The Better Stories Newsletter
Happy Monday Friends,
The internet can be a treacherous place in 2024. Sometimes the worry of posting the wrong thing keeps you from posting anything. Never fear, that's the challenge we're taking on this week in The Better Stories Newsletter.
We're going to cover how a school administrator can use their personal social media account(s) to tell their school's story including ideas for your first week's worth of posts.
Step 1: What are we doing here?
Before we set out on our journey, we've got to ask ourselves what are we doing here? What is the intent of posting on social media? It can be a multitude of reasons or singular - but we have to understand at least the top reason if we're going to make any progress.
Most administrators I've worked with, exist somewhere in the field of simply wanting to tell their school's story. But, social media can also serve as a great place to build bridges with your community or even build your reputation (read: brand) for creating future opportunities that you have ambition towards.
Whatever your reason for posting, as long as you can come to terms with it yourself, we can work with that.
Step 2: Document your day.
If there is one thing all school administrators have in common, it's that they take pictures of their workplace and those in it. If you're not taking pictures, you're probably having pictures taken of you in your work. If neither of those is happening, perhaps you're taking notes of what is going on in your day so you can share them with your supervisor or board during your next evaluation.
This is all documentation - but not the kind that you do for accountability or oversight. Instead, this is the fuel we're going to use for your storytelling. If you're ready to start posting on social media with regularity, it's time to begin taking pictures/videos that you can pair up with a brief line or two of written text.
How do you do that? We'll get there at the end of this newsletter with some examples.
Step 3: Rinse and repeat.
There's no magic here other than to keep going once you get started. I can tell you from my personal experience and from helping clients do this for years now through my communications firm GOOD NIGHT Communications, that being consistent is the way to accomplish the goal you said out loud to yourself in step 1.
Posting consistently on social media is like investing in the S&P 500 - you put away seemingly small amounts of money and then one day you look up and the beauty of compound interest has yielded you more than you could have dreamed.
Start posting, keep posting and if you fall off the wagon, get back on - we have stories to tell.
EXAMPLES:
Below are 3 examples of posts you can use this week to tell your school's/district's story to get you jump-started on this journey.
Status 1: Welcome Back to school
Text: August might mark the end of Summer break for our students, but it marks the beginning of a new season - the season of growth for our students at [insert school/district name]. If there's ever an investment that yields a high return, it's that of investing in the lives of our students and I couldn't be more honored to do that alongside my incredible team!
Photo: Use photo of your school team from opening day or perhaps a photo of you with a classroom of students on the first day of classes.
Status 2: Where we're going
Text: When I think about the 2024-25 school year, my mind goes to [insert vision or mission statement]. We're not just here to see students sitting in class but rather raising the next generation of community members who will help us build a better tomorrow!
Photo: Use a photo of students working in class or taking notes
Status 3: Something personal
Text: Education is a story of generations passing on wisdom and knowledge from one to the other. When I think about my favorite teacher who had the most impact on me, [insert teacher name] immediately comes to mind. She/He [insert what they did for you]
Photo: If you have a photo of this person use it, if you have an old yearbook picture of you in this person's class use it, if you don't have a photo it's okay to not use one every time you make a post.
NEXT WEEK'S TOPIC:
We're going to cover how to deal with a PR crisis. Subscribe now so you don't miss it.
Until then, let's practice telling better stories with the tips from this week's newsletter.
- Caleb
