Bentley University’s Snapchat Takeover

Hello, and welcome to Snapchat! The Bentley University Snapchat account receives over 1,000 views per upload, and many of those come from current students who will one day be out in the “real world” like you. Your goal is to show them what it’s really like to do your job!

Of course, it doesn't need to be all photos of your desk. Feel free to get creative! For inspiration, see Justine Andrews (Digital and Community Specialist at MITX) takeover here, and Brian Shea (Relay For Life Community Manager at American Cancer Society) takeover here.

The guide below will help you prepare for your @Bentley_U takeover. If you have additional questions, please reference Snapchat’s official online guide here.

1. Logging-In To log-in to the official Bentley Snapchat, use the username Bentley_U and the password the social media team sends you.

Please note that the handle for our Snapchat account is different from our Twitter and Instagram, both @BentleyU.

If you’re already logged in to your own Snapchat account, you’ll first need to log out. To do so, click the ghost icon at the top of your phone, which will bring up the second image below. From this screen, click on the “Settings” icon in the top right of your phone.

Scroll to the bottom of the “Settings” and select “Log Out.” Snapchat will automatically bring you back to the log-in screen, where you can enter Bentley’s log-in information.

2. Safety On average, Bentley’s snaps (photos and videos sent from Snapchat) are seen by 1,000+ individuals -- and that number is rapidly growing. That means you need to be extremely careful of not just your Snapchat account, but your phone in general.

A. Never give away Bentley’s log-in information. Only you should be accessing the account, and only from your personal phone. Be sure to keep the email including the password safe, and never print out the log-in information.

B. Set up a passcode to open your phone. Make sure no one else can pick up your phone and send out a funny picture, thinking it’s going to your friends, when it’s actually going out on behalf of Bentley!

C. Stick to one account. Try to avoid switching back to your personal account during your takeover so you don’t mix things up!

3. Posting as a Story Bentley posts all images and videos as part of “My Story” -- you should not be sending anything to individuals.

“Stories” are collections of images and videos that anyone who follows @Bentley_U can view repeatedly for 24 hours. These play sequentially: the first photo or video you post will be the first they see.

1. You can take a photo or video from the main page of Snapchat, the one that opens when you log-in. You’ll first see your face; to flip to the back camera, click the upper-right button.

Click the circle at the bottom of the page to take a photo; press and hold to record a video.

2. Once you take the photo or video, a text box will appear. If you don’t want any text, click “Done.” If you do, begin typing.

NOTE: Want to add more than a line of text? Open up Notepad and hit return a few times. Select all and copy the blank text, then paste into the textbox (seen to the left.) You can then enter text on each line by clicking on them separately.

You cannot paste text, nor can you select return from within Snapchat.

3. By clicking the capital “T” at the top of the screen you can make the letters larger and center them. Keep clicking the “T” until you like the size and alignment of the text.

You can also select the color of the text by dragging your finger up and down the color line.

When you’re satisfied, click “Done.”

4. You can move the text on the screen by dragging it with your finger. To resize the text, use your fingers as if you were zooming in or out of a page

Note: if this is a video be sure to watch all of it with the text before posting to ensure the text is always visible and doesn’t block any key part of the video. The video will play on loop as you work.

5. If you’d like, you can add a GeoFilter, such as the one below from Cape Cod (photo by boston.com). There are also overlays available that alter the color of the image, such as a sephia or black and white. Simply swipe your finger right to left to view them.

If you cannot see geofilters, there may not be any available in your area, but check to make sure your location is on for Snapchat. Directions to do so are

below.

5. To add an emoji, click the square at the top of the screen and swipe through the screens until you find the one you like.

6. You can then drag the emoji with your finger like you did text, or enlarge it with two fingers.

7. Next, if this is a photo, set the timer to 1-10 seconds by clicking the clock icon in the bottom left screen. Usually 3-5 seconds is plenty, depending on text.

8. Finally, click the arrow in the bottom right of your screen to post the image or video. Select “My Story” and then click “Send.”

Note: This is a good way to double-check that you’re logged in as Bentley University, and not yourself, because you’ll see (me) right next to “Bentley University.”

4. Review your Story You should always review your snaps after posting to make sure it posted and there are no errors. Swipe your screen to the left to open the following screen, and then click the three vertical dots to open your story.

Here, you will see all of your snaps in descending order. You can click each line individually to see the snap, or you can see the entire story the way it appears to others by clicking “my story.”

Always make sure the snap actually posted. If you have limited WiFi, sometimes it doesn’t send. If it has not sent yet, Snapchat will allow to to retap to try again or delete. Keep in mind this will put it at the end of your story, so if that order no longer makes sense you may want to delete it.

Finally, if you decide you want to delete a snap, you can do so from here. Simply select the snap from the screen above and tap “x” at the bottom of the screen.

That’s it! If you have any questions the day of, please contact Jennifer Wright at wright_jenn@bentley.edu or Joy Uyeno at juyeno@bentley.edu or (781) 891-2097. Have fun!