what every school district needs to know about social media

www.marketingsavant.com 888.989.7771 The MarketingSavant Group

The MarketingSavant Group

What Every School District Needs to Know About Social Media


www.marketingsavant.com

888.989.7771

[email protected]

NSPRA 2012 July 9, 2012



Slide Deck & Resources

www.marketingsavant.com/nspra12

http://www.marketingsavant.com/nspra12


On Today’s Agenda

• Social Media – The Strategic Process

• Tools for School Districts

• Best Practices for Facebook, Twitter, and others

• Case study and Examples of School Districts Using Social Media

• 10 Best Practices for School District Social Media



Connecting Content With District Supporters

Source: Ogilvy



Don’t Commit Random Acts of Social Media Marketing!



Have a Well Defined Social Strategy

Delavan-Darien (WI) is Social!

http://ddschools.wordpress.com/





Define the Social Media Plan

1. Outline Your Objectives

2. Determine Risk Profile

3. Define Your Audience(s)

4. Social Media Content

5. Determine District Integration Points

6. Culture Change and Adaptation?

7. District-wide Social Media Opportunities

8. Policy / Protocols

9. Choose Social Channels (Tools & Tactics)

10. Social Media Systems

11. Measurement


WRITE THE STRATEGY What’s your Strategy Statement? In What Way Does Social Media Help Us Achieve Our Mission? What Are 3 Expectations You Have for Social Media in Your School District?


Balance Risk & Reward



Use Personas to Bring Audience into Focus



State & National Parks

Travel

Organic Gardening Healthy Eating

Family

Map the Sphere of Interest & Influence

• Identify your target audiences and subgroups

• Think in terms of what

associated groups are important to your audience that connect to (touch) your product or service

Bike Shop

Health Enthusiast

Bike Clubs

Bike Racing

Fitness & Training

Bike Safety



Publish on Schedule – “1-7-30-4-2-1”

• 1 = Daily

• 7 = Weekly

• 30 = Monthly

• 4 = Quarterly

• 2 = Bi-Annual

• 1 = Annual

Source: FusionSpark Media http://www.fusionspark.com/blog/2009/10/13/content-marketing-secrets-part-iii-easy-as-1-7-30-4-2-1/



Map Out the Publishing Process



Social Media Requires Change Management

• Urgency! • Guidance & governance • Vision • Communication • Empowerment &

enablement • Campaign wins +

competence development • Build institutional

processes • Create Social Media

Center of Excellence


Social Media Policy Essential Before You Start in Social

• New media channels and internet services have changed the way we communicate – Personal information on display on blogs, Facebook etc.

– The line between the personal and the professional sphere gets blurred.

– Corporate information available from lots of sources.

– Users spread information about brands, products and companies.

• Internet allows viral spread of information – Bad news travels fast.

– Good news can also travel fast.

– Media and the blogosphere influence each other.



Social Media First Responders • Be transparent. Be open and

honest in all communication.

• Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA Practical Ethics Toolkit

• Be relevant. Share information and perspectives that are valuable to the online community

• Personalize and be personable.

• Address negative discussion head-on.

• Court evangelists & advocates.

Even if you’re not ready to join the conversation, it pays to have a sound strategy for dealing with any social media conversation taking place about your brand.



Social Media Toolset



• Listen to Social Media Channels

• Create Your Fan Page

• Build a Fan Community on

• Publish Great Content on Your

• Use to Tell Your Story with Video

• Amplify Your Images with

Using the Right Tools



Free Listening Tools

Scratch the Surface



Google Reader: The Hub



Facebook Pages

• Publish content that naturally encourages click-throughs or creates discussion.

• Powerful way of engaging parents, supporters, community and alumnus

• Many options for sharing content and media

• Connect it to your blog for a constant flow of content

• Directly message & connect with supporters around important issues



Facebook Communication Strategy

• Use Calls to Action

– Well designed, clear calls to action

– Market Facebook outside Facebook

• Use photos

– If possible, use pictures to show how students are succeeding in your schools

– Show events, awards, etc.

– Post pictures of your team at work

• Use video

– Post recording of school events, speeches

– Show your sports teams in action

• Integrate off-line marketing

– Other media ads and content

• Build an active Timeline

– Encourage people to Like your page

– Monitor and participate in the comments on your Timeline

• Re-purpose content

– Post useful, interesting content from various sources, regularly

• Encourage Experiential Marketing

– Use Landing pages or welcome tabs

– Product specific interaction

– Deliver a unique experience!

– Experiment

• Use Ads to Drive Traffic – Open enrollment, sporting events,

referenda, etc.



Twitter for School Districts • Establish a pattern of consistency

in your tweeting strategy • Keep your “it is all about them”

hat on when tweeting – RT other people’s stuff

• Follow social media best practices – Follow those that follow you but

maintain balanced follower to following ratios – recommend 1.25 to 1 or less

– Engage: Proactively and in response to RTs (retweets) and SOs (Shout Outs)

• Tweet consistently and set up a good maintenance schedule

• Measure which content resonates best with your audience



What Is Twitter Good For ?

• Building Community- creating a strong community of followers that ultimately help raise awareness, visibility and affinity for the district

• Media Relations – share updates, initiatives, ideas and relevant stories with your local media on twitter

• Parent Relations - using Twitter to successfully engage with parents who need regular updates

• Events - driving attendance at school events such as theater, sporting

• Early Alert – alert parents and the community when breaking news happens, weather closes school or other such things happen

• Branding & Awareness - employing Twitter in creative ways to increase awareness around a district program or initiative

• Fundraising - using Twitter to spread the word about important causes



Start a District Blog

• Platform for updates, superintendent opinions, PR content

• Feed Facebook and Twitter accounts

• Share district success stories

• Use as the foundation for a social media publishing plan



Start a Band of Bloggers!



Embrace the Power of Video

• Tell your story with video – most popular platform (for Google, after Google itself)

• SEO & SMO friendly

• Capture and share experiences that other SM channels can’t duplicate



Pulaski on Pinterest • Pinterest is a fast-growing pin-

board style social network • The site is very visual in nature and

allows you to showcase: – Events – Faculty – Students – Share educational resources – Community

• Pulaski School District has several boards, highlighting: – Graduation – The Golden Apple Winner – Around the Village – Around the District – Our Schools



HootSuite

• Manage Facebook and Twitter

• Team social media assignments

• Now handles “admin as page” in Facebook

• Used by hundreds of brands

• www.hootsuite.com

• Free to $$$

http://www.hootsuite.com/



Postling

• Simplifies multiple account management

• Blog right from Postling

• Upload photos & videos

• Reply to Facebook posts

• Daily email updates

• Track metrics for each property

• http://postling.com

• Free to $49/mo

http://postling.com/

http://postling.com/



Sprout Social

• Manage social networks in one place

• ‘Discover’ based on search & mentions (leads!)

• Connect FB, Twitter, LinkedIn

• Great for personal brands & small business

• Follower demographics • Great charts & UI • $9 - $49/mo



District Case Study – Minnetonka, Minnesota

Share Videos

Pictures from Sporting Events



Minnetonka is Social!

• Facebook to share videos, sporting events, student spotlights, etc.

• YouTube to showcase students and events

• Using RSS feed to inform people of breaking news within the district



Minnetonka Case Study • In education especially, there is always the concern

about teacher-student online communications

• Put policies in place to protect against inappropriate behavior

• Talk to staff about repercussions is social media is not used properly

• The Minnetonka School District has a policy in place stating that educators can only engage in password protected networks that are sanctioned by the school district

• All messaging between faculty and students must be public

http://www.twincities.com/ci_20828622/minnesota-educators-learn-how-use-social-media-school



10 Best Practices in School District Social Media



Following other people’s best practices is the surest route to mediocrity. Rewrite the rules of engagement and build the organization around the customer.

via: WWW.VIRTU-ASSIST.COM



1. Guidelines, Policy, Education

Train school staff, parents and students on the safe use of social media

• Host a Tweetup

• Inform before punishing

• Policies should be instructive



2. Get Better at Social Media… Through Social Media

• Social media changes quickly – you should to!

• Follow the top blogs

• Follow the ad-age 150

• Google alert on “school district social media”

• Social media users group

“In my professional role, I’ve become very quickly reliant on Twitter and Facebook to inform me of trends and Web 2.0 tools I should be considering using with students/sharing with staff.” —Marcia Dressel, K-5 librarian, Osceola, Wis.



3. Go Beyond “Supply Side Content”

• Understand what your audience wants in social media – talk about that

• Use the ‘sphere of interest’ to determine allied topics for social media

• “Atomize” your district content to tell your story



4. Use Social Media as a Multiplier



Facebook, Twitter Reach among Smartphone Users 3-month average, ending June 2011 Source: Experian Hitwise

50.9%

31.7%

12.5%

7.4%

U.S. smartphone users European smartphone users

Facebook Twitter

5. Understand and Adapt to Mobile Behavior

The Social Media Data Stacks

http://www.marketingcharts.com/

http://www.marketingcharts.com/



6. Understand the Finer Points of Social Media Engagement

• What and when to post content on social networks?

• Mind your ‘share of voice’ on the social channels

• Read and heed the research on social media engagement

• Hashtags, photos, conversation, tone, etc.



7. Mind the Social Metrics

Effective social media measurement should start by turning the traditional ROI approach on its head. That is, instead of emphasizing their own marketing investments and calculating the returns in terms of customer response, managers should begin by considering consumer motivations to use social media and then measure the social media investments customers make as they engage with the marketers’ brands. Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?, MIT Sloan Management Journa - Donna L. Hoffman and Marek Fodor



7. Mind the Social Metrics (cont’d)



8. Develop Your Social Media Voice

• Social media voice is critical to engagement and long term success

• Sorry, but there’s no formula

• Mind the “style of your brand/district” - Chances are a style guide already exists that communicates brand presentation, usage guidelines and other forms of brand-related marketing aesthetics.



9. Remember, It’s Not About the Technology

Social media isn’t “about the technology!” We need to better understand:

• Psychology

• Sociology

• Anthropology

• (Digital) Ethnography



10. Explore New Platforms

• Go beyond social media for social media’s sake

• Explore the use value beyond the “Big 5”

• Ask “How will this new social media tool help us to achieve our mission”



11. Follow Evelyn McCormack



QUESTIONS?



888.989.7771

[email protected]

Thanks for Attending!



Slide Deck & Resources

www.marketingsavant.com/nspra12

http://www.marketingsavant.com/nspra12



What Every School District Needs to Know About Social Media



888.989.7771

[email protected]

NSPRA 2012 July 9, 2012

what every school district needs to know about social media

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