Social Media Guidelines
Strategy and Planning
Before launching a new social media account, clearly define your goals, target audience, and purpose. A thoughtful strategic plan will ensure your social media presence is efficient, effective, and sustainable.
Ask yourself:
- What are the goals of this account?
- Who is the intended audience?
- Can you reach this audience more effectively through other existing channels?
- How will this account complement current communication strategies?
- Do you have the time and resources to consistently manage and update this account?
Creating an account is a commitment—be sure it’s the right step for your team.
Identifying Your Audience
SIUE serves a diverse range of audiences. Identifying who you’re trying to reach will help shape your content strategy.
Key Demographics by Platform:
- Current Students – Instagram, TikTok
- Prospective Students – Instagram, TikTok
- Alumni – Facebook, LinkedIn
- Parents – Facebook
- Community/Public – Facebook, X
Tailor your messaging and visuals to resonate with each audience. Match the language, tone, and perspective to what matters most to your primary followers on each platform.
Timing Your Posts
Timing can impact the visibility and engagement of your posts. Based on our research, here are optimal posting times for each platform:
- Instagram – 3-6 p.m.
- Facebook – 3- 6 p.m.
- LinkedIn – 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.
- X (Twitter) – 3- 6 p.m.
- TikTok – 3-6 p.m.
Avoid over-posting. Quality and timing matter more than quantity.
Consistency and Branding
Your account names should be clean, simple, and clearly reflect your department or unit. This helps users find and recognize your content easily.
We encourage all university-affiliated accounts to follow SIUE’s social media brand standards:
Use the department’s official SIUE spirit/word mark as your profile image, set against a red background.
Use a building photo of your department’s location or a team photo as your profile header image.
Need help with graphics or spirit/word marks? Contact Jenna Bracken at socialmedia@siue.edu.
Best Practices for Posting
Mentions
Mentioning or tagging other university accounts builds community and increases reach. On X (Twitter), tag accounts in images rather than the text to save character space and keep your captions clean.
Readability & Accessibility
Make your content easy to scan by using paragraph breaks and avoiding large blocks of text. For accessibility, ensure that any text within graphics has sufficient contrast against the background.
Double-check that all links are active and not broken. When sharing videos on social media, always include captions to ensure content is accessible to all users.
Hashtags
Use hashtags sparingly—limit to one or two per post. When possible, incorporate them naturally into your sentence. For accessibility, use camel case (capitalize the first letter of each word).
Common SIUE Hashtags:
- #SIUE
- #SIUEdwardsville
- #RollCougs
- #SIUEHomecoming
- #AlwaysACougar
- #[Your Department, e.g., SIUESchoolOfBusiness]
