Social Media

Getting Started

Want to create a Colby-related social media handle?

First, ask yourself the following questions:

Do you have the time and resources to maintain an effective presence on social media?
Do you have time to create content?
Do you have unique content opportunities to share on an ongoing basis?
Do you have the resources to monitor, engage with, and respond to social media activity?
Do you have at least one person (not a student) who can own your social media presence long term?
Who do you want to reach and engage? Are you trying to reach students? Alumni?
What kind of content will you be posting? Photos? Videos? Links?
What action(s) do you want your audience to take? Watch a video? Click through to another site?

Beginning your journey on social media takes time and effort—and with both, it’s a rewarding way to engage with your audience. Let your responses to these questions inform your decision.

Content Planning

Once you’ve determined the purpose and audience for your handle, come up with an action plan. A few tips:

It’s more about quality over quantity of posts. Put more effort into ensuring the quality of your content is top notch rather than how frequently you post.
Plan ahead and create a content calendar. Be sure to outline:
- Types/series of content that you can roll out in a consistent stream
- Who is responsible for creating/posting the content
Actively promote your social media presence. Followers won’t find you on their own. Be sure to communicate why your audience should be following you and formulate a promotional plan to reach your intended audience such as an e-blast, promotion on a related handle, etc.
If you are heavily relying on students to help you with content and posting, always check their work before it’s posted. The internet never forgets!

Once your content plan is in place, you’re ready to create your account.

Building Your Account

Creating an Account

When creating a new account, be sure to set it up using an email address that your department/team can access. Creating an account using an individual’s email address can cause problems, especially if that person leaves the College. Be sure to share the log in information with your department/team once created, so that in an emergency more than one person is able to access the account.

Profile Icons

Social media profile icons use a mix of round and square formats. When creating your profile icon, keep it simple and centered. Many users will only use social media on a mobile device, so keep your icon as legible as possible because it will display very small.

Need help? Submit a request to have our design team create your profile icon assets.

Cover Photos

Your cover photo should provide more context to your brand and showcase your style. Browse our collection of evergreen Colby photography.

Image Sizing

Best practices and standards are constantly changing. Many social design creation tools like Adobe Express will allow you to select the platform and type of content you are creating and then size it accordingly for you.

Posting

Ready to Start Posting?

Remember to adhere to Colby’s design elements guidance found on this site. Note that the preferred social font is Libre Franklin, which is used for digital formats. Learn more about typography.

Social Photos

Use compelling, purposeful imagery for your posts. A few tips:

Use as high quality an image as possible (both in terms of resolution and composition/aesthetic).
Color images perform better than black-and-white images; bold colors help to break through the clutter.
Images with people in them perform better than those without.
Use images with one main focal point and limited action in the background.

Social Copy

The ultimate goal of social posts is to capture viewers’ attention and get them to engage with your content while striving to elevate the Colby brand.

Be sure your social media copy follows Colby’s official Editorial Style Guide, which will be your reference for everything from capitalization and punctuation to department, program, and building names.

When crafting social copy, consider the following questions:

Are you writing copy in a way that will entice your intended audience?
Does the copy pose a question that you’ll get the answer to by clicking or reading more?
Are you highlighting an exciting quote that makes you want to read more?
Would you engage with this post even if you weren’t familiar with Colby but saw it in your feed?
Is there a relevant account or organization you can tag?

Social Media Dos and Don’ts


            
  
Remember that you are representing Colby College as a whole. Always be respectful and professional in what and how you post. Please refer to Colby’s official social media policy below.
Attention spans are short. The optimal social copy length is around 90 characters.
Follow the Colby Editorial Style Guide and refer to the College’s  directory for help with capitalization and titles. This applies to buildings, departments, and program names, too.
Use faculty and staff members’ full titles in post copy. Use full endowed chair titles whenever space permits. Abbreviate only when lack of space requires.


            
  
Retweet or share college rankings—there is an agreement between the NESCAC schools not to do so.
Assume private messages and DMs will remain private. You’re representing Colby College, and even direct messages can end up in a public-facing sphere.

Colby’s Social Media Policy

Social media is a powerful communication tool that can have a significant impact on organizational, professional, and personal reputations. In order to maintain a clear distinction between Colby’s institutional voice and the voice of Colby’s students, faculty, and staff who may create social media profiles on behalf of the College and our community, Colby College has crafted the following policy to help clarify and guide how best to enhance and protect professional reputations when participating in social media.

Colby College supports the right to free speech for all its community members, including via their personal social media accounts. For more information, view the Statement of Principles on Freedom of Inquiry and Expression.
Colby College is not responsible for or in control of personal social media accounts, or the behavior of its community members through their personal accounts. It is also not responsible for the content generated by third-party users on these platforms.
Even when you are personally engaging on social media, any recognizable affiliation with Colby College on your profile has the potential to impact the College as a whole. If you identify your affiliation in your profile or comments, other users will naturally associate you with Colby. Think before you post, interact civilly with others and their opinions, and include (where possible) a statement in your social media profiles that explains your views are your own and do not reflect Colby’s. Example: Views represented here are my own.
It is the responsibility of the creators/managers for accounts that claim Colby-affiliation to seek guidance and follow the College’s best practices for social media management and engagement, and the College will not be held responsible for unofficial account actions. This includes social media accounts created/maintained by or at the request of faculty for teaching purposes.
The official Colby College-affiliated social media accounts (@ColbyCollege, @ColbyMuseum, @ThisColbyLife, @ColbyAlumni, @TheMules) are maintained to support the sharing of information regarding initiatives, announcements, and other news as determined by the College. They are limited forums for discussion with and among users and are not meant to substitute the proper channels for discussion among community members and administrators.
The Office of Communications reserves the right to remove comments, messages, and other communications and/or restrict access to users who participate in sharing the following:
- Malicious or harmful software
- Ads, promotions, spam, off-topic content, or solicitations
- Confidential, personally identifying, or private information (as defined by law)
- Profanity, pornography, obscenity (including using platform-native automatic profanity filter tools)
- Threats of violence or threats to public safety
- Copyrighted materials in violation of state or federal law
- Disruptively repetitive content
- Comments/messages that substantially disrupt College business or interfere with the opportunity of other students to obtain an education
- Other content that violates the College’s student, faculty, or staff handbooks or College policies