Hi Nicole,
In my experience, having multiple social media channels for different areas of the school (e.g., sports, arts, languages) can indeed be challenging to manage effectively. It can lead to inconsistent branding, fragmented audiences, and difficulties with content oversight and photo permissions.
Instead, I recommend having a single, unified presence on each social media platform, such as one main Facebook page or Instagram account. This approach allows you to showcase the diversity of your school’s offerings while maintaining a cohesive brand identity. To facilitate more frequent and easier sharing by teachers, consider making them administrators or contributors to these main accounts. This way, they can post about their respective areas without creating separate channels.
To ensure that posts align with your school’s brand and strategy, develop clear social media guidelines and provide training for teachers. These guidelines should cover topics such as tone, style, content themes, and photo permissions. Creating a cheat sheet or template for posting can also help maintain consistency.
Having a single, well-managed social media presence not only simplifies content management but also helps to expand your school’s reach and engagement. By showcasing various aspects of your school on one channel, you can attract a wider audience and demonstrate the value and diversity of your programs.
Regarding your idea of creating a private Instagram account for families, I have not done this; all of our social media accounts are public-facing. If you are going down this path, it is important to consider the purpose and content strategy for this account. Will it be primarily for informational updates, or will it also showcase student work and achievements? Make sure the content aligns with your overall brand and complements your public-facing channels.
Remember, the key is to find a balance between empowering teachers to share and maintaining a strategic, cohesive brand presence. By providing clear guidelines, training, and a streamlined posting process, you can achieve both.
Also, please check out our socials and also our blog to see how we share stories – https://santamaria.wa.edu.au/news-blog/
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Warm regards
Margo Bastow
