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Understanding our social media approach

The goal of our College’s communications strategy is to ensure that users have a consistent, positive experience with our brand wherever they encounter it, whether at in-person events or activities, on our website(s) or on various social media platforms.

Social media is not just a megaphone to announce events and activities – it’s a conversation vehicle to engage the community, recognize our supporters, champion our volunteers and much more. Through user-centric content, we strive to connect our audience with the breadth and depth of information, programs and activities our College has to offer.

It is vital we maintain a focused social media landscape that uses College-first branding and provides a user-first experience to maximize our engagement and impact.

Managing social media

Administrative access

Per University policy: "Each University Social Media Site should have no less than three (3) full-time Account Administrators, including the Social Media Leadership Team Representative for that College, School or Division, to ensure that the University Social Media Site is consistently and appropriately managed" (UAM 7,013).

This means that, at a minimum, two employees from your program should have full administrative access (not just editor access) to each program social media account. Additionally, a member of the College's communications team must also have full administrative access to each program social media account.

Account branding

Names and handles of College-affiliated social media accounts are set by our College's communications team and must not be changed without approval.

College social media accounts must use the Block N as its profile image and comply with the University’s visual identity policy.

College accounts must feature the College webpage most relevant to the account as its main website link. Examples of College websites include unr.edu/cabnr, and .

All about information and graphics (e.g. profile pictures and cover photos) should be maintained as set by the communications team.

Account inactivity

At the direction/discretion of our College's communications team or at the request of individual programs, accounts may be merged or deleted. The following considerations may be used when deciding whether to merge or delete a College-affiliated social media account:

• It is not in compliance with University and/or College policies and guidelines.
• It is not being monitored or used, or is being underused.
• It doesn't align with our College's vision/strategy for digital engagement.
• It is no longer needed to accomplish a program's goals.

Account records retention

All College communications, including social media, are public records and must be managed in compliance with public records law. Social media platforms are under no obligation to keep accurate or complete records of our content. This means we are required to preserve digital records created through social media— including posts, comments and the metadata behind the posts.

To facilitate compliance with public records law and protect personal information from public disclosure, personal social media accounts must not be used for work purposes.

Additionally, per University policy, social media admins may not merge or delete accounts, or delete, ban, hide or prescreen posts, comments or users (UAM 7,013). For any content that you have questions about, please contact the communications team for guidance.

Administrator responsibility & compliance

Per University policy, “Posting on behalf of the University, a College, School, or Division, as well as Department or Unit within them, is not a right and it can be rescinded at any time" (UAM 7,013).

Program leads and the faculty they report to are ultimately responsible for ensuring the content posted on College-affiliated social media accounts related to their programs or administered by personnel they oversee adheres to all University and College policies and guidelines.

Our College's communications team has made available several training opportunities and resources to help authorized administrators understand social media policies and best practices so they may remain in compliance.

Authorized administrators are expected to remain compliant with the policy at all times. After three policy violations, authorized admins will lose privileges for a minimum of three months, after which reapplication is required.

Authorized administrators, with oversight by their program leads and faculty supervisors, are also expected to:

• Submit content for their programs each month to be featured on our College's main pages.
• Work with their fellow account administrators to develop and maintain a well thought-out plan for content and engagement. The plan should avoid both overloading and underposting, and cover who will reply within two business days to which messages and comments.
• Post high quality content about their programs with correct spelling and good quality photos. (See our College writing guide and photo / video guide.)
• Post content about their programs that showcases the depth and breadth of what we do. Feature a variety of people (students, volunteers, employees, program participants, etc.) and activities (recruitment, student life, research, community engagement, events, etc.).
• Post content about their programs that reflects our College's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. (See our accessibility guide.)
• Showcase people and programs only with their knowledge and permission, and post photos of or by others only with their consent.
• Post material that uplifts (and does not disparage) the University, our College and our units, departments, programs and people.

List of College social media accounts

The social media landscape is constantly changing, with frequent additions of features and adjustments to the algorithms the platforms use to determine which posts receive priority. As a result, this list of platforms appropriate for official University and/or College social engagement may change due to shifts in audience, accessibility and features, and/or a platform’s popularity.

Facebook

• • •  (Features statewide and major county content; nested under this main page are county Location Pages, under which are nested program Groups; main page content is automatically crossposted to each county Location Page.)
    • (Features statewide content; major statewide content is crossposted to the main Extension page; county content is posted to the county Location Pages above; major county content is crossposted from the county Location Pages above to this page; club content is posted to the county Groups above, if applicable.)
    •  & (Feature statewide and county content; major statewide content is crossposted to the main Extension page; major county content is crossposted to the county Location Pages above.)
    • (Features statewide content; major statewide content is crossposted to the main Extension page; county content is posted to the county Location Pages above; major county content is crossposted from the county Location Pages above to this page; content exclusive to Master Gardeners is posted to the county Groups above, if applicable.)

Flickr

•  (For permissions to download photos, contact communications@unr.edu.)
  • (For employees, volunteers and students to share their work-related photos to be used by each other for work purposes.)

Instagram

• • •   (Features statewide and county content.)
    • &  (Features statewide and county content; major statewide and county content is crossposted to the main Extension page.)

LinkedIn

• • •  (For alumni, current students, volunteers, parents, friends and employees of the College and its Experiment Station and Extension units.)

Pinterest

•  (Featuring boards and sections of boards for programs and audiences; see Â鶹ӳ»­Box for the current list of approved boards and sections.)

X (formerly Twitter)

• • •  (Features newsworthy statewide and major county content, and content relevant to elected officials; programs wishing to start their own Twitter account will use this account first, provided the content is appropriate for this platform/audience.)
    •  & (Feature statewide and county content; major statewide and county content is crossposted to the main Extension page.)

YouTube

• •  (Features community engagement content.)
    •  (Featuring playlists for programs and audiences; see Â鶹ӳ»­Box for the current list of approved playlists.)

Vimeo

• • College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources' folder on the University's Vimeo (Features teaching, research and recruitment content.)