All university, college, school, department and unit social media channels should adhere to the VCU brand standards. This ensures that university-related accounts represent VCU on third-party social platforms appropriately and also facilitates your audience’s immediate connection of you to the university. 

If you manage a VCU-owned social media account or are thinking of starting one, be sure to review the VCU Social Media Guidelines at socialmedia.vcu.edu and complete an approval form to register or update your accounts.  Remember to update this registration as staff changes are made, or at least once a year. 

We also invite you to join the VCU Social Media Administrators Group. This group meets monthly to explore best practices and key issues facing communication through social channels. Email socialmedia@vcu.edu to receive communications about upcoming meetings.

For complete details, please review our social media policy and guidelines.

• Social Media Guidelines
• Social Media Size Guide
• Social Media Acceptable Use Policy

New profiles

VCU-themed templates are available for creating avatars, or profile pictures, on unit-level social media accounts (see avatar frames).

The VCU master brand mark is restricted to primary university accounts; DO NOT use the VCU brand mark as a graphical representation on school, office, department, division, etc., social media pages, unless it appears in a photo. 

When possible, use images unique and relevant to your audience within these templates. Photos are preferred over text inside the templates because of sizing limitations in a small or circular format. We do not recommend using your unit brand mark as a profile picture unless the word count is fewer than two or three words (e.g., VCU Health or VCU Police). A bank of pre-formatted general VCU photos also is available for download on the VCU identity site for any social media use, such as cover photos, profile pictures, etc. Click here to access the photos.

For an optimal look, we recommend that you use the correct specifications for art on all social media sites. Please be aware that many platform avatars appear square in some features or on a desktop, but then switch to a circular shape on a mobile device. Any image chosen for a profile avatar must be visible as a square or a circle.

You can contact socialmedia@vcu.edu with any questions or concerns you may have in choosing a profile image.

Avatar frames

Primary university account marks 

• Restricted for use on primary university social media accounts 
• Not approved for use on unit (school, office, department, division, etc.) pages 

Unit-level frame templates

• For use on unit (school, office, department, division, etc.) social media pages 
• Are adaptable for square, circular or shape-shifting avatars 
• Used in conjunction with background photography or graphics specific to a unit 
• Allows units to create a distinct social media identity while maintaining an official connection to the university 

NOTE: Template is square, but will adapt to fit both circular and square avatars. Do not have critical elements at the edges of your image as they will get cropped out. 

X/Instagram/Snapchat 

@username

Use VCU in the @username for all three platforms as well as your official department, school or organization name within the 20-character limit, as your “name” (page identifier). Do not use VCU by itself. 

If your school, department or organization name is too long or best known by an acronym, please contact socialmedia@vcu.edu to discuss the best option so as to avoid “alphabet soup”-looking names that are not quickly recognizable by external audiences. Also keep in mind that acronyms are often not recognizable to screen readers used by people with visual impairments. 

When creating your name, begin with VCU, followed by your school, department or organization name. In general, student organizations are named as “[studentorg] at VCU.” To avoid confusion, it’s best to begin your name with VCU to represent that you’re an official VCU-owned social media account. 

Examples:

@VCUPD, @VCURadSci, @VCUbaseball, @VCUarts 

Geotagging and location 

If you’re on or near VCU’s Richmond campus, use Virginia Commonwealth University as your location. On Instagram, you can also tag specific buildings like VCU Cabell Library or the University Student Commons. Don’t use Monroe Park Campus or MCV Campus. 

Facebook/LinkedIn/YouTube 

Page name
Use VCU with the official name of your college, school, department or organization. 

Custom URL
Use your profile name to create a custom URL for your Facebook page that you can use in communications and on marketing materials.