The digital strategy team within the Office of the Vice President for Communications (OVPC) authorizes all branded representation of the university on social media platforms. All individuals managing accounts on behalf of the university must adhere to the following rules and guidelines:

Account Creation

All proposals to create an official University of Michigan social media account must be presented to the corresponding social media leadership representative for justification and assessment before being presented to the digital strategy team for strategic review and official authorization. This is the only process for receiving approval to use University of Michigan branding on an account and to be included in the university-wide social media inventory that is managed by the Office of the Vice President of Communications.

All schools, colleges, institutes, centers, departments, units, organizations and groups wishing to use the University of Michigan branding and name must submit an account request via this Social Media Account Request form with all required sections filled out and a 30-day example content strategy. As OVPC oversees the University of Michigan’s presence on social media sites, the decision on which social media platforms are used for university communications will be made by the OVPC digital strategy/social media team. New platforms will be considered as they emerge based on thorough research on audience, value, use, resources, capabilities and how it adds to the communications efforts of the university.

Privacy and Security

• Logins and passwords should be known and documented. Account logins and passwords should be maintained in a document that is accessible by each social media account administrator for that account and the corresponding member of Social Leadership or a member of the university’s central social media team. For password security resources and guidance, visit umich.edu.

• Adhere to confidentiality and privacy policies. Ensure the account does not reveal confidential or proprietary information about the university or its students, employees or alumni. It is mandatory to adhere to all institutional, state and federal privacy policies.
• Use the university URL shortener. Each official social media account administrator is granted access to the official university branded URL shortener. Links shared through U-M social media properties should be shortened by this URL shortener so they are branded to assure users that it is a trusted and secure source of information.

Account Management

• Social communications and community management is a full-time job. It frequently requires monitoring and maintenance outside of normal business hours. University social media accounts must be managed by university employees. Each official university account should have no less than two university staff members as account administrators.
• Content must be created and posted to accounts regularly. It is the expectation of the digital strategy team that content will be updated regularly as outlined in the Social Media Platform Best Practices and Guidelines
• Remember you represent the university. The posts and comments shared and the actions taken on these branded social media accounts impact the reputation of the university. It is crucial to carefully consider and review everything that is posted.
• Ensure all content is accessible. University accessibility requirements must be met and all accounts must follow the Social Media Accessibility Best Practices. All content should be created for all audiences to enjoy.
• Sprout Social is the university’s social media management tool. The University of Michigan has an agreement with Sprout Social for an enterprise-level social media management solution. Sprout Social enhances the strategic management of the university’s collective social media voice. Access can be requested for approved accounts through the Social Media website.
• Account activity. All social media platforms need to be updated at minimum multiple times each week. The amount of posts varies based on the platform. Posting expectations are outlined in the University of Michigan Social Media Platform Best Practices (see the “University of Michigan Social Media Best Practices” dropdown). Accounts inactive for 30 days are considered dormant and subject to review for deletion.

Social media communications tools, tactics and challenges are continuously evolving. The University of Michigan digital strategy team consistently researches social media platform and algorithm developments, changes to offerings and usage, best practices and rules to strategically use these communications tools while mitigating risks to the brand and enhancing the brand’s reputation.

• The University of Michigan approves social media sites for brand usage. As of December 20, 2024, the active social media sites for the University of Michigan are: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, LinkedIn, X, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube.
• Understand each platform. Social media platforms function in unique ways, have a variety of capabilities and require different approaches for accessibility. It’s important to learn details about each individual platform and its capabilities and challenges.
• Conduct audience research. The social media users on each channel vary and their relationships with the university also vary. It’s integral to success that social media leads and administrators spend significant time researching the audience present on each channel and the prospective audience that you want to reach. This research should be conducted often as communities evolve in their social media usage.
• Stay current and relevant. Always remain updated on trends and industry changes. It’s necessary to become familiar with standards and policies related to accessibility, copyright and intellectual property. It is also important to keep up on the changing trends occurring across different social media spaces and spend time familiarizing yourself with accounts that are relevant to the account you lead. Not all trends work for all industries/institutions/departments/units, but it is helpful to understand why trends take off and what can be adapted to best represent the brand while connecting with communities.
• Know your voice. The brand voice is meaningful and all posts crafted for a university-affiliated social media account must be in the brand voice. Avoid statements or posts that give the perception you are speaking on behalf of the entire university.

• Finalize the strategy and plan posts. Social media requires strategy. Always have a plan for your posts to ensure they are relevant. Strategies should include objectives, content creation plans, tactics for engagement and metrics of success to measure outcomes. 

• Listen and evaluate. While a plan is required for launching and managing a social media account, listening to the community is a crucial step in the social media process and may bring forth necessary changes to the plan. Evaluate conversations taking place in the social spaces your audience uses every day.

• Don’t schedule too far ahead. Scheduling posts can be done but should not be done more than a few days ahead of the post. Social media conversations change rapidly and a post can quickly become irreverent or appear insensitive because of something that has happened since the post was scheduled. If scheduling, tune in to listen each day to ensure that there haven’t been any changes to dialogues or community concerns that would impact the post.
• Take a pause when a pause feels right. If you are hesitant to publish, don’t publish. If the context of the post makes you uncomfortable or you are worried it won’t resonate with the audience for any reason, pause and take some time to further evaluate. If you are unsure of how to proceed, contact the University of Michigan central social media team (socialmedia@umich.edu).
• Manage comment sections appropriately. Connect with the audience in thoughtful ways. Respond to questions and positive comments, and monitor for comments that need to be addressed or removed per the “Community Guidelines” posted below. 

• Elevate and collaborate. Sharing posts from the main University of Michigan accounts and other affiliated University of Michigan accounts is an important and effective way to amplify important communications, relevant institution news and university-wide thematic observances.

Platform Best Practices

Each social media platform contains its own unique functions, formats, and communities. The success of dynamic content can be quickly be derailed if it is not done with the end delivery vehicle in mind. Learn about content best practices, accessibility approaches, and conversation monitoring techniques from these platform guides. Contact the UMSocial team with any questions.

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

X

Threads

• Monitoring is critical and must be done daily. It is the expectation that accounts are continuously monitored and that concerns, responses and issues are addressed and elevated in a timely manner within 24 hours. Concerns should be elevated as necessary to the university social media leadership, university public affairs and, if appropriate, DPSS. Follow the University of Michigan Engagement and Collaboration Protocol.
• Account security is important. Accounts with email signups must be managed by a shared umich.edu email account that multiple people can access. Some platforms, including Facebook and LinkedIn, must be managed through personal profiles. Do not set up a fake account to manage platforms as it may result in account loss based on platform providers’ policies. These pages are very difficult to recover once lost.
• Social listening should occur every day. This means checking on the accounts not only for monitoring for concerns but to also check on engagements and reactions to content, trending topics of conversation and to identify any opportunities to interact with audience members. Social listening should be a determining factor in every social media strategy to ensure the content is designed with data and audience insights.

Social media usage by the University of Michigan is intended to enhance communications, engagement and transparency, as well as provide educational and informational opportunities and connections that raise the stature of the institution. Communication and engagement on social media platforms is integral to participating in conversations with university communities.

While dialogue is critical to successful social media, there are times when comments are inappropriate and need to be removed in accordance with the university’s policy. For the safety of our audiences, social media account administrators reserve the right to remove content or comments for the following reasons:

• The use of obscene, defamatory, threatening, discriminatory, offensive or harassing language or language that targets or disparages any ethic, racial, religious or gender group
• Disclosure of information that is confidential by law or regulation
• Advocates illegal activity
• Violations of copyrights or trademarks
• Contains spam, junk mail or unauthorized solicitations
• Advertisement or promotion of commercial products, services, entities or individuals
• Endorsements or opposition of any person campaigning for election to a political office or promoting or opposing any ballot proposal
• Violates any local, state or federal laws or university policy
• Is duplicative by the same user or multiple users. In case of identical comments only the first comment will be approved to remain.

Social Leadership/Social Lead

Social Leadership is a group composed of delegates from each University of Michigan school, college and organizations. The Social Leadership group is managed by the University of Michigan central social media team, a part of the Office of the Vice President for Communications Digital Strategy team. Members of Social Leadership are responsible for the oversight of approved University of Michigan branded social media accounts. Each school, college and organization must have one or two assigned primary contacts who are a part of the Social Leadership group. Responsibilities of each member of Social Leadership include:

• Maintain active dialogue with their leadership and social media account administrators within their organizations, as well as with the university’s central social media team.
• Serve as the first point of contact for those who have questions or interests relating to social media account creation and management, content creation, campaigns or collaborations.
• Ensure all university social media policies, guidelines and best practices, as well as digital strategy, branding and communications policies, guidelines and best practices, are communicated to appropriate team members and fully adhered to.
• Monitor social media accounts to confirm that the tone, content and brand representation reflects properly on behalf of the organization and the University of Michigan.
• Notify and proactively communicate with the central University of Michigan social media team and Public Affairs regarding any emerging issues, concerns or upcoming potential hot topics.
• Catalog and continuously update an official account inventory with contact information for administrators and logins and passwords for accounts.
• Provide strategic guidance on social media strategy, considerations for account creations, potential collaborations and implementing paid social media campaigns.
• Act as a liaison between the central social media team leadership, Public Affairs, DPSS and other university units and leadership on matters relating to safety, security and crisis communications. Determine when social media activity needs to be frozen on the corresponding accounts due to concerns of safety, security or crisis communications, and work with central social media leadership, Public Affairs and DPSS to determine how to address the situation and if official messaging and university resources need to be elevated from the account.
• Participate in Social Leadership meetings, events and communications. Actively engage with the group channel in Slack and check in regularly with the central social media team.

Social Media Administrator

A social media administrator is the person directly responsible for the management of approved University of Michigan branded social media accounts. These individuals may also be a member of the Social Leadership group, report to the organization’s member of Social Leadership or on a team with the organization’s member of Social Leadership. Responsibilities of each social media administrator include:

• Create, maintain and monitor strategic daily content on social media channels.
• Ensure all content for social media channels is on-brand, respectful, accurate, error-free, engaging, aligns with the organization’s objectives and meets the university’s established policies.
• Regularly communicate with respective Social Leadership representatives.
• Actively monitor community conversations, engage with audiences and moderate content for anything that violates hosting terms of service or University of Michigan community guidelines.
• Contact corresponding Social Leadership representative and the central University of Michigan social media team in a timely manner to communicate emerging or occurring crisis communications issues.
• Respond to inquiries appropriately in a timely manner and when necessary move the discussion into another form of communications.
• Track and regularly report account performance to measure against established benchmarks and organizational goals, and that all channels are achieving continuous growth in followers and engagement and following the university’s guidelines and best practices.
• Adhere to the institutional and content communications strategies set forth by the organization, the central social media team and the university.

Social Leadership and social media administrators are prohibited from:

• Posting content that violates university, city, state or federal laws and regulations.
• Commenting on or posting anything related to existing or potential legal matters or litigation without appropriate approvals.
• Using the university brand to endorse any view, product, private business, cause or political candidate.
• Representing personal opinions as university-endorsed views or policies.
• Sharing content that is profane, off-topic, violates copyright or does not properly credit the original content source.
• Deleting or moderating content beyond the policy outlined in the Community Guidelines.

University Tools

• University of Michigan Social Media website
  • Social Media Account Inventory
  • Social Media Leadership Directory
  • Social Media Platform Best Practices
• University of Michigan Brand Website
• University of Michigan URL Shortener
• University of Michigan Digital Accessibility

Questions and Support

Director of Social Media Erica Colaianne: ericacol@umich.edu

Social Media Content Manager Pat Durant: pdurant@umich.edu

This policy does not intend to limit personal social media usage and does not intend to discourage any interaction with University of Michigan social media posts.

Please consider these general principles for your protection as it pertains to personal social media usage:

• Be confidential. Use extreme caution to ensure you do not reveal confidential or proprietary information about the University of Michigan or any members of its community. Adhere to all university, city, state and federal privacy laws and confidentiality policies.
• Know your responsibilities. If you identify yourself on your social media channels as a University of Michigan faculty or staff member, it is necessary to make sure that you post a disclaimer that your views are your own and you are not representing the university in your posts. Disclaimers such as this are often posted in the bio of the channel. This clarity is especially important if you discuss university or higher education topics using this platform.
• Don’t misuse the U-M brand. Do not use the University of Michigan identity, such as the name, logo, brand colors, for any personal purposes. Do not modify the logo to be used for any personal purposes.
• Review privacy settings. Review and modify your privacy settings to meet your personal preferences. There are options to make social media profiles private.
• Think before you post. Whether your account is private or not, complete privacy does not exist in social spaces. Screenshots of posts can always be taken by someone and shared elsewhere. Posts can be taken out of context or shared in other settings by your followers or anyone who can see your content. All of this can have numerous negative implications, including on your professional career. You are liable for what you post on social media.
• Protect your identity. Don’t provide personal information that scammers or phishers could use against you or to hack your account. Reset your password in any instance of a breach. Always log out of your account when on any computer that is not your personal device.