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Page 1: Provo School District Social Media Plan

7/28/2019 Provo School District Social Media Plan

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Contents 

Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2

Reaching parents .................................................................................................................... 3Why Provo School District needs a comprehensive social media strategy ........................... 5

20/20 Initiative ................................................................................................................... 5 

Student retention and enrollment ....................................................................................... 8 

Case study: Davis School District.......................................................................................... 9

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 11

Social Media Guides ................................................................................................................ 12

Facebook .............................................................................................................................. 14

Twitter .................................................................................................................................. 17Superintendent’s blog .......................................................................................................... 22

YouTube .............................................................................................................................. 25

Pinterest................................................................................................................................ 29

Additional Resources ............................................................................................................... 34

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Introduction 

Provo School District has exceptional teachers and administration who are working

hard to improve education for students in Provo City. Mr. James Rees from Provo High

School recently won the PBS Teacher Innovator Award, and Alan Allred from Timpview

High School was named Utah’s Outstanding Music Educator. The District also offers many

valuable programs such as its dual immersion programs in Chinese, French, Spanish and

Portuguese as well as its eSchool. In addition students have access to excellent after-school

 programs to enhance their education. Through the accomplishments of teachers and students

within the District, it is apparent that Provo School District is an excellent place for parents to

send their children to receive a public education.

Despite all the exceptional teachers, students, administration and programs, the

District struggles to increase student retention and enrollment rates. The District struggles

with student retention because of the increased variety of educational opportunities available

through private, charter and home schools. Many parents within the District boundaries are

choosing to take their children to these schools instead of public schools. The main schools

the District competes with for students are Freedom Academy, John Hancock, Walden

School of Liberal Arts, Meridian and homeschools.

The District wants to help parents understand its schools are a safe and excellent place

for their children to receive an education. Students and parents have access to exceptional

 programs and resources in Provo’s public schools, and it is essential for the District to

communicate the success of these programs and the availability of resources to parents. The

success stories of Provo School District must be told widely and transparently in order to

increase student retention and enrollment rates.

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Reaching parents 

Parents are the target audience with whom the District needs to communicate because

they are the individuals who choose to which schools they will send their children. More

specifically, the District needs to increase its efforts to reach out to moms. The District

should focus on moms between 26-54 years old who live within district boundaries and have

at least one child in a Provo school. These women are usually married and stay at home. They

typically have a household income level of $60K+. The reason the District needs to focus on

these moms is because they are able to take their children to other educational institutions due

to their higher income level. These moms value their children’s education and want them to

have access to the best opportunities. If they do not perceive Provo District offers these

opportunities, they will take their children elsewhere. This places upon the District the

obligation to communicate more effectively with this key audience. If the District does not

improve its ability to effectively and transparently communicate its excellence to parents,

teachers and students, it will continue to lose students to alternative education institutions.

Provo School District already has a good website on which it shares the success of its

students and teachers. The website provides parents access to information and resources

regarding the programs available. This website is an excellent communication tool for the

District. However, relying only on this tool requires that parents get the information only if 

they visit the website on their own. The District needs to more proactively share positive

information with its stakeholders without requiring them to search out the website. One way

this can be done is through social media. Provo School District already has a Facebook page

with more than 350 “likes,” with more than 50 percent of the “likes” being from women ages

25-54 who are in the District’s target market.

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The full gender and age demographics of the Facebook page are below:

Scott Rocco, a superintendent in New Jersey, wrote an article on edsocialmedia.com

and gave five key reasons school districts should be active on social media:

1)  Improve communication with stakeholders. Websites are good, but social media

sends information directly to stakeholders.

2)  Provide real-time information to the community.

3)  Positive promotion is not the focus of traditional paper press, so social media fills

this void.

4)  Social media is a way to efficiently share District messages and missions.

5)  Social media is not a burden and will save time, focus your message and promote

your school or district.1 

While Provo District already has a Facebook page and a website, it would be

 beneficial for the District to implement a comprehensive social media strategy. This strategy

should include multiple social media channels, and a possible strategy is outlined in this

document.

1 http://www.edsocialmedia.com/2013/01/5-reasons-for-social-media-communication-in-education/

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Why Provo School District needs a comprehensive social media strategy 

Provo District needs to implement a social media strategy in order to accomplish its

goals outlined in the 20/20 initiative as well as its goals to retain current students and increase

student enrollment.

20/20 Initiative

A comprehensive social media strategy will support the strategic imperatives of the

District’s 20/20 initiative. Strategic imperative four states, “We will actively engage parents

in the education of their children.” Social media provides a platform for parents to become

engaged in their students’ learning. Through social media, the District can provide learning

resources parents can use at home, and it can let parents know about school assemblies and

activities.

Strategic imperative nine states, “We commit to efficiency, transparency,

accountability and sustainability in our finances, general District operations and our 

facilities.” Social media is essential in portraying a culture of efficiency, transparency and

accountability. Social media is where many women in the District’s target audience turn to

get information. According to the annual Social Media Report by Nielson and NM Incite,

there are more women on social networking sites than men.2 To support this statistic, an

infographic (included on next page) from the marketing firm Digital Flash NY shows that 58

 percent of Facebook users, 64 percent of Twitter users and 82 percent of Pinterest users are

women.3 These statistics show that women are on social media, and Provo School District

would miss a key opportunity to connect with its target audience if it did not implement a

comprehensive social media strategy. Furthermore, with the new announcement of Google

Fiber coming to Provo, more parents will have access to the Internet and social media sites

2

 http://www.brandwatch.com/2012/12/how-we-use-social-highlights-from-the-social-media-report-2012/ 3 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/women-facebook-twitter-pinterest_n_1655164.html

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and will, therefore, expect information about the school district to be easily accessible

through these channels.

The third strategic action plan of the 20/20 initiative is to “transform communication,

customer service and relationship expectations with parents and community.” Social media is

essential in transforming communication and building a relationship with stakeholders.

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Parents are the key stakeholder in relation to student enrollment and retention. In this

technology-saturated time, parents demand immediate information. Social media is an ideal

 platform for parents to receive information, ask questions and provide feedback. As the

District provides parents with immediate, accurate information through social media, its

relationship with parents will most likely improve.

In transforming its communication and relationship with parents, the District can use

social media to portray certain key messages. These messages will help parents understand

the District has the self-interest of them and their children at the forefront of its efforts, which

is essential to building a mutually beneficial relationship. Implementing a comprehensive

social media strategy will help the District transparently share the following messages with

 parents:

1)  We value and meet your desire to know more about your child’s education.

2)  We value and meet your desire to know more about opportunities available in Provo

School District.

3)  We value and meet your desire to know when events and/or emergencies occur at any

Provo school.

As a subset to the overall action plan to transform communication, Provo District

wants to “outline tactics that lead to high quality customer service and communication .”

Social media is becoming a place where individuals go to communicate concerns and

questions to businesses, brands and school districts. Ben Horsely, director of communications

for Granite School District, stated in a recent Deseret News article, “Often, we get more

responses or connections to our social media than we get through traditional methods like

 phone messages and email. The feedback portion is also critical.”4 

4 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865569774/Granite-district-uses-humor-to-respond-to-New-Years-

tweets.html?pg=all 

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 Student retention and enrollment  

Provo School District also needs to implement a comprehensive social media strategy

 because it will greatly support efforts to increase enrollment and retention. Superintendent

Rittel stated in his welcoming post on the website, “The best way to earn the community’s

confidence is to accomplish the reason we exist: to provide our students with a quality, rich,

and lasting education.”5 Provo School District is fulfilling this purpose and has the potential

to gain the community’s confidence. However , unless the story of this accomplishment is

shared more proactively with the community through social media, community members will

not know of its success, and their confidence will not be gained. Phil Traegus, a writer for 

socialnomics.com, made the following statement in an article about social media’s place in

education:

“Many educational institutes are already implementing social mediamarketing successfully as a tool for recruiting new students. If they’re getting it right,

then they’ll be using it as a platform to talk about the success of cur rent students and perhaps how the school is improving all of the time.”6 

As Provo School District more actively shares the success stories of its students and teachers

through various social media platforms, it will attract the attention of the parents of future

students.

In addition, Provo School District can use its social media outlets as a platform to

reach parents during a school emergency. Such an emergency could be a lockdown like the

one at Edgemont Elementary earlier this year or inclement weather. One of parents’ greatest

self-interests is the safety of their children, and the information the District can provide to

help parents keep their children safe will be an invaluable asset in building a positive

relationship. For example, in the parents meeting following the Edgemont Elementary

lockdown, parents asked the District why it had not notified parents through Facebook.

5 http://superintendent.provo.edu/8-20-12/ 

6 http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/03/11/how-can-social-media-be-used-in-education/ 

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Parents requested that the District do this in the future. Westlake Junior High is an example

of a school that effectively used social media in a lockdown situation. After the school

shooting in Newtown, Conn., Westlake Junior High was put on lockdown. The school used

Twitter as a platform where parents could receive updates throughout the day. As another 

example, the amount of tr affic and “likes” on the Provo School District Facebook page

increased after a snow storm as parents sought information about school attendance. Both of 

these incidents show parents do look to the social media platforms of Provo District for 

information.

A recent article in the Deseret News about school districts that have used social media

quotes Ryan Shattuck, a social-media expert, who said, “It takes a couple of minutes to make

a phone call or send an email about a potential issue with school safety. It takes only 30

seconds to post a tweet or post to Facebook.”7 Social media provides the District with a

simple platform through which it can provide immediate, accurate information about the

students’ safety to parents without needing to call or email ever y parent.

Case study: Davis School District  

Davis School District is one school district in Utah that has chosen to implement a

social media strategy that utilizes multiple social media platforms. It is valuable to examine

what is posted on each platform and why Davis has expanded from beyond a Facebook page.

 Facebook 

Davis School District Facebook page currently has 5,290 “likes,” which means 5,290

 parents, teachers or community members see the posts that show the success of the district.

Davis School District posts pictures of its students participating in various programs and

7

 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865569774/Granite-district-uses-humor-to-respond-to-New-Years-tweets.html?pg=all 

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activities; it also posts links to articles and videos about the success and quality of the district.

A primary advantage of Facebook is that it provides parents with the opportunity to engage in

a conversation with the district. In early April, there was a large windstorm in Davis County

and parents posted on the district’s Facebook page recommending school be cancelled or 

 postponed. The district administration saw what the parents wanted and was able to respond

appropriately. In addition, Facebook has a private messaging feature where parents can

directly contact the district without posting publicly on the Facebook page.

Twitter  

Davis School District uses its Twitter account in a similar way to its Facebook page. It

shares articles and videos about the success of its students with the 1,193 people who follow

the account. In contrast to its Facebook page, Davis School District uses Twitter primarily to

connect to media personnel. The media will write about a school district regardless of the

information the district provides. It is in a district’s best interest to provide positive and

accurate information to reporters and be as in control of the conversation as possible in order 

to portray itself to the community in the best light. Below are some sample posts from the

Davis School District Twitter account @DavisSchools:

  Syracuse High students give up spring break for hands-on marine biology

learning. http://fb.me/2iZZcTg0V [The link goes to a news story in the Standard

Examiner]

  Davis School District schools participated in the Great Utah #ShakeOut

Wednesday. See video of Farmington... http://fb.me/2obj92VPE [The link goes to

a video on the Davis School District YouTube page that shows the District

 participating in the state-wide earthquake drill.]

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  It's not too late to buy a seat at the Davis Education Foundation Gala. Contact

Sherry Miggin at (801) 402-5182 for... http://fb.me/vinSrgtK  [The link goes to the

Facebook post about the event.]

YouTube

Davis School District uses its YouTube channel as a central place to share the videos

it makes about its students’ success and the events happening in schools. Using video to

communicate the success of a school district is crucial and effective because videos allow

 parents and community members witness what students and teachers are doing instead of just

reading about it on the district webpage. Video is also a more engaging media outlet than an

article and keeping all the videos in one place allows viewers to re-watch and share the

videos even after they are off the main webpage.

The videos on Davis School District’s YouTube channel address topics such as 

district STEM programs, school safety, professional development and individual student

successes. Each of the videos promotes the quality and success of the district and provides

visual proof of that quality and success.

Conclusion 

Provo School District is communicating its excellence well through its website and

Facebook page, but it is missing an opportunity to improve that communication with its main

target audience of moms. Implementing a comprehensive social media strategy will help

Provo School District achieve its goals as outlined in the 20/20 initiative as well as its goal to

transparently communicate with its stakeholders. A comprehensive social media strategy will

also help to increase student enrollment and retention rates. The remainder of this document

 provides a how-to guide for various social media platforms through which Provo School

District will be more able to “earn the community’s confidence” by communicating that it

“ provide[s] [its] students with a quality, rich, and lasting education.” 

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Social Media

Guides

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Facebook  

Benefits:

  58 percent of Facebook users are women who are the District’s target audience.8 

  Facebook is a way the District can share its success directly with its stakeholders

without requiring them to go to the District webpage.

  Facebook allows for audience engagement through the commenting, “like” and

messaging features.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Provo District Facebook page is to connect with its target audience

of moms, who are constantly on social media. Through Facebook the District can share the

good things that are happening through posting pictures and links to articles and information

taking people back to the main website. Facebook also provides a platform for moms to get

immediate information in the case of school emergencies and inclement weather. Facebook 

will provide moms with easy access to a place where they can ask questions and get quick 

answers by either posting a question directly on the page or sending a private message.

Setting up Facebook:

Provo School District already has a Facebook page, so the setup for this social media

 platform is complete.

Process:

The Provo School District Facebook page is currently managed by the district director 

of communications. This individual will continue to post to the page and respond to

comments and messages from parents and community members.

8 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/women-facebook-twitter-pinterest_n_1655164.html 

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Sample posts:

Facebook posts can provide parents with a large variety of information and promote

the messages the District wants to share. Some examples are included below:

4)  School safety post:

5)  School activity post combined with student achievement:

6)  Weather 

update post

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Twitter 

Benefits:

  Twitter is a platform for instant communication with stakeholders. 

  64 percent of Twitter users are women.9 

  Reporters look to Twitter for information, so Provo District can provide them

with accurate, updated information through this channel. 

  Hashtags provide a way for Provo District to connect its posts to various

educational issues and allow those interested in education to see how Provo

District is addressing those issues. (i.e. #edchat, #schoolsafety, #edtech) 

Purpose:

The main purpose of a Twitter account for Provo School District would be to promote

the success stories of students and teachers to the media. As reporters are more aware of the

great things happening in the District, they will share that information with their readers,

which mainly consist of the parents of Provo students. Twitter also provides a simpler 

 platform for the District to provide updates in an emergency or crisis without needing to write

a full news release. The District needs to provide reporters and community members with

current, accurate information, or they will turn elsewhere to get the information.

Process:

After Provo School District sets up a Twitter account, it will be managed by the

district communications representative. He or she will post tweets one to two times per day

in order to provide current information about things happening in the District. He or she can

also “retweet” education-related posts to its followers in order to engage in the education

conversation and share valuable information. 

9 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/women-facebook-twitter-pinterest_n_1655164.html 

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Setting up a Twitter account:

1)  Go to http://twitter.com 

2)  Click on the yellow “Sign up for Twitter” button 

3)  Complete the profile setup page.

4)  Follow other Twitter users

a.  In this step Twitter will suggest for you to follow certain individuals and

organizations. You can follow the ones it suggests or search for others

The username will be

the Twitter handle that

 people will see

whenever the District

 posts.

Examples:

@ProvoSchools,

@ProvoDistrict

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such as the Utah State Board of Education (@UTPublicEd), other school

districts (@DavisSchools) and the Utah PTA (@utahpta).

5)  Account settings can be changed at any time by clicking on the icon shown below.

6)  Start tweeting!

Twitter glossary: 

This view will show up on your profile page.  

This bar is always on the top of the Twitter page.

Other important terms:

These definitions were pulled from Twitter’s help page.10 

Handle

A user's "Twitter handle" is the username they have selected and the accompanying URL,

like so: http://twitter.com/username. 

Hashtag

The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet.

10 https://support.twitter.com/articles/166337-the-twitter-glossary# 

This is where you can see all your tweets.

A tweet is a message posted via Twitter 

containing 140 characters or fewer.

This is where you can see a list of those

you are following.

This is where you can see a list of those

who are following you.

This is where you can see a list of tweets

you have marked as “favorite.” 

This is where you can see tweets from

lists you have subscribed to.

Access your news

feed, where you

see tweets from

those you follow.

See if you have

new followers or 

if anyone has

tweeted directly to

you.

See posts by

others similar to

those of people

you already

follow.

Go to your profile

 page.

Update your 

 profile, access

account settings

and sign out.

Compose a new

tweet.

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@reply

An @reply is any update posted by clicking the Reply button on a Tweet.

Mention

A mention is any Twitter update that contains "@username" anywhere in the body of the

Tweet. If you include more than one person's name in your Tweet and you use the

@username format, all of those people will see the Tweet in their  Mentions tab.

Retweet 

A Tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread

news or share valuable findings on Twitter.

Sample Posts:

1)  Enrollment post

2)  Community involvement post

3)  Employment change post

4)  Education technology post (example of hashtag use)

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Superintendent’s blog 

Benefits:

  A blog will be the central place and archive for the “Superintendent’s Message” that

is already being written.

  Provides a place where parents, teachers and other stakeholders can read thoughts

from their district leadership.

Purpose:

The superintendent currently posts the “Superintendent’s Message” on the Provo

District website every other month. The difference in having a superintendent’s blog would

 be to provide a central place for his posts and a venue for a larger variety of topics. The 

superintendent is the leader of the Provo District, and he plays an essential role in forming

 people’s perception of the District. Parents and stakeholders want to see the authoritative

figure in the District speak up on important educational issues, share the progress of the

District in reaching its goals and share his thoughts on education. If parents and stakeholders

do not see the success of the District promoted by the superintendent, they will be less likely

to believe success is actually occurring. The superintendent serves as a figurehead for the

District in the eyes of parents and the community. It is essential for people to see the success

of the District and its leader in order to maintain a positive relationship with the community

that can lead to increased enrollment and retention rates.

Process: 

The Provo School District blog will be managed by the superintendent. He will write

his own posts and can choose to post them to the blog himself or have another District

employee do so. Ideally the superintendent should post once per month.

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Setting up a blog:

There are a variety of platforms on which blogs can be constructed. The most efficient

way for Provo School District to set up a blog will be to integrate it as another page on the

already existing website. The District web team can create the page where the superintendent

can put his posts.

Sample post topics:

1)  The effect of Google Fiber on Provo schools

2)  The new State Core requirements

3)  Thoughts on the impact of technology on education

4)  The importance of arts in education

5)  Summer programs available through Provo School District

6)  The impact of new legislation on Provo School District

7)  The dual immersion programs

8)  Budget changes in the District

9)  School safety

10)  Citizenship in schools

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YouTube 

Benefits:

  Videos are very shareable and will help to facilitate more positive conversation about

the District.

  More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month.11 

Purpose:

The Provo School District already does a great job of sharing its success through

video stories on the website. However, after these videos are taken off of the website or 

moved to a different page, people do not have easy access to them. Videos are very

interactive content and a much more engaging way to share the success of a school, teacher 

or student as opposed to only an article. It is important for stakeholders and specifically

 parents to have access to these videos without searching through the webpage. Providing

easy, constant access to the videos will enable them to re-watch and share the videos with

their friends. 

Process:

Videos would be created and uploaded by the district communications representative.

The videos do not need to be professionally produced, but they should be high quality in

order to positively reflect back on the District. The district communications representative

should try to find at least one story per month that could be filmed.

11 http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html 

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Setting up a YouTube account:

1)  YouTube is linked to Google, so you will need to create a Google account

specifically for the District.

2)  Go to youtube.com and click the “Sign in” button in the top right corner. Click 

“Create an account” in the to p right corner of the new page and fill in the

information that shows up on the next page.

3)  You will need to confirm your account by going to the email confirmation page

and sending a confirmation to your email.

4)  Create a channel. After you are signed in, you can click on your profile and a drop

down menu will appear. Click on “My channel” and then click “To use business

or other name.” 

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5)  Follow the remainder of the instructions and then upload your videos.

6)  To upload a video, click the “Upload” link at the top of the page and select the

video file from your computer.

Sample Posts:

1)  School safety video

2)  eSchool recruitment video

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Pinterest  

Benefits:

  85 percent of Pinterest users are women.12 

  The content is easily shareable.

  It is a more visual way to share the success stories of the District.

Purpose:

Many people think the purpose of Pinterest is to share only craft, recipe and fashion

ideas. However, many businesses and educational institutions also use Pinterest. Some of 

these organizations include Penguin Books, Volkswagen USA, the University of Virginia and

Atlanta Public School District. The specific example of the Atlanta Public School District

(http://pinterest.com/apsupdate/ ) shows how a school district can use Pinterest to share the

success of the students and provide resources to parents. Their Pinterest “boards” include Our 

District, Our Schools, Our Students, Our Teachers, Parent Resources, Student Resources,

Educational Articles and more. Each of these boards contains stories or “pins” that relate to

the District and provide information that positively promotes the District and facilitates a

 beneficial relationship with its stakeholders.

Process:

The Provo School District Pinterest page will be updated by the district

communications representative. Any time a new story is posted on the website, he or she

should also create a pin using a picture or video from the story. The pictures and videos that

will be uploaded should all be saved in one folder on the individual’s computer for easy

access. The Pinterest account should be set up using a general email in order to ensure future

12

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/09/women-facebook-twitter- pinterest_n_1655164.html 

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communications representatives will have access to the account as well as other district

employees to whom the superintendent grants access. 

Setting up a Pinterest account:

1)  Go to pinterest.com

2)  Click on “Join Pinterest” 

3)  The screen below will appear, and you will click on “Learn more” beside the

question, “Are you a business?” 

4)  This page will appear and after you enter in your information, you will be able to

create boards and start pinning. 

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5)  As you pin, you will want to pin things that match the mission and goals of the

Provo School District. You will be able to pin your own content as well as pin

content already on the platform. Some example posts from other organizations are

included below.

Educational quote

From “Parents

Resources board onAtlanta Public

Schools From “Our District” board on

Atlanta Public Schools

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How to upload a pin:

1)  Click on the “Add+” button on the top menu bar. 

2)  Click on “Upload a pin” or “Create a board” depending on what you are doing. 

3)  Choose a picture or video file from your computer to upload. Write a description

underneath and “Pin.” 

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Sample posts:

a.  Sharing the success of a Provo District student

 b.  Sharing efforts to promote school safety

c.  Sharing unique story of principal

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Additional Resources 

The following list is websites that have more information about how school districts can

effectively use social media.

  “Internet Marketing for Schools” http://www.schneiderb.com/ 

  “Why schools should be jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon”

http://www.thefundraisingresource.com/wp/marketing/why-schools-should-be- jumping-on-the-pinterest-bandwagon/ 

  “Exploring the role of social media in education” http://www.edsocialmedia.com/ 

  “Social media in Education: Resources roundup” http://www.edutopia.org/social-media-education-resources 

  “Social media in school emergency management”http://rems.ed.gov/docs/Training_SocialMediaInEM.pdf