MICA School-Affiliated Accounts

Did you know that nearly 40 departments and programs maintain their own social media accounts, you may find a list of those affiliates here. The Office of  Strategic Communications advises MICA staff and faculty on best practices for social media through our new social media policy which you may read [here], but each office is responsible for generating and editing it's own social media content and for complying with MICA's disability accommodation policies. In order to become a flagship or "an afflicated MICA social account" you must complete our "Social Media Affiliant Agreement Form" attached to this page, and found here. 

Please note the following requirements regarding social media accounts at the School:

1.  Students, temporary staff, and visiting faculty at MICA may not serve as the primary administrators for official MICA Flagship social media accounts.
2. Students, temporary staff, and visiting faculty may compose content for MICA's flagship social media accounts only with appropriate supervision.
3. Two-factor authentication must be enabled on all accounts.
4. More than one individual in a department, center, or other School entity must have access to the account.
5. The department, center, or other School entity must create a written plan for handing off ownership of that account should the primary account holder leave the School.

Creating a new School-affiliated account

When creating an account, you must use your officially designated entity name (e.g., your department name + MICA). Please note that creating a new logo for a department, center, or other School entity is expressly prohibited. Link your mica.edu email to the account.

Before creating a new social media account for a department, center, institute, or program, please take the following steps:

1. Refer to these social media resources before opening an account
   • Social Media Field Guide
   • Social Media Best Practices
   • New Social Media Account Checklist
2. Research whether there are already social media accounts for this entity (the Office of Communications can provide you with a list of known social media accounts at the School).
3. Research social media platforms and only open accounts on those platforms that you are committed to maintaining over the long term.
4. Avoid creating new accounts for short-term, temporary projects. Instead, use larger departmental accounts to promote these projects.
5. Create a written plan for account ownership, content review, and posting frequency. At the same time, you may wish to write down a procedure for dealing with emergency situations (times when it may be inappropriate to post content) and make a plan for how to respond to comments (if at all).

Social media voice and style

Our posts on the flagship social media accounts must maintain an appropriate balance between MICA’s voice, editorial style, and the culture of any given social media platform. The following guidelines may also apply to School-affiliated accounts:

1. Social media posts should be brief and informative.
2. Internet-only abbreviations and acronyms should be used sparingly, and only when they are commonly understood by a wide general audience. Appropriate examples: ICYMI for “in case you missed it,” “QOTD” for “quote of the day.”
3. Hashtags and @ tags should be used sparingly, avoid using more than three hashtags on Twitter. When in doubt, use #MICAmade. 
4. Emojis should be used sparingly or not at all.
5. Avoid using all-caps in social media posts.