Five important metrics for your district’s Facebook page

With any good social media strategy comes a way to measure its success. What do you consider the success of your school district’s Facebook page? Simply having a presence on Facebook is not the point of the platform. Much like any other PR or marketing effort, your Facebook page should show solid growth and engagement. With Facebook Insights, the analytics system tied to every Facebook page, measuring your page’s progress has never been easier.

Here are five important metrics to track on your district’s Facebook page:

1. Demographics. The overall number of “likes” or fans on your page is easy to track, but look inside that number. Is your page dominated by a female presence? What age groups tend to follow your page? These numbers are important when planning content.

2. Geographics. Where are your fans from? Of course, your page is going to be “liked” by some people not affiliated with your school district, but if most of your fans are from Australia or India, for example, your page is likely not hitting its geographic target.

3. Reach. Facebook measures anyone who has seen content associated with your page. This means that your page has a reach many times bigger than just those people listed as fans. You can discover how many unique people have seen content from your page (and many times you will be surprised at this large number).

4. Talking About Your Page. Facebook tracks people who have created a “story” about your page. A “story” includes liking your page, posting to your wall, commenting or liking a post, sharing a post, answering a question, etc. This is how your page continues to grow and become known. You want people to talk about your page!

5. Content. If you are simply recycling content from your website, please stop and develop a strategic content plan for your Facebook page. This becomes easier to do when you know what content appeals to your audience. You can find this out by measuring your content. What are the most popular types of posts? Probably photos and videos. Facebook Insights allows you to see individual posts and how they perform. Use this data each month to set what kind of content you are pushing out.

By taking the time to utilize Insights within Facebook, you can start to show your leadership team results from investing in social media.

Five ways Facebook can boost teacher morale

Layoffs, budget cuts, large class sizes and the news media’s war on education means morale is plummeting for school employees. How can PR professionals change the conversation, and demonstrate the many ways teachers continue to go the extra mile?

Facebook is a tool you can use to publicly celebrate, reward and appreciate teachers and staff across the school district. Here’s how:

1) Tell a story: Give parents, students and staff a glimpse of some of the magic moments happening in your classrooms. Shine a light on an amazing turnaround story about how a teacher helped a single student or a group of challenged kids succeed. Describe the innovative projects teachers use to engage students in learning.

2) Post award nomination links: Give parents, students and educators the chance to nominate teachers and staff for awards, and watch the number of employees who win recognition build. From radio station and bookstore contests to professional associations, a win for any staff member makes them all stand proud. In addition to that, you’ll draw Facebook tributes from current and past students of the honored teacher.

3) Showcase moonlighters: Do you have staff members with hidden talents? The campus monitor who wrote a mystery novel? The history teacher who climbed K2? The counselor who’s a professional photographer? The dragon boat team from the payroll department? Post photos of them in action, and tell the back story even their co-workers don’t know.

4) Announce appreciation weeks: Take advantage of designated weeks to celebrate classified, certified and administrative staff, as well as school board members, school nurses, volunteers and secretaries. Ask fans for examples of how they are celebrating these events in their school, or ask them to share how one of the week’s honorees was a special help to their child. Remember, you can’t say thank you enough, especially now.

5) Show staff you’re listening: Likely, a good number of your district’s Facebook followers are employees. When you get them engaged in a conversation around a proposed change, show them you’re listening. Answer their questions promptly, and let them know you’ll forward their ideas, concerns and suggestions directly to district leaders. Then take what you learn and use it in your internal information campaign.