"People Relationships: School PR Techniques That Work" presented at the Texas Association of School Boards 2011 Summer Leadership Institute. Special thanks to Brad Domitrovich (www.slideshare.net/braddomitrovich) for the opportunity to fill-in as a presenter in his absence.

1. People Relationships:
School PR Techniques That Work
Texas Association of School Boards
2011 Summer Leadership Institute

2. The Challenge
● School districts face many challenges
● The job of an effective school board is even more difficult
when faced with issues that divide your community
● Bonds, attendance zones, accountability ratings, school
closings, standardized dress codes, curriculum, school
finance, football, cheerleaders, etc.

3. Importance of Communications
● Gets your message out to parents, community, and staff
● Allows you to clarify your goals and objectives
● Provides a vehicle to dispel rumors
● Crucial component for school district perceptions
● Near the top of most surveys as a problem area

4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pedestriantype/5378956934/

5. Districts are brands and
communities are buyers

6. What do school districts sell?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rakspassion/4287819064/

7. School districts sell trust
Effective relationship with the community, stakeholders must trust:
● Provide safe learning environments;
● Instructional standards and expectations for teachers;
● All students given every opportunity to succeed and achieve;
● Parents are wanted and integral;
● Technology and instruction will not be mutually exclusive;
● When things go wrong, the district will be open and honest
when communicating and work to mitigate future issues;
● Tax dollars will be used with sound fiscal judgment;
● Facilities will be constructed and maintained; and
● The best interest of students' education will be the guide.

8. Public Relations
"Public Relations helps an organization and
its publics adapt mutually to each other."
- Public Relations Society of America

9. Public Relations
Who are your school district publics or stakeholders?
• Students
• Parents
• Taxpayers/Patrons
• Employees

10. Communication Goals and Objectives
The overall goal of a school district communication
program is to engage all stakeholders in open, honest,
two-way communication that educates, informs, and builds
support for your organization.
Example of Anytown ISD Goals:
1. Increase awareness about the overall positive impact
of Anytown ISD education.
2. Improve public perception of schools and the district.
3. Generate engagement and support for the education
of AISD children.

11. What makes the news?
● Something controversial
● Something that is timely
● Something that involves a lot of people
● Something that's important for the public to know
● Something that is a first

12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/techne/102968446/
Believe it or not, members of the media:
● Are very competitive
● Are not always out to get you
● Can get the truth from somebody else
● Are human beings

13. What does the media do?
● Influences concern about key issues
● Increases public awareness
● Increases public knowledge
● Helps the community form an opinion
● Holds school districts and leadership
accountable for actions and decisions

14. What do schools districts want?
● Keep community
confidence level high
● Avoid negative publicity
● Deliver a positive
message
● Balanced reporting during
challenging times
● Make their district stand
out from the rest
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pjmixer/3654255847/

15. What does the media want?
● An exclusive story
● An interview with key
individuals
● Timely access to
information for stories
● Something controversial
because it sells
● To be helpful
● To shed light on an issue
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrism70/247069368/

16. Today's news media:
● Expect more contact with junior-level journalists
● Expect more errors or inconsistencies
● Requires more hand-holding and close listening
(Example: During phone interviews, listen to how the
reporter sums up your quotes and especially if there's
anything that seems to still be confusing at the end.)
● Newsrooms may be shrinking, but news
landscape still expanding with greater levels of
expectations for journalists in reporting and content
production
● Expect less coverage (unless things go wrong)

17. Creating Allies
● Build media relationships when there are no major
stories brewing
● Don’t pick a fight with the media
● Be cooperative
● Respond in a timely manner (business etiquette)
● Become a trusted resource
● It’s OK to tell them if they misquoted you in the past or
misrepresented you
● Gain greater confidence (and competence) with media
training
● Sometimes it's ok to decline an interview request

18. Interviewing Tips
● If you are not the district
spokesperson, politely tell
the reporter you will have
someone promptly return
their call.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/5126838555/
● In most cases, the board
president typically speaks
on behalf of the board for
decisions.

19. Interviewing Tips
● Sometimes you can't get
all of the facts before a
story breaks.
● Communicate first with
your heart. Your first
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaxpef/5115586330/
words create an image.
● During interviews,
pauses are the toughest,
but best tip.
● Keep your message
simple.

20. “All the media training in the world
won’t help if you leave common
sense behind while being
interviewed.” - Ari B. Adler

21. Interviewing Tips
Preparation is key:
● Know the facts.
● Anticipate questions.
● Set the ground rules.
● Rehearse your message.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markdodds/3691200591/
● Avoid personal opinions.

22. Interviewing Tips
Guidelines to remember:
● Take/keep control.
● Don't speculate.
● Don't repeat the negative.
● Speak slowly and clearly.
● Keep your composure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/felicityredwell/4275050751/
● Stay on topic.
● Restate your message.
● Avoid saying "No comment."

23. Public Relations > Media Relations

24. As news is posted faster, the official version
of events from your organization is vital.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bekahstargazing/318930460/

25. News Releases
● Simple, factual, and story-driven.
● Timeliness and connection to major issues or
controversies.
● Get your side out quickly.
● Use photos and video to help tell your story.
● Factual, simple when it comes to Board
meeting recaps.
● Think like a publisher.
● Media-Shmedia: Be Your Own Newsroom

26. "Companies that understand
they have to be the media
instead of waiting for the
media to come to them will be
the winners moving forward."
http://www.prsa.org/Intelligence/Tactics/Articles/view/8670/1014/Create_your_own_video_to_advance_your_company_s_re

27. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8692813@N06/3793541781/
Communication channel-surfing

28. District Website
● Should be your primary marketing and outreach tool
● Must be dynamic - avoid a static site
● Promote your site and train your audience to visit

30. Electronic Communications
● Fast, timely, cost effective
● Build your database
through parent sign-ups,
on-line forms, etc.
● Some examples: E- E-newsletters have been
Newsletters, Updates, around for years, what may
Board Briefings, be new to school districts is
Emergency News, etc. concept of measuring their
effectiveness with open-
rates and click-thru statistics
when available.

31. If Social Media is simply
people having online
conversations...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/herculie/2370039001/

32. ...then public school districts
should be conversing via
Social Media.

33. Why?

34. Consider this...
● Social media accounts for ~ 25% of all time spent
online over 35 minutes per hour – Nielsen
● In the US, there are 149M active Facebook users,
70% log in once a day – Ogilvy & BuddyMedia
● Social Networking accounts for 1 of every 6
minutes spent online – comScore
● 17% of US online consumers have created a
Twitter account – ExactTarget
● 78.6% of consumers have joined a company’s
community to get more information on the
company – Universal McCann

35. So what does that have to do
with school PR techniques?

36. Social Media integration is no longer optional
for school districts and PR pros
● Opportunity for positive community relations outweighs
risks of unknown fears
● It takes some professional courage to get it right
● See what others are doing and follow good examples
Two possible realities:
1. Your district started using social media, but you're not
quite sure if you're doing it right
2. Something is still keeping you from using social media
tools in your school district communications

37. http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrottyshang/1598030392/

38. Who do you want to reach? Audience
What do you want to accomplish? Objectives
Where can social media improve or supplement
our programs, services, communications? What
district policies need to be in place? Strategies
What’s our available budget/time? Barriers
What opportunities to pilot? Tactics

39. Parents and Social Media
Your parents are using social media to:
● See what other parents are saying
about their school and its staff
● Get support and insight into educational
and parenting issues
● Build awareness about an issue or a
cause important to them

40. Let's look at some social media
integration options and examples
for school districts:
● Blogging
● Facebook
● Twitter
● Video
● Photo Galleries

41. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alamodestuff/4351730264/

42. School District Blogging
● Tell your good stories
● Introduce ideas and plans
● Invite writers from other areas
● Feature writing
● Official statements
● Rumor control
● Feedback through comments
● Moderate comments
● Be interesting
● Use text, photos, and video
http://yourmansfieldisd.blogspot.com/

43. School District Blogging
● Blog as newsfeed
● Press release posts
● Reverse-chronological
order
● Built-in archive
● RSS enabled
● Sample Blogger -->
http://sdusd-news.blogspot.com

44. School District
Blogging:
Rumor Control

46. Tips for school districts on Facebook
● Make sure Facebook link is easy to find on website
● Post links plus photos/videos
● Have rules for moderation
● "Tag" Campuses and other Pages (including media)
● Use Facebook events; free and easy to encourage
community to "Share"
● Ask/answer questions
● Reply to feedback as appropriate
● You don't have to respond to everything

47. Polices & Guidelines
Set the rules of engagement...
Remove posts that:
● Break the law or encourage others to do so
● Contain abusive or inappropriate language or statements
● Easily identify students and/or staff in defamatory, abusive,
or generally negative terms
● Do not show proper consideration for others’ privacy or are
considered likely to offend or provoke others
● Are spam
● Full Sample: http://bit.ly/1w30vT

48. Tips for school districts on Facebook
● Teach your Fans to tag your district's Page
● Using the “tag” (the @ symbol), they can tag the district’s
Facebook Page in their own status that goes out to their
friends
● Shows active community on the district's Page Wall
(Only useful if you've opened up your
Page Wall for community comments)

49. Tips for school districts on Facebook
Get into the Facebook feed: Getting people to "like" or
comment on your Facebook content improves the chances
that more people will see it in their feed, an algorithm referred
to as “EdgeRank.”
Those who use social media to only push out their school
district's messages miss the opportunity to have an engaging
conversation with their online community.

50. Facebook Impressions and Feedback
● Impressions: How many times a specific post was
displayed within news feeds.
● Feedback: The percent of fans “like” or comment on a
specific post.
If you want to
know how good
your stuff is, then
focus on
“Feedback.”

51. ● Install Facebook
"Like" box on your
website or blog
● Get a unique or
vanity Facebook
URL address
● Add URL to print
collateral
● Add URL to e-mail
signatures

52. What happens when things go south for your
school district's Facebook Page?
Be prepared for some unintended consequences of having a
school district Facebook:
"The open nature of the Facebook commenting feature continues to
cause regular disruption and place the district as a liable participant in
issues related to sharing of private student information, defamation of
employees and other abusive online behavior. In addition, MISD is not
able to commit the administrative or campus staff time necessary to
adequately moderate user content posted to these pages."
Short-version: The liabilities were outweighing the benefits.
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2011/05/closing-school-districts-facebook-page.html

53. For school districts, Twitter can be...
● a cost-effective (free) option to accentuate existing
messages;
● a broadcasting tool to announce relevant information to
specific audiences; and
● a (brief) conversational tool to appropriately respond to
relevant inquiries and follow-up questions or comments.

54. Putting Twitter to work
● Broadcast vs. conversationalist
● Twitter as pages
● Twitter as media pitches
● Tweets for on-the-go posting
● Engaging the media
School districts tweeting once per
week or less do not provide
enough value in the medium and
quickly become obsolete.

55. Twitter as webpages

56. Twitter as pitches

57. Twitter on-the-go:
● Embeddable
● Event Pics

58. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharynmorrow/18753251/

59. Use video to tell your story
● Video content could be a key component of your
communication strategy
● Some find communicating through video easier than
feature/article writing or long blog posts
● Most would rather watch a video than read
● Many options, but stick with YouTube or Vimeo
● Both free with easily embeddable videos for
blogs/websites and can be shared on Facebook
● If possible, try to keep videos short (3-5 minutes)
● Remember to repurpose, share across multiple channels
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharynmorrow/18753251/

61. Photo Galleries
● Campus news/events pics
● SmugMug, Flickr,
Facebook, etc.
● Community/parent
submitted pics
● Embeddable slideshows
● Easily shared/linked
● Useful when there's no time
to fully cover an event with
article
● Parents enjoy seeing their
kids

62. Monitoring
That’s just a wall, Gary.
http://www.themonkeysyouordered.com/post/1061277890/may-15th-2007

63. Monitoring Tools
● Google Reader
● Google Alerts/News/Blog
Search/Analyitcs
● Facebook Search
● Search.Twitter.com
● Tweetdeck
● Bit.ly (shorteners & stats)
● IceRocket real-time search

64. Once you start using social media
● Follow through and use the tools
● You don’t have to use every tool
● Avoid the shiny-object syndrome
● Tailor your social strategy to fit your objectives
● You need to have a thick skin
● Not always going to be nice and friendly
● Anticipate challenges
● Have a plan in place to deal with detractors
● Above all, foster a positive community experience

65. You are not going to be able to please
everyone, but everyone should see
that you aim to please.

66. From the crowd...
● "Connect to community in way others can't do. Professional advice and
counsel. Provide 'screen' for media to allow prep. Long list."
● "I just can't imagine not having that link...protects & helps everyone. Keeps
consistent voice & brand too."
● "They need to get with the times and start using email more effectively.
Start using the mediums the people they answer to use. i.e. Twitter,
Facebook, podcasts etc."
● "Face-to-face communication is the most effective way to engage
employees in mission/goals ... and by extension, to engage the
community."
● "We just can't crank out newsletters and say that's enough anymore.
Social media, blogs, podcasts, webcasting, e-newsletters and many more
have changed the game."

68. Sources & Additional Resources
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/07/school-pr-and-news-media-ken-haseley.html
http://www.copyblogger.com/irresistible-pr/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/21-ways-non-profits-can-leverage-social-media/
http://jeffesposito.com/2011/02/14/social-media-facts-share-executives/
http://jasonkintzler.com/5-ways-to-kill-the-press-release
http://www.liveworld.com/socialvoice/2011/02/11/new-facebook-pages-5-changes/
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/11/getting-in-flow-chart-of-social-media.html
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/08/facebook-for-school-districts-set-up.html
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-writing-ideas-and-tips-for-school.html
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2009/10/facebook-fan-page-rules-for-school.html
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2010/12/school-boards-twitter-and-media-machine.html
http://www.connectsafely.org/pdfs/fbparents.pdf
http://webbiquity.com/social-media-marketing/best-social-pr-guides-tips-and-tools-of-2010/
http://socialmediatoday.com/heatherwhaling/258483/10-press-release-alternatives
Don't worry if you missed anything.
This presentation can be found on slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/rescovedo

69. Contact
Richie Escovedo
E-mail: richie.escovedo@gmail.com
Twitter: @vedo
Blog: http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rescovedo