Social Media at Oxy

For questions regarding the College’s social media presence, contact social media manager Jasmine Teran.

Tips for Effectively Managing a Social Account

Be consistent. While daily posts may not be necessary, continual communication is, if you want to keep a social structure alive. Determine what your resources (time, personnel) will allow you to do. Create content calendars every semester to have ideas ready for what to post about. A period of silence can be noticeable and will not create an engaged community.

Be social. Of course you want to promote your events and mission, but don’t forget to listen and interact with your followers (and potential audience). Offer your followers information they can’t get elsewhere. Share insights on related topics and news to encourage dialogue.

Be responsible. As an account based out of Occidental, your posts reflect the campus. Be professional and intentional with your words. Stay aware of local and global news that could affect your content schedule and authenticity. Posts are always subject to negative reactions; be prepared to react (or not react) to these sentiments. A posted comment policy can prove helpful when determining what content can be accepted and tolerated.

Best Practices

Thinking of starting an account? With any social media marketing campaign, it’s important to think through goals, resources and strategy in order to create a sustainable conversation. There are roughly 100 accounts each on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram affiliated with Occidental. It’s up to you and your team to find and share the information that is unique to your group year-round.

Do you have short-term goals? It may be worth seeing if related groups at Oxy with a social presence can share your message with their audience first.

As you start a new social account for your group/club/department, remember to keep your profile and header photos consistent with Oxy’s style guide. Determine who will be in charge of managing the account and for what length of time. Create a year-round content outline with your group and decide how you will assess effectiveness.

The College’s Social Media Accounts: Policies & Principles

The Office of Marketing and Communications (OMC) manages Occidental’s primary social media accounts, including those on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The primary purpose for these channels is to highlight the Oxy experience on campus and beyond to a wide range of audiences including on campus (faculty, students and staff) and off campus (prospective students, families and alumni). Types of content posted by the College typically include, but are not limited to, student life in and outside of the classroom, academic achievements and highlights from students and faculty, and other major College news.

The accounts are generally not used for event promotion—that is, to promote events in advance to the College community. Occasional exceptions are made for major college-wide events. Community members seeking to promote their events via College-wide channels should utilize the Oxy.edu events calendar and the RAFTR app operated by SLICE.

For Instagram, the OMC invites students to highlight their Oxy experience through Instagram takeovers. Takeovers are a helpful way of sharing Oxy stories through the students’ perspective. Takeovers are not intended for student groups to build awareness of their specific event. View some examples here.

The College’s social media accounts are not used to express the political views of individuals/specific student clubs. The College reserves the right to remove any external content, including comments or user-generated content that is deemed inappropriate.

Before You Get Started

A social media account can be a great way to connect with your targeted campus audience if your social media presence is effectively executed. Before you create a new social media account, we ask that you review the following considerations.

Oftentimes, previous leaders of your group or department staff members create an Occidental-affiliated account and leave it once their time on campus comes to an end. Rather than create a new account, you may be able to revive an existing account with a built-in audience. If there is already a social media profile in existence for your department, program, or office that you do not have access to, contact the Office of Communications & Marketing to discuss the best next steps.

There are several social media platforms that you may be considering including Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. Which platform is the one where you'll find your audience? Identify your audience so you can connect with them on the best-suited platform.

If you build an account, will they follow? Before you begin posting, consider how you will reach followers and build an
audience. Think through what your account will offer your target audience, and how it will stand out among the accounts they already follow. How will they hear about this new account? What is the benefit of following it? Explore how you can best answer those questions through promotional materials and copy.

Any Occidental-affiliated social media account, with the exemption of student clubs, must be administered by an employee of the College. A student may be considered an account moderator but should not establish or have the highest admin access to the account. Account administrators should use an @oxy.edu email address to connect to the account.

To get an accurate idea of what your account will consist of, plan a month's worth of posts, including captions and visuals, and determine what time resources will be needed to maintain a year-round content calendar. Consistency is key to reaching and maintaining an audience. If you intend to post only during certain periods in the year or only to promote specific events, consider receiving marketing support from the primary Occidental social media accounts. With sufficient planning, OMC can work with you to create engaging messaging for a built-in audience of students and community members.

Take time to review these guidelines and Occidental’s social media policy make sure you understand and are able to follow them.

To be recognized as an official Occidental affiliated social media account, submit your account to the College Social Media Directory.

Best Practices & Guidelines

These best practices and guidelines apply to anyone logging into a social media account affiliated with Occidental, including applicable students, representing academic departments, and athletic teams.

There are a number of reasons to post content. Decide what “buckets” you want to fill with your content. That could include any of the following:

Promote events with the goal of building community
Provide authentic insights into the Occidental experience
Encourage or inform your audience

The shorter the sweeter. Social media is primarily a visual platform; consider how to amplify your messages through visuals rather than relying heavily on text.
Consider creating a link tree (we like later.com for free Link In Bio accounts) to drive viewers to a link for more information. URLs that are included in captions and QR codes included in graphics are not clickable.
Include alt text on photos and closed captioning on videos with dialogue to keep things accessible. Nearly half of your audience may be watching with no sound on; keep them engaged by allowing them to view video posts with captions.
Remember that you are representing Occidental through your social media page. Treat your role as a social media administrator or moderator as professionally as you would any other part of your job.

Beyond our official social media policy, we ask that you follow these guidelines when creating content or engaging through Occidental-affiliated social media accounts.

Any posts, comments, or “likes” that can be interpreted as overtly favorable acknowledgments or endorsements of political parties, candidates, ideologies, and third-party products must include a disclaimer that these views are not held or endorsed by Occidental College.
Be mindful of how you represent your organization’s opinions on divisive issues. If you are unsure of how to respond to such issues, contact us.
If any disagreements or negative opinions arise in your account’s comments section, navigate those with a respectful and professional voice. If you are not sure how to handle a challenging situation, contact us for guidance.
Respect student privacy. Follow FERPA and HIPAA laws and always ask permission before photographing or filming any individuals who will appear in front of camera.
Per NCAA rules, any and all athletics recruits should not be engaged with on social media unless they have officially committed to attending Occidental by submitting an admission deposit or signing a National Letter of Intent.

Each social media account should have at least two administrators at all times, including a staff or faculty member with the highest permissions on the account, including two-factor authentication enabled. A student may be considered a moderator but should not establish an academic or athletic account or have the highest admin access to the account. Account administrators should use an @oxy.edu email address to connect to the account and whenever possible should use a department email address (i.e. theater@oxy.edu; library@oxy.edu).

Passwords should be changed at the start of each semester and as account admins leave their role or the College. Whenever possible, enable two-factor authentication for your login and keep close track of who has access to your

account.

When an account’s admin leaves their role or the College, their access to the account should be removed. A new admin must be identified.

Account admins are responsible for managing and monitoring posts and comments on their College-affiliated accounts, including removing content that may violate any college policies.

Social Media Policy

Occidental College uses social media to communicate with its campus community, including students, employees, parents, and alumni, as well as the general public, who may not be reached through traditional communication methods. Content covers a range of themes that support Occidental’s strategic initiatives including events, news, and campus activity. This policy is designed to help Occidental employees make appropriate decisions when managing and developing social media initiatives and messages affiliated or on behalf of the College as well as engaging with content from other accounts.

Coming soon

Account Registration

To be recognized as an official Occidental affiliated social media account, all pre-existing social media accounts and any new
proposed social media accounts must be submitted through this registration form.

Registering your account not only gives you added exposure but also access to ongoing updates, assistance, and training opportunities

Coming soon

Social Media Directory

Academic Departments

Athletics

Student Organizations

Offices

Coming soon

Social Media at Oxy

Tips for Effectively Managing a Social Account

Best Practices

The College’s Social Media Accounts: Policies & Principles

Before You Get Started

Does a similar account already exist?

Determine your audience

Outline your communications strategy

Decide who will manage the account

Plan your content

Review Occidental's Guidelines & Best Practices

Submit your account for the social media directory

Best Practices & Guidelines

Establish your goals

Keep in mind

Guidelines

Admin roles

Social Media Policy

Account Registration

Social Media Directory

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