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Content Strategy

Our Focus

Sam Houston State University's website is more than a directory of pages. It is the university's primary digital platform for communicating its mission, values, and offerings to the world. Every piece of content published under the shsu.edu domain should serve that purpose clearly and intentionally.

The content strategy at SHSU is built on a simple principle: we cannot be everything to everyone. Our focus for the public-facing website is prospective students, prospective employees, and supporters. Every content decision should be evaluated through that lens first.

Key Principles

Accessibility: The website must be accessible to all users. SHSU is committed to meeting or exceeding W3C WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standards across all digital properties. IMC and IT jointly oversee implementation and conduct annual accessibility reviews.

Accuracy: Content must be current, correct, and reviewed on a regular schedule. Outdated or unreviewed content may be unpublished by IMC.

Excellence: All content represents the university's academic and cultural identity. Quality standards are non-negotiable.

Transparency: Content should clearly and honestly communicate the university's mission, vision, and values.

Content Review and Maintenance

All content must have an assigned review date upon creation. The review date marks when content must be reassessed for accuracy and relevance.

IMC is responsible for:

  • Conducting annual reviews of content on the main university landing pages
  • Providing guidelines and support for department-level content review processes

Individual Divisions are responsible for:

  • Conducting regular reviews of their specific content
  • Adhering to university-wide content standards and guidelines set by IMC

Content that has not been reviewed by its designated review date may be removed or unpublished by IMC. Departments will be notified before any content is removed.

While departments own their content, IMC retains oversight to ensure brand consistency and quality. Significant changes to public-facing content, or new major content initiatives, require final approval from IMC.

Feature Requests and Custom Development

SHSU is committed to the ongoing development of its CMS, focused on serving external audiences and the top-level communication needs of the campus community. The CMS is not designed to be a universal solution for all web content needs.

Special projects with an external audience can be considered on an ad-hoc basis with approval from the Chief Marketing Officer. SHSU does not perform customized web development for individual colleges, departments, offices, or subunits.

Feature requests can be submitted by an IMC Campus Communication Partner via the Request Web Assistance form. Successful requests typically have broad, universal value to the website rather than serving a single unit or individual.

 

Key Takeaways

  • Prospective students come first. Every content decision on shsu.edu should be evaluated against whether it serves the university's primary audience: students considering SHSU.
  • Content must stay current. All content requires an assigned review date at creation. Outdated or unreviewed content may be unpublished by IMC without further notice.
  • Departments own content; IMC sets the standards. Divisions are responsible for maintaining their own content, but IMC retains final oversight on brand consistency, quality, and approval for major public-facing changes.

Related Guidance

Updated 6/15/26