Social Media and your school website – priority, process, and control

Social Media is exploding all around us and the possibilities it presents are quite astonishing. It's engaging, personal, agile, and a very effective one-to-many messaging platform. Many of you have jumped in with great enthusiasm, only to get lost in the rapidly changing landscape. 


Some love it, some hate it, but no matter your position, it is a real phenomenon and probably demanding more of your attention than you currently care to give it; additionally you likely struggle to maintain a sense of rationality about the whole matter. Let's consider a few principles that will make your entrance into Social Media a little less chaotic and hopefully a lot more effective.

Priority

Your first consideration is to prioritize the web channels you use, both social and traditional. Always place the highest priority on your main school website as the repository of core content. Properly provisioned, your main website will be the center of your online strategy and all of your social channels ought to be designed with the purpose of driving traffic to your school website when content outside of the social platform is needed. Here are some other reasons why your main website ought to be your highest priority:

1. Social platforms, while here to stay are a bit unpredictable and your community will probably move in and out of various social channels on a regular basis. Placing a greater emphasis on social channels at the expense of meaningful content on your website could end up diluting your message over time and eliminating much of your intended audience.
2. Content is king! While social channels are buzzing and brimming with activity, it is still a social channel. Real content, including legally required deliverables should not to be delivered via social channels. While announcements, opinions, and chatter can drive awareness of policy and administrative processes, the clear and authorized information should still be on your main website after proper review and publishing guidelines are followed.
3. The social media landscape is changing very rapidly, and the apparent winners today may not be the winners long-term. Your ability to move in and out of the social channels of choice will be enhanced by a clear website strategy. That strategy should not rely on the success or failure of a particular social media.  

Process


Social media as a business (or school) is different than social media for personal use. Understand the difference and avoid mixing the two. If you are into social media, you have undoubtedly experienced cases of extreme over posting. And you certainly don't want to be like that as an institution. It is not uncommon for companies to employ social media experts, whose sole focus is on developing and delivering social content. While it is unlikely that will have the luxury of such expenditure, there should be a clear strategy in your school about this process.


The last thing your principal wants is another assignment, but someone at that level ought to be the champion of the school and the school's social media advocate.




Control




One common challenge is well-intentioned individuals, associated with your school, who create social media accounts using their own personal information and your legal name. This is a very precarious situation that should be handled sooner, rather than later. Having control over your messaging is essential, even when those individuals are key stakeholders in your organization. Much like the nightmares we have seen with domain names, ownership of Facebook pages with your official name by unauthorized individuals can be embarrassing at the least and potentially a legal nightmare in the worst case scenario.


Want to see how big of a problem this is? Just do a Facebook search using the name of your school. If you see more than one entry, you have a problem. More importantly, your users have a problem because they don't know who to follow.


Social Media can be of great benefit to your school. Set clear priorities, designate specific individuals to manage it, and maintain control of this important piece of intellectual property.