What Every School District Needs to Know About Social Media

What Every School District
Needs to Know About Social
Media The MarketingSavant Group
www.marketingsavant.com
888.989.7771
dana@marketingsavant.com

NSPRA 2012
July 9, 2012
The MarketingSavant Group 888.989.7771

Slide Deck & Resources
www.marketingsavant.com/nspra12


On Today’s Agenda

• Social Media – The Strategic Process
• Tools for School Districts
• Best Practices for Facebook, Twitter, and others
• Case study and Examples of School Districts Using
Social Media
• 10 Best Practices for School District Social Media


Connecting Content With
District Supporters

Source: Ogilvy


Don’t Commit Random Acts of
Social Media Marketing!


Have a Well Defined Social Strategy
Delavan-Darien (WI) is Social!


Define the Social Media Plan

1. Outline Your 7. District-wide Social
Objectives Media Opportunities
2. Determine Risk Profile 8. Policy / Protocols
3. Define Your 9. Choose Social
Audience(s) Channels (Tools &
4. Social Media Content Tactics)
5. Determine District 10. Social Media Systems
Integration Points 11. Measurement
6. Culture Change and
Adaptation?


WRITE THE STRATEGY

What’s your Strategy Statement?

In What Way Does Social Media Help Us
Achieve Our Mission?

What Are 3 Expectations You Have for
Social Media in Your School District?

Balance Risk &
Reward


Use Personas to Bring Audience into Focus


Map the Sphere of Interest
& Influence
• Identify your target State & National
Parks
audiences and subgroups

Health
Enthusiast

Family Travel
Bike
Bike Clubs
Safety Bike
• Think in terms of what Shop
associated groups are
important to your Fitness &
Training
Bike
Racing

audience that connect to
(touch) your product or
service Healthy Eating Organic Gardening


Publish on Schedule – “1-7-30-4-2-1”

• 1 = Daily
• 7 = Weekly
• 30 = Monthly
• 4 = Quarterly
• 2 = Bi-Annual
• 1 = Annual

Source: FusionSpark Media www.marketingsavant.com
The MarketingSavant Group http://www.fusionspark.com/blog/2009/10/13/content-marketing-secrets-part-iii-easy-as-1-7-30-4-2-1/ 888.989.7771

Map Out the Publishing Process


Social Media Requires
Change Management
• Urgency!
• Guidance & governance
• Vision
• Communication
• Empowerment &
enablement
• Campaign wins +
competence development
• Build institutional
processes
• Create Social Media
Center of Excellence


Social Media Policy
Essential Before You Start in Social
• New media channels and internet services have changed the
way we communicate
– Personal information on display on blogs, Facebook etc.
– The line between the personal and the professional sphere gets
blurred.
– Corporate information available from lots of sources.
– Users spread information about brands, products and companies.
• Internet allows viral spread of information
– Bad news travels fast.
– Good news can also travel fast.
– Media and the blogosphere influence each other.


Social Media First Responders
• Be transparent. Be open and
honest in all communication.
• Be ethical. Live by the WOMMA
Practical Ethics Toolkit
• Be relevant. Share information
and perspectives that are
valuable to the online community
• Personalize and be personable.
• Address negative discussion
head-on.
• Court evangelists & advocates.

Even if you’re not ready to join the conversation, it
pays to have a sound strategy for dealing with any
social media conversation taking place about your
brand.

Social Media Toolset


Using the Right Tools

• Listen to Social Media Channels

• Create Your Fan Page

• Build a Fan Community on

• Publish Great Content on Your

• Use to Tell Your Story with Video

• Amplify Your Images with

Free Listening Tools

Scratch the Surface


Google Reader: The Hub


Facebook Pages
• Publish content that
naturally encourages click-
throughs or creates
discussion.
• Powerful way of engaging
parents, supporters,
community and alumnus
• Many options for sharing
content and media
• Connect it to your blog for a
constant flow of content
• Directly message & connect
with supporters around
important issues


Facebook Communication Strategy

• Build an active Timeline • Use Calls to Action
– Encourage people to Like your page – Well designed, clear calls to action
– Monitor and participate in the – Market Facebook outside Facebook
comments on your Timeline • Use photos
• Re-purpose content – If possible, use pictures to show how
– Post useful, interesting content from students are succeeding in your
various sources, regularly schools
• Encourage Experiential Marketing – Show events, awards, etc.
– Use Landing pages or welcome tabs – Post pictures of your team at work
– Product specific interaction • Use video
– Deliver a unique experience! – Post recording of school events,
– Experiment speeches
• Use Ads to Drive Traffic – Show your sports teams in action
– Open enrollment, sporting events, • Integrate off-line marketing
referenda, etc. – Other media ads and content


Twitter for School Districts
• Establish a pattern of consistency
in your tweeting strategy
• Keep your “it is all about them”
hat on when tweeting
– RT other people’s stuff
• Follow social media best practices
– Follow those that follow you but
maintain balanced follower to
following ratios – recommend 1.25
to 1 or less
– Engage: Proactively and in
response to RTs (retweets) and SOs
(Shout Outs)
• Tweet consistently and set up a
good maintenance schedule
• Measure which content resonates
best with your audience


What Is Twitter Good For ?
• Building Community- creating a strong community of followers that
ultimately help raise awareness, visibility and affinity for the district
• Media Relations – share updates, initiatives, ideas and relevant stories
with your local media on twitter
• Parent Relations - using Twitter to successfully engage with parents who
need regular updates
• Events - driving attendance at school events such as theater, sporting
• Early Alert – alert parents and the community when breaking news
happens, weather closes school or other such things happen
• Branding & Awareness - employing Twitter in creative ways to increase
awareness around a district program or initiative
• Fundraising - using Twitter to spread the word about important causes


Start a District Blog
• Platform for updates,
superintendent
opinions, PR content
• Feed Facebook and
Twitter accounts
• Share district success
stories
• Use as the foundation
for a social media
publishing plan


Start a Band of Bloggers!


Embrace the Power of Video

• Tell your story with
video – most popular
platform (for Google,
after Google itself)
• SEO & SMO friendly
• Capture and share
experiences that other
SM channels can’t
duplicate


Pulaski on Pinterest
• Pinterest is a fast-growing pin-
board style social network
• The site is very visual in nature and
allows you to showcase:
– Events
– Faculty
– Students
– Share educational resources
– Community
• Pulaski School District has several
boards, highlighting:
– Graduation
– The Golden Apple Winner
– Around the Village
– Around the District
– Our Schools


HootSuite

• Manage Facebook and
Twitter
• Team social media
assignments
• Now handles “admin as
page” in Facebook
• Used by hundreds of
brands
• www.hootsuite.com
• Free to $$$


Postling

• Simplifies multiple
account management
• Blog right from Postling
• Upload photos & videos
• Reply to Facebook posts
• Daily email updates
• Track metrics for each
property
• http://postling.com
• Free to $49/mo


Sprout Social
• Manage social networks
in one place
• ‘Discover’ based on
search & mentions
(leads!)
• Connect FB, Twitter,
LinkedIn
• Great for personal brands
& small business
• Follower demographics
• Great charts & UI
• $9 - $49/mo


District Case Study – Minnetonka, Minnesota
Share Videos

Pictures from
Sporting Events


Minnetonka is Social!
• Facebook to share
videos, sporting
events, student
spotlights, etc.
• YouTube to
showcase students
and events
• Using RSS feed to
inform people of
breaking news
within the district


Minnetonka Case Study
• In education especially, there is always the concern
about teacher-student online communications
• Put policies in place to protect against inappropriate
behavior
• Talk to staff about repercussions is social media is not
used properly
• The Minnetonka School District has a policy in place
stating that educators can only engage in password
protected networks that are sanctioned by the school
district
• All messaging between faculty and students must be
public

10 Best Practices in School District
Social Media


Following other people’s best
practices is the surest route to
mediocrity. Rewrite the rules of
engagement and build the
organization around the customer.

via: WWW.VIRTU-ASSIST.COM


1. Guidelines, Policy, Education

Train school staff, parents
and students on the safe
use of social media
• Host a Tweetup
• Inform before punishing
• Policies should be
instructive


2. Get Better at Social Media…
Through Social Media
• Social media changes
quickly – you should to!
• Follow the top blogs
• Follow the ad-age 150
• Google alert on “school
district social media”
• Social media users group
“In my professional role, I’ve become very quickly reliant on
Twitter and Facebook to inform me of trends and Web 2.0
tools I should be considering using with students/sharing
with staff.” —Marcia Dressel, K-5 librarian, Osceola, Wis.

3. Go Beyond
“Supply Side Content”
• Understand what your
audience wants in social
media – talk about that
• Use the ‘sphere of
interest’ to determine
allied topics for social
media
• “Atomize” your district
content to tell your
story


4. Use Social Media as a Multiplier


5. Understand and Adapt to Mobile
Behavior
Facebook, Twitter Reach among Smartphone Users
3-month average, ending June 2011
Source: Experian Hitwise

50.9%

31.7%

12.5%
7.4%

U.S. smartphone users European smartphone users

Facebook Twitter

The Social Media Data Stacks


6. Understand the Finer Points of
Social Media Engagement
• What and when to post
content on social
networks?
• Mind your ‘share of voice’
on the social channels
• Read and heed the
research on social media
engagement
• Hashtags, photos,
conversation, tone, etc.


7. Mind the Social Metrics

Effective social media measurement should start by turning the
traditional ROI approach on its head.

That is, instead of emphasizing their own marketing
investments and calculating the returns in terms of customer
response, managers should begin by considering consumer
motivations to use social media and then measure the social
media investments customers make as they engage with the
marketers’ brands.

Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?, MIT Sloan Management
Journa - Donna L. Hoffman and Marek Fodor


7. Mind the Social Metrics (cont’d)


8. Develop Your Social Media Voice
• Social media voice is
critical to engagement
and long term success
• Sorry, but there’s no
formula
• Mind the “style of your
brand/district” - Chances
are a style guide already
exists that communicates
brand presentation, usage
guidelines and other
forms of brand-related
marketing aesthetics.


9. Remember, It’s Not About
the Technology
Social media isn’t “about
the technology!” We need
to better understand:
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• (Digital) Ethnography


10. Explore New Platforms

• Go beyond social media
for social media’s sake
• Explore the use value
beyond the “Big 5”
• Ask “How will this new
social media tool help
us to achieve our
mission”


11. Follow Evelyn McCormack


QUESTIONS?

The MarketingSavant Group
888.989.7771
dana@marketingsavant.com

Thanks for Attending!


What Every School District Needs to Know About Social Media

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