Support
In addition, I use Twitter as a
promotional tool, to post good news stories about the academies within my trust. I do this because I believe in what the academies are doing and I want to show them support by sharing their news with my network (which will have a different make-up to their own). It’s a way of building a bigger community and encouraging students, staff and parents/carers to feel pride in their academy. Sometimes, good news stories are
picked up by the local press – for example our pre-loved prom dress shop. This has a really positive impact on the students and staff involved – a great example of Solis’ idea of the importance of psychology and communication across different audiences on social media. Twitter also offers the option
of direct messaging (DM), so if you follow someone and they follow you, you can message each other. This is where lots of benefi cial conversations take place away from the public eye, whether they be light-hearted rants about a bad day at the offi ce or more serious concerns seeking support and advice about HR issues.
School tweeting Engagement can be quick and instant among #SBLTwitter users. During lockdown, many schools increased their presence on this network to share operational as well as curriculum matters and also to learn from others about the ever- changing guidance. If your school has increased its
online presence, possibly by adding more departmental accounts, be mindful that everything posted on social media is a refl ection of your school, staff and students. It might be worth reviewing your social media policy, and ensuring that it provides clarity to staff on the distinction between a personal and work account, and the tone and language appropriate to both. You could consider creating a
social media champion who can schedule posts and monitor accounts and analytics for multiple social media accounts via Hootsuite (or do the same solely for Twitter accounts using TweetDeck). This would then enable you to strategically plan good
‘YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING YOU POST AND EVERYTHING YOU POST WILL BE A
REFLECTION OF YOU’ Germany Kent, author of You Are What You Tweet
news posts and fundraising updates, as well as building anticipation for events and reaching out to potential new students or employees.
Tweet knowhow Standardising school Twitter accounts to include school or trust branding will increase confi dence in followers that the accounts are authentic and reliable. Consider: ■ a format for the Twitter handle – i.e. @FirstInitalSurname SchoolName ■ using offi cial staff photos for Twitter profi le picture ■ a Twitter banner format (this is the image at the top of your profi le) ■a hashtag(s) for your school Hashtags (#) are user-generated
tags that help other users easily fi nd posts with a specifi c theme or content. They completely lend
themselves to schools that are building an online presence or want to share details of their latest fundraising initiatives, for instance #NewLibrary #MoreBooks. Twitter accounts can also be
embedded into school website pages, reducing the requirement to update Twitter and a website page at the same time. If you are interested in creating a Twitter account for your school, take a look at
help.twitter. com/en/using-twitter/create- twitter-account. If you are new to Twitter, some accounts to follow include @FundEd-Schools and @ISBL_news. See who they are following and who follows them – you might like to follow them too.
Issue guidance Your school should be clear about how its communication channels are used by the wider school community. Amy Jo Martin, founder and CEO of Digital Royalty, says that social media is ‘a dialogue, not a monologue, and some people don’t understand that. Social media is more like a telephone than a television’. Make sure you issue guidance to parents and carers on how to contact the school about an issue, and encourage them not to post negative comments about the school on social media.
Managing your time It is understandable that some people feel that there isn’t enough time in the day for them to tweet, follow and ‘like’ all the information in a Twitter feed. It can seem overwhelming, especially if you feel at odds with what you’re reading. So consider limiting your time on social media – your phone will have screen time settings to help you do so. Social media is about perception.
Some good advice from Steven Furtick is to ‘stop comparing your behind-the-scenes with someone’s highlight reel’. Be aware that everything you see on social media is a snapshot, not the whole picture. If you fi nd that tricky to manage, just follow a few people you trust; block or mute any that upset you. If you use social media, be active, be engaged, be relevant and be kind. Please introduce yourself to me on Twitter soon - @DeputyCOOatTPLT
FundEd AUTUMN 2020 25
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