Social Media Guidelines

Official CNU Social Media Accounts

These guidelines apply to all official CNU social media accounts managed by departments, offices, and programs. Student clubs/organizations are considered “unofficial” and follow their own rules. These guidelines do not apply to the personal accounts of faculty and staff.

Getting Started

• Only CNU employees may serve as account administrators.
• Student workers employed by CNU may be granted access to post, but should never be made administrators.
• Email socialmedia@cnu.edu before creating a new account.

Strategy: How to Post

• Assign responsibility: Identify both a lead administrator and a backup for each account to ensure posts, replies, and updates continue smoothly during vacations, busy periods, or staff turnover.
• Know your audience: Post where they are - you don’t need an account on every platform. Share what they care about.
• Match content to platform
  • Facebook: Events, news, community
  • Instagram: Photos, reels, stories
  • LinkedIn: Professional news, alumni, careers
  • Threads: Quick updates, engagement
  • Twitter/X: Athletics
• Post consistently: Aim for a steady flow, not bursts.

Profiles & Branding

• Use CNU branding: logos, colors, and images from the official library.
• Include “cnu” in your handle/username.
• Correct sizes:
  • Facebook cover: 851 × 315
  • Twitter/X header: 1500 × 500
  • LinkedIn cover: 1128 × 191

Hashtags

Use consistent tags to boost reach:

• Institutional: #CNUCaptains #ChristopherNewportU
• Pillars: #CNUServes #CNUStudyAbroad #CNULeads
• Academics: #LiberalArts + your discipline (#English, #Theatre, etc.)
• Alumni: #CaptainForLife, #CNUYY (replace YY with class year, e.g. #CNU25)
• Events: #CNUGrad, #CNUFamily, #CNUHOCOYY (replace YY with year)

Photos & Videos

• Use high-quality images. Your phone camera will work. Get close to the action, don't zoom.
• Video formats and lengths:
  • Instagram: ≤ 90 sec
    • Reels (vertical video): 9x16 (1080x1920)
  • Facebook: ≤ 90 sec
    • Horizontal 16x9 (1920x1080)
    • Reels (vertical video): 9x16 (1080x1920)
  • LinkedIn: ≤ 90 sec
    • Horizontal 16x9 (1920x1080)
    • Vertical 9x16 (1080x1920)
• Keep graphics clean:
  • Avoid heavy text.
  • Do not use QR codes on social media graphics.
  • Use captions for details instead.
• Add alternative text (alt text) for accessibility. Alt text is a written description of an image that helps people who use screen readers understand what the image shows and also displays if the image fails to load. This meets legal and ethical accessibility standards and Improves search engine optimization (SEO) by allowing search engines to “read” images. To write good alt text:
  • Be descriptive but concise: Aim for 1–2 sentences.
  • Describe the essential information: Focus on what matters for context (not every detail).
  • Skip “image of” or “picture of”: Screen readers already announce it’s an image.
  • Include text that appears in the image (e.g., event title on a flyer).
  • Don’t repeat the caption: Alt text should add clarity, not duplicate.

Content & Comments

As a public institution, CNU accounts cannot delete or hide comments simply because they are negative or critical. Content may only be hidden (not deleted) if it violates the guidelines below, which should go on every University-affiliated account. If you receive negative or concerning comments, email socialmedia@cnu.edu immediately.

We encourage comments and interaction with others on this page so long as they are on-topic and respectful of the rights and opinions of others.

We reserve the right to block individual accounts and/or remove comments, links, photos or other content for any reason, including but not limited to, harassment and personal attacks, derogatory or defamatory comments, vulgarity and profanity, commercial promotion, off-topic posts, improper use of intellectual property or copyrighted material, or otherwise inappropriate content. 

Engagement

• Content should be professional, welcoming, engaging, and mission-driven.
• Do not post memes.
• Respond promptly to comments/messages.
• Share/repost relevant content from other CNU accounts.
• When possible, link back to official CNU webpages to provide accurate information, promote events, or drive traffic to university resources.

Analytics

Track performance to improve content:

• Engagement rate (likes, comments, shares)
• Follower growth
• Reach/impressions