Social Media in Schools6th November 2014

Social Media for Schools

• Engagement• Marketing• Communication• Collaboration• Networking

Social Media Sites

• Facebook• Twitter• Instagram• Pinterest• Google Plus

Some Statistics

• More than a third of the UK population log onto Facebook each day

• 4 out of 5 of those users access Facebook on a mobile device

• 20% of the UK are on Twitter• Parents of school age children are

amongst the highest demographic of social media users

More Statistics

• In a survey, 93% of marketing companies used Social Media as a part of the marketing campaign

• 79% of companies surveyed are using Social Media or are planning to use in the near future

• Social Media use is constantly growing

Facebook

• Free Marketing tool• Some companies have dropped public

websites and simply run Facebook campaigns

• Immediate engagement with large percentage of Parents

• Easy communication tool for updating Parents, particularly when combined with…

Twitter

• Easy to use• Fantastic tool for informing Parents of

updates• Links with Facebook to combine

messages• Useful for retweeting other organisations

messages

Instagram

• Twitter with Pictures!• An alternative and unusual engagement

method• Great for celebrating school achievements• Allows schools to share a different type of

content with Parents

Pinterest

• More curriculum based• Can be used to share content with parents• Effective for sharing ideas with students

for project based work, particularly in creative and arts subjects

Pluses• Free to use• Parents are already using these tools• Easy to use (staff will likely already

understand them)• Collaboration opportunities with other

Social Media organisations• Some curriculum opportunities• Social Media Widgets can be embedded in

existing school websites

Negatives

• Stigma• Staff training in personal privacy• Management of accounts and possibly

moderation (depending on use)• Confliction with existing school policies

and stance

Management of Account

• Link accounts together (Facebook + Twitter to avoid duplicating work)

• Use 3rd Party tools to manage. For example Hootsuite or Tweetdeck which allow multiple accounts to be managed together

• Define updaters and moderators and who does what

Suggestions

• Sites set up as Broadcast only – don’t allow posting of comments by 3rd parties

• Limit editing to a small number of users• Define the purpose of the site from the

start and only deviate with proper planning • Provide guidance to students, staff and

parents