Social Media Guidelines

Social Media

Social Media is an important ways of communicating with our students, staff, alumni, media and other key stakeholders. It can successfully enhance UofG’s online brand and reputation, increase visibility, promote our research & other achievements, broadcast our breaking news stories and broaden our national and international reach.

The Social and Digital Media team has produced this guide to help colleagues manage their own social networks on behalf of UofG with useful tips and advice. For more information about how to tell the University story visit the brand attributes.

If you need help with your Social Media, please get in touch with the team:

Emma Gilmartin, Head of Social Media and Student Communications

Tasha Quinn, Social and Digital Media Manager

Elly White, Social and Digital Media Officer 

Kuangqing Zeng, Chinese Social Media Officer

University Guidelines

Social Media is an exciting area because it's constantly evolving. These guidelines will help you set up and maintain your channels and collectively build on the ‘UofG’ brand.

For some helpful tips, please visit our best practice guidelines.

It’s good to consider the following topics before setting up your own official UofG channel(s):

  • Strategy
  • Content
  • Account Management
  • Tone of Voice
  • Integration

Creating your Accounts

Before creating a UofG account please email: socialmedia@glasgow.ac.uk

Social Media accounts should only be created for UofG’s Colleges, Schools and Services. Please do not create accounts for events, conferences or temporary initiatives. Exceptions may be requested by contacting Tasha Quinn, or if you need advice on which channels would be most appropriate.

All official UofG Social Media accounts should be managed by at least one member of staff. Students can assist with accounts but should not have sole responsibility and should be briefed appropriately by the main account administrator.

If you have multiple account administrators it’s a good idea to work together so your accounts don’t have varying styles or tones of voice. This will be confusing for your audience.

Naming Accounts

All Social Media accounts created on behalf of the University should begin with University of Glasgow or be abbreviated to UofG, depending on the platform. You should not use Glasgow University or GU. 

Facebook & Youtube

University of Glasgow [Insert department or service here]

ie. University of Glasgow Library

X

handle: @UofG[Insert department or service here]

ie. @UofGLibrary (Note: First letter of the department or service needs to be capitalised)

Profile Name/Username:

UofG [Insert department or service here]

ie. UofG Library (Note: the space between UofG and Library)

Please do not use underscores in your X handle or name.

Instagram

handle: @UofG[Insert department or service here]

ie. @UofGLibrary (Note: First letter of the department or service needs to be capitalised)

Profile Name/Username:

University of Glasgow [Insert department or service here]

ie. University of Glasgow Library

Please note that when setting up accounts, the 'U' and the 'G' should be capitalised and the first letter of the Service, College or School should be capitalised. Please don’t use underscores like @UofG_Library as these are not user friendly.

Following this naming convention supports UofG’s branding and helps users when they search for our pages and accounts.

Choosing your Avatar and Cover picture

Contact the social media team for a custom avatar for your account - socialmedia@glasgow.ac.uk.

For your cover photo, use a a photo commonly associated with your department or service or a photo of the university.

Please do not create your own logo and ensure that the pictures you upload are of high quality and not pixelated.

Resources for imagery

Moderation

Social Media is all about engaging with your community. You can’t share content on your Social Media sites and then ignore the conversations which follow. You should regularly check for questions and comments and respond to your audience in a timely manner.

Comments, replies, and posts that are positive or negative must be allowed. At UofG we support our community’s freedom to voice their thoughts and engage in ‘friendly’ debate. However, if the content is offensive, abusive, threatening or vulgar, we reserve the right to delete it.

Policies & Confidentiality

It is important to comply with existing University of Glasgow policies when managing your Social Media platforms. Please consider the policies outlined in the HR and Student Code of Conduct. A lot of it is common sense and good judgement - protect your intellectual property and do not post confidential information about UofG or members of our community.

Terms of Service

Make sure you are aware of the specific terms of service for each platform that you use. There are certain restrictions and guidelines in regards to what content you can post - ie some platforms will prevent you from streaming music if you haven’t paid the royalties/copyright.