will be monitored on a regular basis. If an issue comes up, please contact the university’s Creative Impact team for discussions on a resolution plan.

Resources:

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