Facebook Tips & Best Practices

Follow Wesleyan University on Facebook!

Founded in 2004, Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what’s going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

Facebook is the go-to social media platform because it has over 1 billion active monthly users, spanning many countries and demographics. Individual users have Profiles where they can send a “friend request” to people they know and share photos, videos, quotes, links, and more. People you are friends with will appear in your News Feed, an aggregation of all the updates from your friends plus Groups that you’re part of or Pages you follow. Not everything will appear in your News Feed though, and it won’t necessarily be in chronological order either. Due to their “Page Rank Algorithm,” Facebook will only show you things that they believe are the most interesting to you based on your previous interactions as well as other websites you may have visited.

Facebook Posting Best Practices

• Be active. Post at least once a week.
• Be brief. Keep your posts to 450 characters or less.
• Shorten your links. Long links are ugly and distracting. Use bit.ly.
• Use visuals that are engaging. Always have a photo or video with your post.
  • If you’re linking to an article or website, you may have to upload your own images/video.
• Encourage conversation—ask questions, create polls, respond to comments.
  • Don’t delete comments unless they’re profane, obscene, harassing, threatening, or contain personal information.
  • If it gets too negative/critical, go private (a direct message) or offline (an email).
• Tag other people/pages in your posts.
• Create Facebook events.
• Schedule posts.
• Have fun! Don’t be afraid to inject humor into your content (if appropriate and relevant).
• Set profanity filter controls.
• Complete profile and contact info.

What should I post?

Always stick to what you know. You know your area well and people will come to your platforms seeking information about your area, so don’t stray from what’s relevant.

We get it. Many of those who handle social media at Wesleyan have a multitude of responsibilities, so creating content to constantly feed your social accounts may seem daunting. Our best suggestion? Think beyond your own content. Who else is publishing articles and videos related to your area of expertise? Share articles and content from others in your field.

Ask yourself: Is the text too long? Is it provocative, entertaining, or surprising? Is this interesting in any way, to anyone? For real? Are we asking too much of the person consuming the content? 

The College of the Environment might share content produced by the Environmental Defense Fund, TreeHugger, Inhabitat, and The New York Times’ column on Sustainable Living, for example. You can also set up Google Alerts for specific topics or search terms and get a daily digest of articles published for each alert. (Warning: you could end up with too much content and may wish to unsubscribe or refine your alerts.)

Facebook Image Size Guidelines

Facebook image sizes change all the time! Refer to this website for a detailed list of all image sizes, but below are the basics.

• Vertical (portrait) post: 1080 x 1350
• Horizontal (landscape) post: 1200 x 628
• Square post: 1080 x 1080
• Video post: 1920 x 1080 (16:9 aspect ratio)
• Event header: 1920 x 1080
• Cover photo: 820 x 312

Facebook Profile vs. Page vs. Group

What’s the difference between a Profile, Page, and Group? How do I know which one to choose? Here’s the short answer:

Profile = personal
Page = brand, business, or organization
Group = topic-based community of people (it can be private or public)

When creating a Facebook account for Wesleyan, you should create either a Page or a Group, not a Profile. Creating a profile as a business violates Facebook’s Terms of Service and could cause your account to be shut down. If you’re looking to create a small community for people to communicate with others around a specific topic or interest, shared identity, or common place, you should create a Facebook Group, especially if you’d like to keep the conversation private. If you’re looking for a place to share news publicly (not to just a small group of people), you should create a Page.

 If you’re still unsure, reach out to the social media manager for guidance.

 More Facebook Resources

• Website: Facebook: Getting Started with Pages
• Website: Facebook Group Basics
• Handy Printable PDF: Facebook Best Practices + Cheat Sheet

Still need help? Request a Social Strategy Session.