MSU Extension Organizational Development

The following information aims to help you manage your social media strategy at the local level—covering basic requirements to keep a page active while adhering to the guidelines of the MSU and MSU Extension brands. If you cannot or do not comply with the standard requirements, University Communications and Marketing will reserve the right to have the page shut down to prevent harm to the larger university brand. 

• MSU Extension social media templates.
• Social media downloads - icons, branded cover photos, and profile pictures
• Social Media Toolkit instructions (circa 2022)
• dotCMS training materials (also see the MSU Extension dotCMS resources)
• Web accessibility resources and materials
  • ANR Web Accessibility Policy liaisons  

For those managing MSU Extension county social media pages, please review the requirements.

Minimum requirements 

1. 1. You must post at least three times a week. Audit your social media pages to determine the what and when to post. You can start by checking the page insights and reviewing popular posts by highest engagement or views. Note any trends in content types, times people are active, and your page's audience demographic. Create a strategy for posting that meets the minimum number of posts per week, but also makes sense for your audience.

Tip: Interested in growth? Try posting once or twice more in the week to maintain consistency and "buy" more real estate in people's news feeds. 

2. Avoid always posting a program event. People are not following or even engaging with brands that are consistently trying to sell them something. We can reserve this content for creating actual page events or our 'Stories.' Instead, people want to connect with humans and stories. Find success stories in PEARS, work with a partner to develop a short paragraph about a program success, ask your educators a question on camera that you get from clients, and reshare content from MSU Extension's main social pages. Your three posts a week should not be solely events. 

Tip: Check out this brand's social content for an idea on how to create engagement while not relying on the idea of traditional marketing: https://www.instagram.com/ryanair/

 3. Relying on AI to create content. Audiences are moving away from AI-generated content. They want authenticity and not polished. Our brand is local experts answering your questions. Using AI to generate our content is in direct opposition to that message. 

Brand practices

Be real. Declare yourself as a member of the MSU community with pride. Don't masquerade, use an alternate identity or otherwise attempt to disguise your identity.

Be prepared. Engage only when you understand the platform and feel confident and prepared for success.

Be prudent. When in doubt, ask for help from a supervisor, a university communicator or the UCAM web and social media team.

Be true. Reflect Michigan State values. Be respectful, courteous, patient and professional. Your actions in social media should align with the university's overarching policies, procedures and guidelines.

Be responsible. Never share confidential or proprietary information about MSU or other members of the MSU community. Exercise good judgment and follow all university policies and legal requirements.

Be discerning. Recognize the dynamics and differences between personal and professional social connections as well as what is appropriate to share with the public and what should be kept private. Whether you decide to connect with family, friends, classmates, coworkers, leaders, managers, subordinates or students (for those in a teaching or advising role), consider using alternate accounts or privacy settings and filters within your social networking tools in order to avoid interactions and sharing that could cross personal-professional boundaries, result in conflicts of interest, or otherwise compromise you or the institution.

Be aware. Never comment on anything related to legal matters, litigation or any parties with whom MSU may be in litigation. Never participate in social media when the topic being discussed may be considered an emergency or crisis situation. Even anonymous comments may be traced back to your IP address. When in doubt, ask a manager for assistance to determine if a matter should be referred to the University Communications and Marketing media communications team or the Office of the General Counsel.

Participating in the conversation

Look before you leap. Learn as much as you can before diving in. Read the user guide/documentation and the terms of use for any social media tool you plan to use. Become familiar with the standards for conduct and practice related to the tool. If you want to successfully join a social network/community, you should understand its standards and practices.

Join communities. Become a part of communities relevant to you and try new things. You can receive and lend value to the community.

Ease into becoming an active member of the community. Be a consumer first: try the services and play with the features. When you are ready — engage. Once you begin, be prepared to interact, reply, assist and contribute.

Add value to the conversation. If you make the conversation only about you, the community will have little interest. Share what is unique to you and what you find interesting from others. Be helpful and be present.

Play nice. Don't spam, type using all caps, be hateful or use bad language. Share the spotlight.

Support official endorsements. It is appropriate to reiterate support for or share information about official Michigan State University endorsements (e.g., an official institutional blood drive, fundraiser, cause, etc.).

Avoid unofficial endorsements. Do not use the Michigan State University name, logo or marks or your affiliation with the institution to endorse or promote products, opinions or causes (e.g., vendors, service providers, products, political candidates, causes, etc.). Keep in mind that the public will perceive you as speaking for the institution.

Respect diversity. The MSU community values and respects differences, recognizing that communities are rich because of diversity and inclusion.

Respect privacy. Confidential or proprietary information should never be disclosed. If you are not sure whether something should be shared, check with your supervisor or a communications professional. Just as you would do for campus print publications, obtain a release before publishing statements or photos of minors.

Respect copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity and other third-party rights. Consider whether you have permission to use third-party content, and observe all rights for copyrighted materials. A good resource on fair use/copyright is fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html.

Moderating

Moderating involves a three-phase process:

Phase 1: Listen and identify. Conversations occur in electronic and real-world locations. Know where online conversations may take place. Always be listening for MSU-related statements, requests for assistance, opinions or frustrations from the community. Take a closer look when attention is required.

Phase 2: Evaluate. Consider the following questions:

Are you the right person to moderate comments or questions?

The answer may be yes if:

• The inquiry can be answered using publicly available information.
• Your area of expertise is related to the inquiry/statement.
• You have received specific training and have been made responsible by the university to address this type of situation.

Have you identified something positive related to an individual’s experience with MSU?

• There may be an opportunity to acknowledge the experience in a meaningful way or to share the experience via the social media tools you are using (e.g., an institutional blog, mailing list or social network).

Have you identified something negative related to an individual’s experience with MSU?

• There may be an opportunity for the university to learn from this information so that it can improve the experiences of others.

Have you identified an aggressive or volatile individual?

• You have observed inappropriate language, personal attacks, hateful behavior or deliberate distribution of misinformation.

Has a support request been identified?

• A question has been asked. 

• An individual has requested assistance.

Have you found something about MSU that is factually inaccurate?

• Inaccurate information was posted online, and the correct information is publicly accessible from an official source.

Phase 3: Engage, refer or ignore. Based on your evaluation, determine if you are the right person to moderate what was identified, and take one of the following actions:

You are the right person to moderate comments or questions.

• Engage in a helpful, positive way.

You are not the right person to moderate the instance.

• Document the instance (e.g., electronic screenshot, details regarding time and place, community response, etc.).
• Pass the information along to the appropriate unit.
• If you are unsure about where to send the information, seek guidance from your supervisor.
• If you are a supervisor, get an official unit communications staff member involved and/or contact the University Communications and Marketing social media team (517-355-2262 or comms.social@msu.edu).

Positive instances related to an individual’s experience with MSU

• Acknowledge the individual. Use the person’s name and demonstrate that you understand what they said.
• Express support for them and/or the institution if appropriate.
• Consider sharing the individual’s experience via official institutional social media channels. When possible, provide a direct link to the original message or content (refer to documentation for the social media tool you are using to learn procedures and best practices for sharing links and media).

Negative instances related to an individual’s experience with MSU

• If the communication does not relate to you or your unit, pass it along the comment to the appropriate unit.
• If the comment is general and not specific enough to pass along to any university unit, consider carefully whether to engage. Generally, it’s best not to engage unless you can provide helpful information. You may always forward instances to the University Communications and Marketing social media team (comms.social@msu.edu) if you believe that is necessary.
• If you do engage, acknowledge the individual. Use the person’s name and demonstrate that you understand what they said.

An aggressive or volatile individual

• Do not attempt to engage, correct or respond to the individual.
• Document the instance (e.g., electronic screenshot, details regarding time and place, community response, etc.)
• Notify a supervisor and/or the appropriate University Communications and Marketing staff.
• If the instance is on a social network you administer (e.g., a Facebook page), you may remove and/or moderate the instance if appropriate in accordance with the terms of use for that network.
• If you believe that comments demonstrate a credible threat to individuals or property, notify MSU Police and Public Safety at 517-355-2221 (or 9-1-1 in the event of an immediate emergency).

A support request

• Acknowledge the request for assistance. Use the person’s name and demonstrate that you understand their request.
• Provide succinct and complete information that addresses the request. If the request is for an area or topic you are not familiar with or responsible for, provide a referral to an appropriate source where an answer can be obtained.

Something published about MSU is factually incorrect

• Identify yourself and your affiliation with the institution.
• Provide a link to the correct information on the official institutional website

Managing a page or starting a new page

1. District directors should send an email regarding a new county support hire to Michelle Kryska (kryska@msu.edu) and copy Chelsea Dickens (dickensc@msu.edu) with the new person's role, whether they need access to dotCMS, and what those permissions should be if specific folder(s)

• • If county staff need help with updates to staff bios, staff profiles, office hours, tags or map data, contact Chelsea. 

2. Refrain from starting new county social media accounts before thoroughly reviewing the Social Media Toolkit and existing accounts. 

1. 1. Social media accounts should be set up with the county email address and a password that both the district director and district support can access. 
   2. If you need to remove an account or page that is no longer in use or the access has been lost please report the account to Meta or the platform customer service. You can do this online, by email or by phone. In the event those requests do not work, consider sending a formal letter explaining the situation. 
   3. Please also consider the following if you would like to create a new account or page:
      • Why do you feel this channel is needed? What gaps will it fill, if any?
      • Is there a large enough audience to justify a new channel? Is this audience not being served by our current channels? If not, before you create a new channel, could you build on our existing channels?
      • Do you have the time commitment and capacity to put together and follow an editorial calendar? To gain a following and establish yourselves online, we advise being interactive in some way at least once a day or every other day, whether that’s posting, commenting, reacting to comments, responding to messages, liking photos, etc.
      • What will happen to this channel if you're on vacation, move roles, leave the organization?
      • Is this an area big enough to create ongoing content indefinitely? Would you be able to consistently have a mix of events to promote, educational articles to share, relevant photos and videos to post, etc.?
      • Do you have the knowledge and skills necessary to run a social media channel? Do you know how to use and review analytics to inform future activities, create graphics, consistently write compelling copy, boost posts, and build an audience through organic and paid avenues?

3. Telling our story can be done in a variety of ways. Exploring multi-tiered marketing strategies will help in amplifying that story. Project requests for video, photography, marketing, graphic design and data visualizations as well as social media consultation, can be made by emailing Chelsea Dickens, dickensc@msu.edu. Please include the project name, a summary of the project, applicable images/videos/data (.csv or .xlsx files), and any other pertinent information. 

• • If you are in need of free-use images and videos, please check out Pixabay.com, Pexels.com and iStock.

4. County support staff should be added to internal communication channels in Microsoft Teams. Please contact Veronica Dragovich (dragov@msu.edu) as a new hire or if you are not already in the team. 

Need some inspo? 

Join the quarterly social media chats.