Stop Worrying About Making Social Media Mistakes And Start Taking Action
Let’s face it! This whole social media thing can be a bit scary for school administrators.
In the past, information from the schools was sent as a one-way message from administrators to parents, teachers and community members. But now, with the onslaught of new interactive tools such as Facebook and Twitter, suddenly your school’s parents, teachers, students, and community members have a voice. Not only can they receive your messages, but they can talk back! And not only can they talk back, but they can share their message with the entire world in just a matter of seconds.
Many schools understand that social media is important, but they’re still afraid to take the leap. They think that before they get started they’ve got to have canned responses to each and every possible question that might come their way. They’re afraid of what their community might think or say, so they waste months trying to create backup plans and policies before making the leap.
But these schools don’t get it! Social media isn’t about controlled messages from a PR professional. It’s about being honest, transparent, and open about the actions you and your staff members are taking to make your school a better place for everyone involved.
You don’t need to have a backup plan to use social media in your school. You don’t need to hire a PR representative. You don’t need canned responses. And you don’t need to police the various social media websites to ensure no one is saying anything negative about you or your school.
Instead, you just need to get in there and join the conversation. In most cases you’ll find that the conversation is incredibly positive. And even if a negative comment or remark is made about you or your school, you’ll find that with a little honesty you can come out of the situation with a great piece of information you can use in the future to make your school an even better place.
I understand that there’s a lot of be frightened of when it comes to social media in the schools. But if you are ever going to fully understand what this social media thing is all about, you’ve got to stop being so cautious and start taking a little action.
