Stephen Johnson, Director of Communications, Windward School (California) (@burma999), helps independent and private schools identify how to share your school’s story in a way that makes your story worth tweeting about. Part Two of the edSocialMedia Pre-Conference Forum.

1. The Social Media Playbook
How to Amplify Your School’s
Social Media Beyond the Basics
Sunday, January 13, 13

2. A Basic DefiniBon of Twi?er
Twi?er is an online social networking service and
micro-­‐blogging service that enables its users to send and
read text-­‐based messages of up to 140 characters,
known as "tweets.”
-­‐ Wikipedia
Sunday, January 13, 13

3. What Are the Basic FuncBons of Twi?er?
(i.e., What Should You Know How To Do?)
Sunday, January 13, 13

4. What Are the Basic FuncBons of Twi?er?
(i.e., What Should You Know How To Do?)
• How to set up an account
• How to set up a profile
• How to Tweet
• How to follow others
To learn the basics, refer to Mashable’s “TwiGer Guidebook” at hGp://
on.mash.to/EQU82 or blogger Brendan Schneider.
Sunday, January 13, 13

5. An Idea of Twi?er Beyond the Basics
“Don’t think of picking the right tool, but pay a?enBon to
what kind of interacBon the tool enables or magnifies.”
-­‐ Liz Allen (from Currents Magazine, April 2012)
Sunday, January 13, 13

6. How do we go beyond the basics?
Sunday, January 13, 13

7. How do we go beyond the basics?
The Basics
• broadcasXng news and updates from your school
Sunday, January 13, 13

8. How do we go beyond the basics?
The Basics
• broadcasXng news and updates
Beyond the Basics
• having conversaXons (begin by listening)
• making connecXons (get outside of your community)
• engaging followers (promoXon is easy)
• building relaXonships (ask for and offer help and feedback)
Sunday, January 13, 13

9. Great Examples of Schools That Go
Beyond the Basics with Twi?er
Sunday, January 13, 13

10. Use TwiGer to BROADCAST BASIC NEWS AND UPDATES
Sunday, January 13, 13

11. Use TwiGer to BROADCAST BASIC NEWS AND UPDATES
Gould Academy
Bethel, ME
@gouldacademy
• Good mix of the every-­‐day, arXcles,
photos, video, news stories
• Tucker Kimball, Director of
CommunicaXons @tuckerkimball
Sunday, January 13, 13

12. Use TwiGer to BROADCAST BASIC NEWS AND UPDATES
Windward School
Los Angeles, CA
@windwardschool
• Put a widget on your homepage
• Low-­‐cost involvement, users don’t
have to log in or subscribe
Sunday, January 13, 13

13. Use TwiGer in TIMES of EMERGENCY
Sunday, January 13, 13

14. Use TwiGer in TIMES of EMERGENCY
Bay Ridge
Preparatory School
Brooklyn, NY
@bayridgeprep
• Used TwiGer to
communicate about
Sandy related closings,
fundraisers, etc.
• On TwiGer since 2009
• Tweets family-­‐related
and educaXon-­‐related
arXcles and resources
Sunday, January 13, 13

15. Use TwiGer to BUILD AN ATHLETICS COMMUNITY
Sunday, January 13, 13

16. Use TwiGer to BUILD AN ATHLETICS COMMUNITY
Harvard-­‐Westlake School
Los Angeles, CA
@hwathleXcs
• 2,400 followers
• Avenue of communicaXon and info
for parents
• Put link on all team pages
• Post all U/S scores and highlights
• Reaches reporters (LA Times)
• Live-­‐tweet big away games so
community can follow
• AthleXc Director Vince Orlando
Sunday, January 13, 13

17. Use TwiGer to GET YOUR HEAD OF SCHOOL to GO SOCIAL
Sunday, January 13, 13

18. Use TwiGer to GET YOUR HEAD OF SCHOOL to GO SOCIAL
Loomis Chafee School • 1422 followers, main
Windsor, CT
@loomischaffee • 318 followers, HOS
@SCulbertLC
Sunday, January 13, 13

19. Use TwiGer to CREATE SPECIAL EVENTS (use hashtags)
Windward School
Los Angeles, CA
#wwhc13
/social
Homecoming Project
• Drove folks to the /social
• mash page and WW
website
• Used our Social Ecosystem
(FB, TW, blog, photos,
video) to create
awareness and
excitement
hGp://bit.ly/UOhg5W
Sunday, January 13, 13

20. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Sunday, January 13, 13

21. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Dr. Leshin’s visit to campus in fall 2012
Sunday, January 13, 13

22. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Sunday, January 13, 13

23. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Two months later . . .
Our RoboXcs team does well at Vex CompeXXon, so . . .
Sunday, January 13, 13

24. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Two months later . . .
Our RoboXcs team does well at Vex CompeXXon, so . . .
Sunday, January 13, 13

25. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
@VexRoboXcs retweets and Vex and Dr. Leshin now
follow us. We have a TwiGer RELATIONSHIP! (Ooooo!)
Sunday, January 13, 13

26. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Windward School
Los Angeles, CA
• RT’ed by @rpinews: 2,124
followers
• RT’ed by @rpiscidean and NASA
scienXst Laurie Leshin, 436
• WW sent future tweets re
science/roboXcs – a relaXonship!
• NEW STORY! @VexRoboXcs
retweeted, nearly 5,000 folowers.
• Using handles, built connecXons
with influencers and friends
Sunday, January 13, 13

27. Use TwiGer to BUILD PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Next step for Windward CommunicaBons:
Geong key faculty to tweet professionally using
@WindwardSchool and using handles and hashtags of
our partners.
Sunday, January 13, 13

28. Use TwiGer to ENERGIZE YOUR COMMUNITY
Sunday, January 13, 13

29. Use TwiGer to ENERGIZE YOUR COMMUNITY
University of Wisconsin-­‐
Madison
Madison, WI
#Uwrightnow: 24 Hours in the
Life of UW
• 1,018 stories, photos and videos,
tweets posted – crowd-­‐sourced
• 14,000 unique visitors in 24 hours
• Visitors from 50 states and 95
countries
• Visitors spent five minutes on the
site on average
• 20% of visits happened on mobile
devices
hGp://bit.ly/TamWdo • 8,000 shares on Facebook and
TwiGer
Sunday, January 13, 13

30. Use TwiGer to ENGAGE YOUR ALUMNI to GIVE
Sunday, January 13, 13

31. Use TwiGer to ENGAGE YOUR ALUMNI to GIVE
University of Wisconsin-­‐Madison
Madison, WI
The Bucky Challenge
@uwmadison, @buckybadger
#4bucky
• An alum family offered to give $1 for
every new Facebook and TwiGer follower
to UW-­‐Madison and WAA
• Result: 20,000 new likes/follows; $20,000
raised for scholarship fund
• The future of social in educaXon: beyond
building community to making
conversions (raising money, etc.)
hGp://bit.ly/Ubr6Se
hGp://youtu.be/PEPteGL1xzk
Sunday, January 13, 13

32. How to Find the Time to Tweet?
15 Minutes a Day
• 5 minutes replying
• 5 minutes re-­‐tweeXng
• 5 minutes promoXng yourself
-­‐ via SEOmoz
Sunday, January 13, 13

33. Other Twi?er Tips and Tricks
• Get retweeted (make great content, use hashtags, use quotes)
• Make it easier to share content (buGons on website)
• Add links (through bitly)
• Tweet short smartphone photos/vids
• Direct traffic to your site with links to important arXcles, photos, and donor
pages
• Use direct appeal: “Please RT,” “Share this on TwiGer,” “Tell a friend!”
• Put your handle on all advancement and admissions materials and on all
faculty/staff email signatures (branding)
• Figure out the best Xmes to tweet and automate (Tweriod, Hootsuite)
Sunday, January 13, 13

34. Follow some of the best
• @edsocialmedia
• @schneiderb – Brendan Schneider
• @cassdull – Cassie Dull
• @wsXtes – Willliam SXtes
• @lizallen-­‐ Liz Allen
• @lorriej – Lorrie Jackson
• @tuckerkimball – Tucker Kimball
• @TravisWarren – Travis Warren, Whipplehill
• @SEOMoz
• @meetcontent
• good universiXes (UW-­‐Madison, USC, BU, Tuvs, Harvard)
Sunday, January 13, 13

35. Thank you!
Stephen Johnson
@burma999
burma999@yahoo.com
Sunday, January 13, 13