Disruption and uncertainty are the new normal thanks to the coronavirus. But, let’s face it, as school marketers, many of you have been here before.

Closed campuses and cancelled classes go with the territory in much of the U.S. during winter. And, as comms professionals, you already keep your communities in the know no matter where they or you are.

What’s different, of course, is there is no end in sight to working from home - and working from home has gone worldwide.

Because the show must go on, we’re sharing these 7 #WFH Tips to make your transition a smooth one.

Can you believe it’s been almost 4 years since our original blog on teens using social media! How times have changed.

We asked a real life teenager how they use social in their personal and school life, the results are surprising! Below, we break down the verdict on the platforms of our 2016 blog, platform by platform.

Facebook

After the infamous Facebook scandal regarding the privacy of its users’ information, Facebook’s user base has dramatically declined. The platform has become far less relevant for teens as the years have gone by, mainly because the population of older adults and embarrassing family members has increased as they’ve discovered social media and tried to become ‘hip’ and trendy. For this reason, in 2020 teens tend to avoid it, and in some cases scorn the older population using it, with jokes being made about ‘Facebook mums’ and their love of cringey minion memes. Many teens have either deleted or abandoned their accounts and prefer other platforms, usually where anonymity is found and a younger audience is prevalent.

YouTube

The concept of vloggers and influencers has remained, and in some cases grown. Being a YouTuber has become even more prominent as a career path and is a job many teens might aspire to do out of admiration for the fame and glamour it seems to hold. In recent years, YouTube has been updated to include features such as stories, the ability to post images and text, premieres for videos to induce hype, YouTube live streaming and even the option to purchase premium and be able to access many additional features. YouTube in terms of video entertainment is definitely in conflict with Netflix which has become a staple in most teen’s lives, however for me the beauty of YouTube is the variety of content, from informative videos and tutorials to TV clips and sometimes full episodes you can watch for free - something you don’t get with Netflix. 

Twitter

Twitter has still not been crowned the most popular social media site, but has become more politically charged. Politicians now Tweet regularly to share their viewpoints and gain broader support, and controversial personalities share their perspectives on things, often causing uproar. Twitter is a brilliant platform for teens to access these political debates and understand politics in a way more geared towards them. Notably, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is someone who speaks to her fellow teens on a similar level and has come into conflict with other Twitter users in recent years due to opposing views on climate change. The site is brilliant for teens interested in becoming politically informed and watching debates unfold.

Twitter also has content relevant to teen life outside of politics, especially its place in the world as the origin of meme formats. Exam tweets and memes following GCSE, AS and A-Level papers are incredibly popular, especially due to the support of hashtags by the site. After my GCSE exams, the first thing I’d do was get home and laugh at the tweets and memes people were uploading every few seconds which were relevant to the paper I had sat. It offers a way for teenagers all over the country to connect. I, for one, felt much better about my biology exam after someone admitted in a tweet to writing about children photosynthesising in their paper.

Instagram

I'll bet you never thought you would need to understand dense and complex federal law working at a school. Well, here we are! Web accessibility is the law and it applies to your school.

It’s not as overwhelming as it seems!

What follows is a simple introduction and a check-list of steps to make your site accessible.

Let’s begin with the question you’re likely asking: What is website accessibility anyway?

The answer is simple. Federal law requires that people with disabilities be able to access your website. That means they must be able to navigate the site with ease, access its content, and engage with all its elements.

From the outset, Google Analytics can look quite daunting. There are so many intricate parts to analysing each one of your campaigns progress, so it is understandable that people get lost in the analytical maze. Once you have familiarised yourself with Google Analytics, it will prove to be one of the most useful assets in your marketing skillset. To help filter Google Analytics into easier locational areas, we have put together a list of crucial customisations that will benefit your viewing and analysing. We understand that it is not solely to help farm data, but to protect and hone it professionally.

We believe that brand consistency is key to keeping marketing strategies in line. It helps show a clear structure right from the start, and will filter through to make your school stand out from the rest. Having this consistency across all social media platforms makes it easier for people to find you online and makes your life easier when you are tracking that URL through custom ads.

Also, it looks a lot nicer!

Twitter is the place to be for heads and principals. Don’t take our word for it, this is how TES put it:

“Heads who want to do well at the job: go on Twitter!”

We couldn’t have put it clearer ourselves. If you’re still not convinced, check out what Ann Haydon, head of school at Harrow School, Hong Kong (@HeadHarrowHK) had to say about the matter:

“Love it or hate it, Twitter has changed the way we communicate, changed our ability to communicate! It now has 284 million monthly active users and 300 billion tweets since it started 8 years ago. So why are so many head teachers still rather reluctant to tweet?”

Now this is the million dollar question! There is a whole industry built around making sure websites are listing on Google’s first page and for very good reason. 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.

For schools, ranking on the first page for branded searches (i.e. your school name) is usually pretty easy if you are following the basic rules of SEO however you also want to rank highly for more generic non branded searches eg “Top private schools in London”, “Independent schools near me”, “girls schools in Surrey”. 

Here’s how you can do that…

Marketing is no longer a one-way system of advertising a product. No longer are we simply sold a product, it has become a two-way system of communication. Marketers must now provide value, importance and often entertainment. 

Using Paid Advertising in School Marketing

Marketing is no longer a one-way system of advertising a product. No longer are we simply sold a product, it has become a two-way system of communication. Marketers must now provide value, importance and often entertainment. 

As we commence the new year and finish off the leftover mince pies, we start our plans for the new year. If you are a school marketer you have probably started thinking about how to promote an #OpenDay at your school. We all know how important these events are, they give the school an opportunity to really show prospective students and parents the atmosphere and the heart of the school.

Stuck for some ideas for your upcoming open day? Check out our blog of 7 Open Days Ideas and get creative this open day season. 

So, we have our open day idea, but how do you promote it to ensure you have as many attendees as possible? We have the answers, just keep on reading!