You have likely heard this before, but Facebook is big...really BIG! In terms of users - now over 2 billion - Facebook has the largest population in the world.

An incredible 1.32 billion users (65% of all users) log onto Facebook DAILY - uploading 300 million photos and sharing 4.75 billion pieces of content EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! (source) What does this mean for you and your school?

Simple - you have an opportunity to reach a lot of people; more than the entire populations of + combined in fact! In order to do so though, you need to be ✨STAND OUT✨. You cannot afford to be a (microscopic) needle in a (continent sized) haystack.

12 tips for creating a killer Facebook Page.

[1]: Knowing the difference between a Page and a personal Profile

We see schools make this mistake from time to time. A personal Profile represents a person, a Page represents a business or brand. A school should always have a Page, as it will offer more to both the school in functionality and the follower in information.

[2]: Page Roles - get it right

Another common issue we see schools come up against is publishing as the wrong person. The way Pages work on Facebook requires them to be administered by a user (Profile). This means you should be mindful when posting content to the Page - as you will have the ability to either post as the Page (i.e. the school) or the Profile (i.e. your personal account).

Have you ever noticed the little blue / grey tick next to certain social media accounts (usually celebrities or brands)? They mean that these accounts have been verified; they are the authentic account of that person / entity. 

Most social media channels now have a verification process. For schools, some are easily obtainable and some are more difficult to get - each channel has their own prerequisites for verification.

Facebook and YouTube are two of the simplest, taking no more, generally, than 10 minutes to obtain each one. We highly recommend that every school verifies both Facebook and YouTube, as there are benefits in doing so.

Facebook

The world of print is moving further and further behind us. One core reason boils down to cost - it is cheaper to produce content digitally than it is to print!

For schools, we are seeing traditional publications such as prospectuses enter the amazing world of digital. But what about something like a yearbook? How can you make this more accessible and interactive for your school's community?

With a few simple tricks on Issuu, this is very possible.

Issuu?

But first, what is Issuu?

In short it is a social channel specifically for publications. You can upload PDF's to Issuu, and then flip through them - simulating the reading experience.

NOTE: Issuu is not limited to just PDF's. Most common document files are acceptable, including: DOC, PPT, RTF, WPD, ODT, and more.

For schools, Issuu is a great place to host publications such as prospectus or perhaps a literary collection of pupil stories? The added bonus is, publications on Issuu are very easy to share (it's just a URL link) and very easy to embed on places such as a school website.

Getting started

The yearbook is a time honoured tradition for many schools. In using Issuu, you are able to negate certain costs to both the school and your parents.

In order to upload this to Issuu, the yearbook should be saved as a PDF file. So, whatever software you have used to create your publication (for example Adobe InDesign), be sure to export the end product in PDF format.

TOP TIP: to ensure your PDF looks its very best, it should be optimised for Web. This is a common setting across many of Adobe's design suite.

To upload your PDF:

• click the Upload button - on desktop this is always in the top-right corner
• choose the required file(s) - alternatively, you can drag the file(s) into the upload box
• Issuu will prep your PDF - be patient, if the file is big this may take a few minutes
• choose Title and Description for your file, and fill out any fields as required
• click Publish Now to finish

Congratulations - your yearbook is now live on Issuu!

Making it interactive

Getting the yearbook on Issuu is just the first step. You now have the opportunity to make it a more immersive piece of content. 

The first step to take is to add URL links (called "Publisher Clips") into your yearbook. First and foremost, this is an effective way to help drive traffic to places you want (i.e. your website, or perhaps an alumni page on Facebook or LinkedIn). 

Secondly, this can be an effective way to promote the traits and talents of pupils individually or in groups.

When we Google ourselves or our businesses, the results aren't always what we were expecting. If negative or private, we might wonder how we can get this information out of the public eye. Fortunately, there are steps that can be taken.

To illustrate how these work, think of yourself as being inside a building and the internet being the landscape outside that building. Google is the window; it monitors and offers you a portal to show you what’s going on outside.

Google’s job is simply to report what it sees - it doesn’t want to jeopardise this by being inaccurate. So, if you want Google to change its report, there are two main routes you could take:

[1] Change the landscape

The simplest method is to actively change the landscape outside; or rather change the content on the internet.