An evolution in reading and publishing…Scribd

Think of Scribd as a book club online where anyone can join a conversation on almost any topic. You can read, print, download and send publications to your cell phone from their site. Upload your PDF, Word and PowerPoint documents to share them with a very large community of readers.

Consider these five ideas for how this site can be useful to school PR staff, teachers, students and parents across the district:

• News Clippings
  Like Shane pointed out in “Five ways your school district can use Pinterest,” you can use Scribd to feature your news clippings. Upload pdf or jpg versions of articles, adds, posters, banners, etc. to your account.
• Resource for Teachers
  From essays, theses and homework to study guides, notes and quizzes, there are many resources available to aid your teachers in their efforts.
  • Improved Statistical Test (2,651,999 reads)
  • Term Project Marketing Strategy (509,447 reads)
  • Pre K-K | Thanksgiving | Pilgrim Listen and Do (5,224 reads)
• Share school publications
  From course offerings to manuals and handbooks, students and parents can easily access documents from your account. They can download, print, read and even share documents, saving you time and money.
• Presentations
  Need to give a presentation on Web 2.0 and social networking? Maybe a grammer lesson on gerunds and infinitives? There are presentations you can use as inspiration in developing your own; or maybe you prefer to use their exact presentation. Prezi.com is another good resource for presentations.
• Resumes
  College graduates and young adults are looking to Scribd as a place to store their resumes in addition to LinkedIn. This could be helpful if you also have human resources duties, need to hire a new staff member or explore various resume styles.

We’re always looking for new ways to use Scribd. Do you have any?

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?

Five ways your school district can use Pinterest

By now you have heard someone mention Pinterest. Usually it is followed by the words, “I’m addicted.” Pinterest shot to stardom in 2011, and so far it is an invite-only social network that allows users to “pin” their interests, dreams, likes, favorites, inspirations and more onto boards based on the categories of their choosing. Basically, Pinterest is social bookmarking, but visually appealing.

The image-based platform is one of the top ten most-visited social networks over the past year and interest continues to grow, especially among women, a key demographic. While it may not seem like Pinterest would be worthy of considering as a potential communications or marketing tool for schools, there are many ways a school district could use the site. And, based on its growing popularity, especially amongst moms, why wouldn’t you at least consider it and stay one step ahead of the social media game.

As always, corporations are already taking advantage of the site’s popularity, using it for various showcases, contests and more. Schools can also use this platform easily and effectively. Here are five ways to use Pinterest:

Digital News Clippings
Instead of clipping articles from your local newspaper, take advantage of the article being online and pin it. Pin the links to your television news stories or any other online media for that matter. You can also pin JPEG files as well. Create a visual, easy to look at digital clipping room on your Pinterest page to keep track of your media coverage.

Resource Room
Be helpful to your parents, students and other constituents by pinning resourceful articles and blogs that you find online. Perhaps you choose to focus on articles and resources about colleges, financial aid, career trends and the job market.

Employee Showcase
You can post pictures of your staff members and write brief bios on each. However, why not touch on what makes them stand out? Feature unique, pre-teaching career experiences or hobbies they have that are interesting. Maybe they played college sports or excel at playing an instrument. Why not humanize your staff members by telling brief stories about them and pinning it here in the “faculty lounge” section of your Pinterest page?

Education Advocacy
Now more than ever, those who work in education need to curate content and advocate for education at every turn. Create an advocacy board on your Pinterest and pin articles that support or inform about new legislation, school funding, testing, curriculum or more.

Student Success Showcase
Much like featuring your employees, featuring your students is important as well. Make this unique and differentiated from other areas of communications, though. We all know athletes and smart kids get a lot of attention, but here you could create a student success showcase of those that are doing remarkable community service projects, those who are remarkable employees at their after-school jobs or students who are earning industry credentials, college credit, scholarship money or more while in high school.

The possibilities with Pinterest are endless! Explore this hot, new social media tool and take advantage of its growing popularity. What ideas do you have for using Pinterest in schools?