Social Media Requirements and Best Practices

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation (CMEI) uses the following content standards for its social media channels. If you have questions about CMEI social media, contact the CMEI social media team.

Learn more about DOE’s social media guidance and social media policies.

Best Practices for Social Media Content

CMEI posts social media updates following best practices for targeting audiences and garnering engagement. 

CMEI staff are encouraged to work with your technology office communications lead to prioritize content requests and submit topic suggestions. If you are submitting draft social media content, your copy should:

  • Lead with a clear, audience-focused hook that quickly conveys why it matters.
  • State the impact of the post from the audience’s perspective rather than starting with organizational context. Use first person (we/our) as the subject instead of using office or department names.
  • Include one to two relevant hashtags per post, integrated within the post text if possible.
    • Including one or two relevant emoji in posts may also be beneficial, but not for all topics or platforms. Work with your social and communications leads to determine what types of content may benefit.
  • Tag relevant partner organizations within the post to help amplify engagement. Tagging individuals is not recommended unless they are high profile, known accounts, such as the Secretary of Energy.
    • It is important to note that organizations can have different handles, or names, on different platforms, so double check any accounts you want to tag. For example, NLR's X account is @NatLabRockies, while its Instagram account is @nationalrenewableenergylab.
  • Use relevant visuals or videos with posts, instead of using the autogenerated image. Remember that all images we use for social media must be Section 508 compliant and accessible, including using alt text.
  • Amplify relevant content from other established government brands.

Where applicable, photos and videos uploaded to social media should use DOE's updated branding and templates. Do not use unapproved or older DOE/CMEI logos in photos or videos.

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