Social Media

CCS Official Accounts

The College’s Marketing & Communications Office is responsible for the management of the official CCS social media accounts. These include:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • TikTok
  • YouTube

Departments and offices may also create accounts for their specific areas of the college. Account management is the responsibility of the office or program that created the account and should follow the policies listed below. Failure to do so will result in deactivation and deletion of the corresponding social media account.

Account Management

Getting Started

Social media accounts that represent an official CCS department are considered to be sponsored by the institution. Before creating an official CCS social media channel, a proposal must be reviewed and approved by Marketing & Communications. All accounts must be approved through the Office of Marketing & Communications, who will provide governance, oversight, and advice to all department social media administrators. If your account predates this new process, we are requesting that all existing accounts go through this same approval process. Approvals will be sent back within two business weeks. Please consider the following questions when considering a new social account:

  • How will this support the college as a whole as well as the individual department/office?
  • What are your goals for the account?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • What platform are you hoping to use & why?
  • What kind of content will you post and how often will you post?
  • Are you able to provide enough content to maintain a social presence year-round?
  • Do you have the time to do this well?
  • Who will act as “Account Administrator”?

Any College-sponsored account must follow CCS’s branding guidelines, including but not limited to:

  • Handles & accounts names:
    • For undergraduate programs, @ccs_departmentname
      • Ex: @ccs_interiordesign, @ccs_photo, @ccs_transportation
  • For graduate programs, @ccsgrad_departmentname
    • Ex: @ccsgrad_cmd
  • The profile picture must include the official CCS logo and be approved by the Marketing & Communications office.
  • Your biography or about section must include the College’s main handle (ex. @ccs_detroit Product Design Department).
  • Your biography or about section should reflect your department description found on your CCS department site.
  • Your biography or about should Include the link to your program page on the CCS Website.

Once the account is active it will be added to the Marketing & Communications social account inventory. Account Administrators are responsible for keeping the Marketing & Communications team up-to-date on any changes to their account including password changes and changes in contributors to the account.

Account Management and Monitoring:

CCS’s Marketing & Communications department reserves all rights to review and remove inappropriate content and to shut down inactive accounts. Additional guidance relating to inappropriate content or account management can be found in the Content Management and Community Standards sections of this policy.

Every official CCS social account needs at least one, full-time staff or faculty member acting as “Account Administrator” managing the account.

  • To prevent lapses in engagement, or turnover, please add CCS’s social media manager [email link] as an admin to the account. Your  login information must be shared with the Marketing & Communications Office via the CCS-related Social Accounts form.
  • Account Administrators are responsible for overseeing posting and using content and maintaining compliance with HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations and CCS policies concerning privacy, security, human services and FERPA (Federal Education Records Protection Act).
  • Each official CCS social account should catalog and retain an official account inventory and contact info for all account contributors.

Work-study students are an excellent way to manage your social media account, while also using student perspectives to share a true representation of life on campus.

Guidelines for supervising work study students

  • Account Administrators have the right to remove content that violates  CCS’s institutional values or community standards.
  • Account Administrators are responsible for ensuring that any contributors, including work-study positions, are compliant with CCS’s Policies.
  • Students are required to abide by CCS’s Code of Student Conduct at all times.
  • Students should not be given full administrative access to CCS departmental accounts. It is recommended that departments utilize third-party platforms (Later, Planoly, etc.) to allow students the opportunity to schedule posts. This provides an added layer of password security, and gives the Account Administrator the opportunity to review content before posting.

Content Management

Content Creation

Best practices to encourage quality content, with additional suggestions in Later’s 2024 Content Creation Guide:

  • Regularly create, maintain and monitor content on respective social media platforms and engage with users.
  • Post consistent, clear, quality content.
  • Moderate content that violates hosting terms of service or is of a threatening/harassing nature.
  • Follow CCS’s main accounts and share when appropriate.
  • Ensure all content is relevant to the goals and objectives and upholds the standards and brand pillars of CCS.

Practices to avoid

  • Don’t use the College’s brand/name to endorse any view, product, private business, cause or political candidate.
  • Don’t represent personal opinions as college-endorsed views/policies.
  • As a non-profit organization, the College is prohibited from promoting third-party fundraising and individual crowd-funding efforts.
  • Don’t solicit funds or donations on social media for the College, your department or office, or any individual at the College, including yourself.
  • Don’t promote individual or other organizations’ fundraising efforts.
    • Any fundraising activities must be conducted in consultation with Institutional Advancement
  • Don’t violate copyright and intellectual property rights

Brand Standards and Style Guide:

Given that CCS is an art and design school, our social accounts should stand out from traditional university accounts. To ensure that, follow these simple brand guidelines:

  • Follow CCS’s Style Guide when designing posts, stories, etc. Consider using our official fonts, the official CCS colors, logos, etc.
  • Images should be sized properly for each platform
  • Graphics should be clear and accessible

For more sizing info, check out Sprout Social’s “Always Up-to-Date Guide to Social Media Image Sizes”

Competitions

CCS reserves the right to share any competition or sponsored project content, including artwork, presentations, sponsor visits, field trips, etc. in collaboration and agreement with the sponsoring entity. Any materials may be shared at any time on main and departmental social media accounts, as long as the winner of the competition is announced appropriately via social media.

Considerations Related to Equitable Representation

The College and all departments will endeavor to make sure the diversity of the student body is represented in any social media presence.

Threats of Violence, Hate Speech and Harassment

CCS’s Anti- Harassment and Discrimination and Title IX policies prohibit discrimination, including harassment, because of age, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.

  • Do not post hate speech, threats of violence, or racist comments.
  • Do not use social media to harass or demean others.
  • Do not post content that violates any laws or regulations.

Crisis Management

A crisis on social media can be defined as any of the following:

  • Notification of any post made by a student, faculty, or staff member that violates CCS’s policies against threats of violence, hate speech, or harassment.
  • Notification of any posts, comments, or messages accusing a student, faculty, or staff member of causing harm to another CCS community member.
  • Notification of any posts, comments, or messages accusing a student, faculty, or staff member of causing harm to anyone.
  • Notification of any post, comment, or message that violates CCS’s institutional policies or the Student Code of Conduct.

In the event of a social media crisis, please follow these steps:

  • Notify your supervisor immediately.
  • Evaluate the severity of the crisis. If anyone in immediate danger, call 911
  • Take a screenshot of the post, message, or comment.
  • Notify the Marketing & Communications department. We will assist in monitoring the situation and if necessary, aid in crafting a response.
  • Refer to CCS’s institutional policies, including:
    1. Title IX / Prohibited Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct
    2. Student Code of Conduct
  • If appropriate, report the content on the platform, as threats of violence, hate speech, and harassment typically violate community standards.

Personal Accounts

CCS students and employees are welcome to represent CCS on their personal social account, following these guidelines:

  • Including CCS in your profile is one way to spread the word – but doing so means agreeing to act professionally on your account. Be respectful and note that your opinions do not represent the views and opinions of CCS, unless specifically authorized to do so.
  • Sensitive information should never be shared via social platforms (yes, even over Direct Messages).
  • Be aware of liability. You are legally liable for what you post on your own sites and on others.

Community Standards

CCS has established a set of community standards to govern all participation in our social media accounts, which are administered and moderated by Marketing & Communications.

Additionally, individual departments that administer social accounts across any social media channels reserve the right to delete comments, replies or other content and interactions that they deem to be in violation of CCS’s social media community standards or in violation of the social media platforms’ community standards. The administrators may also take action to report, block or ban users from social media platforms for violations.

Social media submissions that will be removed and reported may include, but are not limited to:

  • Harassing, intimidating or threatening comments to another person
  • Comments that incite violence or other action in violation of any federal or state anti-discrimination laws
  • Sexually explicit and sexually vulgar language and profanity
  • Comments that promote illegal activity
  • Comments that include false or defamatory information
  • Posts that misrepresent or hide the poster’s identity
  • Comments that violate privacy or confidentiality
  • Comments unrelated to the topic or to the College community
  • Repetitive comments and spam posts
  • Comments that violate any existing CCS policy

Questions or Advice?

Starting a social media account can seem overwhelming at times. Please reach out to azundel@ccsdetroit.edu for strategy, questions or advice.