During a recent SchoolNow webinar on social media, we asked attendees:
Their responses reveal a pretty consistent trend some school administrators are facing when trying to incorporate social media into their total communications mix. I've listed some of their answers below and organized them into six school social media challenge categories.
Comprised largely of school communicators representing a wide range of schools and districts, the group and the schools they represent might vary when it comes to size and many other variables, but they share many frustrations that prevent them from fully utilizing social media in their schools.
The webinar, Facebook for Schools: How the Pros Do It, was a very informative one conducted by guest presenter and school social media authority Andrea Gribble, founder of SocialSchool4EDU, a social media consultancy focused on the K-12 market.
We’ve combined the results of the open-ended survey question to arrive at the top six social media challenges facing school public relations and communications professionals.
| Challenges* | Comments |
| Managing it |
“I’m just a one-man show here, and I’m stretched pretty thin to begin with.” “Administration doesn’t get it...I haven’t sold them on the importance.” “No one to take care of it” “Working on having one communications coordinator to handle all social media posts.” “My time is stretched, wearing too many hats” “It is an ongoing challenge getting district leadership involved.” |
| Scheduling |
“Remembering to post and then having the time to do it!” “Posting consistently.” |
| Staff participation |
“Having teachers send me pics/info to post at the MS/HS level” “Getting pictures and content from staff.” “Riding herd on my staff to get photos to make enough posts each week is challenging.” “I work for an AEA, so we are putting out information to schools who, in turn, have difficulty getting information out.” |
| Engagement |
“Getting likes, comments and interaction” “Engagement from community members” “Communicating with parents about our workshops and events.” “Same few people engaged." |
| Quality |
“Photo quality” “Just starting up our social media presence and starting out with multiple people handling different accounts, so consistency is a big issue.“ "Don’t know what to post.” “Lack of fresh, interesting content.” |
| Lack of content |
“Finding content is very tough.” “I never know what to post in the summer.” “Getting pertinent content from our teachers” |
* Results based on 347 registered school administrator attendees.
Thanks to Andrea Gribble for sharing her social media expertise. She and her staff at SocialSchool4EDU have been helping schools get their arms around social media since 2014 and now offer three levels of support to schools and school districts needing help.
Besides watching the SchoolNow webinar video, I suggest you download this free School Social Media Guide. And while you’re at it, check out this free school social media manager offered by SchoolNow.