More and more district and school staff are catching on to the advice of superintendents like Joe Sanfelippo who encourage staff to take every opportunity to say good things about their school.
Never give up the opportunity to say something great about our school. #spsleadspic.twitter.com/kpURivieS7
Joe Sanfelippo (@Joe_Sanfelippo) July 2
Sanfelippo's not alone. Supt Daniel Frazier has put together a list of more than 1500 Tweeting supts. When the person in charge takes seriously the power of telling our own stories staff start to follow suit.
However, they also need guidance. When educators share and celebrate successes, they serve as role models. It's important to provide some direction on what to keep in mind when posting to social media.
Guidance On Posting Like A Role Model
Some advice on how to post responsibly and in ways that garner engagement.
Remember the Golden Rule
Praise and celebrate publicly, advise or criticize privately
Help others be better
Ask yourself this: After people read our posts, are they better than when they started to read? If so, post freely. If not reconsider. More on this at this post from Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis
Be consistent
Remember to convey your brand / image
Tag
- Tag people (with permission)
- Places
Hashtag
- Know the right hashtags
- Limit hashtags to one or two for more engagement
- Tweets with more than two hashtags have less engagement
Use Images
- Posts with images draw more attention
- They are twice as likely to have engagement
- Use original images
Include Links
- Tweets with links receive a higher retweet rate
- Lets people know where they can learn more
Post Accessibly
- Use alt text for images
- Use plain language
- Use camel case for hashtags First letter of each word in caps i.e. #EdTech
Your Turn
What do you think? Can you keep this guidance in mind when posting? Is there anything you'd do differently? Anything missing?
Lisa Nielsen (@InnovativeEdu) has worked as a public-school educator and administrator since 1997. She is a prolific writer best known for her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator. Nielsen is the author of several booksand her writing has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Tech&Learning, and T.H.E. Journal.
