Social media is one of the best marketing tools you can use. It's essential to building a community and reaching an audience instantly. One of the first things people do when searching for information about a school is to check and see if they have any social profile. They will be looking to see what everyday life would be like for their child, the authenticity of the content, how active the account is and what it is like to go to your school. So why should you use Twitter and how do you set up a Twitter account. 

Why use Twitter

When it comes to social media school’s sometimes just sign up to all of them and then never really post anything because they don’t have the time. What you don’t realise is that you don’t need to be on all social media platforms. Twitter is the best platform for a school and here are 3 reasons why: 

Communication, Accessibility and easy to manage. Long gone are the days when all communication had to be through an email or a newsletter, school closures can be sent at the click of a button. The power of Twitter on school trips is pretty great as well. For all those parents that love to stay updated throughout the day, staff can easily post updates on Twitter because let’s be honest kids don’t tell us much these days. Another reason to get Twitter is that it’s easy to access for everyone. If there are parents that don’t have Twitter, you can easily embed your Twitter feed on your school website. Finally, Twitter is so easy to manage. You don’t need any groups or users, you’ll have one school account and that’s it. 

How to set up a Twitter Account

Firstly, you’ll need to head on over to the sign-up page.

Fill in the required information.

Your username, also known as a "handle", is the name your followers use when sending replies, mentions, and Direct Messages. It also forms the URL of your Twitter page and it must be fewer than 15 characters.

Now you can customise your profile by adding a profile picture and header, along with your school's bio, location and website.

There you have it, your Twitter account is all set up! Here are some Top Tips on How To Increase Engagement on your School's Twitter Account.

Here are some things to know about:

@Mention: This term is for when you tag another account in a tweet. This helps with conversations on the platform, as it informs the account when you mention it.

DM: This is the acronym for "direct message," which is a private message between two Twitter users. This can be useful if you are trying to help someone in your school community answer a question privately on Twitter.

RT: This is the acronym for “retweet,” which is a way to re-share someone else’s tweet on your school’s profile. This is useful when members of your school community are posting content that you want to share on the school’s account.

Pinned Tweet: You can pin a tweet to your profile so that when others visit your page it is the first thing they see. You can do this by finding the tweet you want to pin and clicking on the down arrow icon and select pin to your profile.

So you’ve now set up your account and you’re ready to get stuck in and start posting! Check out this blog post on How Social Media can Improve Parental Engagement to give you some ideas on great content to engage parents and your community.