Social media communications tools may be used for official Buffalo State College business, such as marketing to potential students; communicating with prospective and current students, alumni, and employees; educating the public about Buffalo State and its mission, programs, and events; and conveying emergency communications.
Marketing and Communications has established and maintains official Buffalo State social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
Marketing and Communications supports the adoption of institution-approved social media accounts at the department, office, and academic program levels and considers content from across campus for inclusion on official Buffalo State social media accounts.
New social media accounts at the school, department, program, or office level must be approved and registered with the Marketing and Communications Office. Marketing and Communications will ensure that the respective governing member of the President’s Cabinet approves the creation of new social media accounts under his or her area.
Users will submit a social media strategy outline and registration form, which includes a list of administrators who will be responsible for maintaining the accounts, to Marketing and Communications for review at buffalostatecomms@buffalostate.edu.
Requests that are approved as institution-approved social media accounts will automatically be registered with Marketing and Communications and can begin the setup process. This approval also automatically registers the accounts with Marketing and Communications for inclusion in the Social Media Directory.
Existing Buffalo State–affiliated accounts are also required to register with Marketing and Communications and establish a social media strategy for the account.
All registered social media accounts should have and maintain a social media strategy to drive the content, analysis, and measurement of success for the area’s presence. A social media strategy is essential to aligning the area’s content with the institution’s mission and strategic goals. Please see the Social Media Strategy Guide for more information on creating a strategy and content plan for new or existing accounts.
Marketing and Communications will conduct an institutional audit of affiliated social media presences in spring 2020. The audit will evaluate such things as active status; content; branding elements including names, representation, and icons; multiple or dormant accounts; and more. Unregistered accounts will be automatically removed from the directory at the conclusion of the audit. Following the audit, Marketing and Communications may contact areas or representatives responsible for managing social media with suggestions and recommendations related to content, including display names, handles, branding, active status, account consolidation, and registration. Managers of current Buffalo State affiliated accounts are encouraged to refer to these Social Media Procedures and Guidelines and Maintaining Accurate, Accessible Content: Tips and Best Practices for more information.
Administrator (admin) rights for institution-approved social media accounts should be assigned to official college employees only. All sites should have at least two designated administrators as a fail-safe should the primary administrator become unavailable for any reason.
Social media sites should follow Buffalo State College branding standards, policies, and guidelines, including colors, logos, and editorial style. Consistency is paramount. Departments and other areas should identify themselves in the name (social identity) or description section of each account. Only official Buffalo State social media accounts are permitted to use the circular crest logo alone as an icon. Signature logos are available for all official Buffalo State departments and offices. Please review the Official Logo Policy.
Institution-approved social media accounts at the department and office levels are advised to follow consistent naming conventions, as illustrated below:
Handle/URL: @BuffStateDepartmentName
Display Name: Buffalo State Department/Office Name
Please contact Marketing and Communications at buffalostatecomms@buffalostate.edu or (716) 878-6657 with questions on naming recommendations.
Social media communications tools are to be used for official Buffalo State College business, such as marketing to potential students; communicating with prospective and current students, alumni, and employees; educating the public about Buffalo State and its mission, programs, and events; and emergency communications. Personal views or beliefs or commercial messages have no place on institution-approved social media accounts.
Institution-approved social media accounts should remain active all 12 months of the year, including during student breaks. Regular reviews of all institution-approved social media accounts will be conducted by the Marketing and Communications Office. If any institution-approved social media account is found to be consistently inactive, Marketing and Communications will contact the registered administrator(s) to deactivate the account. Departments or areas that can no longer support their accounts should close the appropriate institution-approved social media accounts and promptly notify Marketing and Communications at buffalostatecomms@buffalostate.edu.
Buffalo State is committed to providing all students, faculty, staff, and visitors with access to online resources. Institution-approved social media accounts must be accessible to users with disabilities, in compliance with SUNY policies and federal and state laws and regulations.
All institution-approved social media accounts must make certain that all resources are available in a format accessible to users with disabilities.
Varying accessibility options are available on social media platforms. College accounts must ensure that social media posts are accessible to the greatest extent possible. Please refer to Maintaining Accurate, Accessible Content: Tips and Best Practices for detailed guidelines on accessibility before posting.
Page administrators and moderators must recognize that institutionally affiliated accounts and groups are considered public forums. Activity of moderators in these online forums can represent Buffalo State College to a large audience. Make sure that your posts carry out the spirit of the college's mission, vision, and values. Be sensitive to topics that may be incendiary, or that may reflect poorly on the college. Additionally, as moderators of these public forums, account administrators and moderators must provide an open, viewpoint neutral venue for exchange of all topically relevant opinions and should only remove content that violates the college’s content guidelines. If you have questions about how to handle a post, topic, or exchange, please contact buffalostatecomms@buffalostate.edu.
During campuswide emergencies, all social media accounts associated with the college are asked to go “silent” and share only posts from official Buffalo State social media accounts relevant to public safety. This will help ensure that important emergency messages reach intended audiences as quickly as possible.
The following sites are considered official primary social media sites during emergency situations:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/buffalostatecollege; http://facebook.com/buffalostateupd
Twitter: http://twitter.com/buffalostate; http://twitter.com/buffalostateupd
It is impossible for the Marketing and Communications Office to monitor all social media activity taking place at or referencing the school. The college must rely on the community to help by proactively alerting it to issues of concern on social media. Such examples include threats to life, cyberbullying, self-harm, illegal activities, or other similar serious negative behaviors that could be prevented if responsible individuals were alerted. Such incidents should be reported immediately to University Police at (716) 878-6333.
Threats conveyed over social media have real legal consequences, even if made in jest or via “anonymous” applications. Threats made online, regardless of intention, are never taken lightly and should not be posted under any circumstances.
Users are encouraged not only to preserve their own safety but also to take actions to preserve the safety of their community. The universal concepts of civility and speaking up when witnessing harmful behaviors directed at others are equally applicable to social media.
