Our social media guide is crafted to help our community communicate effectively and consistently across various social media platforms. Whether you are managing a well-established account or just starting, this guide provides essential guidance to ensure that our digital presence aligns with Purdue University’s values and the distinctive identity of Purdue’s Daniels School of Business.
Building a strong digital presence starts with understanding the foundations. This section introduces the Purdue and Daniels School brands, our core values, and the essential policies that guide our approach to social media. Whether you're new to our channels or looking for a refresher, you’ll find everything you need to align with our brand and connect with our audience.
Between the undergraduate and graduate programs at the Daniels School of Business, there are eight (8) official accounts that the Business School Marketing & Communications team manage. These include:
| Channel | Primary Account | Krannert Graduate Institute |
|---|---|---|
| Purdue University Daniels School of Business | Purdue Krannert Graduate Institute at the Daniels School of Business | |
| Daniels School of Business | ||
| Purdue University Daniels School of Business | Purdue Krannert Graduate Institute at the Daniels School of Business | |
| X (Twitter) | Purdue Daniels School of Business | Purdue Business Krannert Graduate Institute |
| YouTube | Purdue University Daniels School of Business |
As someone who manages a social media account that is affiliated with Purdue University, you are taking on the responsibility of becoming a voice for the university and the Daniels School of Business and must adhere to the University Social Media Policy.
The Purdue brand site serves as a comprehensive hub for all things related to the Purdue University brand, providing a centralized platform for guidelines, assets, and resources. It offers valuable tools and insights to ensure consistent and effective representation of the Purdue brand across various channels and stakeholders. Explore the standards that define Purdue’s brand.
The Daniels School of Business offers a STEM-infused, interdisciplinary business education, so that its graduates can build and lead organizations that tackle industry’s toughest challenges today while envisioning the opportunities of tomorrow.
Explore the Daniels School Brand Guide Discover More Resources and Templates
Great content starts with a clear strategy. Here, we break down the who, what, where, when, and how of content creation to ensure every post resonates with the right audience, on the right platform, at the right time. From defining content themes to maintaining consistency, this section equips you with the tools and guidelines to craft impactful messaging that drives engagement.
Each platform has its own audience. It’s possible that you may have different age ranges, genders, or locations between each platform. Look at your account’s demographics in analytics (X does not have this). As you find your top audiences, create a persona for each platform. For example:
@PurdueBusiness Instagram: 40% of our followers are between 13-24, making it the best spot to place our student-first content.
Purdue Business on LinkedIn: 28% of our followers have “Senior” positions, which means it’s possible that some our more seasoned alumni are our largest group of followers.
Find out the channels your audience is most active and the type of content they consume. When brainstorming topics for content, consider analytics to determine themes.
| Channel | Monthly Active Users | Largest Age Group | Relevant for Purdue Audience |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Billion | 25-34 (29.9%) | Alumni, parents, faculty/staff, graduate students | |
| 2 Billion | 18-24 (30.8%) | Undergrad students, prospective students, young alumni | |
| 1 Billion (Members)* | 25-34 (60%) | Graduate + undergrad students, alumni, faculty/staff | |
| 498 Million | 25-34 (30.9%) | Alumni, graduate students | |
| Snapchat | 414 Million | 18-24 (38.6%) | Prospective students, undergrad students |
| TikTok | 1.7 Billion | 18-24 (36.2%) | Prospective students, undergrad students |
| X (Twitter) | 368 Million | 25-34 (38.5%) | Faculty/staff, graduate students, undergrad students |
| YouTube | 2.5 Billion | 25-34 (21.2%) |
Alumni, graduate students, stakeholders |
| Age Group | Channel #1 | Channel #2 | Channel #3 | Channel #4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18-29 years old | Snapchat (41%) | TikTok (35%) | Instagram (32%) | |
| 30-39 years old | LinkedIn (34%) | X (Twitter) (34%) | Snapchat (41%) | Instagram (32%) |
| 40-49 years old | LinkedIn (25%) | Facebook (22%) | X (Twitter) (21%) | |
| 50-59 years old | Facebook (29%) | LinkedIn (24%) | Pinterest (24%) |
The demographic data and platform insights provided in this section are accurate as of 2024. Social media audience trends may shift over time, so we recommend regularly reviewing analytics to ensure your strategy remains aligned with current data.
Think about our social content in terms of buckets to help you prioritize. We use these buckets to determine whether content is relevant to our school’s mission. It is possible for these buckets to change or evolve over time as our strategy evolves. We should always consider how our content can help our school achieve its goals. We should also keep in mind that our content should be engaging, informative, entertaining, and inspiring. Most importantly, it should always be authentic and transparent to foster trust with our audience. Examples of key themes the Daniels School of Business has highlighted include:
From fostering community engagement on Instagram to showcasing thought leadership on LinkedIn, every channel has a distinct role in our digital strategy. The soul of our content reflects our brand’s voice—whether through student stories, faculty research, or impactful events. Our goal is to measure success through key engagement metrics, ensuring we maximize our reach and impact. Learn how each platform fits into our overall marketing strategy below.
| Channel | Role | Soul | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeping the Daniels School community informed on what our students are doing to engage our prospective graduate students, current families, alumni, and other stakeholders. | Student stories, school updates and announcements, upcoming application deadlines | Student stories, Link clicks/CTR, shares, comments | |
| Fostering a digital community for prospective and current students that shows the lifestyles and accomplishments that their peers have achieved. | Relatable and/or entertaining content, student perspective (takeovers, vlogs) | Shares, comments, direct messages | |
| Showcasing the accomplishments and initiatives our school has achieved to build a stronger reputation with school peers. Also, keeping our alumni engaged to increase their engagement with our students. | Rankings, faculty research and expertise, stories on unique events or programs, nostalgic content for alumni. | Link clicks/CTR, reposts, comments | |
| X (Twitter) | Sharing unique research from faculty, especially those relevant to current events or topics. | Research stories, faculty expertise, Purdue updates/ announcements | Link clicks/CTR, reposts, favorites |
| YouTube | Creating a space for topical videos that enhance our search engine optimization goals while building our digital presence and showing up in spaces to become a leading voice in the business industry. | Faculty testimonials on specific nitiatives/ programs and student testimonials about unique projects, showing the experiential learning opportunities. | Views, traffic sources, comments |
The first step in utilizing social media is to understand your bandwidth and how often you can post. Knowing your bandwidth will help you decide what accounts and content you should prioritize. It is possible to optimize your workload by understanding how often you should post on each platform and developing a strategy that meets your goals. This will prevent you from feeling like you are behind. Post when it is convenient for you so you can stay engaged but stay consistent.
Try to include at least one hashtag per post. Avoid using 3+ hashtags in a single post.
| Hashtag | Content |
|---|---|
| #PurdueBusiness | General school-wide hashtag |
| #BusinessBoilermaker | Student stories (current/prospective) |
| #PurdueUniversity, #Purdue, #BoilerUp, #Boilermakers | General university-wide hashtag |
| #MySmallStep | Student Stories |
| #MyGiantLeap, #TheNextGiantLeap | Faculty/Alumni stories, career outcomes |
| #PicturePurdue | User-generated content (UGC) |
| #OnlyPurdue | Decision day/offer letters |
| #PurdueWeDidIt | Commencement |
Turning strategy into action requires the right resources. In this section, you’ll find insights on reporting, launching new accounts, and accessing key tools to streamline your efforts. Plus, our Marketing and Communications team is here to support you every step of the way, helping you optimize your impact across channels.
As social media becomes more prominent, we need to make sure we’re getting a return on our investment. Understanding your social media analytics will allow you to make better decisions about your content and accounts. Analytics can help you monitor your performance, identify trends, and optimize your strategy. This data can also provide valuable insights into your customers, helping you better understand your target audience.
To determine what works and what doesn’t, conducting a social media audit can help you improve your social media presence. Performing an audit gives insight into your target audience’s interests, habits, and expectations. It’s a great way to understand what social media trends, tools, and features to pay attention to as your competitors’ social media presence impacts yours.
This includes metrics for Engagement (comments, shares, reactions), Link Clicks and Views/Impressions/Reach.
Analyzing your top-performing posts is also important. Ask yourself: Are your audience interested in educational content or do they want to be inspired or entertained? Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) most important to your organization, then make sure your social strategy supports them.
If you are wanting to create a new account or group for your department or organization, ask yourself these questions:
As the account administrator, you will be responsible for:
If any of the above are in question, it may be not the right time to create a new account or group. If you do have content you are wanting to share to a larger audience then there are still options for you. You can share your content with the Daniels School of Business Marketing and Communications Team. Between the central and graduate programs accounts, the Daniels School of Business has more than 70,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube. It is more likely you will be able to reach the audience you are trying to reach on the official accounts.
If you’re looking for ways to engage your group within a digital community, you can choose private messaging channels such as WhatsApp, Discord, or GroupMe. These platforms create a private instant messaging community to engage with others without creating a new social media account.
Business School Website: Navigate and familiarize yourself with the website to find information and more related to the Daniels School of Business.
Business School Brand Guidelines: A comprehensive guide to the Daniels School of Business brand, including messaging, visuals, and more.
Business School Brand Resources: Find logos, templates, and more assets to keep your materials on brand for the Daniels School of Business.
Purdue Brand Guidelines: Find official Purdue colors, fonts, graphic elements, photography, and video brand guidelines here.
Official Purdue Social Media Templates: The following templates are provided to assist users with the creation of individual assets that align with Purdue’s unified identity.
Purdue Content Packages: Content packages allow campus partners to use existing assets to share the larger Purdue story through their own channels. Each content package contains a variety of ready-to-use assets, including links, digital and printable materials, strategy tips and suggested social post language.
Digital Engagement Guide: This guide covers all things digital engagement, including social media best practices, social graphic sizes and resolutions and more.
Accessibility Guide: There are several ways to be accessible on social media.
Sprout Social: The motherboard of social media. Sprout Social is a social media management and intelligence tool to manage conversations, analytics, listening, and more. This is where we will schedule (almost) all our content on our channels.
The Marketing and Communications team at the Daniels School of Business is made up of dedicated professionals specializing in marketing strategies, analytics, communication processes, content creation, media relations, user experience and more. Learn more about our work.
We encourage our partners to reach out for guidance, support, or collaboration on your social media projects, or any marketing project.
Maintaining a consistent style across all our communications is essential. This section covers general guidelines for tone, language, and formatting to ensure that every post aligns with the professional and cohesive image of the Purdue Daniels School of Business.
For master’s, can abbreviate on second reference to “MSA”
For master’s, can abbreviate on second reference to “MSBAIM.” The online program, Business Analytics, can be abbreviated to “MSBA”
Should be bachelor’s degree, as opposed to Bachelors or Bachelor’s
Our school’s career services office is Business Career Services.
Follow PU guidelines regarding serial/Oxford comma usage: Avoid using a serial comma unless it is part of an official name (Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences) or is needed to avoid confusion.
Examples of correct format: Julie Wainwright (BSIM ’79), Renee Patton (IBE ’25), Vivek Chakrabortty (MGMT ’98, IMM ’19)
TWO (OR MORE) DEGREES IN SAME YEAR: If it is the same degree, list just once: BS Economics & Finance ‘23. If it is two different degrees, list both: BS Human Resource Management & MS Human Resource Management ‘22 or BS Marketing & BA English ‘23
Example using parentheses: Goldie Smith (BS biology ’88) says she watches all Boilermaker basketball games.
MULTIPLE DEGREES: When listing multiple degrees, it’s usually most efficient to include them within a parenthesis, separated by a comma. Thus: Neal Downe (BS biology ’88, MS biology ’90, DVM ’94)
TWO (OR MORE) DEGREES IN SAME YEAR: If it is the same degree, list just once: BS Economics & Finance ‘23. If it is two different degrees, list both: BS Human Resource Management & MS Human Resource
Capitalize Department of Management and Department of Economics when preceded by Department; lowercase when used after (management department, economics department)
Spell out months (“January” instead of “Jan.” for example) and don’t use “th” -- so, instead of “Feb. 25th, 2023” please do “February 25, 2023.”
Follow AP style's “TDP”: time before date before place. Example: "The event takes place at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 18, 2025, in the Krannert Auditorium."
BS, MS, PhD - Degree abbreviations do not require periods no matter how many letters in them
Use for our time zone. We can’t go wrong with “Eastern,” but we CAN be wrong using “EST” or “EDT”
Uppercase when used before name (Professor of Economics Justin Tobias; lowercase when used after name (Justin Tobias, professor of economics).
Uppercase when used before name (Sales Director John Smith); lowercase when used after name (John Smith, sales director)
When referring to the actual building/structure, capitalize “Building”: The Krannert Building is at the corner of State Street and Mitch Daniels Blvd.
For master’s, can abbreviate on second reference to “MSM”
Mitch Daniels School of Business. On second reference/visuals, can use “the Daniels School of Business” and “the Daniels School.” Do NOT use DSB.
Should be master’s degree, master’s program, etc., as opposed to “master” or “masters”
Use an apostrophe after the “s” with no additional “s.” Examples: Business’ classrooms/Daniels’ motorcycle
Use “PhD” (not Ph.D. or PHD, etc.) in most cases. Professors may use “Ph.D.” in their signatures/bios
Don’t capitalize “fall” or “spring” or “summer” in running text when referring to semesters/terms. Correct: Blanche Devereaux started her MS Accounting program in fall 2024. Incorrect: Blanche Devereaux started her MS Accounting program in Fall 2024.
Preferred: 7 p.m. (not 7:00 p.m. or 7:00 PM)
To ensure consistency and clarity in our communications, we adhere to Purdue University’s Editorial Style Guide. This guide provides essential rules on spelling, punctuation, and word usage to maintain the high standards expected of Purdue’s nonacademic publications.
Here are preferred style resources:
Purdue University’s Editorial Style Guide
The Associated Press Stylebook
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The Chicago Manual of Style
For any style questions not covered in these resources, please reach out to Marketing and Communications for further guidance.
