Like it or not social media is here to stay. There are so many benefits of social media in school! You’re probably wondering “Can we use social media for our school, is it even right for us to use?” I say absolutely! We’ll go through:

• Why is Social Media Beneficial in Schools?
• The Benefits of using Social Media to promote your school
• Benefits of using Social media in the classroom
• The Benefits for Students
• Your next steps …

Let’s get started.

Why is Social Media Beneficial in Schools?

I think this is a question comes into everyone’s mind at some point. Let’s get some perspective. Statistically, there are approximately 2.62 BILLION users on social media in the world. So that’s potentially 2.62 billion people that you are able to connect and market your school to for FREE! Realistically your school probably won’t reach that number but it’s a figure you can’t ignore.

Budgets  are tight and teachers have limited time on their currently packed schedule. So, how can your school attract new pupils, parents, and staff?

It’s time to start realising the potential of social media and how it can benefit your school immensely when used well.

Benefits of using Social Media to promote your school

It’s a great marketing tool! Using social media gives you the chance to communicate and engage with your community. It’s one of the biggest benefits of social media in school. You want to make sure your school stands out, showing what makes your school special and why parents should send their children to your school. As a school you know the competition is high, as parents are looking for more than academic performance and extracurricular activities when choosing a school for their little one.

Everyone nowadays lives on social media. One of the first thing people do these days when searching for something new like a school they will whip the mobiles out and look to see if they have any social profile. Why? Because they are looking to see what everyday life would be like for their child, the authenticity of the content which is active with real people posting about what it is like to go to this school. This is why it’s also important to have a {responsive school website}. Being on Social Media can build authentic relationships and get people engaging with your content. It can promote a good rapport with parents and you can become a reputable school.

It also builds your online presence. This means the more platforms you’re on the wider the audience you have to market to which will be a great asset to your school’s long-term communication strategy. Maintaining effective communication strengthens your schools’ identity and portraying the culture of the school to your audience.

The best part it’s FREE! Hurray! You can sign up and use all social media platforms without it costing a penny. This is a great relief for the finance budget.

Benefits of using Social media in the classroom

Many teachers find social networking a great way to expand their own learning and discover new resources. For educators, social media can be beneficial in numerous ways such as you can keep up to date with the latest information, ideas and “best practices” in the sector. For example, by following helpful Twitter accounts like Teachthought who post relevant content that helps teachers to gain knowledge and inspiration for their classroom.

Here at Schudio also have a twitter account and we post regularly about everything you need to know how to maintain your school website from keeping it Ofsted compliant to how to engage your audience for your website and much more! Posting great content will showcase your school making it more appealing which will possibly attract potential teachers to come and work for your school.

The Parental Benefits of schools using social media is that it can increase communication between the two. They can keep up to date with what their children are learning at school or what they may have achieved during the day, keeping them involved in the classroom activities.

In doing this it helps the parents know what’s happening and understand the teachers’ expectations in classes. It also allows the school to communicate news and events quickly for example if there is an unexpected snow day you can quickly push out a related post reaching all the parents to let them know school is shut and when it would be re-opening. Finally using social media shows the transparency of what the children and teachers are doing every day which gains trust and confidence for the parent in the school.

Benefits for Students

In using social media you are able to teach the student to have a positive attitude towards technology. How to use, how not to use Social Media and how to stay safe online. Educating young people how to use these platforms and the internet properly is the key to preventing children miss using and protecting them in the future. Doing this will create a safer culture online because it’s not going away but educating them is the way forward! You actually have a huge opportunity to influence for good and that has to be a key benefits of social media in school.

It can also facilitate online learning e.g the use of Youtube (the second biggest search engine after google). Watching educational videos in various subjects can help users gain wider knowledge.

If you need some inspiration here are some schools using social media brilliantly.

Your Next Steps

First of all, I hope I’ve given you plenty of reasons why it’s beneficial to have social media. If you don’t have a social media account find one that’s right for you and sign up!

Once you’ve signed up, make sure to have a clear plan and strategy what you want to use social media for. Then start creating content and get posting.

Lastly to communicate with your existing audience encourage parents to follow you on Social Media accounts. You can either do this via email with the attachment of social icons or have the social account names printed on flyers at the bottom of the page.