FLATHEAD VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

WEB & DIGITAL GUIDE

The multimedia standards will provide a guideline for using various digital platforms such as website, social media and email to further spread a message or marketing scheme.

These standards are important for:

Maintaining brand consistency

Responsible readership and target audiences

Consistent and approved college messaging through tone and voice

Search Engine Optimization

The standards described in this guide are provided to employees of the college, students and all outside agencies. This guide has been developed to supply clear and specific information on FVCC’s standards for the website, blog and social media.

WHAT ARE

MULTIMEDIA STANDARDSAND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

BRANDINGGOES WAY

BEYONDTHE

LOGO.

Hey, that looks like

FVCC!”

WHAT WE’RE GOING FOR:

WEBSITE(S)The Flathead Valley Marketing Department maintains www.fvcc.edu and http://hr.fvcc.edu through WordPress content management system. All web pages will be managed by the marketing department and comply with current institutional brand guidelines, ADA standards and presents current FVCC information. This helps create a more coherent web presence across all FVCC departments and divisions.

WEBSITES

Accessibility

External WebsitesThe main objective of the FVCC website is to market the college and to maintain brand consistency and keep information relevant and correct, external websites outside the www.fvcc.edu domain are not permitted. Can you imagine all the outdated information that could be on the interwebs?!

Faculty & Staff are encouraged to work with the Instructional Technology team to provide links and resources for their students via Desire2Learn //Brightspace // Eagle Online.

The FVCC website complies with WCAG2.0 and Americans with Disabilities Act.

WEB UPDATESAs you can imagine, this school has a TON of information to provide. It can be overwhelming to think about making sure it is all current and relevant! Correct information is a team effort and doesn’t land solely on the Web Content Specialist.

Content ManagersDepartment heads are responsible for checking their areas of the website annually for content updates and reporting updates and changes through the Suggest an Edit link on the left hand menu of most web pages.

WEBSITES

Overhauls and Structural updates

Simple UpdatesIf you encounter a spelling, wording or small content change on the website, we want to know about it so we can fix it! Website updates are filed by using the Suggest an Edit link on the left hand menu of most web pages. There are two file upload fields to add documents that need to be replaced or added to pages.

We get it. Sometimes things just don’t make sense! Extensive overhauls of web pages, or series of pages, should be approved and scheduled with the Web Content Specialist and reviewed by the Communications Specialist.

Downloadable Documents, Forms & MediaWe have a lot of things that a student might need to fill out, right? Documents that are submitted to post on the website must comply with the FVCC Graphic Standards Guide and contain an approved logo and current revision date.

Forms: Ideally in fillable PDF format

Online Web Forms can be used

if you are not collecting sensitive

information, rather than a PDF or

Document.

Brochures: So you want to post that really cool

Brochure that Sally designed?

Ideally PDF format

Sometimes it is better for Search

Engine Optimization to just create a

web page.

Images: Best Quality

JPG, PNG, or TIFF

Web Content Specialist will optimize

image size to comply with web best

practices.

SHORTLINKS & HYPERLINKS

SHORTLINKS What? You don’t want to have to tell people to type in:

http://www.fvcc.edu/programs/agriculture-natural-resources-forestry-brewing/brewing-science-and-brewery-operations/

every time you want to send someone to your program? I don’t blame you. Good thing we can create shortlinks:

www.fvcc.edu/brewing

So. Simple.

HYPERLINKS(including Faculty websites

and personal blogs)

We don’t currently link anything external from our website unless we are required to for grant purposes. It is difficult to maintain and keep these resources when we have no control over them. Because personal blogs and websites may reflect personal opinion, bias or partisan choice, we do not link to external sites.

SOCIAL MEDIAFVCC maintains an active presence on several social media platforms as a way to showcase FVCC, market our programs, and provide news and information to the community. The marketing and communications office team manages and oversees all official social media pages. We invite all Faculty & Staff to participate.

Goals:

Increase access to education and student enrollment

Improve Search Engine Optimization and increase traffic to www.fvcc.edu

Strengthen FVCC brand awareness and improve brand advocacy locally

Attract donors to fund raising events

and scholarship drives

Audiences:

Current and prospective students including traditional and non-traditional ages.

Parents

Alumni

Local Businesses

Donors and prospective donors

Code of Conduct Be a brand ambassador. FVCC Staff and Faculty are asked to perform professionally and respectfully on social media channels. Please be sure that information you are posting is accurate and without grammatical or spelling errors. Friendly and informed is the preferred “voice” of the FVCC Social Media channels. Some platforms are purposely less formal than others, based on the target audience.

Be respectful. Social media is intended for two-way conversations. Conversations may encourage discussions and offer differing opinions from the community. If engaging as a community member, consider how your voice reflects the college. If you are unsure of how to word something, please discuss with the Communications Specialist or Web Content Specialist.

Respect copyright and Intellectual Property. Social media sharing is a common occurrence, and if shared properly, ties the shared content back to the creator. Attribute content that doesn’t belong to FVCC to the original source.

Avoid personal bias. Refrain from conversations that include partisan positions.

If you don’t think you want your boss or your grandma to see it, you probably shouldn’t post it. Comments are public with your name attached. If you don’t want someone to see something you have said, it is probably best not to post it.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Managing NegativityFVCC does not engage in nor remove negative commentary on social media platforms. Comments are removed only in the case that they contain racist/sexist or derogatory statements directed towards individuals, contain inappropriate language, imagery or threats, or violate privacy of the college or an individual. Anything posted that brings in question the safety of the college community is reported to the Behavioral Intervention Team to be handled timely and appropriately.

Answering Questions

Social Media is quickly becoming an additional form of customer service. Consumers expect a response to a question on Social Media in 60 minutes. It is important to answer questions addressed on Social Media channels in a timely manner. Official page managers respond with factual information or give contact information where they can learn more.

DIRECTORY

Facebook official pages:

Flathead Valley Community College

Flathead Valley Community College - Lincoln County Campus

Timber - FVCC Mascot

Instagram @FVCC_MT Twitter @FVCCMT

Facebook groups:

FVCC Veterans’ Association

FVCC Semester in Venice

FVCC Art Department

FVCC Service Learning

FVCC Phi Theta Kappa

FVCC Book Club

FVCC Logger Sports

LinkedIn:

Flathead Valley Community College

Flathead Valley Community College Students & Alumni Group

YouTube & Google+ Flathead Valley Community College

HASHTAGS

EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS

Email marketing can be a powerful tool to communicate with a potential customer or student. If you are considering sending an email to a user group, please consult with the marketing department to use an email marketing platform to give you the best mobile design, open rates and click through results.

PRIVY PRESS The Privy Press is a single page newsletter that is posted in the campus bathroom stalls notifying students and community members of events and activities happening on campus. We only post campus sponsored activities and postings.

TIMBER ALERT Timber Alert is a weekly email newsletter sent to enrolled students notifying them of campus activities, events, deadlines, scholarship deadlines, and service learning activities. The email is sent out every Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. during Spring and Fall semesters.

SIGNATURES