In this week’s Facebook module we spend a lot of time talking about the various ways you can let your community know that your school is using social media.
Besides sending out newsletters, adding a note to your email signature, linking your various social networking sites and the other methods mentioned in the Facebook module… one of the quickest and easiest ways to let your community know you are using Twitter is to add a Twitter widget to your school’s website.
Adding a Twitter widget isn’t something that all schools will use. For some schools, the use of a Twitter widget will work wonderfully. For others, it will be best to leave off the website entirely. But I encourage you to play around with this tool, because it is a great way of introducing your community members to your school’s social media profile on Twitter.
Try it out and see what kind of results you get. If it works, great! If it doesn’t, then removing the widget from your website is a simple process that should take no more than 10 minutes.
To find out what a Twitter widget is, and how you can quickly and easily install this free web application into your school’s website, just watch the video below:
Rather than dive right into the process of posting to Twitter, I’ve decided that it’s much more important that we learn how to listen. As school officials or business owners, I know it’s easy to get in the habit of always being the person at the top, giving commands, ordering people about, and processing information down the chain of command.
But social media is a different animal and the idea that content should flow from the top to the bottom is not how ideas are exchanged in the digital world. That’s why this week’s Twitter module is all about listening and learning from current Twitter users.
In the video below I walk you though the process of following your first few Twitter users.
You can 1) find new people to follow by manually typing in the usernames of people you know who are currently using Twitter; 2) use the “Find People” link at the top of your Twitter profile to search the ever-expanding list of recommended Twitter users; or 3) you can use Twitter Search to find people in your local community who are talking about your business, school, community events, education or other topics that may be relevant to you and your organization.
In my opinion, the best way to find people to follow is 1) by recommendations from others Twitter users or 2) by using Twitter Search to find people discussing subjects that are relevant to your school/business and your community.
This week, I recommend you find between 12 and 24 people to follow with your new Twitter account. Of these 12-24 people try and find at least 2 Twitter users that fit into each of the categories below:
Parents
Teachers
Students
Community Members
Other Schools/Businesses
Customers
Community Organizations/Businesses
As you select people to follow, keep in mind that anyone you choose to follow will show up on your Twitter profile as someone you are following. So while it may be fun to follow Ashton Kushner and see what he and Demi Moore are doing, they probably aren’t the best people to be following with your official Twitter account.
Instead, follow people in your community. Follow parents. Follow students. Follow people who have something to say about you, your business/school or your community. Follow people in the world of (ENTER YOUR FIELD HERE)!
And remember, if you choose to follow someone and then later decide that the messages they are sending out are no longer relevant to you, then you can unfollow them at any time. Just because you choose to follow someone does not mean that you can not unfollow them. In much the same way that your community has the choice of following or unfollowing you and your business/school, you have the choice of following or unfollowing as many people as you please.
This week, by following 12-24 people, you will quickly learn what Tweets stand out, which ones pass you by, which ones come across as annoying or pushy, which icons are most impressive, which Twitter backgrounds make the best impression, and a host of other important data that you can use as we move forward with the use of Twitter.
The main goal this week is to see what other Twitter users are doing with their accounts so that once we start pushing content out to your followers, we know that the information we are delivering is the type of information they will appreciate.
That said, the goal this week is to 1) find 12-24 people to follow and then to 2) see how these people/organizations are using their Twitter accounts to connect with the people who have chosen to follow them.
After you’ve found a few people to follow, check your Twitter account at least two times per day. When you log into your account, see what these people are saying. Are they spitting out useless junk? Are they linking to their website? Are they sharing YouTube videos? Are they interacting with other Twitter users? How exactly are they using their account and which Tweets stand out the most?
As you check your account each day, don’t worry about trying to read each and every Tweet that flows into your stream. It is not imperative that you read every Tweet. Just check in a couple times each day, take note of what people are saying, sharing and discussing, and then log out. As you follow more and more people, it will become even more difficult to follow every Tweet produced. Don’t worry about this. And realize that not everyone following you is going to read every single one of your tweets either. This is simply a part of using Twitter… and it’s simply a part of life! Some messages get through. Others do not.
We’ll learn more about how to get your messages read in a future module, but this week, your main goal is to listen AND learn!
Once you’ve followed some people, here are some ways to start listening and learning from these individuals:
Take this week and just watch the stream go by. Notice people. Who catches your eye? Who and what do you seem to pay attention to?
Watch how other Twitter users engage. If someone re-tweets a message from another use, it probably means they’re paying attention to that person and respect them enough to re-tweet their message.
Check out chats and discussions about your school/industry and subjects you care about using Twitter Search
Acknowledge people and have fun. If someone says they are grabbing coffee, ask for one too.
If you do decide to interact this week, use open-ended questions. How, what, why?
Don’t pre-judge. Follow someone for a while and see what you can learn from them. Then, after you’ve been receiving their messages for a while, you can decide whether they are someone you want to follow in the future.
Don’t instantly “unfollow” people if they are not like you.
It’s better to follow a lot of people and then slowly filter them out one by one.
Notice when people are absent. Pay attention to who is being quiet and try and figure out why they aren’t saying anything. Have they simply forgotten about their Twitter account? Or do they simply have nothing important to say?
Finally, if you’re brave enough, ask a question and wait to see if you get a response.
If you have any question on who to follow, how to follow, or what to look for once you’ve selected your first individuals/organizations to follow, just send an e-mail to contact@socialmediaschools.com and we will respond within 24 hours!.
In the video above I walk you through the process of creating a Facebook Group.
Just like creating a Facebook Page, in order to create a Facebook Group, you first have to create a Facebook Profile. If you have not yet created a Profile for yourself, please go back and do so now. You will not be able to create a Facebook Group without first creating a Facebook Profile.
In the video above I show you how to set up your Twitter account with your logo, website, mission statement, and colors.
Here are some important point to pull from the video:
If you are using a single Twitter account to represent your organization, you should probably be using your logo as your Twitter profile picture. This is the image every one of your Twitter followers will see when you broadcast a tweet, so it is important that the image you select be instantly recognizable.
If you are setting up Twitter accounts for various individuals within your organization (such as your business owner or Principal or various teachers) then it is best to use a Twitter profile image that actually shows that individual person’s face. I don’t recommend using a logo (as I have done for my Twitter accounts at @smschools) to represent a single person. Instead, use that person’s face (as I have done for my personal Twitter account at @darrenalff). This is simply a matter of transparency and goes back to what I was saying here, in regards to who should be running your Twitter (and social media) accounts.
Be sure to enter your website under your account profile. One of the main reasons you should be using Twitter (and social media in general) is to drive your social media followers back to your website. Forgetting to enter this information is a huge mistake!
Use the Twitter “Bio” section to give your mission statement and/or let your Twitter followers know who it is that is doing the Tweeting for you. Again, read this first, as it addresses the issue of transparency and the use of hashtags to let your Twitter followers know who it is that is doing the Tweeting.
Finally, change the colors of the sidebar, text, hyperlinks and background to match your official colors and/or website. Twitter has a number of pre-set templates you can use to change the way your Twitter profile looks and feels, but I suggest you don’t use ANY of them. Instead, brand your school by entering the colors that match your logo and/or website. You may have to get your graphics guy/gal to help you with this, but it’s worth the extra time to make your Twitter profile really pop!
After you’ve set up your Facebook Profile, it’s time to add your personal information and (most importantly) your photograph.
Note: I suggest you take this step before attempting to add any friends, because if you send friend requests to people on Facebook before your account has been updated with your photo and personal information, they will be directed to your account and see a blank profile photo. They may recognize your name, but having a blank Facebook Profile photo is not a good first impression for making friends. So it’s important that you complete this step before we move on and add people as our friends.
In the video above, I share my own personal Facebook Profile with you… and I show you two other Facebook Profiles as well. After viewing the Profiles, I share three Facebook Pages with you, as well as three different Groups.
The goal here is to simply get you familiar with these three different Facebook features so that as we continue ahead, you know what I’m talking about when I refer to your Profile, your Page, or your Group.
