Social Media Marketing for Schools

Creative ways to lead the way with social mediaFun ways to be creative with your schools social media

Presented by Sarah SloanPhD marketing candidate, Griffith UniversitySBMAQ Leadership Forum August 27th, 2015

What you will take away from this presentationSee examples of creative uses of social media in schoolsBrainstorm ways you can use social media for your schoolIdeas to take back to your school and use now

Department name (edit in View > Header and Footer...)

Yes social media is exciting, but why is it IMPORTANT?3

How to use social media?Strategies will differ from primary and high schoolsDependant upon the resources you have be creative with what you haveThink outside the box be creative, and think differentlyWork heavily with the P & CRemember: it is TWO way communication so respond to people that contact/interact with youShare content that you think is relevant to parents and students

Last minute updatesYour sports day got rained out?Roads closed near the school?Events postponed?

Let people know immediately through social media (in addition to the other, usual channels; email, SMS, newsletter)

Share school newsFacebook is an excellent opportunity for a school to connect with families and share information rapidly. If a school is consistent in keeping the information updated and accurate, students and families will likely come to rely on the Facebook Page as a resource to find information about whats going on at the school. There are many different types of information that a school could choose to share on its Facebook Page.

Community warnings

Celebrate achievementsBuild community spiritRecognise achievements of students, and staffExamples: interschool sports Sports day results, in real time student/class of the week a staff member is recognised school captain announcements P&C raised funds principal gave a talk at another school

Awards night

P&C news

Sharing results

RemindersTimely reminders right before deadlines prompt memoryGet the information to the right people at the right time

Public announcements

Sharing their wares

Sports videos

Have you consideredHaving fun with a Go Pro

What about a montage of clips?

CountdownsReminders of upcoming eventsHow long until.Sports dayAnzac dayEaster raffle is drawnEnd of termEnd of year

Celebrity endorsements! be creative local celebrities councillors, sports people, previous students, local school students.

What events do we have coming up? What news can we share NOW?What plan can we put in place for the next week?Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri

*aim for at least one post per day

Create a 1 week plan for your school

Hashtags what are they and how do we use them?SearchableChoose ONE hashtag for your schoolSearch for it on tagboard.com to see if its already being usedIf not, use it for your school

www.tagboard.comRounds up ALL the uses of the hashtag on ANY social media

Things to considerFirst and foremost

STUDENT PRIVACYNever use full names of studentsOnly post pictures of students with their caregivers permissionHave they signed a consent form?What current protocols do you have for images of students?

Things to considerWho will be in charge of the social media? Ideally this should be a small team (2-3 people). Creating content everyones responsibility. Have classroom teachers email you through pictures of artwork, projects, student of the week etcCan you work with a nearby partner/feeder school?Update at least daily. Multiple times a day is ideal.Pictures (instead of just text), get the most attention. Use stock images to get attention if you have to. Eg. An image with the word reminder will encourage people to read the text underneath the picture.

the tricky issue of control

But I dont have time!!

Ideally.Easy to set upSpread the responsibilityCheap/free to establishEasy to maintain just takes a little planningUses the resources you already have

RememberSocial media is a conversation, so be engaging and ask questions to get them interactingIts everyones responsibility to promote the schoolFocus on your schools strengths (sports, arts, curriculum, staff)Respond quickly to critical posts

Questions

https://sarahsloanbio.wordpress.com/

s.sloan@griffith.edu.auTweet me @happy_chappy89

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Thank you