Social Media
Our goal at GW is to use social media as a two-way communication tool for connecting with our community. With a number of platforms to use, there are opportunities to connect with your unique audience in a meaningful way. Whether you’re sharing #OnlyAtGW moments or building pride as we #RaiseHigh together, social media can be a powerful way to reach your audiences.
WORKING WITH OUR TEAM
The Office of Communications and Marketing oversees social media strategy for the university and runs GW’s main accounts. We use social media to:
- Promote news, events and resources
- Share photos and videos
- Livestream #OnlyAtGW events
- Monitor brand reputation
- Host discussions
- Respond to questions or problems from our community
- Reach different audiences
- Drive traffic to websites
- Build communities
Our team is also available to help you develop the social media strategy for your office, school/college, center/institute, department or initiative. Support is available to account managers with all levels of experience to help you meet your communication goals.
Email [email protected] to connect with our team and setup a strategy meeting.
FOLLOW GW ONLINE
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES
First Things First: Review GW's Social Media Policy
- Users operating accounts bearing GW’s name must familiarize themselves with GW’s social media policy.
- Please submit the name and contact information of those responsible for your social media accounts to [email protected].
Posting Music on the Web or Social Media
- GW’s music licenses do not cover music posted by its community members on the web or social media. There are several different licenses required if you want to post music on a website or social media. These licenses must be obtained from the person or entity that owns the right to that music; the process can be long and complex.
- Stock Music is available at a low cost (sometimes free) as an option when music is needed for a web or social media posting.
- For questions about music licensing, please email [email protected].
Accessibility Standards for Social Media
- GW is committed to making all digital content accessible and usable for everyone, including people with disabilities, by employing principles of universal design and striving to conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA.
- Learn more about standards and best practices for digital accessibility and how that applies to social media.
- Review tips and tricks for accessibility on social media developed by GW's digital content team.
DEVELOPING YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
Know your audience and set your goals.
It’s important to understand who you are trying to reach on social media. Does your target audience consist of current faculty, staff, and students of a particular program? The broader GW community? Is it primarily alumni or community members? Not all platforms reach the same groups, so you need to know where your primary audiences are spending time online. For example, Instagram reaches younger users on their mobile devices while LinkedIn reaches a professional audience.
Next, determine your communication goals. Do you want your audience to complete a call to action? Do you simply want to grow engagement with your community? Do you want to educate or entertain your audience by sharing resources?
Determine how much time you can spend on social media.
Building an engaged following requires consistent posting of good content. While you should be able to dedicate time to cultivating your community, don’t overextend yourself. It’s better to develop a good presence on one network than to post infrequently on every network. Dedicating blocks of time on a weekly basis to strategize content ideas or develop posts for the upcoming week will help minimize time dedicated daily.
Develop your content strategy and select the best platform/s.
When you know your audience, goals and how much time you can commit to social media, think about what content you can provide. Determine what kind of content best suits your goals and capabilities. For example, articles may better serve some needs, while visuals may make more sense for others. Consider different sources of relevant content, like news sites, YouTube channels, or user generated content from your own students, staff, faculty, or alumni.
Think about who you are trying to reach with what kind of content to decide which platforms to develop and spend your time on. Also, consider the different strengths - and limitations - of each network. Long format text, such as articles, are best shared on Facebook or LinkedIn. Instagram requires a visual for each post, and of course TikTok and YouTube are video-only platforms. Learn more about the most common platforms below.
In summary, think about your communication goals, which audiences you’re trying to reach and what content you have to work with. Focus your attention on the platform or platforms that will best achieve your goals.
Quick Tips
- Be authentic and creative and develop a content strategy that represents your unique voice.
- Focus on networks/platforms that will be effective for you.
- Post consistently.
- Try new things to learn what performs well on each platform.
- Use high-quality photos and other visuals.
- Listen to and interact with your followers one-on-one when you can.
- Keep accessibility guidelines in mind.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM BEST PRACTICES
When thinking about launching a new social media platform for your school or unit, it’s important to consider the various existing platforms and identify what platform is best for your purposes. Before creating any new GW affiliate account, please review the best practices for each social media platform below. If you’re not sure where to start, you can always reach out to [email protected] to set up a meeting to review best practices and content strategy.
Instagram is one of the most widely used platforms among US adults. This platform focuses solely on sharing photos and videos to provide followers insight into your school or unit's functions, abilities, peer reputation, and more. We highly recommend accounts set up a “link in bio” feature to encourage engagement. This can be done through a Drupal site that is updated or a free-to-use link tree.
Instagram stories—brief photo and video snippets that last just 24 hours—are almost like their own social platform within Instagram. Daily stories can be created with text, polls, Q&A, emojis or our GW gifs overlaying a photo or video. If you’re using Instagram stories, consider developing separate strategies for your stories and your Instagram account.
Standard Audience
- Monthly global active users: Over two billion
- US users: Over 159 million
- Average time spent per day (in the US): 30 minutes
- Largest age group: 25-34 year olds
In short, our primary audience on Instagram is students and recent alumni!
Tips & Tricks
The Digital Content Team has identified three top tips for writing great captions:
- Include a call to action: Guide your users towards activities that are happening, important updates, or other clickable items. Note: Please do not add links directly into your caption. To drive engagement, direct your users to your link in bio.
- Business account: If you are launching a new GW-affiliated Instagram account, please set it up as a business account. This setting will prevent you from using sounds and songs that are not free to use and share.
- Utilize the link in bio feature: We recommend keeping your captions short and to the point and directing your audience to read more through the link in bio feature. Please do not paste URLs in your caption.
- X (formerly Twitter)
X is a fast-paced social media platform where people talk about things happening in the moment around the world. Even though the character count has increased in recent years, it is best to keep your messages short. Guidance on this platform is ever-evolving, but you can always email [email protected] with any questions.
Standard Audience
- Monetizable daily active users: 237 million
- US users: 76.9 million
- Average time spent per day: 34.8 minutes
- Largest age group: 18-29 year olds
Tips & Tricks
The Digital Content Team has identified three top tips for running your X account:
- Engage with your community: Building a strong connection with your audience is key to growing your X presence. X makes it easy to repost content from faculty members, news outlets, or anyone else in your community.
- Use of hashtags: Use hashtags (like #OnlyAtGW or #RaiseHigh) to join conversations, but remember to always be authentic and accessible.
- Use Pinned Posts: Ensure your feed has a pinned post to showcase one of your more engaging posts. This is also a good feature to highlight recurring questions or news about product or service updates. Note: Don’t forget to unpin them after your event or featured item expires!
Facebook has more users than any other social media platform, but its audience skews older. It’s the ideal platform to reach graduate students, parents and alumni, and it offers excellent targeted advertising of posts for a small budget. Facebook’s longer-form posts are great for sharing news content. Video performs particularly well on Facebook as it plays automatically when users scroll through their news feed. Live-streaming offers a great opportunity to broadcast to an audience that cannot participate in person, particularly for high-profile events where you want to maximize your audience. The "stories" feature offers an additional mechanism to connect with your audience.
Standard Audience
- Monthly global active users: Nearly three billion
- US users: Over 179 million
- Average time spent per day (US): 30 minutes
- Largest age group: 25-34 year olds
Tips & Tricks
The Digital Content Team has identified three tips for running your Facebook account:
- Customer service matters: Facebook, more so than other platforms, serves as a way for audiences to inquire about upcoming events, programs, deadlines, and more. We recommend regularly monitoring your messenger to ensure all questions are being answered in a timely manner. While you don’t have to have the exact information for the consumer, you can send them to the best place to find assistance.
- Provide a slice of life: While Instagram provides a great insight into the student life on campus, many of our alumni utilize Facebook for updates. Make sure you provide photo recaps and other exciting features for your alumni audience!
- Consistent cadence: Consistency counts on Facebook and you can’t just post haphazardly. Regular updates send a signal to Facebook that says you’re looking to participate in their platform and drive discussions. When done right, this results in reach.
While LinkedIn is often associated with B2B marketing, there are plenty of reasons why brands should consider developing their LinkedIn strategy. It is used for networking, job opportunities and thought leadership. It is great for creating communities of alumni, practitioners or partners.
Standard Audience
- Members worldwide: 830 million
- US users: 190 million
- Average time spent per day: 34.8 minutes
- Largest age group: 25-34
Tips & Tricks
- Be audience-specific: Out of all the LinkedIn best practices, possibly the most important is producing content that is audience-specific.
- Thought leadership: This platform is a great opportunity to highlight your faculty members or community members who are leaders in the field. This can be done through media hits, interviews, or op-eds.
- Opportunities for involvement: A majority of users connect on LinkedIn to drive community connections and networking. This is a great place to share networking opportunities such as alumni reunions, as well as career development features.
- YouTube
YouTube is a social media and online video sharing platform great for long-form and short-form video content. When setting up a YouTube account, please do not use your gwu.edu email address.
Tips & Tricks
- Be SEO-friendly: In drafting your title and description, consider search engine optimization friendly content. Include official titles of your institution, as well as relevant hashtags.
- Short-form videos: Use short-form video content on YouTube shorts. This is a great way to get your videos in front of new eyes.
- Make use of playlists: Playlists are a great way to organize your content into clear categories or series. You can adjust which playlists appear in what order on your profile homepage so your audience is always seeing your latest and greatest content.
- TikTok
Congress recently passed legislation that could disrupt TikTok’s functionality in the U.S. starting January 19, 2025. Our team is monitoring the situation and will provide updates as they become available.
Known for less-polished, meme-y short videos, TikTok dominates as one of the platforms US consumers spend the most time on, and it’s no longer the new kid on the block. TikTok is a short-form video platform with an algorithm that delivers its users highly individualized content. Users expect a rawer form of video on this platform as opposed to the highly produced videos of YouTube.
TikTok requires a more rigorous cadence than other platforms. Users are used to seeing a new video a day if not more. When considering a TikTok, consider your team’s bandwidth. If you don’t have students or a designated team to create content, TikTok might not be the best platform for you.
Standard Audience
- Monthly global active users: One billion
- US users: Over 179 million
- Average time spent per day: 89 minutes
- Largest age group: 10-29 years old
Tips & Tricks
- Business account: If you are launching a new GW-affiliated TikTok account, please set it up as a business account. This setting will prevent you from using sounds and songs that are not free to use and share.
- Build up content: When launching your account, it is best to post at least one video a day to build a following. This cadence requires having a detailed content calendar and large repository of content.
- Jump on trends: TikTok is the best place to get creative and jump on trending content. If there’s a trending topic, think about how you can relate it to your school or unit. Note: Most trending songs and sounds are not free to use and share, however you can use similar sounds that are permissible for your business account.
- Threads
Threads is a brand-new social platform launched by Meta in the summer of 2023. It is important to consider that content that may have worked for Facebook, X, Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok will not translate directly to Threads. Although often referred to as a replacement or competitor for X, the tone of the platform is decidedly less formal.
The central Digital Content Team is closely monitoring this platform. We do not have standard best practices at this time as we are continuing to learn more about this platform. There is no rush for GW-affiliated accounts to post to Threads at this time.
- Bluesky
Bluesky is still developing as a platform. At this time, there is no urgency to start posting as an organization. You may reserve usernames, but this platform best serves faculty members, researchers, and individuals promoting their work rather than brand accounts. Our team has reserved GW’s username and is monitoring the platform as it continues to develop. We will provide updates as needed.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Below is the general posting cadence that the central team would recommend for successful social media accounts. This may change depending on where you are in the academic year. For example, it may slow down in the summer but pick up around times like Commencement.
| Platform | Cadence |
|---|---|
| 2-3 times a week | |
| X (formerly Twitter) | 3-4 organic posts a week Re-post once a day if relevant content can be found |
| 2-3 times a week Imagery is important on Instagram! If you don’t have a quality post to meet the recommended cadence, don’t force it on the feed. | |
| Instagram Stories | As the opportunity presents itself. This lends itself well to posting a lot in one day, as it disappears in 24 hours. |
| 2-3 times a week | |
| TikTok | When starting an account, daily is best. When your account’s following has been established, this can slow down to 2-4 times a week. |
| Threads | Posting cadence not yet identified. Research is still being conducted by the Digital Content Team. |
ACCESSIBILITY
When running accounts affiliated with GW, it is required to follow digital accessibility standards to ensure all content is accessible to our entire audience. GW offers a great digital accessibility training, but there are more tips and tricks to know for social media. You can always reach out to [email protected] with any questions regarding digital accessibility on social media. Standards and best practices can also be found on the Accessibility at GW website.
- Alternative Text
Alternative (alt) text is used by those with visual impairments, cognitive challenges or technical limitations who may not be able to see the images that are on a webpage. The alt text is then displayed as plain text, read aloud via a screen reader, or output using a braille reader. Alt text is required for all images posted to social media.
The Digital Content Team has identified five top tips for writing great alt text:
- You don’t need to describe everything, just what is important for the user to understand the image.
- For example, if there happens to be a student taking a selfie in the background of the image, that does not need to be included in the alt text unless you chose the image for that element.
- Context matters when considering what details to include.
- For example, alt text for a photo of students working in a laboratory posted to the main GW University accounts may not identify the exact tools and technology being used. The same photo posted to the GW Engineering accounts might include that since it would be of interest to their audience.
- Write in plain language, avoid abbreviations. (e.g., “The George Washington University,” not “GW”)
- Don’t start your alt text with “photo of” or “image of.” The assistive device will do this automatically, so if you do it, it creates a frustrating experience for the user.
- Avoid using images with excessive copy. The Digital Content Team has a saying for this tip: “If it’s a flyer, pin it. Don’t post it.” If you must post a graphic, keep in mind that the image should be treated as a billboard. Fewer details are better and more accessible.
- In addition, any graphics should follow appropriate color contrast guidelines to ensure color-blind individuals can decipher all content. Please refer to the GW brand accessible color combinations or use a color contrast checker.
- You don’t need to describe everything, just what is important for the user to understand the image.
- Formatting Social Posts
Playing around with formatting when writing social media posts has been a popular trend when posting memes to brand accounts. One example of this is using manual spacing to create two columns in a tweet. This is not digitally accessible. Assistive devices will read left to right regardless of how many spaces you add, which results in your message being lost to anyone using one. Do not force formatting not supported by the platform you are using.
- Fonts
Another popular meme trend has been to import fonts into social copy that a platform does not support. This may include bold, italic, or strikethrough text or a fancier font than the default. While it looks fun, assistive devices skip over anything like this as it is not supported by the platform and thus they do not know how to read it out. Do not import any font or text format not supported natively by the platform.
- Capitalization
Yet another meme trend has been to play around with capitalization in copy, especially to indicate a mocking tone. You may have seen text in posts written “LiKe tHiS” intended to be funny. Assistive devices will start pronouncing a new word every time they see a capital letter, which results in anything written in this way being lost in translation. In addition, neurodivergent individuals may struggle with this type of content and become overwhelmed when trying to understand it. Use capitalization properly and do not play with it for meme purposes.
- Captions
When posting video content, captions are required to make it accessible. Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn allow you to upload a caption file when posting a video. TikTok has a built-in caption feature that you can make use of very easily. Instagram does not have either of these options, which means you will need to burn the captions into your video before posting it.
- Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to create branded content or find content to re-share to your accounts. There is an accessible way to do this, and it’s super easy. Capitalize the first letter of each word in your hashtag, #LikeThis. As previously mentioned, assistive devices begin reading a new word when they see a capital letter, so this will ensure the hashtag is read out correctly. In contrast, not capitalizing the first letter of each word will result in the assistive device smashing all the words together in one run-on phrase.
Another way to make your hashtag usage as accessible as possible is to incorporate your hashtags into your social copy instead of dumping them all at the end. Choose a couple of hashtags that make sense for your post, and work them into your writing.
- Good example: "In a true #OnlyAtGW moment, our students had the opportunity to present their research at the Department of State! Way to #RaiseHigh!"
- Bad example: "Our students had the opportunity to present their research at the Department of State! #onlyatgw #raisehigh #statedepartment #students"
- Emojis
Emojis can be super fun and a great way to liven up your content. It’s important to follow a few rules when it comes to using them:
- Place emojis at the end of your content. This is the most accessible way for assistive devices to read them. Accessible Social has a great demonstration of what happens when you use emojis as bullet points.
- Use the default skin tone for emojis with a selection to choose from whenever possible. This way, assistive devices will read it as “hand-raise emoji” instead of “hand-raise emoji skin tone five,” which can become confusing.
- Do not create pictures with emojis. Assistive devices will read out the code for each emoji, resulting in a frustrating experience for the user and your message being completely lost. Accessible Social has another great demonstration of how assistive devices read out emoji codes.
- Resources
Suggestions for Social Posts
Just as we're here to help with your social strategy, we need your help, too! We welcome ideas for primary GW account posts highlighting our students, alumni, faculty, or community. Content could include upcoming events, research highlights, student spotlights, etc.
Social Feed on Website
We offer Flockler, a social media curation tool, to all GW website owners. Flockler allows you to display social media feeds on your websites and digital signage to help increase engagement on your social feeds. The tool works with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and RSS.