This is a presentation given at the Utah State PTA convention 2011. It was designed to help educate PTA volunteers how to utilize social media to engage the parents and students of the school. More particularly, how to use social media to get the word about about events and matters pertaining to the school.

1. Using Social Networking to Promote your PTA

2. Rick Hardman Contact Info hardmanrc@gmail.com twitter.com/rickhardman

3. What's the Goal??

4. What's the Goal?? Connect!! Simply put, social media gives you an opportunity to connect with and engage more people in you school and community. In the end, the better we can work together as parents the better experience and education our children will get at school.

5. National PTA Says: PTA Social MediaCommunications among members of the PTA family have undergone a major revolution. PTA leaders, members, and others interested in education and child welfare can connect and mobilize through online social media. The National PTA is fully engaged in social media and invites you to connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, where we share and discuss headline news and current events; view our public service announcements and videos on YouTube; and enjoy our photos and slideshows from national events on Fotki. You can read and comment on the articles our leadership and ambassadors post on the PTA Blog, and listen to them and other guests discuss compelling topics via our PTA Radio podcasts. PTA’s social media network makes it easy for you to connect with your peers across the country and around the world! PTA social-media sites: • www.facebook.com/ParentTeacherAssociation• www.public.fotki.com/pta• www.twitter.com/ptaeditor• www.youtube.com/nationalpta`• http://www.ptanewsroom.org/pta_radio.html• http://www.pta-blog.org/

6. Social Media –Good or Bad?? Good Efficient communication Builds a sense of community More useful feedback Sharing of experiences Reach more people Everything is “on the record” BAD Heat of the moment communication Bad experiences magnified Out of control negative feedback Everything is “on the record” It all depends on how social media accounts are handled!!

7. Personal Experience of a simple social media mishap

8. Because it will happen to you… How will you handle an unhappy parent engaging you on Facebook in front of Everyone? ???????????

9. Which Social Media Sites To Use??

10. Which Social Media Sites To Use??

11. -When I polled parents Facebook was by far the most common social media site they used.

12. How To Setup a PTA Facebook Account Determine who is going to setup & monitor the Facebook account Set up a Facebook Page account (not a group or person) Network with your PTA board to get the necessary “likes” so you can set a personalized “Vanity” url. (keep it simple – name of school +pta: http://www.facebook.com/LindonElementaryPTA Fill in the profile information, including a link to the school website, phone number, address, etc. (use school logo as the profile pic to make it easy to recognize) Wait to publicize the Facebook page until you have the vanity url. Brand all of your fliers, emails, etc with the PTA Facebook URL.

13. Setting up a PTA Facebook Account After you have logged out of your personal Facebook account, click on the “Create a Page” link to create your PTA Facebook Page

14. Setting up a PTA Facebook Account Choose Company, Organization or Institution

15. Setting up a PTA Facebook Account Choose “Education or School” as your category, name the account (ex: LindonElementaryPTA), click the “I agree” box and then the “get started button.

16. Setting up a PTA Facebook Account You can choose to login at this point with your personal Facebook account or to set up a new “dummy” account that you can share the login info with the appropriate people.

17. Setting up a PTA Facebook Account Begin by clicking the “edit Info” link and entering as much pertinent information as possible

18. How To Utilize the Facebook account Remind parents of upcoming events Answer questions from parents Get feedback on events, programs, etc Build community among parents Educate parents on how the PTA is benefiting the school Engage the community in PTA sponsored events Mobilize parents on legislative issues Monitor, Monitor, Monitor!!

19. Keys To Success With Facebook Incentivize “likes” -Most check Facebook religiously. When someone “likes” your PTA page, your updates will show up in their news feeds. (perhaps reward students whose parents “like” the PTA Facebook page) Regular Updates / Current Information -If you are not answering questions, posting regularly or information is out of date, it will die quickly. Stay current and interact with others on the page and it will be utilized by them and become an effective tool for you. Address Negative Feedback –When negative feedback comes, don’t delete it or ignore it – address it. This is your chance to answer questions and concerns.

20. - When I polled parents they said that they did not understand twitter, but many teens get it.

21. How to Setup a PTA Twitter Account Determine who will set up and manage the twitter account Name the account the school name + PTA ie - twitter.com/lindonelementarypta) Be sure to link to the Facebook page from your twitter profile Use the school logo as the profile image so that students recognize it easily Find parents or staff that use twitter and “follow” them. This will help get the word out that the PTA is on Twitter Brand all of your fliers, emails, etc with the PTA Twitter URL

22. How to Setup a PTA Twitter Account In the “Full Name” box, enter the name of your school plus “PTA” (ex: PoDunk Elementary PTA)

23. How to Setup a PTA Twitter Account You can choose to follow people now, but I would recommend skipping that for now and clicking “Next Step: Friends”

24. How to Setup a PTA Twitter Account You can choose to try and connect with your contacts on twitter with this account, particularly if a lot of your contacts are in your PTA. The other option is to skip the import.

25. How to Setup a PTA Twitter Account Perhaps the most important piece to get started is #3 – Set up Your Profile.

26. How to Utilize the Twitter Account Inform Community & Press of PTA sponsored events Remind High School students of PTA events Show support for students Motivate & mobilize students into action Educate students on current events & encourage discussion Ask for advice / ideas across the nation on PTA subjects Point students to PTA Facebook page Monitor, Monitor, Monitor!!

27. Keys To Success With Twitter Take the time to learn it –Most parents do not understand twitter and it takes some time to learn. The more you learn about it the better you can utilize it. Regular Updates –tweeting regularly about PTA events and school functions will help students desire to follow you to stay current. Tweet to the Press-If you have an event you want in the news, let them know through twitter. Many of the local news staff have their own twitter accounts that they personally monitor. Interesting Links–Most tweets will include a link to additional information on your PTA events. However, tweeting fun and interesting links can help encourage followers to interact with you more.

28. Questions This slide presentation will be uploaded and found on utahpta.org