Why content matters on your social channels

According to Seth Godin, “Content marketing is the only marketing that’s left.” Why? Well, times have changed and audiences are fragmented. That means that for schools it is less important to send out traditional press releases, rely on the news media to report stories on the district, pay for expensive advertising, and on and on.

Here are some facts about the way your audiences are consuming information:

• According to eMarketer.com, mobile and internet consumption continues to rise among consumers, while traditional media usage continues to fall, especially with print media.
• According to eMarketer.com, the top two reasons social users follow brands on social media is because they want to keep up with the latest content and share that content with family and friends.

Content matters, then, because people want to see relevant, interesting, local and specific information directly from your district. In effect, you are now your own publisher of content. The model should look like this: owned media (original content you create as the most important), earned media (local news media coverage), paid media (advertising). By owning your media, you become a good storyteller rather than a good story (and by “good,” I mean sensationalized or controversial most of the time in the media). Also, your content never expires the way paid advertising does.

Since owning your own media is so important, and creating original, engaging content matters, here are some thoughts to keep in mind as you begin to shape your own stories:

• Your content strategy is just as important as the content you create or curate. What are your goals? What are your platforms? How will you distribute original content? How will people know about it? Part of the process is planning ahead and re-educating your constituents about how the district is going to be communicating.
• To own your own media and to make a content strategy effective, you must communicate internally and train administrators and staff. Try to invest in mini-campaigns on Facebook (feature a different school or program in your district weekly or monthly on your page) and use the power of hashtags on Twitter to aggregate conversations. Also, involve the voices of your students and your staff in your content.
• Always be in a storytelling mindset. Showcase your school’s culture. Introduce your school’s characters. Educate your community. Keep your audience’s attention.

Five ways to engage in content marketing for your school

If you didn’t get the memo in this light speed world we are living in, social media is so yesterday. Today, it is all about content marketing. What does that mean? According to the Content Marketing Institute:

Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

So what does that mean for you? Well, it means that by now you should have the social platforms in place to communicate with your audiences with a strategy that engages those audiences with the ultimate goal of being able to mobilize that audience into action. Content marketing must be relevant, must be engaging, and must be valuable to your audience.

Here are five quick and easy ways to do it:

1. Photography. Not just photos of kids receiving awards or posing with oversized checks, but photos of students in the classroom engaged in learning, of teachers showcasing strong lesson plans, of community service, of creativity, of athleticism and on and on. Better yet, give the students and teachers access to cameras and let their images do the visual storytelling for you. Better yet, use the filters of Instagram on your mobile phones!

2. Video. Right now video has never been so relevant and easy to produce. You can create video fast and inexpensively. Keep your videos quick and relevant. Aim for 30 seconds to no more than two minutes.

3. Exclusivity. When creating content for your social media platforms, whether it is Facebook, a blog, or Twitter, make sure that you promote it as exclusive. What better way to make your Facebook page relevant than to post content that can only be seen there?

4. Infographics. Have you seen these yet? If not, check out some on Pinterest. These are the hottest new way to share complicated data or information in a fun, graphic, visual way. They also attract a lot of attention. So next time you are getting ready to create a three-panel brochure to educate your community on a topic, consider creating an infographic that can be shared across multiple social platforms. Here’s some more information.

5. Twitter. Don’t just create a Twitter account for your district where you post links to your website or repeat something you just posted on Facebook. Instead, empower your staff to tweet and showcase what’s happening inside the classrooms on a daily basis. Allow your staff to utilize mobile phones to take pics on Instagram and send them out on your targeted Twitter accounts (elementary, middle school, high school, etc.).

These are just five quick ways to start engaging in content marketing. What are your ideas?