UNM Social Media Best Practices

Is your department thinking about jumping into social media to better connect with your students? Are you already rocking Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram?

Regardless of whether you’re a social media expert, or starting out for the first time, these guidelines and best practices were created with you in mind!

Publishing and engaging with people on social media carries a similar obligation as they would if you were working with traditional media. These social media guidelines have been designed to help UNM academic and administrative departments develop their social media presence.  These recommendations apply only as far as UNM employees identify themselves as employees of the university, or are using university social media accounts.

Official UNM Social Media Accounts

The University of New Mexico’s University Communication and Marketing Department


The University Communication and Marketing Team also maintains a list of active college and department social media accounts on the Social Media Directory.

Strategic Questions

  • Does Social Media support the conversation you want to have with your audience?

  • Does my audience regularly engage in social media?

  • Does my organization have enough content to keep users engaged on a regular basis?

  • Does my organization have the resources to actively maintain a social media presence? If not, a static site might better suit your needs.

Identify Your Audience

  • Who are you creating content for? Current students? Recent alumni? This will depend based on the department you are working with.

  • Your audience will then help determine the type of content you will produce, and how you should engage with them.

    • For example, while the Student Union would create content that current students find more interesting; Athletics would be sharing stories that fans who had not attended UNM would want to see; Alumni Relations will probably create content and engage with their audience with a reverent tone. 

  • You need to think like a member of your audience - why do they like UNM? What kind of information would they find interesting, valuable and shareable. And how would they like to engage with your social media accounts (if at all)?

    • Give them a chance to provide content and connect to your coverage of university events.

Organize Sustainable Content

When first creating an account on any social media platform, you will need the following information anyway, so it is best to have this available ahead of time:

  • Title (we suggest placing “UNM” before your program/unit/department title)

  • Content-type (most UNM Facebook Pages fit nicely into the “Company, Organization or Institution” category and “Education” sub-category) It MAY NOT be listed as a "Personal, Creator, Public Figure," or other categories that implies it is an individual.

  • A profile picture/UNM logo for your program/unit/department (be sure that it meets the UNM Identity Standards)

  • Basic Information about your organization (Facebook recommends adding your website, X (Twitter) Page, or other social media accounts in this area as well).

  • A strategy and calendar for posting content and marketing your new social media accounts.

Interaction Guidelines

  • Remember when you are posting on official UNM social media accounts, your content reflects on the University.

  • Be aware of divisive issues in the general public. Be mindful of how you represent UNM around those issues.

  • Be positive in your interactions with your fans or followers. Make sure you don’t alienate or upset your fans or followers when you are engaging with them.

  • Use sound judgment when creating your posts/images/tweets/etc that your images are not violating any existing UNM policies. 

  • We encourage you to use UNM-branded social media accounts to share information about your work at the University. However, any advertising, solicitation or overtly favorable acknowledgments or endorsements of political parties, candidates, third-party products and services is not permitted.
  • Before posting, re-read your comment to make sure it can’t be easily seen as negative or inappropriate. If you have any doubt, don’t post it.
  • If you respond to a disagreement, do so in way that brings a positive light to the University with an understanding and kind tone.
  • Utilize direct messaging to address complaints when possible.

Accessibility on Social Media

Why should you and your leadership be putting accessibility at the forefront of your day-to-day social media work? 

  • If we're saying everyone's a Lobo, we should ensure that everyone is included when we manage social media. 
  • Besides the fact that it's the right thing to do:
    • It's similar to why we have ADA compliance throughout the physical and web world. At some point in the future, social media accessibility law requirements will start to reflect website compliance law.
    • What helps one Lobo often helps all Lobos, and in some cases can help your metrics.
  • Where you should start:
    • Many times web accessibility is put on web developers' and UX/UI managers' shoulders, but there are many ways to bring accessibility into social media.
    • You can break these down by the type of content being posted to simplify.
    • The UNM Social Team has created an Accessibility Checklist for UNM social media users. We encourage everyone to print it, label it and keep it close/integrate it into whatever posting procedures your unit follows.
  • For more in-depth information and how-tos on alternative text, captions, and accessibility by social media platform see this Social Media Users Group Presentation.

Questionable Content

From time to time, your audience will post content or comments that you, or members of your department, will find questionable. Developing a plan to respond to these situations before they arise will enable you to make informed, strategic responses rather than rash ones.

Do not delete/ignore negative comments just because they are negative. You should act quickly to address the criticism given, and contact the person involved to see how you can help resolve the issue, is possible.

When to delete a post

Feedback on sites like Facebook should only be deleted or removed if it is in violation of UNM Policy or your unit's own Page Policy (see below for details on Establishing a Page Policy). Unless the post is a violation of these policies, you should attempt to resolve the issue without censoring your page. In many cases, pages that are well utilized tend to develop loyal users who will support or respond to criticism on your behalf. In other cases, negative posts allow you to respond publicly, thus turning a negative situation into a positive one.

Example of a negative post worthy of a public response:

Sally: “I just read the Daily Lobo today and cannot believe that your department reduced your hours to service! Aren’t you here to HELP students instead of making their lives more difficult?!”

Department Response: “Hi Sally! Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate that you care enough about our services to comment about today’s Daily Lobo article about the change in hours at our department. Budget cuts have indeed reduced our traditional service hours, however, we are now available to help you for anywhere at any time via Facebook, our website...”

Example of a negative post worth of a private response:

Ted: “I just got my financial aid award letter and found out that I won’t be able to afford UNM this semester! Thanks for being so expensive, UNM!”

Department Response: “Hi Ted. We’re sorry to hear about your situation. Please send us a private FB message with your legal name and UNM ID number, or call us at 277-1111 to discuss your situation and see if there is anything we can do to help.”

What types of posts should be outright deleted?

That is a decision that only you can make. Generally, posts that are offensive (including, but not limited to, racist, sexist, homophobic, or anti-Semitic statements) should be deleted. If you delete a post by a user, you should consider sending him/her a private message detailing why the posting was removed and how they can appropriately address concerns (aka have an educational moment with him/her).

All official UNM social media accounts reserve the right to delete content that is considered inappropriate. Please contact social@unm.edu if you need help addressing questionable content.

Finally, Get Involved!

As you develop your skills, knowledge, and abilities in using social media, you will find that you become increasingly resourceful to others on campus. Please consider being part of the dialog surrounding the evolving world of social media. The best way to do so is to join us at our monthly Social Media Users Group Meetings. You can also join the SMUG Listserv at http://social.unm.edu/user-group/index.html.

If you have additional questions about setting up social media accounts for your department or addressing any other social media concerns, please contact the UNM Social Media team at social@unm.edu.