Using YouTube to Promote Safety and Security in Schools

Like many districts across the nation, school safety and security has been the topic of conversation in our community for the past couple of months.

We’ve sent letters to families, posted information on our website and provided talking points to all of our administrators, building leaders and key communicators about school safety. But we struggled with how to really show our community everything we have in place to keep their children safe. That is where YouTube and social media entered the picture.

Our department produced the video below in January of 2013, and then we posted it on YouTube in early February. We also shared the video on Facebook, Twitter, on our website and in our e-newsletter. Although we don’t have a staggering number of views so far, we really see this as something we can share with our community again if other school-related safety events happen in the future.

The response from our community has been overwhelmingly positive.

We also showed this video to law enforcement officials from the seven different police departments in our district. The feedback from police officers was positive as well, with them thanking us for helping keep them on the same page in terms of the safety measures our schools have in place.

We have used Facebook and Twitter for many years, but our department is just starting to produce videos and use YouTube as part of our social media toolbox. Right now, our YouTube channel is a work in progress. We’re working to improve it every day and continue to find new ways to connect with our staff, families and community.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope you find this video helpful as well as somewhat entertaining. But if possible, please take it easy on the quality of the voiceover guy…

Marco Rubio Could Be You

Let the Marco Rubio-sipping-a-Poland-Spring moment on national television be a lesson to us all.

No matter what your politics are, it was a surprising moment when the U.S. Senator from Florida first glanced at his water bottle during his Republican response to the State of the Union Address the other night, then bent down on national television to grab the bottle and take a sip, mid-sentence.

Less than a decade ago, we would have seen it and then — poof — it would have been gone.

But today, embarrassing, awkward and even worse moments become sensations. They are repeated, remixed and retweeted, then discussed and dissected by, well, the universe. Just moments after Rubio reached for the water bottle, Twitter exploded with tweets about the awkward moment, the words “watergate” and “Poland Spring” immediately trending. Among my favorite tweets, by the way, was “Zero Dark Thirsty.”

And Twitter was just the beginning. Dozens of Rubio parody videos have been uploaded to YouTube, friends and family members are discussing the incident on Facebook, and the senator’s own political action committee, Reclaim America, is now offering a Marco Rubio water bottle to supporters for $25. It helps to poke fun at yourself.

Along the way, of course, the senator picked up 13,000 new followers on Twitter.

But the Rubio moment and its subsequent virality should be a wakeup call to those of us in the public relations business. Our videotaped school events and Board of Education meetings, superintendents’ speeches, Facebook posts, tweets and transparency are all good things.

But we need to remind ourselves and those who work in our districts that those moments are now etched in time, permanent examples of how we behave and what we say, photograph and write.

The Rubio incident is also a chance for us to remind those we work for how important it is to prepare well for public appearances, press conferences, speeches and presentations. That includes hydrating.

The world is watching. No one wants to end up on David Letterman’s Top Ten List.

A Comedy of Errors, Text-Message Style

With the constant communication that comes with cell phones, social media and texting, this English major has been mourning the loss of a crucial plot device – in comedies and tragedies alike – miscommunication. Without it, there would be no “Romeo and Juliet” and no “Taming of the Shrew.”

Worry no more, literature fans! This week I discovered the modern version, through the use of text messaging.

Arriving early at work on a big deadline day, I got a text. Looking at my phone, all I saw was a phone number, with three blank faces and a tiny square with a photo of my boss, so clearly the message was from him to the team.

INCOMING TEXT: “Stomach flu hit with a vengeance. Can’t come in. All the documents for today’s project are printed on the table in my office, except for four documents that are on my desktop. Can someone please print those for the 9:30 meeting?”

MY TEXT: “Happy to help. Headed to your office right now. Take care of yourself. Do we need to cancel the afternoon meeting?”

I then searched high and low on my boss’s computer for the documents and the files. I was not finding ANY of these items.

INCOMING TEXT: “What afternoon meeting?”

MY TEXT: “I can’t find the files. Still looking. I will try the finder. Or is it in the maroon folder?”

INCOMING TEXT “Ugh. On the desktop. Four files. Try the round table.”

The round table had nothing on it. The computer had nothing on it. I tried his desk.

MY TEXT: “Did you mean the top of your desk, or the computer desktop?”

INCOMING TEXT: “The computer desktop. Sorry—I would be there if I could move.”

ENTER BOSS, STAGE LEFT

ME: “What the heck are you doing here in your condition? You should be home in bed!”

BOSS: “Huh? I’m fine. What are you talking about?”

At this point, I abruptly realized I was searching in the wrong office, because Kathy was the one who was sick. Going to her office, I found all the documents.

Moral of the story: If you are not sure who is texting you, ask immediately. Not only will you save a lot of time, but you will eliminate the risk of divulging confidential or confusing information to the wrong person. And whenever confusion persists, try an old fashioned tactic and pick up the phone.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Much has been written (some of it in this blog) about growing your Facebook audience, increasing your hits, and building your followers, and those are laudable, quantifiable goals. The question is whether achieving those goals is doable and, more importantly, meaningful for your district’s particular situation?

It all goes back to the first part of the RACE formula: research. Only by researching the needs, wants and habits of your audiences can you develop strategies and tactics that will solve a problem. If you’re blindly following the lead of other social media practitioners, chances are that the outcomes you desire will be more elusive.

A case in point is a project my district mounted that employed QR codes in a publication. The premise was that the codes would deliver students to a web page where they could obtain additional information. By moving that information online, the cumbersome material could be left out of the print piece but still be available. The result? Very few people actually visited the pages and the important information went unread.

A series of focus groups (conducted after the fact, unfortunately) revealed that students had seen the QR codes, but either didn’t know what they were for or didn’t have the smartphone technology needed to access them. We made the false assumption that our audience would not only be tech-savvy but also have the latest technology at their disposal.

We may re-visit QR codes or delve into whatever new social media channel or technology emerges, but first we’ll take a moment to find out what we don’t know.

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.

Newtown and Social Media

We all feel helpless. And we certainly remember feeling the same way during Columbine, 9/11, Aurora and countless other events in recent memory that took far too many lives in an instant. Today, when people feel helpless, many of us turn to social media. Some to argue and provoke. Others simply to vent and be heard.

Laurie Ruettimann, who writes a blog called The Cynical Girl, posted an item the other day noting that even with its many drawbacks, social media “knits the world together” during a crisis. At the same time, many have noted that social media is little more than a community bulletin board. We post, but we do little.

So I want to take this opportunity to focus on how a number of people have turned to social media after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, to do one thing: make a difference.

• Brian Mauriello, a near-lifetime resident of Newtown, established the Newtown Memorial Fund within hours of the tragedy, creating a website, Facebook page and Twitter feed to accept donations for the purpose of building a memorial playground in honor of the Sandy Hook victims. He has already applied for 501c3 status and has named a board of directors that includes an accountant, an attorney, a member of the police force, a public school teacher and others. Mauriello’s six-year-old son attends a different elementary school in Newtown.
• On Twitter, NBC News correspondent Ann Curry launched #26ActsofKindness, encouraging people to perform acts of kindness in memory of Newtown’s 26 victims, and share what they accomplished on Twitter. The movement has spread, with thousands of people tweeting their acts of kindness. Beth Steinberg, for example, tweeted this: “Just paid the school fees for 26 children with AIDS in Mombasa, Kenya.” And Heather Fournie sent this tweet out: “Just left dinner for two at Applebee’s for a town police officer on his car.”
• The Emilie Parker Fund Facebook page was created by friends of the six-year-old victim’s family to raise money for their expenses through a fund set up with a credit union in Utah, where Emilie was born. Since the page was created on Dec. 14, more than 322,000 fans have joined.
• Ryan Kraft, a former Sandy Hook Elementary School student, turned to crowdrise.com, a popular crowdfunding site, to create a Sandy Hook Elementary School Victims Relief Fund page. Kraft hopes the fund will support the victims, families and all others affected locally by the shooting, and the funds will be donated directly to the school’s PTSA. So far, Ryan has raised $103,170.
• Earlier this week, Colette Connolly of my staff posted a message on my Facebook page about how the Connecticut PTSA is asking people to make paper snowflakes and send them to Newtown. The snowflakes will be used to decorate every corner of Chalk Hill Elementary School, when Sandy Hook students move in there in late January. I posted the information on my page and suggested that our district hold a snowflake-making day. On Monday, Jan. 7, our employees will be dropping in at our Snowflake Central to try their hand at making hundreds of paper snowflakes that will be boxed up and sent to Newtown. And NSPRA colleague Jim Cummings, a Facebook friend, posted that same idea on the Glendale (AZ) Elementary School District Facebook page, where he works. The snowflakes have gone viral.

No doubt, we have all read posts about gun control and revamping the way we treat mental illness in this country. But instead of using social media to simply yell from the rooftops, some people are using it to take concrete, lasting action.

How our community’s mass shooting changed my mind about Twitter

This week’s shooting at the Clackamas Town Center mall happened in the heart of our school district.

One of our students was shot and remains in serious condition. Another student’s uncle was killed. Untold numbers of our students, staff and their families were among the 10,000 holiday shoppers and employees in the mall at the time of the incident. Our community remains in shock.

Before the shooting, I figured I had my social media bases covered with Facebook. I wasn’t sure I needed Twitter. After the shooting, I changed my mind.

Here’s why.

Twitter is now a mainstream information source:
In the first hour of a crisis, information gathering is key. Much was rumor, but some was fact. Twitter was a go-to source for breaking news, with sources ranging from the Sheriff’s office to the news media. During and after the mall shooting, a lot of information we needed first surfaced on Twitter.

Twitter is a research tool:
Following the event hash tag (#ClackamasShooting), I was able to tweet a personal question to a friend of a victim on Twitter. She confirmed the identity of the injured survivor, our student.

Twitter is where teens live:
If our students are there, we need to be there, too. One of our students posted inappropriate comments about the incident on his Twitter feed. Many respondents were angry, and made threats against him. Knowing this, we were able to have district staff and his friends contact him immediately. They urged him to make a public apology and then to log off.

Twitter is a lifeline:
With 10,000 people in the mall at the time of the shooting, people across our community used this tool to get quickly in contact with loved ones. Whether they discovered their loved ones had safely left the building or were protected by the lock down, they were relieved to hear the news quickly.

Twitter is a rumor mill:
This is the way to find out what the community is saying and feeling during an incident. What better place to correct misinformation than at the place where rumors spread?

Responding to this situation, we used all the tools in our toolbox, including auto-dial phone calls, parent emails, Facebook, the website, our list serve and the telephone.

Twitter was our tool of choice for on-the-go, up-to-the-minute information and rumor control in an evolving situation. I need this tool. The next step is to use it more to master the medium and explore new ways to use it.  I encourage you to do the same.

Social media during a tragedy: How your students give you an advantage

Social media is now. Especially during a crisis. For school districts, that is intensified with hundreds and even thousands of students tweeting away during an event. While the idea of a tragedy trending in a matter of minutes is scary to some, including superintendents and school boards, it is crucial that school PR pros know how to use the tools at hand.

Recently, Hutto ISD dealt with the death of a student by suicide. While the district respected the family’s wishes not to share the details without permission, the student body and community were under no such obligation. Within hours, students created a hashtag memorializing the student and by the following day, it was trending on Twitter in the region. In very short order, users had shared condolences, spread rumors and organized a grassroots vigil in front of the high school after school. Despite the district’s best efforts to redirect students to an off-campus location, Twitter had ensured thousands of students would descend on the front driveway of the campus at 6 p.m. that night.

Rather than stand by, overwhelmed with thousands of tweets going out by the minute, and rather than taking away student’s cell phone privileges during school, Hutto ISD and the high school principal did something creative: they asked the students for help. The Hutto HS principal, the superintendent and I worked out an alternate location, and before lunch, we gathered student body leaders. We explained the difficult reasoning behind not allowing the vigil on campus, offered the alternative and asked the group to share that with their friends via Twitter. Within hours, much of the student body understood the district’s painful decision and willingly moved the gathering to the church – where they had adult supervision and support.

Whether or not your district is on Facebook or has its own Twitter account, social media awareness and management is essential during critical times. Here are five tips that can help ensure you are prepared online and offline.

Update your crisis plan
It is important to understand the pervasive nature of social media tools and include how you will use, monitor and respond to posts of Facebook and Twitter. Be sure it is in your plan. Also, be sure the district has identified who is responsible for posts on behalf of the district.

Monitor, monitor, monitor
Know what is going out. Simple searches related to your issue, including your school name, initials, a student name or the type of problem will usually pull up enough to get you to the bulk of posts.

Know when to turn it off
Even the most transparent district needs to prevent an open forum for comments at times. If you have a Facebook page, don’t be afraid to disable commenting for a short time during a highly sensitive event to protect families or students until facts are at hand.

Ask for help
When it comes to social media, your students are the quickest way to get information out or corrected. Don’t be afraid to pull a responsible, respected group of students and get them to tweet and share information the district needs to get out. It empowers them and helps the district.

Follow up
Be sure you follow up after the event to monitor residual effects that might have arisen. Consider it an after-action debrief.

Need to Show Your Superintendent the Impact of Social Media?

Try this video from Erik Qualman, author and speaker on digital trends.

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.