Tips on how to use social media for a primary or secondary school. This presentation assumes a basic level of understanding of social media, but gives ideas on how to use social media to engage with parents, students and the community at large.

1. SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOUR SCHOOL
WEDNESDAY JUNE 24TH, 2015
PRESENTED BY SARAH SLOAN
PHD CANDIDATE IN MARKETING AT GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
S.SLOAN@GRIFFITH.EDU.AU

2. TOPICS COVERED
• Why is social media important for your school
• How social media can be used
• Things to consider
• How to control social media
• How to contact me

3. Social Media in 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jottDMuLesU

4. Department name (edit in View > Header and Footer...)
Why is social media important
for your school?

5. WHY?
Because people are already talking about your school
whether you know it or not

6. How can social media used by
schools?
 To connect with students (aged 13+) and parents
 Appear approachable
 Attract students
 Give reminders to parents celebrate
achievements
 Make your school stand out

7. WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA?
• start out slow – 1 medium is enough at first
• Facebook is most used by parents (and you), so begin here
• easiest interface to use
• Consider adding Instagram next – it is easy to link this to
Facebook to upload pictures
and videos simultaneously to
both mediums.

8. LOOK AT HOW THE
PAGE IS SET OUT

9. IDEALLY….
• Easy to set up
• Spread the responsibility
• Cheap/free to establish
• Easy to maintain – just takes a little planning
• Uses the resources you already have

10. HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
• Strategies will differ from primary and high schools
• Dependant upon the resources you have – be creative
with what you have
• Think outside the box – be creative, and think differently
• Work heavily with the Parents & Citizens association
• Remember: it is TWO way communication – so respond to
people that contact/interact with you
• Share content that you think is relevant to parents and
students

11. LAST MINUTE UPDATES
Your sports day got rained out?
Roads closed near the school?
Events postponed?
Let people know immediately through social media (in
addition to the other, usual channels; email, SMS, newsletter)

12. SHARE SCHOOL NEWS
Facebook is an excellent opportunity for a school to connect
with families and share information rapidly.
If a school is consistent in keeping the information updated
and accurate, students and families will likely come to rely on
the Facebook Page as a resource to find information about
what’s going on at the school.
There are many different types of information that a school
could choose to share on its Facebook Page.

13. COMMUNITY WARNINGS

14. CELEBRATE ACHIEVEMENTS
Build community spirit
Recognise achievements of students, and staff
Examples:
• interschool sports
• Sports day results, in real time
• student/class of the week
• a staff member is recognised
• school captain announcements
• P&C raised funds
• principal gave a talk at another school

15. REMINDERS
• timely reminders right before deadlines prompt memory
• get the information to the right people at the right time

16. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS!
• be creative
• local celebrities –
• councillors,
• sports people,
• previous students,
• local school students.

17. THINGS TO CONSIDER
• First and foremost –
• STUDENT PRIVACY
• Never use full names of students
• Only post pictures of students with their caregivers permission
• Have they signed a consent form?
• What current protocols do you have for images of students?

18. THINGS TO CONSIDER
• Who will be in charge of the social media? Ideally this
should be a small team (2-3 people).
• Creating content – everyone’s responsibility. Have
classroom teachers email you through pictures of artwork,
projects, student of the week etc
• Can you work with a nearby partner/feeder school?
• Update at least daily. Multiple times a day is ideal.
• Pictures (instead of just text), get the most attention. Use
stock images to get attention if you have to. Eg. An image
with the word “reminder” will encourage people to read
the text underneath the picture.

19. • The CHALLENGE of control
•Can you control social media? No, you can only MODERATE and
RESPOND
• Things can change in a minute on social media
• How do you stop something going viral?
• How will you respond if someone writes something negative on your
facebook page? Tip: do NOT ignore it. Always address the issue in a
professional manner.
• Have a control PLAN, so you know what to do.
KEEP IN MIND...

20. THANK YOU
Please feel free to contact me with any questions:
s.sloan@griffith.edu.au