Showcasing your story

General Instagram Takeover Information

“You don’t know me, but you know my story.” - Melva Visher ‘83, ‘96. During an Instagram Takeover, we want you to showcase your story – a glimpse into your life as a SUNY Empire State College student or alumni. You can help us cultivate a connection to our prospective students, current students, and alumni. 

Instagram stories capture “moments on the go,” allowing you to tell your story using photos and videos. IG stories are highlighted at the top of our Instagram feed and appear for 24 hours from the date of posting. In addition to taking over our IG stories, we encourage you to provide us with a few of your best images to share on our feed. Most takeovers run the course of one day, but they can run longer.   

By accepting this agreement, you will be authorized to access the SUNY Empire Instagram account for one (1) day or the previously agreed upon timeframe. We want you to use your personality in a unique and respectable way and allow SUNY Empire’s Instagram users and followers to get to know you, the student experience, and how you balance(d) your work/life priorities along with your schoolwork.   

Want to “take over” the SUNY Empire Instagram account?  

Things to Consider

We welcome requests from all members of the SUNY Empire community to take over our Instagram account. During your takeover, you represent yourself and the college as a whole. It is a big responsibility. 

Before you apply to take over the account, make sure you are: 

  • Comfortable using Instagram stories 
  • Comfortable telling your SUNY Empire story and proofreading your content 
  • Able to commit to posting 5-8 stories 
  • Willing to provide the social media team with a few of your best images for posting to the feed 

Types of Content to Post

Your takeover should showcase elements of your life as a SUNY Empire student and/or alum. Include photos of your classes (online, in-person, residencies), your faculty mentor, student club/organization activity, and your work/life balance. If you are an alum, showcase what your degree from SUNY Empire has done for you. Take us on a journey that shows what it means to be part of SUNY Empire through your eyes. The tone of SUNY Empire content should be consistently positive, engaging and informative. 

Tips for a successful takeover: 

  • Start the takeover with a selfie video of yourself, introducing who you are, your major (or degree & grad year) and that you are taking over the SUNY Empire Instagram Stories and today and why
  • Also end with a video selfie to recap
  • Ask permission when featuring specific individuals, get their verbal consent before recording them. If the situation demands recording them first, then ask for consent after. When in a public place or not focusing on a specific person or group of people, you don’t need to get consent. When in doubt, ask permission
  • Have fun and be creative. Use your personal account to experiment. Follow what other universities are doing on IG Story; improve upon their best ideas
  • Plan ahead. Storyboard, outline, arrange interviews, etc. Do a preview clip before and prepare some clips ahead of time
  • Take us through your typical day: everyday routine, study space, work/life/school balance
  • Shoot vertically. 94 percent of smartphone users view social media vertically. Shoot a variety of assets (5-8), including short video or Boomerang (instead of a still image). Shoot videos of 15 seconds or less 
  • Interact with the viewers. We strongly recommend doing a Q&A and saying, “Have any questions for me as a full-time mom and full-time student, healthcare professional, ____, etc.? Ask it here and I’ll answer them throughout the day.” With this we just strongly recommend you send us any responses you are hesitant about how to respond
  • Use appropriate SUNY Empire approved branding includes: SUNY Empire State College and SUNY Empire
  • Share SUNY Empire’s Instagram handle when you’re out. Help build an audience 
  • Adhere to the college's Student Code of Conduct and college policies and procedures 

Do you need help figuring out what kind of content you would like to send us? We are happy to meet with you to brainstorm and come up with a plan! 

Next Steps

Before being credentialed for the account, you’ll need to review the account content guidelines. You must accept and acknowledge these terms and conditions and submit the SUNY Empire IG Takeover application to begin your participation. 

  1. All content distributed on behalf of the @SUNYEmpire account are a direct representation of SUNY Empire, as well as yourself. Your management of the account is an opportunity to enhance others’ understanding and perception of the university and build your personal brand. 
  2. Take all necessary precautions in crafting appropriate content. All posts are monitored closely by the Office of Communications and Marketing. Remember: screenshots are forever
  3. If the meaning of your post isn’t explicitly relevant to much of the SUNY Empire community, it may be more appropriate for your personal account. Avoid content that could be taken out of context, as well as inside jokes or situational posts.  
  4. We ask that you be mindful of posting patterns and avoid over-sharing, socially unacceptable language (ALL CAPS), and innuendo (sexual or otherwise). Additionally, you should make sure your posts do not contain grammatical or spelling errors.
  5. Absolutely NO posts regarding: profanity, drug/alcohol use, personal attacks, photos or videos containing nudity, personal information about people without their permission, promoting information about your business, opinions about politics or college policies.