Social Media

Social media outlets provide an unprecedented range of opportunities to extend the AIC brand. Across multiple campus offices and organizations, there are many active social media accounts that bear the responsibility of representing the College online. These guidelines will help ensure your communications and presence are true to the AIC identity and are easily recognizable to any audience.

• Writing and Messaging: As a general rule, AIC’s preferred voice and editorial style should be used as a guide when drafting messages for social media. That said, it is often beneficial, and sometimes necessary, to take a more informal tone to fit your message and audience. When possible, avoid use of first-person pronouns, particularly “I” and “me.” Use the first-person plural “we” and “us” as an alternative.
• Professionalism: Crucial to managing any official AIC social media account is remembering that you as the user are representing the College to the public. Avoid inflammatory, controversial, vulgar, or otherwise unprofessional activity when operating any AIC-owned social media profile. When interacting with users, take a courteous, customer-service approach. You may have composed the message yourself, but you are speaking on behalf of the College.
• Account Avatars and Headers: To ensure any official AIC account is easily identifiable as being authentic and affiliated with the College, standardized formatting for profile images are available from the Office of Marketing and Communications. Please contact marketing@aic.edu for any custom social icons or avatars. This applies to any platforms, including those managed by AIC Athletics.
• Graphics and Photography: Whenever possible, be mindful of the size and orientation of any images or graphics posted to social media. Content posts featuring extensive text should be posted as actual text rather than embedded in a JPEG or PNG image to ensure better readability across platforms. When possible, make use of provided social media graphic templates. If the option to do so is available, write descriptive alt text so those who may not be able to see the details of an image can read what is being displayed.