For us as communicators in education, it is crucial that we
conduct our business during the school year, but it is especially important to concentrate our efforts during the
summer months as well.
Why is this the best approach? Because
most of us don’t do it. By putting in the extra effort during the summer, you can beat your competition that is
sleeping in and not working on Fridays.
In this year’s article you’ll four
brand new initiatives to concentrate on this summer to rock your marketing
during the off-season.
Here
are four new tips and strategies to out-market the competition:
1. Facebook Live
With over 1.5 billion active users on
Facebook, it’s probably time to make the shift to the “King of All Social
Media”. Facebook has done so much in the
past year to make the platform better for the individual and the business; it
is most likely going to hit live video out of the ballpark.
Related Post: 12 Easy Facebook Live Ideas for Your District
If you are really serious about Facebook Live, Facebook has a nice website setup to learn more about their live streaming feature.
Here are their 8 Tips and Tricks to be successful on
Facebook Live:
1.Tell fans when you're
broadcasting ahead of time.
2. Go live when you have a strong
connection.3. Write a catchy description before going live.
4. Ask viewers to subscribe to Live notifications.
5. Say hello to commenters by name; respond to their comments live.
6. Broadcast for longer periods of time to reach more people.
7. Use a closing line to signal the end of the broadcast.
8. Be creative and go live often!
A more in-depth explanation of each tip can be found here:
I think the best thing to do is to practice. Live video can be tricky sometimes. Some people tend to overthink things and
complicate things. Be natural, and always
try to tell an engaging story.
2. SnapChat
Once upon a time you swore on your
first child that your district would never be on Facebook. Look at you now, your district is probably
seeing higher engagement on your Facebook page then your website. However, now you have to deal with that crazy
algorithm, and the fact that none of your students like your posts on
Facebook.
The reason they’re not sharing your
posts is that they are all on Instagram and Snapchat. And that’s exactly where you should be. Don’t be scared of Snapchat. There are thousands of tutorials online to be
successful on the platform. You can also
borrow from companies like ESPN and BuzzFeed who are both successful at
snapchatting.
Here is a post from Social Media Examiner: Snapchat Gains Momentum
Here is a post from Social Media Examiner: Snapchat Gains Momentum
Even if you scared to dive into posting
pictures and video on Snapchat, you can still get into the SnapChat Ballgame
with Geofilters. Geofilters are graphic
overlays that you can create for SnapChat users to place on top of their
pictures and videos they post on the platform.
Geofilters are displayed to users in a
certain geographical region that you define when you create your filter. It is a great way to target a younger
audience around a certain school or district event.
Here is a great
post by Social Media Examiner
5 Creative Ways to Use SnapchatGeofilters for Business.
They provide some
great ideas you can use in your district.
A great resource for all things SnapChat is Carlos Gil.
He always posts excellent tips and suggestions to excel at SnapChat.
He has an excellent beginners guide on SnapChat that can be found here: The Beginners Guide To Using Snapchat
3. Analytics
Always be checking your analytics. You need to determine what is working and
what is not working. Study them closely. Look for the trends that will help
you develop a strategy for the upcoming school year.
The best platform we use to track all
of our websites is Google Analytics. If
you do not have it setup on your website, do it ASAP. Don’t know how… Here is a video tutorial of
how to install it on your site:
He has an excellent beginners guide on SnapChat that can be found here: The Beginners Guide To Using Snapchat
3. Analytics
Always be checking your analytics. You need to determine what is working and
what is not working. Study them closely. Look for the trends that will help
you develop a strategy for the upcoming school year.
The best platform we use to track all
of our websites is Google Analytics. If
you do not have it setup on your website, do it ASAP. Don’t know how… Here is a video tutorial of
how to install it on your site:
Here are some great articles on what to
look for in your Google Analytics:
The 8 Most Important ConversionMetrics You Should Be Tracking
Here are some great articles on what to
look for in your Google Analytics:
4. SlideShare
SlideShare is an excellent visual way to repurpose your content from you your blog or other publications. Think PowerPoint, but on a LinkedIn network of power users. It's an excellent way to reach educated influencers on certain topics.
My district has had great success on the platform. In one year we have had our slideshows been viewed tens of thousands of times and some of our top content has been downloaded or shared thousands of times.
The key is to be strategic on what you post and make sure to be very visual in your presentation.
That's it for this year's summer tips. Have a great rest of the summer and remember... Always be marketing.
Do you have any other tips or suggestions? Leave them in the comment section below.
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