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Best Practices

Social Networks are the chosen platform for much of the world's communication. At Nova Southeastern University (NSU), we believe we should listen and engage where it will be most effective. It's important that NSU create a consistent brand across all social media networks. Therefore, we've developed the NSU Social Best Practices information center.

Here you will find all the materials you need to brand the following social networks:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Before You Get Started

Before starting a social media presence, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Who are you trying to reach?
  • What response do you want to elicit?
  • What kind of social interaction will achieve the desired outcome?
  • What tool will best support that interaction? (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)

Keep In Mind

The web is not anonymous. Everything written or posted on behalf of NSU can be traced back to a specific individual. Before launching a social networking site:

  • Notify your advisor/college/department/unit communications staff.
  • Keep contact information accurate and current.
  • Passwords and admin access for the social site must be managed carefully.
  • Establish criteria for replying to comments, including timeliness and appropriateness.

Use the following Social Media standards to create a consistent look for your department, college or organization across the social media sites.

Market Your Presence!

  • Embed links back to your NSU department, organization or college's web page(s) from the social networking sites.
  • Extend NSU branding through use of NSU icons, logos and photos.
  • Submit all social media pages and link to the NSU Social Media department.

Responding to Your Audience

Once you have constructed a vibrant community of friends, followers and fans, it's time to keep the momentum going.

On Facebook, post relevant content once or twice a day. Respond to posts and replies within 24 hours.

With Twitter, it's important to respond to tweets-especially @mentions to you specifically, as they could be something important or time sensitive. More importantly, if someone asks you a question and they do not get a response, it could reflect poorly on your account, as other followers might want to know the same information. Also, be courteous and thank anyone who RTs (Retweets) your original post.

On YouTube, monitor your channel and reply to comments and feedback.

Ongoing Engagement Best Practices

Engagement

  • Start question threads. You could ask a question on Twitter and drive to Facebook post or survey.
  • Elicit feedback (remember, you don't have to act on every comment or criticism).
  • Acknowledge good communication and communicators.
  • Thank followers or fans for sharing, RTing or commenting on posts across all social media channels.
  • Create themes and programs for discussion.
  • Listen, listen, listen. The group is not a platform for you to do all the communication.
  • Make the site visually appealing by advocating user-generated content.
  • Progressively survey your community using Facebook questions.
  • Hold live events where everyone can meet one another in real time.
  • Create Podcasts/Stream/Video for the group.
  • Bring in outside authors, bloggers and spotlight members of your group.
  • Keep a steady stream of like-minded links from Google alerts and RSS streams injected in your community.
  • If you go on vacation and switch servers or do anything to disrupt communication, let everyone know in advance.
  • Do your best to respond to all comments.

Conduct

  • Do not judge; simply be a part of the community and intervene only if absolutely necessary.
  • Respond to criticism rapidly (doesn't mean you have to do anything about it right away, but you do need to respond).
  • Don't censor or edit discussion unless harmful or if it falls outside of NSU's Social Media Policies.
  • Direct members falling outside of ethical guidelines to social@nova.edu.
  • Be authentic, honest and charismatic.
  • Be topical and have fun!

Font Usage

The fonts that you should have loaded on your personal computer are the following:

  • Arial Narrow Bold or Black
  • Helvetica Black Condensed

Web Colors

The internet uses HEX colors to specify the colors to display (similar to CMYK for print, or RGB for computer displays). Here is a list of approved web colors in the NSU palette:

#000080
RGB 0,0,128

Twitter Colors

Text: hex color: 000000
Links: hex color: 097ed8
Sidebar: hex color: cccccc
Sidebar Border: hex color: 777777

YouTube Colors

Font: Arial
Background Hex Color: ‪#1924b2
Wrapper Hex Color: ‪#e6e6e6
Wrapper text Hex Color: ‪#666666
Wrapper link Hex Color: ‪#03C
Wrapper transparency 50%

Profile Image

It's important to use the same image on all three platforms; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, for consistency and easier recognition by your fan base. Once you have built your custom image, apply the same profile image to all three networks. Email Social Media to have a profile photo or logo created.

Photography

Select an image that shows your group as being active, interesting and seeking growth.

Please make sure that you own or have authorization for the usage of the photos that you select.

If you need any assistance creating your profiles, email Social Media.

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