Advice About Social Media for School and PR Professionals

Posts in category Public relations

Valuable School Social Media Resources

Jun16
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack
Social Media Outposts

Social Media Outposts (Photo credit: the tartanpodcast)

I had the pleasure this week of serving on a panel discussion for the Gannett newspaper in my city about how schools are using (or abusing) social media. The discussion focused quite a bit on the recent development of the New York City schools’ social media policy, which prohibits teachers fro becoming “friends” with their students on Facebook and other popular social media sites. On the panel with me were Dr. Christopher Clouet, Superintendent of Schools in the White Plains City School District, along with two students and one parent from other Westchester County schools.
Because I knew the discussion would center at least partly on social media abuses, I prepared a list of helpful resources in advance. This list covers everything from templates for social media policies, to information about teachers in some parts of the country are beginning to experiment communicating with students through Facebook fan pages. It’s a lot, but worth perusing.

Valuable Social Media Resources

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Posted in Communications, education, facebook, schools, Social Media, social networking, Uncategorized

Using Issuu to Animate Your Publications

Apr07
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack

issuuJust wrote this piece for the National School Public Relations Association blog, and wanted to share it here:
My staff at Southern Westchester BOCES and I discovered Issuu several years ago, and we have been using this tool for the districts we represent to “animate” their publications ever since.
The reason? School district websites are already cluttered with PDF documents, forcing our readers to download documents to their computer hard drives and often to print them out. Why force readers to take those extra steps?
For most newsletters, annual reports, calendars and even Powerpoint presentations, we now provide our readers with two choices: to read the “animated” Issuu version of a document, or to download a PDF.
If they choose the Issuu version, your viewers will see a document with pages that can be turned as they’re read and tools that allow them to zoom in and out while reading.
Here’s how to use Issuu:

  • Create a free account for your district on Issuu.
  • When you’ve completed a newsletter or other document and have a PDF version, sign on to Issuu and look for the “upload” button.
  • Upload your PDF (it will take a few minutes to load).
  • Once you’ve successfully uploaded your document, it will appear on a virtual bookshelf in your Issuu “library.”
  • Click on the “open” button and your document will open for you.
  • Once that document is open, you’ll see a series of icons at the bottom.
  • Click on the < > icon, and you will see a long html embed code. Copy that.
  • Paste the html code on the district website page where you’d like your publication to appear, and you’re done.

To see Issuu in action, check out the White Plains Public Schools Issuu site. To view how it works on a school website, check out how we used it to display our annual SWBOCES Services Guide.

Posted in Communications, education, Online Documents, schools, Social Media, Uncategorized - Tagged , ,

Be Aware of Facebook’s Rules in Creating Your Cover Photos

Mar27
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack

facebook cover photoHyperarts.com has a fascinating post on the correct and incorrect ways to create those tempting (and possibly gorgeous) cover photos for the new Facebook timelines. Personally, I love my son’s choice (a simple photo he took of a book and an empty glass of wine on a dock somewhere in New England.
But as hyperarts points out, Facebook has some pretty strict guidelines on the use of these 851 x 315 pixel cover photos.
For example, you’re dissuaded from using the space for promotions, coupons and advertisements. And for Facebook, a photo is a photo. So don’t design something that is primarily text-based.
To read more about Facebook’s guidelines and to see examples that both break the rules and follow them, visit the hyperarts post.

Posted in facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized - Tagged , , ,

How Schools Are Effectively Using YouTube

Jan10
2012 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack
Image representing YouTube as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBase

 

I was happy to write this piece for the National School Public Relations Association’s “Trend Tracker” column:

We all know that YouTube has been used by high school students to clandestinely videotape a fight in the school hallway, or to turn the tables on a teacher they don’t like. The black eye that the media has given YouTube, along with other social media sites, is certainly somewhat self-inflicted.

But YouTube, like most social media, is simply a mirror on society. With three billion viewers a day, and more than 48 hours of video uploaded every minute, you’re bound to witness both the good and the bad.

At the same time, YouTube has worked hard to polish its image. Several years ago, it partnered with the country’s colleges and universities to create YouTube Edu, where you can watch promotional videos and free classroom lectures posted by Harvard, MIT, Stanford and dozens of other institutions of higher learning. And recently, it has expanded that site to include the categories of “primary and secondary education” and “lifelong learning.”

Dozens of tech-savvy school districts, state education departments and even the National PTA have decided it’s time to join the rest of the universe by using YouTube as a public relations tool. And while any foray into social media can have its pitfalls (anonymous commenting on YouTube, for example), you can control what’s posted on your channel.

Among those using YouTube effectively are the Guilford County Schools (GCS) in Greensboro, N.C., with 338 videos uploaded to its channel since it was created in January 2010. GCS’s videos have been viewed 29,420 times and range from features about students and school events, to panel discussions among educators about learning trends. At last count, 60 viewers “subscribe” to the GCSchoolsNC channel, which means they’ve chosen to receive video feeds from the district on their own YouTube pages.

On a larger scale, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction uses its YouTube channel to post press conferences and messages from the state superintendent, and to promote individual schools throughout the state. The WisconsinDPI channel has uploaded 127 videos since creating the channel in 2008, and its videos have been viewed more than 113,000 times.

One of my favorite school YouTube channels was actually created by OneDublin, an independent, parent-run organization supporting the Dublin, Calif., public schools. This group has its own website and YouTube channel, and its “I Am Dublin” video is one of my favorites. In the piece, graduating seniors individually name the college or university they’ll be attending, and proudly point out that “I Am Dublin” — a simple, but effective way to promote the success of the high school.
Make Connections with Other Social Media

If you’re going to create a YouTube channel, it’s important to remember that most social media sites want you to make connections. If your district already has a Facebook fan page or a Twitter feed, for example, you can easily connect those sites to your YouTube channel. Go to your YouTube Account Settings page and choose the “Activity Sharing” dropdown. There, you can simply choose which of your other social media sites should be connected to your YouTube channel. When you make that connection, your uploaded YouTube videos will automatically appear on your Facebook fan page wall, and links will appear on your Twitter feed.

A number of paid and free third-party applications also can help you to add a YouTube tab to your district’s Facebook fan page, where a real-time library of videos posted to your YouTube channel can appear. Many of these apps, including Involver, Tabsite, and Pagemodo, automatically refresh your YouTube video library. This means that your Facebook fans never have to leave Facebook to watch the latest videos you’ve posted.
Additional Thoughts and Advice

A few caveats about using YouTube:

If you’re a one-person school public relations office, take small steps. First purchase an easy-to-use video camera (we use the Flipcam in our office) and practice making brief videos of school events. Then, install video editing software like iMovie or FinalCut Pro, and learn how to use them. Do this before even thinking about creating a YouTube channel.

While certainly the decision to open or close comments on YouTube is up to your discretion, most districts close comments on the site. The reason? YouTube continues to permit viewers to post comments anonymously, so comments can sometimes be off-color and downright vulgar.

As the opportunities provided by electronic communication continue to grow, YouTube is one medium that is worth consideration. Think of it as a video newsletter — like a printed newsletter, it allows you to control the content to disseminate your message and avoid the news media gatekeepers.

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Posted in Communications, education, Internet, schools, Social Media, Uncategorized, video, youtube - Tagged , ,

Social Media and the PTA

Nov15
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack
Infographic on how Social Media are being used...

Image via Wikipedia

Just like educators and school public relations folks, Parent Teacher Associations around the country are currently struggling with administering social media sites, especially Facebook fan pages.
Cognizant of the need to reach out to members, raise funds and build support for their schools, PTAs from California to New York are beginning to create fan pages, monitor comments, and generally learn more about building fan bases on the world’s most popular social media sites.
So the audience last week, when I presented at the New York State PTA’s annual conference, was about as lively as you can expect. And once again, the learning curve was all over the map and included one audience member who noted that she had no experience on Facebook along with others who corrected me on a couple of social media fine points I probably should know by now.
Like any presenter, I’m sure, a lively audience is the best scenario. I love a lively, talkative audience with their hands in the air. It’s so much more rewarding than a group that looks comatose while you’re up there talking.
Here’s my presentation. Enjoy. And by all means, raise your hand!

New York State PTA Presentation
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Posted in education, facebook, schools, Social Media, social networking, Twitter, youtube - Tagged , , , , , ,

Sigh of Relief…

Sep21
2011 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack
Infographic on how Social Media are being used...

Image via Wikipedia

I’m thrilled that my session on social media at the National School PR Association’s annual conference was not only so well-attended, but well-received. If you’re anything like me, you dread the evaluations when they come in. But out of 43 evaluations turned in, 31 attendees rated my presentation as “excellent” and 12 rated it as “good.” Hallelujah. Sigh of relief.
If there’s a lesson in all this for me, it’s that it pays to be well-prepared, to conduct thorough research and to entertain the troops. Always entertain, especially at the start of any presentation. Break the ice, wake them up, and banish the nerves.
The one lesson I haven’t yet learned is how to squeeze a ton of information into an hour-long time slot. I’m working on that.
Here’s a sample of the comments submitted by my colleagues:

  • Surprisingly good. I feared a corporate presentation. It was nothing of the sort. Learned a lot of cool things.
  • Great — full of information. Current.
  • Evelyn’s presentations are always great. Sometimes I leave with my head spinning from all the info, but it’s always good.
  • Her facts and presentation say it all…..your head is in the sand if you did not listen…..but I still have great fears about it…..my board is adamantly against it….
  • May have been too much information in such a short amount of time.
  • BEST PRESENTATION AT CONFERENCE.
  • Loved the hands on practical tips
  • Evelyn McCormack is a social media guru.
  • The best social media “application” workshop I have ever attended.
  • Evelyn is one of our most informative speakers — although she has presented on this general theme before, every time she has new information and valuable advice. I am a fan!
  • Great presentation, lots of good info! Excellent speaker.
  • Evelyn is always on the cutting edge of social media and this was the seminar I was most looking forward to in advance of the conference. I was not disappointed!!
  • Fabulous resources shared by Evelyn. She shared new apps that I wasn’t aware of, unlike some other sessions where it was the same ol’ social media apps being promoted.
  • There is no one better on social media than Evelyn.
  • Thanks to SchoolMessenger for supporting the NSPRA Conference. (I second that!)
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Posted in Communications, education, facebook, Internet, schools, Social Media, Twitter

How Social Media Has Transformed the Educational Landscape

Jul27
2011 1 Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack
The San Antonio Skyline.

Image via Wikipedia

Once again, I presented on social media at the National School Public Relations Association annual conference, this one held in funky San Antonio, Texas, in early July. What fun that city was!
My audience this year was packed with school PR folks now using social media on a daily basis to get the word out about school districts as far-flung as Texas, Nebraska, and New York. I remember presenting on this topis just two and three years ago, when social media was little more than a buzz word and I looked out over a sea of perplexed faces. So much has changed.
Anyway, my sincere thanks and gratitude to the fine people at SchoolMessenger, who sponsored my presentation, raffled off an Amazon Kindle at the end of my workshop, and were great to work with.
Here is the presentation:

Sea Change: How Social Media Has Changed the Educational Landscape 

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Posted in Communications, education, facebook, google, schools, Social Media - Tagged , , ,

Sidewalk Chalk and Other Cool Ideas

Jul15
2011 1 Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack

Papillion-La Vista's Facebook Page

At the National School Public Relations Association conference, held July 10-13 in lovely San Antonio, Texas, I attended umpteen professional development seminars, most focusing on — yes, you guessed it — social media.

One of the best social media presentations was conducted by the communications team from Papillion-La Vista School District in Nebraska, where communications director Annette Eyman and communications specialist Kala Morrissey laid out what their District is doing in the social media world. And let’s just say, they’re committed.

Among other things, Papillion has one of the best social media policies I’ve seen among districts. It includes thorough Facebook use guidelines, and even a security manual about social media, written to instruct its staff. Papillion does not permit staff-to-student “friending” on FB, for example.

In addition, extensive training has taken place at Papillion so that each school can create and populate its own Facebook page, linked, of course, to the District page.

And Papillion is spending the summer using their social media to offer parents tips, especially about summer reading and learning games. A super idea for an otherwise slow news season.

One of my favorite ideas, which I hope to steal this fall, was Papillion’s decision to use sidewalk chalk on the walks leading up to their elementary schools last September, which said “Find Us on Facebook” in a way that couldn’t be missed, especially by new parents. The idea is still valid, unless (as it just so happened in Papillion) it rains on opening day.

And down the road for Papillion? A mobile app for the district.

You can find Papillion-La Vista's Facebook guidelines on the District Facebook page. The District is also liberally using Twitter and YouTube. It's nice to see.

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Posted in education, facebook, Internet, Social Media, Twitter, youtube - Tagged

A Changing Attitude Toward Social Media

Mar10
2010 5 Comments Written by Evelyn McCormack

I presented this week at the Spring Conference of the New York School Public Relations Association in Albany, NY, and got a warm reception from members gathered at the Holiday Inn in Albany. We were also treated to presentations by Jim Lukaszewski, a well-known speaker and author whose sage advice about dealing with the boss and surviving in the working world were invaluable.

While the use of Web 2.0 and social media tools has not exactly been met with widespread acceptance and adoption by school PR professionals, this was a group with an open mind about creating district Facebook fan pages, Twitter feeds, YouTube channels and Flickr photo albums. It can be done, folks, with an initial investment of time and at no cost to your District. I realized that had I presented to the same group of professionals two years ago, I would have been received with much more skepticism. Today, nearly every person in the room already had his or her own personal Facebook page, so the abhorrence to FB has disappeared completely.

Since the presentation, I have received a handful of eager emails, each with questions about setting up accounts with these tools, particularly Facebook fan pages. I am more than happy to oblige. And if I can’t answer the question, I’ll research it. Best of luck to all the school PR people I met in Albany, and many thanks for your positive feedback.

nyspra spring conference
Posted in Communications, education, facebook, Social Media, Twitter, Web 2.0, youtube

Snow Days and Webinars

Feb16
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Evelyn McCormack

nominate-meThere’s nothing like being sent home early, because of a thick and growing blanket of snow, because I can get back to learning more about social media at my kitchen table.

Today’s learning experience was provided by the EdSocialMedia Summit, a conference held in Chestnut Hill, MA, for private school officials centered squarely on the topic of using social media to promote your schools. Because I have two important presentations coming up in March and July, I tuned in. And, surrounded by falling snow and with a space heater aimed directly at my frozen toes, I learned.

Jesse Bardo of the Northfield Mount Hermon School, located in Mount Hermon, MA, walked us through that school’s Facebook page and presence. Among other points Mr. Bardo made:

– Use Facebook Insight for your fan pages to track and analyze your hits, your fans, and they visit and use your site. The free Insight tool allows you to look at your fans based on gender and age range, for example.
– Plan out how you will post to Facebook and other social media sites; don’t just post in a haphazard way.
– Get your fans involved in the site by providing them with richer browsing experiences. Always link to other places when you have that opportunity. (Your district’s Flickr account, Wikipedia, etc.)
–Pur your Facebook fan page address everywhere, including on your website, the school’s business cards and in your email signatures.

Travis Warren, president and founder of Whipple Hill Communications, noted that you can monitor mentions of your school or district by searching Google this way: -site: nameofschool.org. That simple query will bring up mentions of your district and other sites created on behalf of your district. You can dump that information into a PowerPoint presentation, for example, and show it to your superintendents/heads of school.

Warren also noted that even though your school is mentioned elsewhere, try to refrain from slamming down other sites. Instead, embrace the fact that think well enough of your school to devote a website or a blog to it.

Another tip from Warren, and one that I can predict could become unwieldy for small PR offices — create a Wikipedia entry about your district and regularly update it. If you have well-known alum, you should list them on your Wikipedia page, with a link to their own Wikipedia entry. You can also go in and change their Wikipedia entry to make sure it mentions that they graduated from your school. In the White Plains City School District, one of my clients, we are bound to find well-known graduates we can add to the district’s Wikipedia entry.

A tip from Warren that I am likely to emulate: Using Flickr, the photo sharing site, as a place to build a photo archives collection. At Southern Westchester BOCES, we’re about to embark on a history project — and that will include wading through a basement full of old records, publications and photos. It will be a huge endeavor, but partly because of the social media possibilities, I am now looking forward to it.

To watch some of today’s EdSocialMedia Summit presentations, visit WhippleHill Live and learn something new. That’s what snow days are for!

Posted in collaborating, Communications, education, facebook, google, Internet, RSS, schools, Social Media, Web 2.0
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