UNF Affiliated Accounts

UNF affiliated accounts must be maintained by an authorized faculty or staff member of the University. UNF students may create and draft content; however, the authorized University faculty/staff member is responsible for approving and publishing content for University channels.

• Departments/programs who decide to create social media accounts must have at least one faculty/staff member designated as an admin. Students should only be secondary admins
• Social media admins are responsible for management of all accounts affiliated with their department (this includes usernames, passwords and content)
• The UNF social media team is not responsible for loss of departmental account usernames, passwords and content

Best Practices

• Be Cautious: Consider what could happen if a post becomes widely known and how that might reflect on both the University and the person making the post. When in doubt, leave it out!
• Be Accurate: Ensure the information being posted is correct and free of grammatical and spelling errors.
• Be Respectful: Understand that content on a social media site might spark comments or discussions of opposing views. Responses should be considered carefully and moved to direct message (DM) if necessary.
• Be Creative: While you are representing the University, don't be afraid to post creative and engaging content. Have fun - it's social media.
• Be Platform Specific: When developing content for platforms be mindful of image sizes and platforms specific features.

Branding

• Follow the UNF Brand Guidelines.

The Follow UNF social media directory includes academic programs, research, admissions and more. UNF departments are invited to share their links and be recognized as official UNF social media sites.

If departments would like to be included on the Follow UNF page, please read the social media guidelines and submit the social media agreement form.

The UNF Social Media Team reserves the right to remove any accounts from the directory if they do not abide by these guidelines.

To be recognized as an official UNF-affiliated account and listed on the Follow UNF social media directory, accounts must meet the criteria below. If your account(s) needs to be added, or if you need help meeting the criteria, please contact the UNF Social Media Team.

• Fill out the social media agreement form
• Active (must have posted within the last 30 days)
• Using alt-text
• Using captions
• Account Manager(s) must be a University faculty/staff member

• Adhere to all University Policies and Procedures such as the Florida Sunshine Law, Online Communication Policy, Code of Conduct and Ethics Policy, and Americans with Disabilities Act. Also, adhere to all federal, state, copyright and intellectual property laws, rules and regulations.
• Avoid copyright infringement when sharing content. Rights and permissions should be received prior to posting, sharing and distributing materials that are copyrighted, which includes, but is not limited to, music, art, copyrighted photographs or texts and portions of copyrighted video.
• Be sure to receive permissions when taking a photo. Most UNF students sign a photo release when they start at the University, giving permission to have their photo taken and published. However, some students have not given permission or have opted out, so it's best to ask first.
• Do not take or share photos or video of children under 18 without written consent by a parent or guardian. A photo and video release for should be filled out by the parent or guardian of the child.
• All YouTube videos must have closed captioning to achieve compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Protect our campus community. Do not post confidential or proprietary information about UNF students, employees or alumni. Follow all applicable state and federal requirements such as FERPA, HIPA and NCAA regulations. Remove all posts that compromise confidential information.
• A copy of the EOD statement must be posted in the information section of your Facebook page.
  • EOD Statement: UNF is an equal access/equal opportunity university.

All posts on social should include an image description in either the caption or alt-text of the posts. Alt-text is available on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. If the post is a video, closed captioning must be available. Videos posted to YouTube should have proper captioning included. To find out how to add alt-text or closed captioning, please visit the links below:

Social Media Accessibility Guides

• Twitter Accessibility Guide
• Facebook Accessibility Account
• Facebook Accessibility Guide (Post)
• Facebook Accessibility Guide (Video)
• LinkedIn Accessibility Guide (Post)
• LinkedIn Accessibility Guide (Video)
• Instagram Accessibility Guide
• YouTube Automatic Captioning
• YouTube Manual Subtitles and Closed Captions

Social Media Accessibility Recommendations

• It’s highly recommended to use high resolution branded UNF photos instead of graphics
• If you are creating a graphic, avoid using large amounts of text and keep the text to a minimum
• The majority of text should be included in the caption 
• Avoid graphics with poor color contrast
• Use a color contrast checker
• Avoid using acronyms in your posts
• GIFs have little to no accessibility support, so don't rely solely on them
• Hashtags made up of multiple words need to have capitalization for each word (ex. #ThrowbackThursday)
• Be considerate when using emojis as they are read by screen readers as "clapping hands," "smirking face," etc.
• Use a URL shortener to minimize the number of characters in the hyperlink
• Avoid using QR codes on posts they are not scannable on social media and are best used for printed materials

• UNF's YouTube Channel highlights content from life on campus, classrooms and more.

  Looking to establish a YouTube account for your department or program? First, identify if there is an overarching YouTube account that your department/program's videos should be housed.

  Example:

  Any departments/programs that fall under the Coggin College of Business, should house their videos under the Coggin College of Business Page. This allows Coggin YouTube to organize content related to their college under their account and create an individual playlist for each department/program.

  • Coggin College of Business has established their own account.
  • Coggin has established a playlist for the UNF Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

  Have questions about where your videos should live? Contact UNF's social media team by emailing social@unf.edu.

  Getting Started

  If you find that there has not been an overarching account established for your department/program to be housed under, you can sign up for a YouTube channel directly through YouTube's website. Before establishing a new UNF related account, please read over UNF's social media guidelines.

  Tips when creating an account:

  • Contact the UNF Social Media Team for assistance.
  • Establish a professional UNF employee as the YouTube administrator (students should only be used as secondary admins)
  • Sign up for a channel directly through YouTube's website.
  • Use a UNF affiliated email address to establish an account
  • Choose a username that is appropriate to your unit
  • Record log in credentials

  Your department/program responsible for managing your YouTube account, producing and posting your own videos and are also responsible for seeing that the videos posted to your channel comply with UNF's social media guidelines. Each video posted on your channel should be branded as coming from UNF in addition to being branded specific to your department/program.

For campus events and lectures that appeal to a wider audience, campus communicators have the option to livestream activities on their UNF affiliated social media accounts. This can be done through the platforms themselves, using Facebook Live, Twitter's Periscope and Instagram Live. Zoom can also be used to live stream to Facebook or YouTube. For questions on how to set up Facebook or YouTube Live via Zoom, please contact ITS.

Social media administrators are responsible for setting up livestreams through their UNF affiliated social media, as well as monitoring and answering questions during.

In all cases, livestreamed events should be well planned and rehearsed in advance. Administrators should be aware of and prepare for the potential issues that might occur during a livestream.

• Technical issues
• Anything can happen; remember, it's streaming LIVE
• Accessibility

Livestream Resources

• Facebook Live
• Live Streaming Best Practices for Major Broadcasts
• How do I go live on Facebook using streaming software?
• Instagram Live
• How do I start a live video on Instagram?

For all channels

• Posts do not have to be a flyer or graphic. Have all the event details written in the caption and link to a website. Use social media to promote the selling point of the event. What makes it worth going?
• Using high quality, UNF branded photos in place of graphics is highly encouraged.
• Do not include event links on the graphic. It is unlikely users will remember the link and type it into their search engine.
• Be aware of including Zoom links or passwords on your graphic or in the copy. By sharing this information, it makes it easier for Zoom-bombing incidents. Send this information to users in a confirmation email or direct message.
• Limit the amount of text on an image. Use your caption for the smaller details.
• Plan ahead of your promotion. Decide how often you are going to promote and where. Promoting the day before the event may be too late.
• Provide different sizes of each graphic to fit each platform. Review the size recommendations.
• If you plan to promote frequently on social media, plan on having multiple types of media so you don't overuse one graphic. Think about how you can use graphics, photos, videos or GIFs.
• Show what people will be missing if they don't attend your event (merch, important speakers, etc.).
• For larger events, think about other social media assets (stickers, GIFs, Facebook frames, Instagram filters) you can use to promote and encourage attendees to participate.
• Add alt text to all of your images and captions to all of your videos where supported. Review the social media guidelines.

Instagram (Feed and Stories)

• Do not post links into the caption, it is unlikely users will remember the link and type it into their search engine.
  • Suggest users visit link in bio, and post the specific link in your Instagram bio.
  • Use Linktree - This free tool allows you to post one link to your Instagram bio and houses multiple links. It can be updated at any time to add or remove important links.
   
• Post a video on your story of a student, staff, faculty member or speaker talking about the event. Videos tend to have a higher reach over graphics.
  • Download the "Threads" app to add captions to videos posted to stories.
   
• Use stickers in your Instagram story to make it interactive.
  • Ask people to write their email in the question sticker if they are interested in the event. You can use this to email them event information, like a Zoom link.
  • Use the poll sticker to see how many people plan on attending your event.
   
• Make sure to tag other University affiliated accounts, this often helps to notify departments of the event and they are more likely to share the post to their story and spread the word.

Facebook

• Facebook cuts off your post with "see more" at 477 characters. 477 characters is considered a long caption, make sure to use your characters wisely.
• When creating a Facebook post, it is important to include a website for more info. This helps to shorten the caption and provides users with more detailed information.
• Create an event on your page. This will give your audience all the info they need about the event. It will also send alerts to users that clicked "interested" or "going" on the day of the event to remind them. You can also share the event page on your Business page multiple times.
• Invite partnering University accounts to host the event. This helps to spread the word.

Twitter

• Use lists or bullets to get the info you want out there in a concise way.
• When creating a Tweet, it is important to include a website for more info. This helps to shorten the tweet and provides users with more detailed information.
• The text of a Tweet can contain up to 280 characters, keep that in mind when you draft your tweets.
• If your graphic or photo is not cropped or created for Twitter's specific sizing (1600 x 900 px) it will get cut off in the Twitter feed. Remember that especially when designing graphics with important text details.
• Make sure to tag other University affiliated accounts, this often helps to notify departments of the event and they are more likely to retweet and spread the word.

Captions on Instagram

Whenever posting a video on Instagram with dialogue whether on your feed, stories, reels or IGTV, the videos should have captions. To find out how to add captions to videos, please visit the links below:

• Instagram Threads
• Premiere Pro
• Mixcaptions (After a certain amount of characters users must pay)

Instagram Stories

Instagram stories is a form of content that disappears within 24 hours of being posted. Story content is not posted to your feed and can be photos or videos. If you’re creating a video with talking, be sure to add captions to your videos.

Creating Stories

1. Click the plus icon in the top right corner or you can reveal the story camera by swiping left
2. Take a photo, record a video or add content from your camera roll
3. To add from camera roll, swipe up on the stories’ camera, and you’ll see the content from your camera roll. From there, select the content to add to your story
   1. Optional: Users can add stickers to stories by tap the Stickers button (a smiley face in the top right of the screen) and searching for stickers such as the time, countdown or UNF themed
4. Once complete, select “Send To” in the bottom right corner and select your story

Additional Resources

How to Create an Instagram Story
Instagram Stories: The Complete Guide to Using Stories

Instagram TV (IGTV)

Instagram TV, also known as IGTV, is long-form video not limited to one minute and takes over the entire screen. If you’re creating a video with talking, be sure to add captions to your video.

IGTV Video Specs:

• Video format: MP4
• Length: Videos must be at least one minute long. The maximum length your video can be is 15 minutes when uploading from a mobile device and 60 minutes when uploading from the web
• Size: 650MB for videos less than 10 minutes; 3.6GB for videos up to 60 minutes

Uploading Videos on Mobile

1. Select the plus icon in the top right corner
2. Select the video you would like to post and select “Next”
3. Select the “Long Video” option
4. Select a cover photo by selecting a video frame or uploading a photo
5. Add a title and description
6. Be sure to select with or not you want a preview added to your Instagram feed under “Post Preview”
7. Lastly, select “Post to IGTV”

Uploading Videos on Desktop

1. Go to your profile
2. Select IGTV
3. Select the blue “Upload” button to the right
4. Add the video file you want to share
5. Select a cover photo by selecting a video frame or uploading a photo.
6. Add a title and description.
7. Be sure to select with or not you want a preview added to your Instagram feed under “Post Preview”
8. Lastly, select blue “Post” button at the bottom of the page

Additional Resources

How to Use Instagram TV (IGTV)
How to Use IGTV: The Complete Guide

Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels are short 15 to 30-second video clips that can include music.

Create a Reel

1. Select Reels at the bottom of the Instagram camera
2. Select your audio by tapping the music icon
3. Select a video speed by pressing the play icon
4. Select a video length between 15 seconds and 30 seconds by tapping the circle with “15-seconds” on the left-hand side
5. Choose how long your clips will be by selecting the stopwatch icon
6. Apply effects or AR filters at this time (this is optional)
7. Hold down the record button to capture footage or upload video from your camera roll
8. To trim or delete any of the clips, tap the back arrow to the right of the record button, press into the individual clip you want to edit, and trim or delete the clip
9. If you’re creating a video with talking, be sure to add captions to your videos
10. Then, share!

Note: Reels can appear on your Instagram feed but there’s an option to remove it.

Additional Resources

The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Reels
Here's How to Use Instagram Reels
How To Use Instagram Reels

Hashtags are a label for content on social media that users can use to take part in online conversations about UNF. Hashtags should be short, less than a sentence long, and spelled out without spaces.

University Hashtags: #UniquelyUNF #YestoUNF #SWOOPLife #SWOOP #UNFGrad