Collier County Public Schools in Florida launched a social media initiative to engage parents and showcase the district's excellence. The Executive Director of Communications, Greg Turchetta, gained support from district leadership and convinced skeptical principals. He eased adoption by starting with Twitter training, setting clear goals, and introducing monthly awards for the highest performing schools. Within three months, the district saw a large increase in social media followers across its 50 schools, with many economically challenged schools among the top performers. The initiative proved social media can be adopted effectively by any district.

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Collier County Public Schools | www.collierschools.com | Naples, FL | 45,000 students | 50 schools
“You have to market
your school now. You
have to convince people
why your education is
better than the one next
door. Social media has
become a beautiful vehicle
for showcasing our
district’s excellence.
”
Greg Turchetta
ExecutiveDirectorofCommunications
CollierCountyPublicSchools(FL)
The air was thick with anticipation. Fifty principals were at the edge of their seats.
They all desperately wanted the coveted award to be displayed at their school. But this wasn’t
just any award the principals from Collier County Public Schools (FL) longed for.
It was a giant light up hashtag.
Accept the challenge
Executive Director of Communications, Greg Turchetta, knew he needed to get all 50 schools in
his district active on social media. Schools were looking for more efficient ways of reaching busy
parents, many of whom work several jobs and struggle to stay up-to-date with their student’s
accomplishments. Nine schools had social media accounts but rarely used them. Greg recognized
that a social media re-launch would be the ideal tool to bridge this gap.
Within just a couple months he was able to tackle student privacy fears, training, adoption—and
even have the principals competing for a one-foot-tall light up hashtag that symbolized their school
was mastering social media.
Pitch your plan with proof
After attending NSPRA’s annual conference in July 2015, Greg learned how important social media
is to K-12 communication. He quickly formed a roll out plan, armed himself with proof of social
media’s importance, and presented his case to the superintendent. The superintendent’s support
was critical in getting the school leaders to listen.
The conversation started out around communication and soon evolved into a branding discussion.
By using social media as a compliment to other channels such as their website and mobile app,
the district and schools could truly improve community engagement and promote themselves as
the best educational choice for prospective families and staff. After gaining the superintendent’s
support, it was time for Greg to pitch the plan at the annual principal’s meeting.
Reassure your stakeholders that social media isn’t scary
Going into the principal’s meeting he was aware that his social media plan would most likely be
met with resistance and fear. His biggest hurdle would be convincing the school leaders that social
media isn’t scary and that it is really easy to do!
The two main fears surrounding social media that his audience presented are quite common
among districts across the county. Fear of the unknown and fear of violating student privacy.
50 schools, 3 months,
1 social media plan
CollierCountytweetstheirwaytosocialmediasuccess
Key components to a
successful social media
rollout plan:
• Map out timelines, dates, and
participants before pitching
your plan to district leaders
• Consider starting with one
social media platform, like
Twitter, and introducing
other platforms once your
participants are comfortable
• Set clear adoption and
follower goals

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• Fear of the unknown. How does the technology work? Who is going to teach us how to use it?
Where am I going to find time in my day to use social media?
–– Training: Greg carved out time to visit each of the 50 schools to train principals and teachers
on social media, specifically Twitter. The roll out plan was designed to ease the schools into
social media by first using Twitter and later introducing Facebook and Instagram.
–– Time: Social media posts don’t take hours. Greg asked every principal (or their designee) to
simply set aside 5 minutes throughout the day for social media and assured them it doesn’t
have to be an overwhelming experience.
• Fear of violating student privacy. Student privacy should always be kept top of mind when it
comes to all communication channels, not just social media. Collier County Schools carefully
navigates this issue with annual opt-out photography waivers. Families who do not want their
student to be photographed or videotaped are asked to complete the form and send it back to
the school.
Although those were the two main concerns, some principals also worried about creating content.
For them, Greg had one piece of advice, “No news is too small for social media.” He noted that
schools need to break the stereotype that people only want to hear about big stories the local
media would cover.
Put the power in the hands of your teachers
According to Greg, “Teachers are the expert reporters in the school. They know the content and
the students.”
Securing their involvement was critical. They’re in the classrooms, interacting with the students,
and creating the great content. The district’s social plan relied heavily on their participation.
Participation Framework
• Teachers post classroom level content from their personal accounts using their school & district
specific hashtags
• Principals post school level content from the school account while retweeting teachers using
their school and district specific hashtags
• The district communications team posts district level content from the district account while
retweeting schools and teachers using the district hashtag #ccpsproud
Drive adoption with rewards and recognition
When it came to adoption incentives at Collier County, Greg had a stroke of genius with the
hashtag award.
He saw the district’s principals “fiercely” competing for monthly attendance awards, and
knew the key to their full participation was to introduce a monthly social media incentive—the
Hashtag Award. Greg and his communications team use three primary measures to select the
winning school:
1. Growth (number of followers and retweets)
2. Creativity (thinking outside the box)
3. Overall effort (how hard the school is working on their social presence)
The award brought principal support which quickly trickled downstream to the teachers who
enjoyed recognition and praise for their participation from both school and district leaders. This
motivating factor continues to be the driving force behind teacher participation.
“Be savvy, be sassy, be
creative, be interesting.
Definitely don’t be boring.
And have fun with it. If
you have fun with social
media you’ll keep doing it.
If it becomes a chore, you
won’t.
”
Greg Turchetta
ExecutiveDirectorofCommunications
CollierCountyPublicSchools(FL)
Content Tips
• Break up newsletters and
flyers into 10-15 tweets
• Post about events before,
during, and after they happen
• Share classroom activities
and photos of students
learning
Greg Turchetta presents the
coveted hashtag award.

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“Social media has been the
great equalizer. You can’t
say technology is a barrier
if the [academically]
under performing schools
are over performing on
social media.
”
Greg Turchetta
ExecutiveDirectorofCommunications
CollierCountyPublicSchools(FL)
Greg didn’t dream the award of a giant light up hashtag would be such a hit among the principals
and teachers, but it has proved to be just the trick to accelerating their adoption. They have since
added a second award for social media innovation—a 1 foot tall light up “@” sign. CCPS calls it the
Where it’s @ Award.
Evaluate your results and set goals for the future
While Collier County Public Schools is still learning the ropes of social media, it’s evident from their
progress and determination that social media will continue to play a big role in their family and
community engagement strategy.
The results they’ve seen in just three months prove social media isn’t scary, overwhelming, time
consuming, or hard to implement. It shows social media can be adopted by any district no matter
the size, economic status, technology background, or budget restraints.
Results
• District: Increased Facebook followers by 53% and Twitter followers by 72%
• Schools: Doubling their followers each month
• Elementary schools: 7 out of 10 top performing schools on Twitter are economically
challenged
• Middle schools: 3 out of 4 top performing schools on Twitter are economically challenged
• High schools: 2 out of 3 top performing schools on Twitter are economically challenged
Contributor to story
Greg Turchetta
Executive Director of Communications
Collier County Public Schools (FL)
Goals of the social media plan:
• Improve parent and family communication
• Get all schools involved in social media
• Convince district and school leadership of social
media’s importance
Steps to achieve stakeholder buy-in:
• Provide proof
• Start out slow with one social platform
• Ensure participants that social media isn’t scary
Ways to accelerate adoption:
• Gain support from district leadership
• Create incentive programs
• Acknowledge those that put in extraordinary levels of effort
Results
• Increase in followers
• Widespread adoption
• Creative use of content
Ready to learn more?
Findouthowtooptimize your district’s social media efforts