Social Media Style Guide
Quick guidelines and recommendations for content, to help plan and manage your accounts.
Referring to the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry
On Twitter, when referring to “Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry”, use the official account's username @SchulichMedDent instead.
#SchulichAdvantage is the hashtag for Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. Use this when celebrating achievements, showcasing research or hosting an event. i.e. "Congratulations to the trainee recipients of our Research Day awards. #SchulichAdvantage"
On Facebook, “Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry”, “Schulich Medicine & Dentistry”, “Schulich Medicine” and “Schulich Dentistry” are all acceptable. If your Facebook publishing tool supports tagging, tag Schulich Medicine & Dentistry’s Facebook page by typing @SchulichMedicineandDentistry and selecting the verified page from the dropdown list that appears.
Referring to Western
On Twitter, when referring to “Western” or “Western University”, use “#WesternU” instead.
#WesternU and #westernu are both acceptable. #WesternU is used in sentences when replacing “Western” or “Western University” and #westernu is used only at the end of tweets.
i.e. “#WesternU alumni in the London area…” and “We are so excited about events that are coming up soon! #westernu”
On Facebook, “Western” and “Western University” are both acceptable. If your Facebook publishing tool supports tagging, tag Western’s Facebook page by typing @westernu and selecting the verified page from the dropdown list that appears.
Audiences
As social media platforms are accessible to the public, it is important to be conscious of the following audiences:
- Prospective Students
- Current Students
- Faculty and Staff
- Alumni
- Hospitals & Health Partners (eg. London Health Sciences Centre, Lawson Health Research Institute, Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance)
- External Academic Communities (eg. researchers, other health and education institutions)
- London and Southwestern Ontario Communities
- External Media
- Government Ministries, Agencies and Organizations (eg. Ministry of Science, NSERC, CIHR)
- Health and Community Associations (eg. Canadian Mental Health Association, United Way)
Links
Do not shorten URLs for social media. It is NOT considered best practice to shorten your URLs.
Links on Twitter:
No matter how long or short a link is – it will always cost 22 characters towards your character limit.
Link previews appear for some online content, including an image and supporting text. Western News and Alumni Western URLs now have this preview function.
Links on Facebook:
When a Facebook post caption includes a URL, the Facebook Post will fail to perform properly. Start by adding the URL into the caption to trigger the Link Preview box. Once you have the Link Preview box, you can remove the URL from the actual caption.
Images
Social media posts perform better with visual content. Recommended image sizes (72
- Facebook timeline image or link post: 1200x600
- Twitter image: 1024x579
Videos
Videos are recommended to stay under 20 seconds in length, or highlight the main point in <20 seconds.
Hashtags
Hashtags are a useful method of connecting to a larger conversation. By including a hashtag, you are enabling other users to find the material and information you are sharing.
Do not use more than two or three hashtags in a single post. Ensure the hashtag is specific, relevant and is used by the audience you are trying to reach.
If you are creating an event hashtag, first search your preferred hashtag to make sure it is not being used by another group or associated with a different topic.
Campus Hashtags
- Schulich Medicine & Dentistry: #SchulichAdvantage
- Western University: #WesternU
- Western Alumni: #purpleandproud
- Western International: #globalwesternu
- Western Mustangs: #purplereign
Regional Hashtags
- London: #ldnont
- Southwestern Ontario: #SWOnt
- Toronto: #Toronto or #YYZ
Popular Hashtags
- #MedEd (medical education)
- #CBME (recommended to use with #MedEd)
- #scicomm (science communication)
- #PhDchat
- #gradstudies
- #onHWS (Ontario's research hospitals)
Dates
Abbreviate names of months that have more than five letters when followed by a date. (Jan. 1, Feb. 1, March 1, April 1, May 1, June 1, July 1, Aug.1, Sept. 1, Oct. 1, Nov. 1 and Dec. 1.)
Do not use suffixes -st, -nd, -rd, -
Use year only when referring to one other than the current year.
Additional Tips and Tricks
Add "." to the beginning of a tweet if you are starting with a @username.
When relevant, tag official accounts (i.e. when referring to the Department of Family Medicine, tag @westernufammed).
Western’s social media accounts do not use ALL CAPS to create emphasis outside of on-campus emergency situations.
Mustang or Mustangs should always be capitalized.
Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and other official accounts speak as the School, so rather than representing any one individual, “we” and “us” should be used rather than “I” or “me”.
Western's social media accounts use real words. i.e. "at" not "@"; "you" not "u"
Content should always be platform specific (written for the destination platform and not cross-posted or automated across multiple platforms).
