Social media is now a normal part of our everyday lives that we can’t really remember a time without it. People check their feeds every day for the latest content or information, spending an average of 1-2 hours per day of scrolling! Therefore having an active social account is essential. However, many schools struggle to get engagement on their social media. Many schools find Twitter the easiest platform to use on social; that’s why I’ll be sharing with you some top tips to increase your engagement on Twitter. However many of these tips could be applied across other social media platforms.

Top Tips For Twitter here we go...

1. Let your audience know you have social media

This is a simple one but believe it or not many parents might not know you’re on social media or which platform you’re using. If they don’t know you're using social then they won’t visit or engage with your page. A great way to tell parents/guardians that you are using social media is to send out an email newsletter. If you have links at the bottom of each newsletter highlighting with icons which social platform you’re using, each parent can simply click the icon which will take them to a particular social platform. They are more likely to follow your page this way, it’s also super easy! See the example below.

2. Share helpful information

It can be tempting to post only your school's agenda and what is going on (which is correct and should be happening). HOWEVER, sharing really helpful content from other sources could boost your engagement dramatically. For example, you could share blogs that other people have written such as 'How to keep kids entertained over the Easter holidays. Parents love this sort of thing! In this type of post, people react and click through to read, giving your page more engagement whilst helping the other person promote their blog. By posting helpful content parents are much more likely to check your page and engage with other content you post on your feed.

3. Have a takeover!

This is a fun little tip for your school to try. You could have a student take over your social media (someone should supervise of course!).  Seeing the school through a student's eyes is a creative fun way to share the content of social. But seeing the school through a student's eyes is a creative fun way to share the content of social. You're guaranteed to get some blooper moments, but that’s what makes it great and parents will engage and like the post. The funnier the better! Doing this will show your school from a different perspective and will show the different areas of your school.

Some schools have therapy dogs; you could do a 'puppy take over' with the title ’A day in the life of Coco’. You could film little snippets of what your therapy dog gets up to. This would be super cute; who doesn’t like seeing cute dogs on social media? Also, this is a great way to show what your school offers in a fun way.

4. Get communicating on there

Last but not least, get communicating on there! To get the engagement you first need to engage with your audience. You need to be social and interact with some parents' comments but also with other pages and things your school could get involved with. Social media is a great place for connecting and networking. There could be a local fundraising event happening in your hometown, which could be a fun school project to get involved in. Or you can see what other neighbouring schools are up to and team up together for future events.

Bonus Tips for Schools Using Twitter.

Here are just extra little tips for those who have Twitter as their social media channel:

- Send those tweets!  When you start sending out tweets keep them short and authentic. Use relevant hashtags and use media where you can! Read more here.

- Follow others -  Follow others on Twitter. Following helpful pages or other schools will help will networking.

- Promote, promote and promote! - As I mentioned in the first point, make your parents aware you're on social media using an email newsletter. There are lots of different media to let them know, such as your website, schools blogs and non-digital flyers etc… just get it out there!