Work Smarter, Not Harder…Repurpose Content

Working in education, we have all heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder.” It’s easy to talk about, but not always easy to implement. If your district is like ours, your communications department is small and there is usually more work than time, so working smarter is key.

While in college, I learned about the marketing rule of seven: individuals have to see your message at least seven times before they will remember it. I don’t think it is the number that really matters; it is more about the meaning. Individuals need to see your message multiple times in multiple formats to remember it.

In order accomplish this; our district makes a point to repurpose content. Our philosophy is simple: when we write something to put out to our audiences, it has to be used in a least five different places. By doing this, we are saving time and we are reaching our audiences via multiple communication channels.

For example, we might write a short new release about an upcoming play at one of our high schools. We distribute it to the media, we then include the same information on our district website announcements, in the parent e-newsletter, in school e-newsletters, in the staff e-newsletter, on our mobile app, on Facebook, on Twitter and in our monthly youth activities publication. By writing one story and repurposing it, we reach our audiences via 10 communication channels.

Here are some tips on repurposing content:

• Write content so it can be used in multiple formats, exactly as it is or changed only slightly.
• Write content so it is a quick, easy read. Readers want quick, short blurbs they can scan on their mobile devices, not long, complicated reads.
• Stagger the timing of your messages. Sending the same message out via five different communication channels at the same exact time probably isn’t as effective as sending it out in five different ways at staggered times.

Social Media Comments Really Aren’t That Scary

When I hear other districts talk about why they haven’t jumped into the social media world, it is most often because they or their district leaders fear the comments they might get. When we started, our district wasn’t much different. Regardless of this fear, we forged ahead with social media. Our philosophy was that we would rather have people tell us their opinions and concerns about an issue so we have a good pulse on the community, then talk about them in private.

To help ease the minds of our administration and protect our district at the same time, we published rules of engagement on each of our social media pages. If and when we have to remove a comment, we reference these rules, which can be found here. In reality it hasn’t been an issue for us. In nearly four years, we have removed less than 20 comments across all of our district pages.

Here are some tips in handling social media comments:

• Develop response guidelines for your district. Ours were modified from the United States Air Force response guidelines and can be found here.
• Not all comments will be negative. Most will be positive. Thank individuals for sharing their positive stories and comments. I save really good comments in a folder and use them to show the positive side of social media in education.
• Know the difference between an opinion and blatant misrepresentation of facts. Opinions are not removed from our social media sites. Not everyone will agree with district decisions, and that is ok. Use social media to understand what individuals don’t like about a decision and see if their issues can be addressed. Make sure to let individuals know you have heard their concerns. If individuals are publishing misinformation, we take the opportunity to make sure correct information is out there.
• Comments will monitor themselves. The truth of the matter is that in Nebraska, we occasionally have snow days. When we cancel school we place this information on our social media channels. Sometimes parents agree, sometimes they don’t. Often times parents who don’t agree with our decisions back down or remove their comments because other parents are praising our district for keeping kids safe.
• Not every comment needs to be answered right away. Depending on the issue, wait and see if the issue monitors itself or if you need to jump in with a response.
• If and when you do remove a comment, contact the individual. Explain to the person why the comment is being removed. In addition, if it is something that the district needs to address, like a personnel complaint or student concern, put the commenter in touch with someone who can address his or her issue.

Easy Ways to Increase Engagement on Your Social Media Channels

For many brands, the ultimate goal is steadily increasing the number of followers on a given social media channel. Brands want to have high numbers because it somehow makes us feel “better” than the other guys. However, I constantly find myself telling others it isn’t the quantity; it’s the quality. It is more important to have quality engagement with your followers than merely knowing that you are reaching a high number of users.

Reaching and engaging your audience(s) can be one of the hardest things for school districts to do on social media. “Likes” and retweets are rarely in short supply, but when it comes to two-way communication, it just doesn’t happen – at least for our district.

I have spent countless hours trying to figure out what we were doing wrong. Are we not posting the right information? Do parents and community members not care? I’ve come to the conclusion that in today’s on-the-go society, people have to really genuinely care about what a brand is talking about to engage. Even then, there has to be a driving force as to why they engage.

Here are some tips on increasing engagement in your district:

• Research. Know your audience and what it is looking for. In our district we conduct an annual communication audit of staff and parents. We want to make sure that we are not only reaching our audience, but that we are giving people the information they want and need. We specifically ask what they are looking for on social media, among other communication channels. The results of these surveys drive our communication.
• Photos. There is no bigger engagement than photos. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors love to see what children they know are doing during the school day, as well as see them participating in extra-curricular activities. We also post photos from PTO events like family nights and staff events like back to school kick-off. People love to see themselves or their children in these photos. They are constantly commenting on these photos and sharing with their family and friends.
• Find light-hearted ways to engage your audience. We do a weekly “Where Are We Wednesday” segment. I’d like to say this is our original idea, but it was a NSPRA conference idea. We post a photo on Wednesday of something in our district and ask followers to tell us where we are. The following Wednesday we follow the photo up and tell them where we were. We tie the Wednesday photo back to an upcoming event or an important topic in our district. I’ve learned over the years that people love competition. Even though this is a small competition with no prize, people still love to know they have the right answer. Plus, this is a great way to start conversations about important topics.
• Contests. Selfishly, we routinely host contests on our social media channels to drive up our numbers. We offer a prize (tickets to a play, gift card to high school book store, etc) to one current fan who shares the page with a friend and to one of the next 50 new “likes” to the page. Yes, the ultimate goal is to drive numbers up, but we also know that hosting these contests kick-starts conversations about the district. Other school districts have also seen great success with art contests, essay contests and “tell us about your favorite teacher” contests.
• Educational posts. Throughout the year, we encourage schools to post curriculum updates on their social media pages. However, non-school days are some of the least active days on district social media. To help drive traffic on these days, we post educational activities. The posts are activities parents can do with their kids to engage learning in a fun way. Examples include practicing math by playing card games, or having a scavenger hunt with the newspaper. Many parents comment with additional ideas for other parents to use.
• Timing. Timing really is everything in social media. Posting a great story at 11 p.m. is not going to get the same traffic that something at 5 p.m. will get. Research has shown that most people look at social media first thing in the morning (as they are getting ready and before work), over the lunch hour, and between 5 and 7 p.m., when people are getting off work. If possible, post during these times. Some social media channels now have tools where you can schedule posts. Take advantage of these tools.
• Analytics. Look at the analytics from your social media channels. These are great tools to tell you what is working and what isn’t working for your district.