Having a successful marketing strategy largely starts and ends with content. If your content is good, then you are far more likely to get the engagement and reach you desire. If your content is bad, it will inevitably end up being a waste of time. With good content, the question simply becomes when/where should it be posted.

Of course, “good content” is a relatively vague term:

• “Good content” can differ massively from school to school; community to community.

• “Good content” can become bad content very quickly, as trends shift.

• “Good content” can be on Facebook; or Twitter; or Instagram; or Snapchat; or YouTube; or Pinterest; or any other platform, meaning the medium and type of content is not defined.

• “Good content” can be measured in different ways, meaning that knowing what works better is not always so black and white.

With this in mind, it makes sense to be open to as many different forms of content as possible. It does not necessitate using each and every one, that would be close to impossible and almost certainly ineffective, but instead being experimental and ambitious. Trial and error will win out.

The School Radio Station

So how about this for an exciting and most likely to be engaging endeavour...a radio station for the school?

A school radio station can have lots of useful benefits, especially for pupils:

• Inclusion: Radio is a tool for communication. Having a radio run by pupils, for pupils and a wider community, can help build an air of inclusion around the school.

• Confidence: Not everyone is great at being in front of the camera. While video content has its place in school marketing (very much so in fact) it is always beneficial to have #SchoolStories involving all types of pupils from across your school. A radio can be far less intimidating, some kids are natural talkers but can feel stifled by the camera. Even if they are not natural talkers many pupils will still have a view they can express on radio, which can help build their confidence speaking in a more public forum.

• Speaking & Listening: Radio can be a fantastic tool for developing these skills. Working on a radio does require good speaking and listening skills after all!

• Student Voice: The Student Voice is often a very important aspect of a school; having that forum where pupils can have opinions and a say on their education. The school radio can be a perfect place to facilitate this.

• Teamwork: Running a school radio will require dedication and teamwork - valuable traits for pupils to learn at school!

Happy #BackToSchool time everyone!!! Yes, it's the new academic year and you might just be wondering what social media breakthroughs have crept up on you over the summer holidays. 

Here is our handy summary of the social media you should be on RIGHT NOW, or at least getting very excited for! So...where shall we begin?

STATS!

Yes, statistics. We all love them - don't lie. These numbers and facts help us to see the reality of how entities such as social media effects us. More importantly they offer guidance in where your school should be driving its social media marketing strategy.

Overall

What is SoundCloud?

SoundCloud is an audio platform, which schools can use to share, collaborate and promote audio recordings. Schools use SoundCloud to share recordings of music performances, and podcasts.

What can you do on SoundCloud?

SoundCloud offers the opportunity for your school’s audience to discover the music performed, or created, at the school.

Podcasts are also a very popular type of audio content for schools to upload to SoundCloud.

Who is SoundCloud for?

The main target audience is the current community at the school:

• Parents
• Pupils

Parents can listen to musical performance that they may have missed out on. Pupils can also use SoundCloud for podcasts, debates etc.

SoundCloud is a popular channel for the younger audience. However, this would not be relevant as the sounds shared on SoundCloud will be sent directly to your school’s audience (email, Twitter, website etc.) rather than discovered on the platform.

What to share

SoundCloud is built to share audio clips. Schools should be using to platform to distribute audio recordings of individual music performances, concerts, student radio, pupil/teacher podcasts etc.

Schools can use SoundCloud to share the following:

• Concerts
• Music performances
• Podcasts
• Languages
• Radio

How often to share?

It is unlikely people will regularly follow and refresh your SoundCloud feed. However, they may end up on the channel and will want regular updates.

Your school will be using channels, such as Twitter, Facebook, website, email newsletter etc., to update people on new sounds shared on SoundCloud.

Weekly posts to SoundCloud is ideal for a school, but consistency is key with posts such as podcasts.

How do you use SoundCloud at your school? Are you planning on introducing SoundCloud? Let us know in the comments, or on Twitter.