Institutional Social Media Profiles
The University of Kentucky’s institutional social media profiles are as follows:
- Facebook: facebook.com/universityofky
- facebook.com/universityofky
- Instagram: instagram.com/universityofky
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/school/universityofkentucky
- Threads: threads.net/@universityofky
- TikTok: tiktok.com/@universityofky
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X, formerly known as Twitter: x.com/universityofky
Account Creation
If you would like to create a new social media account affiliated with the University of Kentucky, please fill out this form and a member of UK’s social media team will be in touch.
Naming Conventions
When creating a new social media account — after your request has been approved by UK’s social media team — we recommend using “uky” instead of “uk” in your account’s handle/username. For example, the account handle for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions on X and Instagram is @ukyadmissions instead of @ukadmissions. This provides consistency across all UK-affiliated accounts and, believe it or not, prevents confusion between University of Kentucky and the United Kingdom.
Relatedly, if you are creating new accounts across multiple social media platforms, please aim to use the same handle on each platform (ex: @universityofky and @ukyadmissions).
Voice and Tone
The University of Kentucky's voice and tone across its social media platforms is both vibrant and comprehensive, mirroring the dynamic spirit of its campus community. Rooted in a sense of pride for its academic excellence, UK's voice strikes a balance between professionalism and approachability, engaging current students, prospective students, alumni, faculty and staff.
With a focus on fostering connections and celebrating our community, our tone is warm, welcoming and genuine. Whether sharing campus news, highlighting student achievements or promoting upcoming events, the university's social media presence reflects its commitment to fostering an environment where every voice is valued.
UK's social media content is informative yet engaging, utilizing a mix of videos, photos and interactive features to captivate our audience. From showcasing campus traditions to providing valuable resources and support, the university's social media platforms serve as a digital hub for the UK community to connect, learn and grow together.
Overall, the University of Kentucky's voice and tone across its social media platforms embody the spirit of its campus community.
Platform-Specific Nuances
While the University of Kentucky tailors its voice and tone slightly between social media platforms, we aim to communicate in such a way that is friendly, helpful, energetic and smart.
The Visual Campus Tour and Recruitment Hub
Audience: Prospective students (Gen Z/Alpha), current students and young alumni.
The Vibe: Aesthetic, spirited, high-energy and "picture-perfect." This is our digital brochure.
Content Strategy:
- Feed (Carousels): Use 4:5 portrait carousels to tell stories. "Photo dumps" of campus life perform better than single polished images. Think: "A week in the life at UK" or "Top 5 study spots."
- Reels: The primary engine for discovery. These should be short, entertaining and focused on reaching people who don't follow us yet.
- Stories: The primary engine for retention. Use polls, quizzes and "Question" stickers to engage our current followers daily.
Pro Tip: Social Search is real. Gen Z uses Instagram and TikTok like Google. Ensure your captions include relevant keywords (e.g., "Biology Major," "Dorm Life," "Study Abroad") rather than just clever puns, so our content appears in their search results.
TikTok
The Unfiltered Student Experience
Audience: Current students and prospective students doing "vibe checks."
The Vibe: Authentic, raw, funny and trend-aware. "Cringe" is the enemy; authenticity is the goal.
Content Strategy:
- Edutainment: Quick explainers (e.g., "How to use the bus system," "Hidden gems in the library").
- Trends: Hop on audio trends quickly but always tie them back to the specific UK experience.
- Searchable Content: Students search TikTok for "UKY Dorms" or "UKY Dining" before they search Google. Create content that specifically answers these queries.
Pro Tip: Face-to-Camera matters. Content featuring a human face speaking directly to the audience consistently outperforms text-on-screen graphics.
The Professional Handshake
Audience: Alumni, corporate partners, faculty, researchers and peer institutions.
The Vibe: Professional, innovative and proud. This is where we brag about our research grants, alumni CEO appointments and rankings.
Content Strategy:
- Humanize the Achievement: Instead of just linking to a press release about a grant, tell the personal story of the researcher who won it.
- Campus Nostalgia: Alumni love seeing how the campus has changed (or stayed the same).
- PDF/Document Posts: Uploading "slide decks" directly to LinkedIn (as PDFs) is a high-performing format for sharing industry insights or research summaries.
Pro Tip: Comment Strategy. LinkedIn's algorithm heavily favors posts that generate conversation. End posts with a question to prompt alumni to share their own career updates or memories.
X (Twitter)
The Newsroom and The Sports Bar
Audience: Journalists, academics, other higher ed institutions and the #BBN athletics community.
The Vibe: Fast, information-heavy and reactive.
Content Strategy:
- Crisis Comms: This is the first place people look if there is a weather delay or campus alert. Speed and accuracy are paramount.
- Retweeting/Reposting: A key tool for amplifying faculty research or athletics wins without creating original content.
Pro Tip: Visuals still win. Even on a text-first platform, posts with images or GIFs get significantly more engagement than plain text.
Threads
The Campus Group Chat
Audience: Highly engaged students, faculty and brand loyalists looking for conversation without the toxicity.
The Vibe: Casual, text-forward, "unhinged but wholesome."
Content Strategy:
- Questions: "Wrong answers only: What is the best place to nap on campus?"
- Pulse Checks: Quick text updates that don't need a graphic. "Good morning to everyone except the person who took the last treadmill at Alumni Gym."
- Community Building: Reply to users! Threads rewards active conversation more than broadcasting.
Pro Tip: Keep it text-first. While you can post photos, Threads is a reading app. The "hook" needs to be in the first sentence of your text.
The Family Living Room
Audience: Parents, older alumni, donors and the local Lexington community.
The Vibe: Nostalgic, informative and community-focused.
Content Strategy:
- "Proud Parent" Bait: High-quality photos of campus beauty, graduation and student success that parents can share to their own timelines.
- Event Promotion: Facebook Events are still a primary way the local community finds out about public lectures, concerts and games.
- Links: Unlike Instagram, this is a great place to drive traffic directly to UK news articles or websites.
Pro Tip: Moderation is key. The Facebook comment section requires the most active community management. Be proactive in hiding spam or answering legitimate questions from concerned parents. (Ask the UK Social Media Team about the Comment Moderation Policy!)
Structuring and Framing Content
- Ask yourself: If I didn’t work or study at UK, would I know what this means? And would I care?
- Posts should grab the audience’s attention. Avoid repeating headlines from articles you share. Instead, pull out and lead with a quote or an important piece of the story.
- On X, limit hashtags to one or two per post. On Instagram, it’s okay to use more hashtags but put them at the end of the post or in a comment on the post. Instagram business accounts may now have no more than 3-5 relevant hashtags.
- Mention/tag relevant schools, departments, offices, faculty and organizations if their accounts are active. Always double-check you are tagging the correct account.
- Be aware that successful content on one platform may not always be easily translated to another. Examine your top-performing posts on each platform for patterns, keeping in mind that external circumstances and algorithms, in addition to your own content and style choices, could affect engagement.
- Make sure posts — including any tags and hashtags — are formatted correctly for each platform. Don’t set posts to auto-publish from one platform to another. When repurposing copy across platforms, watch out for platform-specific tags and language (e.g. “link in bio”) and edit accordingly. Remember that brevity generally works in your favor.
Vertical Video Guidelines (TikTok, Reels, Shorts)
- Vertical video requires a different approach than traditional landscape video.
- The "Hook" Rule: You have 3 seconds to grab attention. Start with movement, a question, or a face speaking to the camera. Do not use long branded intro graphics.
- Sound-On vs. Sound-Off:
- TikTok: Sound is essential. Utilize trending audio where appropriate (check copyright/commercial use restrictions first).
- LinkedIn/Instagram: Many users watch without sound. Captions (burned into the video) are mandatory for talking-head content.
- Safe Zones: Do not place text or logos at the very bottom or right-hand side of the screen, where platform buttons (Like, Share, Comment) overlay the video.
Language and Grammar
University of Kentucky loosely follows AP Style on social media.
- Post captions should be short and simple and communicate the main point succinctly.
- Whenever possible, write how you speak, avoiding technical or academic jargon, clichés, obscure or insular acronyms, and excessive abbreviation.
- Try reading your caption aloud to make sure it is clear and conversational. Proofread, spell-check, and proofread again.
- Consider using the first person to strike an informal, familiar tone (e.g. “We’re excited to announce...” rather than “The university today announced…”).
- Pay attention to differences in language and tone across different platforms. Industry-specific terminology might be appropriate on LinkedIn, for example, but may look out of place elsewhere.
- Well-chosen emojis are fair game — even in academic contexts. Consider the implications of using “people” emoji that require choosing a gender or skin color. Do your research and be aware of alternate meanings of emojis.
- Captions should use correct grammar, punctuation, spelling and capitalization.
Formatting
- Instagram Links: Links should not be placed in the caption or comment section of Instagram posts as they are unusable. To direct your audience to a link on Instagram, simply paste the link into the bio on your Instagram page and refer to that in the caption (i.e. ‘link in bio’ or ‘more info in bio’). Ideally, users should utilize the SproutLink feature in Sprout Social.
- Mentions: When mentioning other accounts in the caption, weave the username into the sentence as the example below demonstrates.
Example:
Congratulations Miss Kentucky USA 2024, Connor Perry!
From Lexington native to neuroscience and dance graduate from @ukartsci and @ukfinearts, to being an active member of campus organizations like @uktheta, @neurocats.uky, and @womeninneuro, Connor’s journey has been incredible. This was Connor’s first ever pageant, but not her last. She will represent Kentucky in the Miss USA pageant in Hollywood on Aug 4th, 2024. Let’s cheer her on! Follow her journey @misskyusa.
Hashtags
- Hashtags should be relevant to the content that is being shared.
- When using hashtags, the first letter of each word should be capitalized (CamelCase) for accessibility.
- Limit the use of hashtags to no more than five per post.
- They should be used in the caption and typically at the end of the caption unless it is woven into the sentence.
Example:
May is #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, but for some of us, every day carries that weight. Not only this month, but every day, let’s remember: a kind word, checking in on a friend, prioritizing self-care — these can make all the difference. You are never alone. Let’s keep the conversation going, Wildcats. We’re all in this together.
Social Media Customer Care Policies
Refer to the university’s Guide to Moderating Comments.
Comments can/should be responded to if:
- There is a sincere, legitimate question being asked.
- There is a point being made that provides for a natural, conversational response.
- There is misinformation that needs to be corrected.
- There is a positive point being made that you want to draw more attention to.
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There is a negative point being made that you feel needs a response to send a signal to the entirety of your audience.
Comments don’t need to/should not be responded to if:
- The commenter is trolling (see definition below) or trying to bait the account into a response (asking the same question(s) repeatedly).
- There is nothing productive to come from starting a conversation with the commenter.
- You don’t want to draw unneeded attention to the comment.
- You're not confident that your response is truthful, respectful and in-line with university policy and procedure. (Reach out to sarahvonnieda@uky.edu for assistance and/or clarification.)
Multimedia Standards and Sizing Cheat Sheet
Alt text is a textual description of an image that can help people who use assistive technology, such as screen readers, have images turned off on their mobile devices, or have poor internet service. Screen readers read alt text aloud to users, and search engines index it. Alt text also displays on the page if the image fails to load. Alt text should be applied wherever possible.
Captions boost accessibility, comprehension, engagement and SEO for videos. They benefit viewers who are deaf/hard of hearing, improve understanding in noisy environments, and grab attention on social media. Captions also help videos rank higher in search results. Social videos should have captions.
Multimedia Standards
When publishing graphics on social media, use the following recommended sizing. Note: We prioritize Portrait (4:5) and Vertical (9:16) aspect ratios over landscape, as these take up more screen real estate on mobile devices.
- Profile Picture: 320 x 320 pixels
- Feed Post (Portrait): 1080 x 1350 pixels (4:5 ratio) — Preferred over square for maximum visibility.
- Feed Post (Square): 1080 x 1080 pixels (1:1 ratio)
- Stories & Reels: 1080 x 1920 pixels (9:16 ratio)
- Safe Zone Note: Keep all text and logos within the center 1080 x 1350 space to strictly avoid being covered by the user interface (buttons, captions, etc.).
- Profile Picture: 1080 x 1080 pixels (Displays as 170x170 on desktop)
- Cover Photo: 820 x 312 pixels (Desktop) / 640 x 360 pixels (Mobile)
- Design Note: Keep vital text centered to accommodate both desktop and mobile crops.
- Feed Post (Image): 1080 x 1350 pixels (Recommended) or 1200 x 630 pixels
- Stories: 1080 x 1920 pixels
X (Twitter)
- Profile Picture: 400 x 400 pixels
- Header Image: 1500 x 500 pixels
- In-Feed Image: 1600 x 900 pixels (Landscape) or 1080 x 1350 pixels (Portrait)
- Note: X now supports vertical images well, but link cards (articles) still display at 1600 x 900.
- Profile Picture: 400 x 400 pixels
- Page Cover Photo: 1128 x 191 pixels
- Feed Post (Image): 1080 x 1350 pixels (Portrait) is best for mobile engagement.
- Link Post: 1200 x 627 pixels
TikTok
- Profile Picture: 200 x 200 pixels
- Video: 1080 x 1920 pixels
- Safe Zone Note: Avoid placing text in the bottom 25% of the screen (caption area) or the right 15% (engagement buttons).
Threads
- Profile Picture: Imports from Instagram (320 x 320 pixels)
- Feed Post: 1080 x 1350 pixels (Portrait) or 1080 x 1920 (Full Vertical)
- Note: Carousels (swiping through multiple photos) perform exceptionally well on Threads.
YouTube
- Profile Picture: 800 x 800 pixels
- Channel Banner: 2560 x 1440 pixels
- Critical Note: The "Safe Area" for text and logos (visible on all devices including mobile) is the center 1546 x 423 pixels.
- Thumbnail: 1280 x 720 pixels
- Shorts: 1080 x 1920 pixels
AI Guidelines
The University of Kentucky embraces innovation, but we value authenticity above all.
- Copywriting: AI tools (like ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini) may be used for brainstorming, summarizing long texts or generating draft variations. However, no copy should be copy-pasted directly from AI to a live post without human review for tone, accuracy and "UK voice" alignment.
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Imagery: No AI generated images or graphics can be used on University social channels.
Accessibility Guidelines
UK’s guide to social media accessibility can be found here. Accessibility guidelines can be found here.
Legal
The University of Kentucky encourages responsible and respectful use of social media. All content shared on UK-affiliated social media platforms must comply with federal, state, and local laws, as well as university policies. The following legal guidelines apply:
1. Compliance with Laws and Regulations
All posts must adhere to applicable laws, including but not limited to:
- Copyright and Intellectual Property Laws: Content shared must not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, including the use of copyrighted materials, trademarks, or logos without proper authorization.
- FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act): Content must not include personally identifiable student information without written consent from the student.
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act): UK prohibits the sharing of confidential health information or protected health data on any social media platform.
- Title IX: Discriminatory content based on gender, race, or other protected characteristics, or content that could contribute to a hostile environment, is strictly prohibited.
2. University Brand and Trademarks
Only authorized individuals may use the University of Kentucky’s logos, branding, or other identifying marks. Unauthorized use of UK’s intellectual property may result in legal action.
3. Confidentiality
University social media managers must not post or share confidential or proprietary information related to the university or its students, faculty, and staff, unless explicitly permitted. This includes any unpublished research data, business information, and internal communications.
4. Defamation and Harassment
UK prohibits defamatory statements about the university, its students, faculty, staff, or other entities. Any posts that threaten, harass, or otherwise defame individuals or groups will be subject to disciplinary action and potential legal consequences.
5. Endorsements and Advertising
UK-affiliated social media accounts must not engage in personal endorsements or advertising without prior approval from the university. Posts that could be perceived as endorsements must comply with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines on endorsements and testimonials.
6. Legal Liability
University social media managers are legally responsible for the content they post on UK-affiliated social media platforms. Posts that violate the law or university policy may result in disciplinary action, including but not limited to suspension, termination, or legal prosecution. The university reserves the right to remove or restrict access to any content that violates this policy.
7. Reporting Violations
Any suspected violations of this policy should be reported immediately to the UK Office of Legal Counsel. Violations may result in the removal of content, suspension of accounts, or further legal action as deemed necessary.
By participating in university-affiliated social media, users agree to comply with this policy and understand the legal implications of their actions.