Why Your School Needs Facebook

Facebook has become integrated deeply into the fabric of everyday communication. Many schools realize Facebook is a powerful way to reach an audience. However, as commonplace as Facebook is in everyday life, some schools are still lagging behind in using it as an official communication channel.

Since communication with families is such an important issue, schools should consider ways to leverage the opportunity Facebook presents as a quick and easy way to engage families, broadcast news and information, and build an audience around the school itself.

First, we’ll mention why you should use Facebook pages for schools. Then we’ll review some of the challenges and potential pitfalls of social media and education. That way, you’ll be able to avoid these. Finally, you’ll see some examples of how schools and school districts are using Facebook pages to their best effect. Learn more about how to create an engaging Facebook page here!

Colleges, private schools, and public school districts are all using Facebook pages effectively. As long as you follow a few straightforward guidelines, you can take advantage of the communications clout this social media platform has to offer your organization.

Your Facebook page is about a lot more than “Likes” and sharing when holidays or closures are scheduled. It can be a strong marketing tool that gets your message directly to your most interested audience.

The first thing a communicator should understand is what you’re doing with Facebook and why. The purpose of Facebook pages for schools is to communicate with potential and attending students, their families, and the community. It’s your opportunity to get the message you want out in front of the most interested audience.

Avoid Pitfalls of Social Media for Schools

One of the biggest concerns with social media for schools is over legal issues and overall governance of information and communication. When a teacher or administrator makes an unwise statement on social media, it can quickly lead to a whirlwind of activity leading up to possible disciplinary action or firing. These employees represent the organization they work for, after all.

Therefore, to protect students and the school, it’s best to consider the content you will be sharing before you begin. Check with your school board or college governance, as they may already have policies in place clarifying what content is acceptable and what is not.

Concerns of legal matters and student protection can be completely avoided by deciding what kind of content you will be sharing before you begin. Make sure you’re in line with any existing governance policies.

Examples of Engaging Facebook Content for Schools

As a quick example, let’s look at Indianapolis Public Schools. You can see how they’ve broadcasted an alert about an event being postponed due to inclement weather.

Anyone who likes and follows the Indianapolis Public Schools page may see this alert appear in their timeline. Since Facebook is used so heavily, there’s a good chance this alert will be seen by someone using Facebook on their computer or via the Facebook mobile app.

Having a Facebook page also gives a great opportunity for you to share branding, as Cincinnati Public Schools has done here:

The next question school staff members typically have is “What content should I share?” The best advice I can give is to think like a student or parent. What information would you want to discover if you attended the school or had a child attending the school?

The school calendar and photos of those events are easy answers. With a little more introspection, you can think of ways that stimulate engagement between the viewers and your page.

Read the School Social Media Guide here

Success with Facebook pages for schools means engagement with the audience: visitors are responding to your posts, asking meaningful questions, and increasing the interest level of other students and parents who see it. This kind of engagement is far more powerful than mere “Likes,” as they indicate a level of emotional involvement with your school to anyone reading.

With social media, engagement tends to create further engagement, which means a little goes a long way. Prospective students seeing strong post engagement will be much more impressed than by a high “Like” total but a dry and unengaged page.

Kinds of School Content to Share

When it comes to the actual content, think like a visitor. As a parent or student, what would you want to see? What would interest you the most?

Plan a calendar for a steady release of information on your Facebook page, and the work will not only be much easier for you—it’ll begin to have an underlying theme. Instead of leaving it to chance, plan your content. Planning out your content with a release calendar will also help your branding and keep the content from becoming a mishmash of disconnected posts.

Facebook pages for schools allow you to reach an existing, highly interested audience and communicate with them. They are straightforward to set up and maintain. Check out Andrea Gribble’s article on Top 10 Best-Performing Facebook Posts for Schools for not only some great ideas but a breakdown of why they’re high-performing and engaging.

You’ve seen why you should use Facebook pages for schools: that’s where your audience is. This is a powerful opportunity to market to prospective and existing students and parents, as well as the community.