Twitter like all social media platforms, offers schools an incredibly cost-effective way of promoting events, celebrating amazing things that go on in the school classroom,
provide useful information and even gather opinions on all sorts of things that may be of interest to school leaders and parents. Used well, twitter, like all social media platforms, can be a very useful tool in the school marketing toolbox.
Here are our top 5 tips to help you make the most of the social media platform Twitter.
1. Be consistent and persistent!
Tweeting once in a blue moon is unlikely to engage anyone or build your audience. So, plan ahead, schedule what you want to promote and use a social media template to make life easy for whoever is responsible for social media in school. This simple template is a great aid-memoir, reminding you to keep to the character count and cover off the essential aspects of a catchy article – who, what, where when and why. You’ll have 280 characters as a limit so use them wisely!
2. Extend your reach.
You may be familiar with the term’s ‘handle’ and ‘hashtag’. These are commonly used on Twitter and other social media platforms, they are used to bring others into the conversation and ensure your social media posts reach the people you’re looking to reach. Advertise your twitter handle (ours is @jus_chameleon for example) and, if you’re referring to someone else in your message, make sure you quote their handle too so they’re brought into the conversation and your coverage is increased. Hashtags (#) are used to bring associated tweets together. Including a hashtag gives your Tweet context and allows people to easily follow topics that they're interested in, other social media platforms use hashtags as well.
3. Share special moments and use video.
It comes as no surprise that the twitter tweets most likely to be shared, and liked, contain images or video. Our schools are full of memorable, human-interest stories and capturing these can create a real buzz. Research from Twitter themselves suggest tweets containing images or video attract 2 or 3 times more views than tweets that rely purely on text only. But don’t forget to obtain the necessary permissions before publishing photos and videos on Twitter and all social media platforms.
4. Invest time in following and responding.
We all appreciate that effective communication works both ways - it’s important to listen and pay attention to others, not only on social media. Make the time to respond promptly to any mentions or direct messages, ignoring them or taking time to reply just alienates your followers and closes down a potentially really useful conversation thread. Don’t forget to share and retweet other messages from followers and to ‘like’ their content too!
5. And finally….
Our top 4 tips for using twitter in school are there to help you make the most of this great social media marketing medium. But predictably, there is always a risk with school communications and our 5th twitter tip is to not do something. If the school social media account is receiving negative messages from a disgruntled parent, then your first action is to politely acknowledge the message and then make efforts to take the conversation offline. Resist the urge to respond in kind and never get into a ‘slagging match’! It might sound obvious but in the heat of the moment things are said and done that cannot be undone. Take these conversations offline and deal with them in the appropriate way, not on social media.
If you need help developing a social media presence, or a wider communications strategy for your school, get in touch.
Justin Smith
Chameleon Consultancy and Training
January 2023