ASUW Communications Policy Created August 2013 I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE A. The mission of the ASUW Office of Communications is to support the mission of the ASUW and its entities through promotion, marketing, public relations, graphics, branding and media. The ASUW Communications Policy is the official bylaws of the Communications Director and the Office of Communications. B. The purpose of the ASUW Communications Policy is to set standards for the way ASUW communicates and represents itself as an association to the campus, students, faculty, and public. II. SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE ASSOCIATION AT LARGE A. ASUW Currently holds and maintains the following social media platforms, should new ones be added in the future they should be added to the policy in a timely manner. Facebook (www.facebook.com/asuwseattle) Twitter (@ASUWSeattle) YouTube (youtube.com/asuwseattle) B. Facebook The ASUW will retain a main ASUW page, located at facebook.com/asuwseattle. The purpose of this page is to do the following; 1. Promote events hosted by entities of the association 2. Promote events hosted by official partners of the association 3. Provide updates about life within the ASUW such as featuring employees 4. Provide news updates regarding student initiatives and concerns 5. Provide resources for students 6. Provide answers to appropriate questions via the Facebook inbox. 7. Other pertinent information at the discretion of the Communications Director C. Administrators The following employees shall have full access to post and maintain the official Association Facebook page. 1. Communications Director - Who shall have final approval and strategic approval over all messaging. Will be responsible for regular updates and page maintenance.
2. President - Who shall be able to have full administrator privileges over posts on the ASUW Facebook page in coordination with the Communications Director. 3. Vice President Who shall have administrator privileges to the Facebook page, and may post with approval of the Communications Director and/or President 4. Personnel Director Who shall have administrator privileges to the Facebook page, and may post with approval of the Communications Director and/or President, with particular focus on content relating to employees and the work place. No other employees shall have administrative access to the ASUW main page. D. Posting 1. During the academic year the Facebook page must be maintained regularly with quality posts. 2. Posts shall be primarily focused on ASUW events, entities, employees and volunteers, unless an exception is made by the Communications Director. 3. No negative language about any group, person, or entity shall ever be posted by the ASUW. 4. In accordance with Washington State Law the ASUW and its entities must not post or endorse partisan political messages. E. Best Practices (Facebook) 1. Posts should be written professionally and grammatical errors should be avoided, while understanding that sometimes they can and do happen. 2. Posts that mention an ASUW entity or group should tag that entity or group whenever possible. 3. Whenever possible posts should include photos, as they help to increase reach. 4. When posting about an event, always include the date, time and location unless a link is provided. 5. The main profile picture of the page shall remain the official ASUW logo. 6. Campaigns to increase the number of users on the page are encouraged. 7. The maximum length of a post should be three lines of text. 9. It is best to create messaging priorities and goals for each month. 8. When including a link, it is best to use a link shortening service (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc.)
F. Best Practices (Twitter) 1. Posts that mention an ASUW entity or group should tag that entity or group whenever possible. 2. When discussing an event always include date, time, and location unless an invitation link is included. 3. The profile photo should remain the official ASUW logo. 4. Campaigns to increase the number of followers are encouraged. 5. Replies should be limited to 1 reply per post, as to not hold conversations though Twitter. 6. Hashtags should remain consistent and relevant to the topic. 7. #ASUW should be used whenever possible. 8. It is best to create messaging priorities and goals for each month. 9. Retweeting tweets of other entities is encouraged. G. Professionalism 1. Emoticons should not be used in posts (ie : ), :P, etc.) 2. High attention should be payed to correct use of grammar, including punctuation. H. Tone 1. The tone of the ASUW Facebook page is to remain professional, yet fun and inviting. For examples of recommended posts please see the Communications Director. I. Interactions*- The ASUW social media properties will not tolerate or allow any comments that put down or degrade a group, entity or person, use negative or offensive language, or divulge personal information of an individual. Posts deemed in violation of these requirements by the Communications Director and/or ASUW President are to be deleted immediately. Page administrators reserve the right to remove any comment or content they deem unacceptable. Questions on content removal should be directed to the Communications Director for the final call. *This applies to all social media properties of the Association, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter and the blogs.
III. ENTITY SOCIAL MEDIA PROPERTIES 1. Entities are encouraged to have their own like pages and update them regularly. Employees of individual entities have more creative control over content, but many of the same guidelines should and must be followed; A. Administrators 1. Any employee of an entity may serve as an administrator for their Facebook page, the director of the entity shall have discretion over which employees may post. 2. Communications Director retains full authority over posts; should a post or content piece be created that is unacceptable or violates this policy, the Communications Director may request it to be removed. 3. The Communications Director shall serve as an insight analysts for all Facebook pages of the Association. 4. Should there be a disagreement with content or posting - a conversation may be had with the Personnel Director of Communications Director regarding the messaging. B. Posting 1. Posts shall be primarily focused on ASUW related content unless an exception is made by the Communications Director. C. Best Practices (Facebook) 1. Posts that mention an ASUW entity or group should tag that entity or group whenever possible. 2. Whenever possible posts should include photos, as they help to increase reach. 2. No negative language about any group, person, or entity shall ever be posted by the ASUW. 3. When discussing an event always include date, time, and location unless an invitation link is attached. 4. The main profile picture of the page shall remain the official entity logo. 5. Campaigns to increase the number of users on the page are encouraged. 6. The page shall be identified as an entity of the ASUW through the title, logo or description section.
7. The maximum length of a post should be three lines of text. 8. When including a link, it is best to use a link shortening service (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc.) 9. It is best to create messaging priorities and goals for each month. 10. Sharing other posts of activities and entities is encouraged. D. Best Practices (Twitter) 1. Posts that mention an ASUW entity or group should tag that entity or group whenever possible. 2. When discussing an event always include date, time, and location unless an invitation link is included. 3. The profile photo should remain the entity logo. 4. Campaigns to increase the number of followers are encouraged. 5. The page shall be identified as an entity of the ASUW through the title, logo or description section. 6. Replies should be limited to 1 reply per post, as to not hold conversations though Twitter. 7. Hashtags should remain consistent and relevant to the topic. 8. #ASUW should be used whenever possible. 9. It is best to create messaging priorities and goals for each month. 10. Retweeting tweets of other entities is encouraged. E. Professionalism 1. Emoticons should not be used in posts (ex: :), :P, etc.) 2. High attention should be payed to correct use of grammar, including punctuation. F. Tone 1. The tone of the ASUW pages should first and foremost remain professional, while at the same time fun and engaging. Entity pages are encouraged to use content that best will engage their audience. Each entity may have a different tone, but professionalism and relevancy are required.
IV. THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS A. The ASUW Office of Communications consists of four employees; Communications Director, Multi-Media Coordinator and two Graphic Designers. For more information regarding these positions please see the ASUW By Laws and corresponding job descriptions. B. Special notes about graphic design; 1. The Graphic Designers may use their own equipment to produce content, should they choose. 2. The Graphic Designers are welcomed to keep any work they produce for their portfolio; however, any work done by the graphic designers is property of the Associated Students of the University of Washington and may be used in any way necessary after its creation. A. Requests for Work V. ENTITIES AND THE OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS 1. Requests for creative services (graphic/photo/media) must be submitted 7 days prior to the need by date for photo or media requests, and 14 days prior to the need by date for graphic work, unless special approval is given by the Communications Director. The Office of Communications cannot guarantee the completion of tasks requested outside of these guidelines. The Communications Director is responsible for maintaining an organized and functioning system for taking and processing requests. B. Printing 1. Printing of media developed by the Office of Communications is to be handled by the individual entity. Recommendations and guidance can be provided, however, the Office of Communications is not responsible for the printing and distribution of designed materials. C. Standards 1. Print Materials All materials printed for an event of the ASUW must include the ASUW logo (any variation at the discretion of the designer) and the official University disability accommodation statement. 2. Colors It is recommended that ASUW s colors resemble that of the University. (Purple, white and gold) for official branding. (Entities differ).
3. Names The official name of all ASUW entities shall have the ASUW in front of it. (Ex: The ASUW Office of Government Relations) the full name of the association should be used when the name is being used in print, media, or in any other official capacity. VI. ALL CAMPUS COMMUNICATION A. The ASUW President has special access to a list serve of UW students who agree to be members of the ASUW through the University registration system. This is a special privilege reserved for the ASUW for years and should be treated as such. Abuse of this system could result in loss of access. Other services include ASUW Ask Us Anything, asuw@uw.edu e-mail account and the Board of Director blog. B. E-Mail Guidelines and Recommendations: 1. The President s e-mail address (asuwpres@uw.edu) is the only e-mail authorized to communicate to the campus at-large in this mass capacity 2. E-mails must be approved by the Communications Director prior to their distribution. 3. E-mails should occur on a regular basis and include important updates about campus life and that students would be interested in. 4. The all-campus e-mail is reserved for ASUW related content only. External requests may only be approved by the President, in coordination with the Communications Director, and should be accepted only by rare exception. 5. In order to successfully process a request for an all campus message, a separate e-mail note must be sent to the following; Rene Singleton, and Colin McDonell <colinmc@u.washington.edu>, "Matthew S. Winslow" <mwinslow@uw.edu> to inform them an e-mail has been submitted for processing. 6. E-Mails may take 2-3 hours to be processed within normal business hours. 7. In the 2012-13 academic year video updates were used in each release. Content for any video messages is to be coordinated between the ASUW President and the Communications Director and should have acknowledgement and agreement from the rest of the Board of Directors. C. Ask Us Anything Inbox 1. The ASUW currently hosts an Ask Us Anything service through Google Forms located at asuw.org/aua where anyone may submit a question to the ASUW with the ability to be answered by a Board of Directors member within a week during the academic year.
2. Questions should be responded to promptly and professionally via e-mail. 3. The Communications Director maintains access to this account and responsibility for sending questions to the appropriate parties once they have been submitted. D. E-Mail Account - asuw@uw.edu 1. The ASUW currently maintains an e-mail account located at asuw@uw.edu. 2. This account is to be used for general inquires to the association, and can be used in marketing and advertising as an address that general questions and concerns can be received. 3. The Communications Director maintains access to this account and responsibility for forwarding questions to the appropriate parties, or responding in a prompt manner. E. Board of Directors Blog 1. Each elected Board of Directors member maintains a blog service that is located at board.asuw.org. 2. Each board member shall be responsible for updating this content once a month at minimum. 3. Best practices include; a. Discussing current and upcoming projects b. Successes or events of entities c. Photos, or other media from the previous time frame d. Upcoming opportunities for involvement e. Opportunities to answer questions and provide further information to constituents.
A. ASUW Logos VII. ASUW LOGOS The following are the official ASUW Logos as of September 2013. 1. 2. 3. B. Colors 1. The colors shall adhere to the notes mentioned above Section V, C, 2. C. Internal-Entity Use 1. Every official ASUW entity has permission to use the ASUW Logo in any media that they deem necessary. They may use either the full circle logo, or the rectangle logo, at their discretion. D. External On-Campus Use 1. External partnerships may have need for use of the ASUW logo. Should the ASUW have provided funds to an entity exceeding $100, the ASUW logo must be present on
event publications, or in electronic media. If less than $100 was provided to the event use of the logo shall be left up to the discretion of the main sponsors. The ASUW reserves the right to withdraw funds and/or terminate any future partnerships with involved organizations for noncompliance of these terms. E. External-Off Campus Use 1. Groups unaffiliated with the University may only use the ASUW name and logo when working in coordination with an ASUW entity, and with majority approval of the Board of Directors. The ASUW logo may not be used in any way that violates the policies of the University of Washington campus at large. ####