A school’s social media strategy can be developed in a way that empowers its faculty and students.
Will a school’s digital marketing efforts be entirely outsourced externally through an agency, will there be a collaborative approach, or will it be taken care of inhouse? If so, what is the best way to allocate roles and responsibilities to staff and what skills are required, and therefore training, for them to be able to do the task efficiently?
The growth of a school’s digital platform can be thought of as a whole-school effort, rather than burdening an individual staff member or relying totally on an outsourced marketing company. Even when working with an outsourced marketing company, a school’s digital strategy should be considered as a collaborative approach. Creating great content can happen at all times of the day. The key here is to think outside the box and determine out how staff and students can contribute to creating content.
Consider the following scenario, propose there is a budding sports journalist among the students at a middle school. They could be tasked with the job of covering games for the school football team with their reports being posted on the school’s Facebook and LinkedIn page, as well as traditional places like a newsletter. This will help their journalism prospects by building their writing portfolio, community presence, and could even lead directly to employment.
Other jobs, such as a photographer, editor, and designer for the school’s Instagram or TikTok account, could also be assigned to trustworthy students. This generation has been raised around technology and social media, so most know how to do these jobs competently. Some students will surprise you with just how adept they are at identifying popular online trends, capturing great photographs and editing images and video – all valuable skills in the world of social media.
Anula Primary School in Darwin engages with its parents by having students deliver their school’s news via a weekly Facebook video. Students from different grades take it in turns to host a news-style show delivering the latest news on what is happening around the school. This is a great way to create engaging content while building the skills and confidence of students.
New and recently graduated teachers can write about their experiences at the school and transition into the profession. Faculty members can express what makes them passionate about education and their favourite teaching practices. These reflections can be posted on text-friendly platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn and can be a terrific way of introducing them to parents and building relationships.
Staff could share their teaching philosophies or answer questions like, “what is the one thing you are doing to inspire students” or “what is one thing that is great about working at the school”. This process can also be replicated for students but interchanged with questions like, “what do you look forward to most each day at school” or “what is your favourite subject in class, and why?”
During meetings, leaders could ask staff members whether they have any ideas about how the school could improve its social media activity. This can be a great way of engaging staff more in school operations, diversifying roles, and uncovering potential strengths that these people have.