Social Media Policy

 

PURPOSE

This Policy establishes the position of Hudson County Community College (HCCC) on the use of social media for the official business of the College, including the promotion of the College, units and offices, programming, and responsibilities of faculty and staff of the College.

For the purpose of this policy, “Social Media” includes mass media communications on the Internet, such as on websites or apps for social networking and microblogging, through which users share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content. Social media posts are largely available to the public.

POLICY

Unless specifically authorized by the Office of Communications, no HCCC employee may create an “official” Hudson County Community College presence on any form of Social Media, now in existence or created in the future, or represent themselves as a spokesperson or authorized representative of Hudson County Community College. Members of the College community should include a disclaimer that the views expressed are personal and are not necessarily those of the College. All official College pre-existing social media accounts for College units, offices and staff that are public in nature must add the Office of Communications as a full administrator on those accounts.

Some social media, like Facebook, require a personal account to be attached as an administrator. The College will institute a process verifying that more than one Communications team member is attached to these pages to ensure that control is maintained regardless of staff turnover. All social media content presented as an official College post is the exclusive property of Hudson County Community College.

Oversight of all official Hudson County Community College accounts is the responsibility of that unit’s content managers/administrators. Social media content managers are responsible for building and maintaining a positive online presence, engaging with the audience, and driving growth and engagement through strategic social media efforts.

The Office of Communications may utilize Social Media to present information and content to the public and receive feedback from the public and the College community. Content and information released on Social Media is equivalent to content and information released to the press and the public in any other format, including press release, letter to the media, open letter to the public, etc. Care must be taken that content and information released to the public over Social Media are accurate and do not violate applicable laws including, but not limited to, copyright, trademark and defamation law or Hudson County Community College Social Media policy.

Official HCCC Social Media may allow members of the public to comment or react to posted content and information. Individuals, including employees of HCCC acting in their personal capacity, may post or comment anonymously or identifiably.

The College invites discussion of important ideas and issues through Social Media. However, Hudson County Community College reserves the right to remove posts or comments that are obscene, defamatory, offensive, or abusive; contain threats of violence, spam or advertising; or are unrelated to the content or information. Hudson County Community College also reserves the right to remove posts or comments that violate applicable laws including, but not limited to, copyright and trademark, or those that violate the use policies promulgated by the applicable Social Media provider. The College reserves the right to block permanently any poster, College student, employee, or others who have violated the above standards.

The Board delegates to the President the responsibility to develop, implement, and enforce the Social Media Policy.

Approved: October 2024
Approved by: Cabinet
Category: Social Media
Scheduled for review: N/A
Responsible Office(s): Communications

 

Procedures

Social Media Procedures

Purpose

Hudson County Community College follows the following procedures as a guideline while engaging social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube and others through which the College community can share thoughts, ideas and experiences.

The College’s accounts will provide students and other constituents with up-to-date College information and the opportunity to communicate with account administrators and other account users. These guidelines are intended to outline acceptable use of the platforms. However, these guidelines do not apply to individual faculty, student personas, and club accounts except when they are operating an account affiliated with the College. In such cases, the Office of Communications should be notified at communicationsFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE. Please note that the College does not assume any responsibility for social media accounts developed by others.

These procedures address the College’s official presence on social media platforms. In general, individual faculty or student accounts are not included here; however, if an employee or student group at the College creates an account that could be affiliated with the College, the Office of Communications must be notified at communicationsFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.

Contributors to the Hudson County Community College accounts are expected to follow the established employee and student guidelines. Oversight of all official Hudson County Community College accounts is the responsibility of that unit’s content managers/administrators.

Because the technology that drives social media communication changes rapidly, these guidelines may be adjusted periodically to address emerging issues and align with the College’s priorities.

Role of Social Media Content Managers

A social media content manager is responsible for building and maintaining a positive online presence, engaging with the audience, and driving growth and engagement through strategic social media efforts. Responsibilities include:

  1. Content Creation: Developing engaging, high-quality content tailored to the brand's voice and audience. This can include text posts, images, videos, infographics, and other multimedia formats.
  2. Content Planning and Scheduling: Creating and maintaining a content calendar to ensure a consistent posting schedule. This involves planning ahead to align content with key dates, events, and marketing campaigns.
  3. Community Management: Interacting with followers, responding to comments and messages, and engaging with the audience to build a strong online community. This includes handling customer service issues and feedback.
  4. Analytics and Reporting: Monitoring and analyzing social media metrics to assess the performance of content and campaigns. This includes tracking engagement, reach, conversions, and other key performance indicators (KPIs).
  5. Strategy Development: Developing and implementing social media strategies to achieve the unit’s marketing and business goals. This involves staying updated on industry trends, competitor activities, and platform changes.
  6. Collaboration: Working closely with other units such as the Office of Communications to ensure social media efforts are integrated with overall marketing strategies and goals.
  7. Advertising Management: Creating and managing paid social media campaigns to boost visibility, engagement, and conversions. This includes setting budgets, targeting audiences, and optimizing ad performance.
  8. Brand Advocacy: Acting as the College unit’s voice on social media, ensuring all content aligns with the brand's identity, values, and messaging.
  9. Crisis Management: Handling negative feedback or crises that arise on social media, ensuring timely and appropriate responses to mitigate any potential damage to the unit’s or College’s reputation.
  10. Trend Monitoring: Keeping up with the latest social media trends, tools, and best practices to ensure the brand remains relevant and competitive in the ever-changing digital landscape.

Office and School Social Media Sites

Offices wishing to establish a social media presence should contact the Office of Communications for guidance before developing any pages or accounts. Contacting the Office of Communications beforehand can ensure that proper steps are taken when developing the account. Once the unit’s accounts are set up, that unit is responsible for content development (see below).

Responsible Parties

The Office of Communications is the primary administrator for the College’s official accounts on any social media sites. Those who wish to contribute information or make suggestions for the College’s accounts should contact the Assistant Vice President for Communications at (201) 360.4061 or email communicationsFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE.

Student organizations are encouraged to develop a social media presence. When associated with the College, these accounts should adhere to College guidelines. Developing “links” with the official College accounts and other student group accounts is encouraged.

Content Development

All content must relate directly to College business, programs, and/or services. Content may not promote individual opinions or causes which are not directly related to College purposes.

Content should be short and written in active voice. Remember to consider the audience; the style and tone of content should be direct and student oriented.

Photos and Videos

Uploaded photos and videos must relate directly to the College and/or student life and should not be used as a promotional tool for programs, products, or services outside the College.

All photos and videos must adhere to existing College guidelines.

Updating and Adding Content

The account should be maintained and as up-to-date as possible. In general, the more frequently the content is updated, the more users will access the account.

Followers

The term “Follower” refers to a member of a social media platform who decides to “become a follower” of a particular account. This means that the person is a recognized follower on the platform, can interact with the account, and receives updates sent out about events. Existing policies governing student and employee behavior apply to the College’s social media. The College takes no responsibility for content developed by non-employees.

Other

Because the Hudson County Community College accounts on social media sites are interactive tools, administrators should monitor pages closely and frequently to supervise user conduct. Remember: Social Media is 24/7.

Any questionable conduct should be reported to the Office of Communications at communicationsFREEHUDSONCOUNTYCOMMUNITYCOLLEGE at (201) 360-4061.

Social Media Justification Form

Creating a New Account

  • All requests to create a social media account must be presented to Office/School leadership for justification and assessment prior to being presented to the Office of Communications for strategic review and inclusion on the College-wide social media inventory. In addition to following the guidelines and best practices, all social media accounts, both new and existing, must follow College branding and accessibility standards.
  • Creating and maintaining effective social media accounts requires significant resources. This includes the time needed to set up, post, and respond, as well as the effort to create engaging content and plan strategically for demographic targeting and visibility.
  • Consider your goals and determine if they can be accomplished by providing content to an existing account, or if content can be shared through traditional or digital marketing (digital screens, newsletters, etc.).
  • The Division Vice President and the Office of Communications reserve all rights to deny account creation that violates best practice guidelines, further fractures the brand voice, or presents an increased opportunity for institutional risk.

New Accounts - Questions to Consider

  1. What do you want to accomplish through social media?
  2. Who is your intended audience?
  3. Which social media platforms will you use?
  4. How will you build your audience?
  5. In what other ways is your current audience being reached?
  6. Is there an existing account to which you could provide content instead of creating and managing a new account and growing a following?
  7. How often do you plan to post on social media on each platform?
  8. Who is responsible for creating content, monitoring the account daily, and engaging with your followers?
  9. What type of content are you planning to create?

Review your answers with your leadership. After approval of the new account, you may submit a social media account request.

Next Steps

  1. Identify an email address to be associated with your account(s).
  2. Review HCCC’s Social Media Policy and Procedures.
  3. Submit a Social Media Account Request to the Office of Communications.

Approved: October 2024
Approved by: Cabinet
Category: Social Media
Scheduled for review: N/A
Responsible Office(s): Communications

 

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