Social Media Strategies for Schools for OASBO Conference
1. Social Media
Strategies
for School Districts
OASBO Annual Workshop
04.21.10
Lee Cole, Pickerington Local Schools
Shane Haggerty, Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
2. Social Media Strategies
for School Districts
What is Social Media & Why it Matters
How we are using it
Problems/Obstacles
Myths vs. Facts
Social Media tools (Twitter, Facebook,
Blogging)
Next Steps/Resources
3. Social Media: What is it?
Why does it matter?
Social Media is an open, interactive, conversational
communications tool based online
Social media changes the way we communicate from one-
way and top-down to two-way, bottom-up
Social media moves communication from a monologue to a
dialogue
“Social media has created a shift from push
communication to a pull dialogue”-Forrester Research
The brand is now in the hands of the consumer
4. Social Media: What is it?
Why does it matter?
The Lecture is OVER!
Show me a STORY!
There are NO captive audiences
anymore!
5. Social Media: What is it?
Why does it matter?
Facebook: Over 400 million active users, 41% over age 35
YouTube: 84% watching video online, 54% ages 35-64
Twitter: More than 3 million “Tweets” each day
Gender of social media users: 50/50 split
Age Stats: 18-24 (75%), 25-34 (57%), 35-44 (30%), 45-54 (19%), 55-64
(10%), 65+ (7%)
Since 2005, Adult use has more than quadrupled from 8% to 35%
More than 40% of women over 40 have a social networking presence
11. Why Tweet?
-One of the easiest social media vehicles
-More controls district side controls
-Increase brand and maintain identity
-Reach a new demographic
-Target your message
Don't be intimidated
-You don't need to make a large
investment into Twitter
-Two sentence messages
-5-10 min daily commitment
12. Usages
-A branding tool
-Rumor Control
-Testimonials
-Reminder Notices
How to Implement
-Set-up an account
-Create background image
-Profile/links
-Build followers
15. Facebook 101
1.
What is it?
2.
Growth and projected
users
3.
Different types of pages
(individual, fan, group)
4.
Why use Facebook?
5.
Reaching a variety of
audiences
6.
How it differs in privacy
controls from other social
media (MySpace)
19. The Planning stage:
Surveys of Students showed:
Only 20% of parents read direct mail pieces, 14.3% of
students did
97% of parents & students visit district website always
or sometimes
70% of students preferred visiting Facebook or
MySpace while online
23% regularly used photo sharing sites & watched
online videos
58% read blogs regularly
21. Outcomes/measurement:
Enrollment trending up for next school
year (100+ more students at this point
over same point last year)
Recruitment/community outreach has been
“branded”
Students have become part of PR team
24. Blogging
-Blogs allow you to communicate in
a transparent and “real” way
-Blogs can replace traditional print
newsletters or other costly
methods of delivering up-to-date
news
-Blogs allow you to tell a story and
create a dialogue with your
constituents
-Blogs can be subscribed to
allowing for easy delivery
-Blog comments can be moderated
and controlled for safety
-Wordpress or Blogger are free!
25. Problems & Obstacles
1.
Lack of understanding
-
Youth usually more savvy than adults regarding social media types,
functions
-
“Just a fad”
2.
Fear of the unknown
-
New mediums continue to be tested
-
social media expands, so do the ways we use it.
As
-
Strict legislation governing how students’ images are allowed to be
used on the Internet
-
Legislation is really just emerging; lots of gray areas
3.
Target audience
-
Not knowing how parents/community prefers to receive news about
your district
-
Often a matter of lack of Internet access in larger cities, rural
populations
26. Problems & Obstacles
HEADLINES WORRY SCHOOL DISTRICTS:
Teens sue school over punishment for racy pics
Summer vacation lingerie-and-lollipop photos were posted on MySpace
- MSNBC, Oct. 30, 2009
Va. Student's Snow-Day Plea Triggers an Online Storm
- Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2008
Conviction on lesser charges in MySpace case
Mother guilty of misdemeanor charges in cyber-bullying in which girl died
- MSNBC, Nov. 26, 2008
Facebook postings land N.C. teachers in hot water
- Charlotte Observer, Nov. 23, 2008
State targets student-teacher communication
New Louisiana law says all electronic communication between teachers and students
outside of school must be reported
- eSchool News, Oct. 19, 2009
28. MYTH:
It’s dangerous and uncontrollable
FACT:
It’s controllable with safety features and
moderation controls
29. MYTH:
Social Media is a fad and only for kids
FACT:
It’s growth continues at astounding rates, it’s part of
peoples’ lifestyles and the 35 and up crowd accounts
for 41% of all visitors to the largest social site
30. MYTH:
It’s free and easy, anyone can do it, and
it will have an immediate impact
FACT:
It CAN be free, it DOES take time and planning, not
EVERYONE should do it, and it’s impact does take time
and consistency
31. MYTH:
Social media will replace traditional
communications and is immeasurable
FACT:
Social media should be PART of your outreach, along
with traditional PR and marketing. It’s measurement
is easier than traditional means, but is based more on
relationship-building and engagement
32. NEXT STEPS: Strategies
for your school district
Plan (Surveys, focus groups)
Coordinate social media efforts across
organization/Get support from administration,
board
Set policies and procedures, crisis procedures
Evangelize and educate your staff (and
constituents)
Monitor and measure
33. Benefits of social media:
>Rapid response to rumors/criticism
>Build a network of key communicators/
word-of-mouth
>Dialogue w/constituents
>On-going idea development
>Provides testimonials
>Create communities
35. QUESTIONS?
Contact Us:
Lee Cole:
lee_cole@fc.pickerington.k12.oh.us
Shane Haggerty:
shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us
36. Follow us online:
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center:
http://twitter.com/ohiohipoint
http://facebook.com/ohiohipoint
http://www.hipointjourneys.com
Pickerington Local School District:
http://twitter.com/plsd
http://facebook.com/wearepickerington
http://www.youtube.com/WeArePickerington