Talking Stick - September/October 2015 - 57

but also explanations of strategies and
approaches to utilize when interacting
with the world (as well as responding
to other users) via Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, YouTube, and other
avenues.
Joining in this conversation are
Catherine David, the associate director
of communications and development
for the department of residential life
at Louisiana State University in Baton
Rouge; P. Max Quinn, a resident
director at Bridgewater State University
in Massachusetts; Janine Gascoigne
McGee, marketing coordinator for
housing and residential communities
at The University of Alabama in
Tuscaloosa; Mallory Sidarous, a
marketing specialist for Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville; and
Marcie Tucker, assistant director of
housing and dining services at the
University of Colorado Boulder.
Talking Stick: Does your department
have a formal, established social media
style guide and guidelines? If so, what
elements does it address?

Malory Sidarous: Yes we do. Our
department follows the official
university social media policy.
In addition, our department has
guidelines and expectations outlined
for both student and full-time staff.
The policy primarily addresses logistics
such as who monitors sites, response
time, crisis communication, use of the
university logo, etc. Our department
guidelines address this, in addition to
tone and content.
We also created a social media
policy for student organizations in
university housing (e.g., Residence
Housing Association, National
Residence Hall Honorary).

Janine McGee: Yes, our department

has social media style guidelines. They
address tone, networks, content, crisis
communication, and appropriate topics
of discussion online.

Marcie Tucker: Our department
follows the university guidelines for
social media style and guidelines.
Catherine David: We are finalizing
our departmental plan now. For the
last few years, our communications
staff met one-on-one with students
and professionals who were running
hall accounts to go over tone, content,
appropriateness, etc. However, as the
number of those accounts has grown
with the proliferation of platforms
(remember when Instagram didn't
exist? Or Snapchat? What a world
ago!), we now are standardizing
everything in one document.
P. Max Quinn: Our student affairs
division has an established social media
handbook that provides guidance and
education for departments utilizing
social networks to communicate and
engage with our community. Through
our student affairs marketing team,
our division provides a variety of
communication services to student
organizations and departments. These
services include graphic design, social
media, and video production teams
that generate featured stories on our
student-focused communication site
BSUlife.com. We utilize paid social
media ads, our mobile app, master
calendar, and other forms of printed
materials to assist in getting messages
distributed across the institution
and via social media and digital
technologies. In addition to all of
these resources, we address concerns
of inappropriate use of social media
through our community standards

process and through supervision.
Congruency between what students
post on social media and who they are
in person is important, and we seek
to educate students to be congruent
and to brand their social media
profiles purposefully so that they will
be an honorable candidate as they are
searching for jobs in their field. Check
out BSUlife.com to see our integrated
communication model in use!
TS: Do your guidelines extend beyond
the "official" accounts to those used by
other staff?

McGee: No, our guidelines pertain to
official channels. But in staff training,
we address personal social media in
general forms. The idea is that no one
except departmental spokespeople
should be speaking on behalf of the
department. You're allowed to have
an opinion, but you're not allowed to
discuss your thoughts or reactions to
things that you come into knowledge of
while wearing your RA hat.
We also discuss generally not
saying anything that doesn't help
you look awesome. While something
may not warrant losing your job
over, it might still prevent your
supervisors from writing a favorable
recommendation or hiring you back.

Tucker: I agree with Janine's
comments; our guidelines pertain to
the official channels only.

Sidarous: Our setup is very similar to
what Janine described. The policy and
our expectations for our student social
media representatives apply to official
department accounts.
We do discuss best practices and
recommended guidelines during
student staff training. A member of

SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2015

57
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Talking Stick - September/October 2015

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