A K-12 communications leader’s guide to social media success

| K-12

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Table of contents:3 Introduction4 Foreword: Why go social?6 Chapter 1: Build a case for social media7 Get buy-in: Why it’s important

8 Get buy-in: Efficiency from social media

9 Get buy-in: Student privacy

10 Chapter 2: Get started11 Start small

12 Identify your audience

13 Get rockstar staff on board

14 Chapter 3: Ways to communication via social media platforms15 Tips for Facebook

19 Tips for Twitter

23 Tips for Snapchat

24 Tips for Instagram

25 Chapter 4: Gain adoption26 Gain adoption with staff members

27 Gain adoption with students

28 Gain adoption with parents

29 Chapter 5: Measure success30 Provide metrics

31 Additional resources32 About Blackboard

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IntroductionDid you know?

1 out of 4 communications leaders said that they fear using social media and identified it as one of their key communication challenges.1

A K-12 communications leader’s guide to social media will help alleviate the fears you might have about social media and will provide new ways to ramp up your social media strategy by hearing from some of your peers who are effectively engaging their parents, students and communities through their various school and district social media channels. They have shared their expertise in building a case for social media, getting started, communicating via social media platforms, gaining adoption and measuring success. Read this ebook to learn how to keep everyone more informed, involved, and working together on your social media channels to increase student achievement at your school and/or district.

1. Project Tomorrow, Speak Up Survey, 2016.

Speak Up provides an easy way for students, parents and educators to participate in your local decisions about technology, as well as contribute to the state and national dialogue about educational technology. Since 2003, Project Tomorrow has collected the viewpoints of 4.5 million students, educators and parents – the Speak Up dataset represents the largest collection of authentic feedback from these key educational stakeholders.

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Foreword: Why go social?What the research says…

TechValidate Survey, 2016.

TechValidate is a research firm that surveyed 247 Blackboard customers about a wide range of community engagement topics.

Social media was named the second most effective aspect of community engagement, right behind district websites.Conclusion: District websites continue to be a core engagement channel. Social media has been on the rise over the last few years, and is the up and coming channel of choice for students and young parents.

Social media was the #1 factor that caused an increase in engagement for respondents’ districts.Conclusion: When you communicate with your audiences where they already are, you’re going to see engagement growth. And right now, that growth comes from social media.

74% of respondents say they have seen an impact on student outcomes because of their community engagement efforts.Conclusion: When taking into account the previous answers, the connection can be made that social media impacts student outcomes.

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Foreword: Why go social? What the research says…

Project Tomorrow, Speak Up Survey, 2016.

76% of communications leaders identified school or district Facebook account(s) as a method that is most effective for communicating with parents today.Conclusion: Facebook is a beneficial social media channel to start using to communicate with your families. Note: Your families may be on Facebook, but your students may be more active on other social media platforms.

Communications leaders were asked to identify their priorities for their communications efforts this year.

Top priorities included:

• Sharing “good news” about school and district success stories. (81%)

• Building or enhancing district brand/reputation. (69%)

• Building trust of confidence in their local schools. (64%)

Conclusion: Social media is one avenue to begin accomplishing top priorities deemed important by communications leaders.

⅓ of community members say that they use school or district Facebook or other social media accounts to learn about what is happening in local schools in their community.Conclusion: Many community members find their information on Facebook or social media. Share and tailor your information so that it’s relevant to that audience as well.

Chapter 1:Build a case for social media

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Chapter 1: Build a case for social media

Get buy in: Why it’s importantEngaging with stakeholders on topics such as your district’s vision, student achievement and fun extracurricular activities encourages community support. Social media provides the power to reach more people, more often and share great stories.

West Plains Schools (MO) has prioritized better communication for parents, students, and staff as a top driver for the district when the position of a Director of Communications was created 6 years ago. But, we realized, if we don’t tell our story on social media someone else will. My district uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram pages to share news, showcase programs and invite community feedback.

Social media is not a fad. It’s here to stay. Parent engagement is key to student success and parents want to have quality conversations with their children about their school day, but typically when asked this question to students the response is, “Nothing.” Social media provides parents with the opportunity to ask more targeted questions to their students.

Use social media to celebrate the great things happening in your district:

• Promote sports, arts, and cultural events.

• Initiate Throwback Thursday: include photos from district archives to share on social media.

• Share summer school activities because learning doesn’t come to end when school is out.

• Post about school betterment projects.

Author: Lana Snodgras, Director of Communications and Community Relations, West Plains Schools (MO)

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Chapter 1: Build a case for social media

Get buy-in: Efficiency from social mediaOur district needed a way to engage our parents and community members as well as build awareness of achievements and day-to-day happenings in our district. We wanted an easy and inexpensive way to tell our district’s story in a public platform that our stakeholders were already using. Social media filled this need, helped build a positive culture and environment, and increased our community and district alliance.

To secure buy-in for social media, schools need to prove how social media efforts are contributing to the district’s overall branding and priorities. To achieve this, you first need to set your social media goals and chose the right analytics tools that will enable you to track the impact of your social media efforts. Be sure to check your social media metrics often to ensure you are making progress on your goals.

Your district’s social media accounts provide the most real-time and relevant information while creating digital content. This ensures social media buy-in by achieving your district’s overall branding and priority goal areas efficiently with meaningful data and results.

Author: Kirsten Ziembo, District Digital Communications Specialist, DeKalb County Central United School District (IN)

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Chapter 1: Build a case for social media

Get buy-in: Student privacyCompliance with the Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) is a key component to any successful social media plan. FERPA helps ensure that parents are the decision-makers when it comes to releasing student directory information.

Each district should have a policy in place that not only defines student directory information, but also gives parents an opportunity to give or restrict permission before a child’s image or personal information—like name, grade or activities in school—gets shared publicly. This can be done through a written or electronic permission form at the beginning of the school year.

Having a written social media plan with strategic goals and measureable outcomes also helps parents understand the role Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms have in your school communications program. Once parents give permission (or not), it’s important to abide by their wishes and ensure compliance in your daily social media communications. The best person to help ensure compliance is the professional closest to that child, the classroom teacher.

Protecting confidential student information is key to gaining buy-in to your district’s social media program. Many districts choose not to identify or tag students in their posts as an additional protection and only utilize social media as a means to share accolades and honors. Engaging students in two-way dialogue on social media is acceptable as long as parents have agreed to this in writing for school-related purposes.

The most successful programs have solid personnel policies and training in place for staff responsible for posting about students. Social media can be an effective way to recognize students, but it can also show internal and external audiences ways students are actively engaged in learning.

Follow your core values and make sure your posts are done in good taste and do not ridicule or belittle students. THINK before you post. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether or not you would want a post or picture made public if you were that child’s parent. And remember: when in doubt, leave it out!

Author: Julie Thannum, APR, Assistant Superintendent for Board & Community Relations, Carroll ISD (TX)

Chapter 2:Get started

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Chapter 2: Get started

Start smallThe social media landscape is always evolving, which makes it difficult to know where to begin. These tips will help you start off on the right foot:

• Choose the social media platform your target audience uses most often. Not sure if they prefer Facebook or Twitter? Ask! A survey of your families, community members and employees will help you select the best place to begin building your social media community. Consider your biggest, most important audience, and start there.

• One account on one platform is the best approach for one simple reason: it’s manageable. Managing a social media community doesn’t require a budget line, but it isn’t free—it requires the valuable resources of time, attention and energy, 24/7.

• Add another account only if it offers you a distinct strategic advantage that you don’t have in your original social media community. Will it help you better reach an important audience? Share new or different content? Even then, proceed only if you can truly devote the attention required to engage and respond.

Finally, resist every temptation to link together social media platforms. It sounds so promising—reaching audiences on different platforms, with just one post—but this efficiency is fool’s gold. Every platform is different, and audiences expect different content in each. If you were sending parents an e-mail and SMS text about a calendar change, you would write a different message for each. The same is true for social media platforms, and it’s critical to respect these differences.

Author: Kristin Magette, Director of Communications, Eudora Public Schools (KS) and author of Embracing Social Media: A Practical Guide to Manage Risk and Leverage Opportunity

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Chapter 2: Get started

Identify your audienceSocial media is helping billions of people stay connected worldwide. With all the noise how do you know which social media channel will help you get your message out?

Research to identify and target your messages based on demographics for social media channels in your community. Knowing which channel is targeted at which audience helps to make your messages more effective and meaningful. Remember not every social media channel is the same.

Stats, audience, and usage by channel:

Author: Stephanie Smith, APR, Director of Public Relations, Fort Osage School District (MO)

Channel Facebook is popular with individuals in all areas and

across all incomes and backgrounds.

Twitter users tend to live in more urban

areas, and tend to be young adults or

business professionals.

Instagram users can be found across all demographics.

Youtube users can be found across

all demographics.

Snapchat users trend towards being

young adults.

Users 1.3 billion 600 million 200 million 1 billion 60 million

Purpose Build relationships News and conversation Build relationships; Conversation

Search engine; Tell story Conversation

Ages 25-54 (60% female) 18-29 18-29 all ages 13-25

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Chapter 2: Get started

Get rockstar staff on boardThe success of social media in schools—for communication, teaching and learning—happens when your best educators get in the game. If you have policies and procedures in place to manage social media risks in your district, it’s time to recruit your social media champions.

Part innovator, part encourager, social media champions take your efforts to the next level. They are teacher leaders who are already asking to use social media in their classrooms or activities. They get excited about experimenting with something new. They are influencers among colleagues, often looked to for inspiration and reassurance.

These leaders...

• Model use of social media, both basic and innovative

• Encourage their colleagues to give it a try, and support them when they do

• Lead professional development activities when invited

• Come together as a group once or twice a year (and connect in between) to share ideas, troubleshoot challenges and think outside the box

• Help remind reluctant building or district leaders of the real value of social media in schools

They can be compensated in more than one way; if stipends aren’t available, consider providing a substitute teacher for an hour or two so teachers can learn how to expand their use of social media. Whether you call them champions or a term that better fits your district, this team will provide just the leadership and example you need to succeed.

Author: Kristin Magette, Director of Communications, Eudora Public Schools (KS) and author of Embracing Social Media: A Practical Guide to Manage Risk and Leverage Opportunity

Chapter 3:Ways to communicate via social media platforms

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for FacebookIdentify your audienceUnderstanding Facebook users will help you share more relevant content and better engage your fans. For most schools, the audience on Facebook will be women between the ages of 35-54, or moms. Middle and elementary school students are also active Facebook users. It is important to do the research to find out who in your community is on Facebook.

The purpose of using Facebook is to build relationships and loyalty. Users expect relevant content, social interaction, and interaction beyond the hours of 9 to 5. Your Facebook audience is using this platform as their connection to the school/district. Users want your messages to be relevant to their students and include visual elements.

Author: Stephanie Smith, APR, Director of Public Relations, Fort Osage School District (MO)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for FacebookHow/what to postIt can be difficult to think of what you want to post and how often. A great way to stay organized is to create an editorial calendar for each month filled with what you want to post and when. The calendar helps to layout your strategy and make sure you showcase a wide variety of activities happening in your district.

Scheduling posts can be helpful once you have established the best time of day to reach your audience. Be aware that you can schedule posts, but also make sure you know what you scheduled and when, in case you need to make changes.

What should I post?

• Share news

• Include images/video

• Ask for opinions

• Create educational challenges

• Show behind the scenes, things not everyone has access too

• Write fill in the blank posts

• Provide tips

• Show students learning in creative classrooms

• Highlight honors and achievements

• Publicize alumni news

Author: Stephanie Smith, APR, Director of Public Relations, Fort Osage School District (MO)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for FacebookWhat’s appropriate to postThink about what you enjoy looking at on Facebook and use that as a guide. Photo and video posts done directly in Facebook have a much higher than average interaction rate. Think visually, photos and videos tell stories about you in ways that text alone cannot. Social media is all about engagement and having a conversation.

Different post ideas:

• Guess the first snow day contest

• Pictures from the first day of school sent in by families

• Throwback Thursday

• 12 days of Christmas to showcase the charitable activities of your students and staff

• Walk about Wednesday: Post a pic from somewhere in your district each Wednesday and tell your community about it

• Summer vacation picture contest

Author: Stephanie Smith, APR, Director of Public Relations, Fort Osage School District (MO)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for FacebookHow to build an audience Don’t assume your community will know you are on Facebook. Develop a communication plan to share out how and why people should follow you. Put up posters in schools. Add your Facebook address to all publications. Use your social media accounts to announce any school closures first, before you send the message in other ways. Once you have drawn people to your page, it is important to make sure you are posting timely, relevant content that keeps people engaged.

Best practices to build your audience:

• Listen first and never stop listening

• Give people a reason to connect with you

• Ask questions

• Respond, answer questions, show appreciation

• Welcome feedback and suggestions

• Use real words not jargon

• Disagreement is ok as long as it’s respectable

Author: Stephanie Smith, APR, Director of Public Relations, Fort Osage School District (MO)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for TwitterIdentify your audienceYour audience will start at zero. The good news is you have already identified your target audiences of parents, students, staff, community members, and taxpayers through your communications plan. Now, you just need to let them know you are active on social media. Start by advertising your social media accounts on all digital assets and print pieces. You can send letters home with instructions of how to set up a Twitter account. Each tweet should speak directly to your targeted audiences by:

• Demonstrating student achievement

• Celebrating school success

• Informing them of timely school or district news

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for TwitterHow do you tweet?A blue tweet is a successful tweet. You make it blue by tagging people, using links, and adding hashtags. This increases the reach of your tweet which is the name of the game. Unless it is breaking news, your tweet must have a picture. Video is even better. Twitter’s algorithm puts a premium on video and pictures to give them priority for better audience exposure and reach. You want your writing to be clever and creative, but don’t be over-the-top or snarky. It’s also a best practice to respond when mentioned in a tweet and tag all known accounts in your tweets/retweets to increase your reach.

How to use hashtagsHashtags are used for two purposes:

1. To search for a specific topic on Twitter

2. To make sarcastic or funny comments

Avoid number 2 on a school or district account. Pick one hashtag for your district brand. (Hint: Greg’s district uses #CCPSProud). And ask yourself: What will convey pride? Success? Make sure it is easy to remember and not too long. Starting out, you want everyone using the same hashtag. Later, schools can have their own school-specific hashtags. It is also a good idea to use specific hashtags for various events. Hashtags are a great way to share your content and increase your school’s brand awareness and appeal.

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for TwitterWhat’s appropriate to tweet?You get one shot at this. Do not create a viral tweet for the wrong reasons. Trust your gut. If it feels like it could be controversial, do not tweet or retweet it. It is best practice to stick to school/district/school board/state education news, success stories, and feel good moments caught on video. The more pictures of proud students holding achievement certificates or videos of students explaining what they learned the better. This is your chance to open the classroom window and let the community see and feel the learning success stories. Your Twitter strategy should demonstrate and reinforce your school or district brand.

What should you retweet?You want to operate as a news service for your audience. Retweet any and all relevant education-related content. When you retweet, add a comment or ask a thought-provoking question to encourage engagement. Also, make sure to add multiple hashtags to ensure your desired audience sees it. Once your teachers, principals and district staff start tweeting, retweet relevant teacher and school tweets to the district account. This showcases it to a much larger audience and serves as a reward for their efforts.

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for TwitterHow to build an audienceBuilding an audience takes persistence and performance over time. Twitter is all about “right now.” You have to tweet a minimum of 5 days a week, and be heavily active on big news days. You cannot tweet about things days after they happen.

Mission #1: Recruit help internally to generate content. You have to get others involved. The more schools and departments are tweeting, the more content and the more followers you will have. The Communications Department has to demonstrate innovation in social media use. Study best practices and set up clear and concise procedures for consistent school tweeting.

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for SnapChatWhy use it?Snapchat isn’t a flash in the pan, it is here to stay. It’s 200 million active users trail only to Facebook and Instagram. This social media platform allows you to reach your students in a fun way. In fact, sharing fun content is expected on Snapchat.

Who will you be reaching?According to Statista.com The demographics of Snapchat breakdown like a 90’s boy band:

• 52% of users are 16-24

• 32% of users are 25-34

• 62% of teen users are female

Besides students, you can reach the occasional parent, but those are few and far between. Therefore, tailor your communications towards students.

Tips for getting startedMore than any other social media network, you will have to promote Snapchat via other means. Because there is not a “share” button, discovery is harder. If you are going to start an account, ensure you promote it via your other major communication methods. As you do this, ensure you are posting stories consistently, so that those who follow you can get a feel for what your Snapchat account is all about. Last, but most importantly, use the filters frequently. Snapchat is about fun, and the filters are there to be fun.

Because “snaps” are removed after 24 hours, snapchat is a great place to run contests and activities like a scavenger hunt. These types of snap-events drive engagement from students and create a buzz.

Author: Dane Dellenbach, SR. Product Marketing Manager, Blackboard

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Chapter 3: Ways to communicate via social media platforms

Tips for InstagramDid you know?• Instagram is the 2nd most popular social platform• It has 300 million monthly active users

• 78 million of the active users are in the U.S.• 70 million photos are uploaded to Instagram per day

Why use it?The Instagram community is more aware of posts and accounts that don’t register as “real.” This leads to more authentic and deeper connections between users and brands.

Who will you be reaching?This is the most prevalent social network for teens. If you want to reach your students, this is where you need to be. Adult usage is continuing to grow, so expect a larger parent audience in the future.

According to Statista.com demographics of Instagram breakdown like this:

• Teens

– 52% of all teenagers are on Instagram

• Adults

– 23% are 18-24 – 26% are 25-34

– 19% are 45-34 – 68% of adult users are female

Tips for getting started• Since authenticity is key on Instragram, develop a theme for the type of images you will post.

• Beautiful images matter. Use filters to make your images pop.

• Post consistently. There isn’t any sharing on Instagram, so in order to show up regularly on a user’s feed, you need to be posting frequently.

• Don’t forget to caption your photos, as that is an important part of telling your story.

Author: Dane Dellenbach, SR. Product Marketing Manager, Blackboard

Chapter 4:Gain Adoption

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Chapter 4: Gain adoption

Gain adoption with staff membersYou must have a communications expert go to the school and train the administrators and teachers on how to use these social media tools. There are two fears that you will run into in every school:

1. The fear of violating student privacy.

2. The fear of not understanding social media technology. (This is a person-by-person battle at each school. Identify the tech-savvy early adopters and get them involved).

You have to celebrate the little victories and the big breakthroughs. Driven leaders like to be challenged to produce results. Present monthly awards to schools for Twitter growth and innovation, and teacher awards for excellence in social media. Make a big deal out of it. Present school awards at the monthly principal meetings. Bring the teacher awards to their classrooms and praise them in front of their students. This makes for great Twitter content as well.

Here are some categories to consider for awards:

3. Growth: number of followers and retweets

4. Creativity: thinking outside the box

5. Overall effort: how hard the school is working on their social presence

6. Innovation: using video or incorporating social media into lesson plans

The awards bring principal support which quickly trickles downstream to the teachers who enjoy recognition and praise for their participation from both school and district leaders. This motivating factor continues to be the driving force behind increased teacher participation.

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Chapter 4: Gain adoption

Gain adoption with studentsSchools are busy places and social media is quickly becoming one of the primary forms of instant communication in schools. One of the easiest methods I have found to increase student engagement on our social media pages is sharing a success story of a fellow student. The number of likes, shares, tags, and retweets rapidly increases when you share success.

Example: “XYZ student, one of our star football players, has recently been accepted to attend Yale.”

Students in our area also have the ability to choose where they attend high school. We use social media to attract students to our schools. Districts can share aspects of their schools and make it appealing through photos and videos. The more positive your brand is, the more students will want to select your district and schools.

Author: Lana Snodgras, Director of Communications and Community Relations, West Plains Schools (MO)

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Chapter 4: Gain adoption

Gain adoption with parentsAmazing things can happen when parents are involved in their child’s education. Not only does it increase school support, but it also helps students’ academic achievement. Getting active on social media platforms gives your school unparalleled access to parental engagement. Many students and parents become reliant on our district’s Facebook page for up-to-date information.

Ways to engage with parents on social media:

• Share videos: Assemblies, students and teachers discussing why they love their school, plays and concerts.

• Share photos: Student art exhibits, assemblies, science projects, field trips and celebrations of students work.

• Share school news: Fundraisers, sports, schedules and bond issues.

• Get feedback from parents and community: One opportunity lies in the “Discussions” tab on the Facebook page. A school can create a discussion about a specific topic and allow members of the community to share their thoughts within the thread. Facebook administrators will be able to moderate the thread and remove any posts that are inappropriate.

Author: Lana Snodgras, Director of Communications and Community Relations, West Plains Schools (MO)

Chapter 5:Measure success

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Chapter 5: Measure success

Provide metricsWhat do you do to show the success of your social media channels?Proving success on social media can be measured several ways.

1. Followers/likes/comments/shares/video views. These are precise numbers that show whether you are producing content that matters to your audience. The more compelling, emotional, and personal the content, the more interaction you will get.

2. Behind the scenes metrics. Having a lot of followers is great. But what if 65% of them are not your targeted audience? How can you even tell who visits your page and where they go? This is where analytics pays off big time.

a. For Facebook, click on the “insights” tab at the top of your page. You can get weekly analytics including reach, video views, page likes, page views and even specific demographics on your audience composition.

b. Twitter has the same tools. Just click on your profile button (to the left of the big blue tweet button) and then click “Analytics”.

3. Measure success through student achievement. We love hearing parents say, “Hey I saw my child on Twitter. Thank you for sharing that with me. It led to a great conversation at home!”

Author: Greg Turchetta, Executive Director of Communications and Community Engagement, Collier County School District (FL)

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Resources• Join other communications leaders every other Tuesday @8pm EST on Twitter for the #K12prchat where

school communications share and learn from one another.

• Download the Collier County School District success study to see how they generated social media adoption within their district.

• See how Papillion La Vista School District identified, responded and prevented a potential bomb threat in one of their schools.

• Learn more about Blackboard Social Media Manager to help manage your social media accounts with ease.

• Check out Fort Osage School District’s sample social media agreement consent form.

• Check out Fort Osage School District’s sample social networking approval form.

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About BlackboardBlackboard’s unique approach to K-12 education focuses on creating a seamless and engaging experience for each learner. Our platform provides a way for students to learn in a safe, connected, and technologically savvy environment by focusing in on the three main foundational challenges districts face:

• Maintaining a safe and secure space for academic achievement.

• Engaging and informing the entire community.

• Advancing personalized, competency-based learning.

For more information visit our website.