Helping Your Kids to Succeed In School

Private schools and social media? That's right. The two should go hand-in-hand. Why? Whether you're a teacher, and administrator or a parent-teacher organization leader, you can use the power of social media to help your school and get your message out there. Before you start randomly posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or anywhere else, check out what you need to know about using social media to help your private school.

Photo Releases

Those adorable pictures of kindergarten graduation have dozens of little faces in them. Keep in mind, not every parent wants their child's image on social media. Well before you ever consider posting anything, you need to get permission. These may be your students, but they aren't your children. If you are a parent, you do have the right to post your own child's pictures, but not ones that include their classmates. Talk to the school's legal team and have them write a photo release. Will most of the parents sign it? Probably. If you have a few holdouts don't stress. You may be able to blur out those students' face or crop them out of the photos.

Conversations and Communication

Seven out of every ten Americans use social media, according to the Pew Research Center. These adults post, like, comment and click in order to communicate, keep in touch with friends/family and learn. That makes social media the perfect way for private schools to connect with the families of students. Maybe you're noticing that your classroom bulletin board isn't getting much action or that the kids completely forget to hand mom and dad the weekly school newsletter. Posting important updates, school events and information about the school on social media is almost like having a permanent parent-teacher conference. The school staff can post, parents can comment back and anyone can ask/answer questions.

Staying Active

In the beginning of the school year everyone was posting, liking and commenting. The school put out at least four or five posts a day and the families were super-involved. As everyone got busy, the posts and pages fell short of what they once were. Keep the conversation flowing, and set up a schedule for positing. If you're in charge of social media positing, create a workable schedule that keeps everyone updated without seeming spammy. Look at how many people are liking/commenting on the photos. Also, look at what types of content the users seem to enjoy. Are parents more likely to like articles about child development? Or, do they seem to prefer pictures of classroom activities? Line your social media strategy up with your goals as well as what your audience expects.

Along with considering these aspects of social media, don't forget to announce your pages or profiles. The staff and the families won't use your brand-new Facebook page if they don't know about it. Add social media buttons to your private school's website, at the bottom of emails or to e-newsletters. 

Contact a school like International School of MN to learn more.