1. Designing Your Social Media Strategy
Social media strategies are not ‘one size fits all’.We’ll explore how to utilize popular social media platforms like
Facebook,Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr to build a successful social media strategy as unique as your school.
Stephen Johnson, Windward School
Jesse Bardo, EdSocialMedia.com
Travis Warren, WhippleHill
2. SOCIAL MEDIA APPROACH
✓ Inventory
✓ Leadership
✓ Coalition Building
✓ Policy
✓ Planning
✓ Staffing
✓ Tools
✓ ROI
22. You:
“We should live stream this Friday’s big basketball game,
and, hey, we can do a chat so students, parents, the public,
and alumni can talk on a screen during the game.”
Your Head of School’s response:
23.
24. You:
“We need to lift restrictions to Facebook in our library so
that everyone on campus has access to the school’s Facebook
page.”
Your Head of School’s response:
25.
26. You:
“Blogs will make our school more transparent. Transparency is
good. That’s what I read in the Cluetrain Manifesto.”
Your Head of School’s response:
34. transparency:
2 a: free from pretense or deceit
b: easily detected
35. transparency:
2 a: free from pretense or deceit
b: easily detected or seen through
36. transparency:
2 a: free from pretense or deceit
b: easily detected or seen through
c: readily understood
37. transparency:
2 a: free from pretense or deceit
b: easily detected or seen through
c: readily understood
d: characterized by visibility or accessibility
of information
38. transparency:
2 a: free from pretense or deceit
b: easily detected or seen through
c: readily understood
d: characterized by visibility or accessibility
of information especially concerning
business practices
from Merriam-Webster.com/dictionary
43. Some Fears
• Losing privacy (students, parents, teachers, etc.)
44. Some Fears
• Losing privacy (students, parents, teachers, etc.)
• Losing control of the School’s message or reputation
45. Some Fears
• Losing privacy (students, parents, teachers, etc.)
• Losing control of the School’s message or reputation
• Losing control of the School itself
46. Some Initial Solutions
• Use words such as engagement rather than transparency.
Communication is a two-way street now. Be willing to
have a conversation.
• Find the balance between transparency and
concealment - respect both.
• Educate. You work in a school. Teach others how to use
the tools.
47. Major Benefits of Social Media
for Independent Schools
1. Social media tools help you to tell your school’s
stories and help you share information with a large
number of people.
2. Social media tools help build and engage your
communities. You are judged on how you engage.
3. Social media tools help organize groups.
48. Specific Strategies - Benefits
1. Develop a Social Media Marketing Plan
• These are tools that help you accomplish goals. Tie
Plan to strategic plan goals and school’s mission.
• Present it to senior admins as part of your annual
departmental goals.
50. Contain the risk.
¨ Create Social Media Guidelines (or Policy) for faculty/staff.
¨ Protect your Head. Be your Head’s communications bodyguard.
¨ Show measurable results.
¨ Deputize certain students and teachers, and train them.
¨ Balance negative reviews with ones solicited from your
community members.
¨ Be less an evangelist and more a translator of social media
innovations.
¨ For your admins, build a strong fence within which your school
can have social media freedom.
53. Build coalitions.
¨ Partner with people who “get” it.
¨ Compromise. Take small victories and go from there.
¨ Collaborate with like-minded directors at local schools.
¨ Solicit advice through Twitter (and give back).
¨ Create a Social Media Plan, but ask Head’s/admins’ advice on
part of it.
¨ Play politics, negotiate, and leverage.
¨ Educate.
¨ Host an EdSocialMedia boot camp.
57. Founder’s Day Project
Process
¤ Hosted the boot camp
¤ Wrote a news story and posted on Windward Web site. Sent pushpages/ emails to
alums, parents inviting them to view and participate
¤ Created a live Flickr feed on the home page – invited everyone to post photos, but we
chose them
¤ Posted a Twitter widget on the home page to which certain students, teachers, coaches,
parents posted from all over the campus
¤ Were able to archive all Flickr photos (100+) in an gallery that was evidence of a great
community day; we sent it to all parents and later shared it with prospectives
¤ Head of School’s response was great – thought it really reflected the school and got
everyone involved!
58. Founder’s Day Project
1. Benefitted Everyone
¤ Shared engagement from students, parents, teachers, coaches, alumni – got everyone
involved and created community event.
2. Contained the Risk
¤ Deputized certain students to tweet and post Twitpix.
¤ Had control over posted Flickr photos.
3. Built Coalitions
¤ Teamed with visual arts teachers to post photos, newspaper to post tweets
¤ Worked with students, parents, and others
59. Resources
¨ www.windwardschool.org/communications
Stephen Johnson
Director of Communications
Windward School
Los Angeles
sjohnson@windwardschool.org
@ burma999
63. Social Media Guidelines for
Windward Faculty/Staff, 2009‐10
The following guidelines lay out some general boundaries
for Windward faculty and staff about using various social media
tools while the school develops a more thorough
policy over the next school year.
Their purpose is to provide information about the misuse of non
educational networking sites rather than be a guide to all educa
tional networking. The idea is to encourage
using social media tools such as wikis, Facebook, Twitter,
blogs, and forums in productive and fruitful ways and to
avoid the potential harm and liability that can result from
inappropriate or unethical use.
64. CONTENT
Use common sense
Does your post put the effectiveness
of your teaching at risk?
Do not discuss students or co-workers
Imagine students and parents visit your site
65. FRIENDS & FRIENDING
Don’t accept students as friends
Don’t initiate Facebook friendships with students
If you wish to use networking protocols as part of
the educational process please work with technology
staff
66. SECURITY
Visit your profiles security settings.
set to “only friends”
Information on social networking sites fall under
mandatory reporting guidlines.
Contact your department chair with any questions or
concerns.
77. alumni futures
Record It & Report It
•“What’s the ROI?” Possible answers…?
– “What do you want it to be?”
• Set goals and measure progress toward them
– “What’s the ROI of our phone system?”
• If ROI is low, are you going to quit Facebook?
– “Return on attention is more important”
• Don’t increase mindshare; increase its value
•So who gets which information?
http://www.alumnifutures.com
78. alumni futures
The ROI Hierarchy: Metrics
Senior Leaders
• Strategic Outcomes Reputation
Engagement Strategy
Visibility
Directors
• Social Media Analytics Advocacy
Word of Mouth Management
Insights
Program Staff
• Engagement Data Clicks, Fans, RTs,
Views,
Members, Comments,
Execution
Followers, Check Ins
Adapted from web-strategist.com
http://www.alumnifutures.com
79. alumni futures
Reporting Results
• Template for
summarizing social media
progress
• Adapt it to match the
scale, maturity, scope of
your program
• Simple steps to follow
Source: adaptivateblog.com
http://www.alumnifutures.com
81. alumni futures
Reporting Road Map (2)
• Highlight new tools
and trends
• Revisit your overall
communication
strategy
• Summarize the report
and draw conclusions
Source: adaptivateblog.com
http://www.alumnifutures.com
88. comment = engagement.
50
38
25
13
0
8
08
08
08
08
09
9
09
09
9
9
00
00
00
00
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
r2
2
2
r2
n
g
ct
c
b
ril
ne
st
er
Ap
be
De
Ju
Au
Fe
Ap
gu
O
ob
Ju
m
Au
ct
ce
O
De
Source: Proctor Academy/Chuck’s Corner Commnets (April 2008 - December 2009)