Social Media Guidelines

Introduction

The social media accounts you manage on behalf of a school, hospital campus, department, program or service are a reflection on our institution. In many cases, your social media account may be the first interaction a person has with UTMB Health. Students, current and potential employees, community members and other important audiences can be influenced by how your efforts reflect on our organization. Prospective patients may make decisions about whether to seek treatment here based on the impression they get from and interactions they have with your university-branded Facebook, X/Twitter, LinkedIn or other social accounts.

It’s essential that all social media accounts affiliated with our organization and using the UTMB Health brand accurately reflect our institution’s mission, vision and values, as well as our commitment to professionalism and service.

These guidelines outline the requirements associated with creating and managing a UTMB Health social media account. Some of these guidelines may be specific to one or several social platforms, but the general guidance applies to all social platforms and account managers.

IconPlatformDescription
FacebookA global social networking platform for connecting with friends, sharing updates, and joining interest-based groups.
Instagram A visual-centric platform for sharing photos and short videos, often with creative filters and stories.
Twitter x logoX/TwitterA microblogging platform for sharing short text updates (tweets) and following topics, trends, and influential figures.
LinkedInA professional networking platform for building business connections, sharing resumes, and industry updates.

Before you Start

As an alternative to creating and managing a site (for an occasional post or event), the university community can contribute content to UTMB Health’s main social media accounts.

The Office of Strategy & Communications manages UTMB Health’s primary institutional accounts, and partners with university entities on others. UTMB’s institutional social media channels include: external and internal* Facebook pages, X/Twitter @utmbhealth and @utmbnews, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The group monitors emerging social media channels (read about state restrictions on use of TikTok). UTMB Health programs and departments can submit content to be considered for distribution on the main UTMB Health social media accounts.

Content suggestions for the primary social media outlets can be emailed to social@utmb.edu.

*The “internal” UTMB Facebook page features content targeting employees and students but is not a closed group and does include members of the public.

Getting Set-up

Branding & Design

Strategy & Management

Resources