“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day”
Schools! Marketers! Senior Leadership Teams! The fear of social media in schools is driven out of ignorance, not knowledge. Social media is not a fad. Unlike cassette tapes or CRT televisions, we will be seeing a lot more of social media over the coming years.
It’s time to pull your #Head out of the ground and start to truly understand how to use it! More importantly it’s time to leverage these content channels effectively as part of your school’s marketing.
Humans are driven by the need to be happy, part of a community and the need to share good news. Social media is the conduit to achieving this. Don’t let someone else’s negative story impact your brand. Start telling your own #SchoolStories, and watch your community share, like and retweet your content around the world.
“A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time.”
Facebook is a marketing giant. In fact, if Facebook was a country it would be the most populated country in the world!
This means using Facebook as part of your school's marketing is simply a good idea. With a population of 1.86 billion users (as of the end of 2016) it is likely the vast majority of your community, the parents currently at or interested in your school, are Facebook users.
We have listed 5 advanced tips to help you get the most out of the marketing behemoth.
[1] Verify the Page
In Part 1 of 'Do children really care about privacy & data protection?' we explored how teachers and parents have a responsibility to ensure younger generations are safe online. Much of this responsibility stems from adults understanding these issues implicitly themselves - so they can champion good practice and safe use to children.
In this follow-up article we will look at these issues from a child's perspective.
Digital Natives
Digital privacy and data protection is a big topic for schools adopting social media. It is the first time in history that teachers have less knowledge than the pupils - with so many kids having now been born into a socially connected world.
With digital storytelling still being a relatively new concept, you could be forgiven for being a little confused about what it is or how it could benefit your school and your pupils.
However, it has grown in significance as digital technologies have evolved at an incredible rate. Now, as social media impacts most facets of our lives, the ideals and desires of good digital storytelling are larger than ever. Hiring a Digital Storyteller (DS) is something to take under serious consideration.
What is Digital Storytelling?
“Visuals express ideas in a snackable manner”
“TweetDeck is a very interesting client, because it presents a view that no other client in the world presents, which is this multicolumn, massive amounts of information in one pane. And people really, really enjoy that.”
Does your school have a Twitter account or Facebook Page? If the answer is yes, that's great! The demands of modern times require modern solutions - social media is one answer to the ever-growing demands of school marketing.
But how far does your presence on social media go? How about a school YouTube account for sharing all your awesome video content? What about Instagram and Flickr - two places to host photos and images? No? What about SoundCloud for audio? Issuu for publications? Pinterest for inspiration?
All of these channels offer something new to your school's marketing - and should all be considered important tools to make use of.
Knowing how to use them is important - of course! But being able to see how they can fit into your school, which departments and subjects they can be applied to, and understanding that their limitations are often your own is essential if you want to ✨STAND OUT✨ with your marketing.