1. Home ›
  2. Policies and Guidelines ›
  3. Social Media Brand Guidelines

Social Media Brand Guidelines

Brand Identity and Purpose

Consistent and strategic branding on social media accounts allows users to create and strengthen connections with the University.

Not only do these guidelines improve the overall aesthetics of University accounts, they also provide a cohesion among the channels that allows a user to quickly recognize that they are consuming content from a Notre Dame–affiliated entity.

Profile Assets

Handles

Pages and accounts should use “ND” or “Notre Dame” in their handle, and ideally, handles will remain the same across platforms. Note: A handle is different from your “Name” on a platform. Use the account name to spell out exactly who you are (e.g., “University of Notre Dame” or “Keough School of Global Affairs”), while your handle should be shorter (@NotreDame or @KeoughGlobalND).

Profile Images

Academic Units

In Brand 2.0, we recommend the use of the shield from the academic mark for profile photos, with some guidelines.

To maintain consistency and legibility on an image that will be seen on a small device, profile images should include the shield and the shortest possible iteration of your entity’s title. Ideally, this would be a one- or two-word identifier for space reasons.

Download already-created profile images.

Centers, Institutes, and Programs

If easily identifiable, institutes, centers, and programs may use an appropriately cropped image of an OPAC-created logo.

Best Practices

  • Brand Voice: Posts shared from a University-affiliated account should reflect Notre Dame’s brand voice—thoughtful, intentional, and aligned with its values. Be mindful not to suggest you’re representing the views of the entire University unless explicitly authorized to do so.
  • Understand the platform: Every social media channel has its own features, audience behaviors, and accessibility considerations. Take time to understand how each one works so you can tailor your approach accordingly.
  • Accuracy: It’s not important to be first—it’s important to be accurate. Sharing timely information matters, but accuracy builds trust. Take the time to verify facts, confirm details, and ensure your source is credible before posting.
  • Quality Matters: Use correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation—even on character-limited platforms. Aim for clarity and conciseness, avoid slang or clickbait, and use abbreviations only if your audience is familiar with them.
  • Engage and Amplify: Sharing or commenting on content from main and affiliated University accounts helps broaden the reach of key messages, highlight institutional news, and promote University-wide initiatives and observances.
  • Define Success: Approach social media with a specific objective, and tailor your tracked metrics to align with your goals.
  • Imagery and Graphics: Since most social media traffic comes from mobile devices, always preview your images on a phone before posting. Ensure text is legible, images are properly sized, and nothing important—like the Dome or key visual elements—is cropped out or cut off.
  • Photography: Request Access to download images from photos.nd.edu to use shots taken by our University photographers. Download at least medium-resolution files for posts on X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For Facebook cover photos, use a high-resolution version.
  • Hashtags: Relevant hashtags help improve searchability and visibility, especially on Instagram where they play a key role in SEO. Use topic-specific targeted hashtags rather than broad or generic ones—e.g., #MalariaResearch, #Fatherhood, or #FlashFlooding vs. #Reels, #Community, or #Campus.
  • Tagging: Tag relevant accounts thoughtfully and only when appropriate—avoid adding tags that don’t naturally fit the message or feel like “dangling” mentions. Tags should enhance the context and contribute meaningfully to the conversation instead of acting as a “heads up” for other social media administrators.
  • Instagram Collaboration: In July 2025, Instagram/Meta confirmed that collaborations perform best when the larger account originates the post and collaborates with smaller accounts. If you believe a piece of content would resonate with @NotreDame’s overall audience, please get in touch with Liz Harter who will evaluate the content to be included in the main account’s strategy.

Moderating Comments

You are responsible for monitoring and moderating posts or comments from other users on your page. Remember that social media users have a right to disagree with us and express their opinion, so deleting or hiding comments should be used sparingly unless the comments:

  • Use Profanity.
  • Include personal attacks.
  • Solicit, advertise, or endorse a third-party business or service.

If you believe you have encountered a user who repeatedly violates these guidelines, please contact Liz Harter to discuss a course of action that may include blocking the user. Do not block users without first speaking to OPAC. If you are concerned about a post or comment or are unsure if it should be deleted or hidden, please contact OPAC. If you believe a post demonstrates a credible threat, immediately notify the Notre Dame Police Department at 574-631-5555.

Accessibility

Visual standards on social media extend beyond making sure appropriate fonts are chosen and images are sized correctly for each platform. Care should be taken to make sure content is accessible to everyone by using image descriptions, alternative text, and closed captioning to all graphics and videos on social media. You can find information on how to navigate and create alternative text on X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and how to create closed captioning, on the Notre Dame Stories Blog: Social Media Accessibility: Alt Text and Closed Captioning. The main University accounts owned by the Office of Public Affairs and Communications will not share images or videos from other accounts on campus unless they include these accessibility options.

Link Shortners

The University uses go.nd.edu for link shortening. Find more information here.

TikTok

Currently, we ask campus entities to not launch TikTok accounts while we explore an institution-wide strategy and while legislative action is considered by the United States Congress.

In the meantime, any and all TikTok ideas can and should be launched as Instagram Reels. While TikTok will require platform-specific content if and when an institutional account is launched with input from all aspects of campus, there will be an overlap in vertical content that makes its way to other platforms. It makes sense to start on channels where we already have an existing audience.

Emoji Use

The brand standard emoji for the University of Notre Dame is the shamrock (☘️). Make sure you are using the three-leaf clover instead of the four-leaf clover in posts.

Due to accessibility issues with screen readers, emojis should never replace words in a post.

When possible, avoid people or hand emojis—most often a “person” emoji can be replaced by a more generalized emoji. For example, a man in a graduation cap can be replaced with the emoji for the graduation cap. If you must use a hand or person emoji, use the default emoji with the yellow skin tone.

Monetization and Advertising on Social Media

Contact Staci Stickovich, marketing strategist for the Brand Content team in OPAC, if you have questions about digital advertising.

Creating New Accounts

Our goal is to always allow campus communicators to create new accounts on most social media platforms, but social media management takes time, energy, and—most of all—content. We want to set campus communicators up for success when they start accounts, so we’ve compiled a brief questionnaire to answer prior to launching on a new platform that can help you achieve your goals.

Once you have completed the questionnaire, please contact Liz Harter to discuss any ideas or concerns.

  1. What is the goal or purpose of beginning a new social media account for your school/institute/program/department?
  2. Which social media platform are you hoping to launch (e.g., X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)?
  3. What is your target audience? (Make sure they’re on that platform.)
  4. Is this the same audience you’re targeting with your other marketing efforts or social media platforms?
  5. Can your content be shared on other social media channels to contribute to a robust content strategy vs. starting a new channel?
  6. How will this platform integrate with your other digital marketing efforts and touchpoints?
  7. How will the platform presence align with the brand of any affiliated college or institute or the University of Notre Dame as a whole?
  8. What will your handle name be? Is it available on the platform?

Process:

  1. What type of content do you plan to post on this platform?
  2. How frequently will you post? (We recommend planning up to two months of a content calendar to verify that you can maintain a consistent posting schedule.)
  3. How many users will have access to publishing on this platform? Do you intend to have students handle posting and publishing?
  4. How would you describe your tone and voice for this platform?
  5. Are you familiar with legal issues in this space, such as use of identifying images, copyright, and more?