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As administrators and school leaders, you understand how important it is to provide information to families through communication channels. Having open communication with families encourages engagement and leads to a successful learning environment. You can reach your community through a few different digital communication channels, including social media networks, email, a school website, or a mobile app.
You were probably told a few years ago about the importance of your school or district having an active social media presence to connect with students, parents, and teachers. Now that took the time to learn and grow those accounts, you may wonder why you need to invest in a parent communication app. In this blog post, we'll discuss why a mobile app is essential for effective communication even if you're already on social media.
Benefits of Social Media
First, let's discuss the benefits of social media. Social media is important for brand building. As we stated in a past blog post, building your brand is important for schools and districts because it allows you to showcase why you are the best at what you do. Good branding benefits student enrollment, teacher & staff recruiting, and builds a strong community.
According to HubSpot, social media offers a platform to build the voice, look, and feel of your brand. It also gives brands a chance to connect and build relationships. The average person spends 147 minutes on social media. That's a lot of time! If your goal is to inform your community about school-related updates and messages, growing a social media presence is a simple and effective way to do that since a majority of your community is most likely already on it.
How can you utilize different social media platforms?
Facebook: Create a Facebook event for an upcoming school event to generate buzz and increase attendance
Twitter: Use the poll feature so followers can vote on what the theme of your next spirit day should be
Instagram: Share photos of what students are learning in the classroom
TikTok: Give tours of campus through short videos
Benefits of a School App
While social media can still be beneficial for your school or district's brand and digital presence, there are things that you can accomplish through an app that social media isn't equipped for.
All in one place
A parent communication app provides a unified place for not only communication purposes, but also where families can find all calendars, contact information, and important forms/documents. This allows them to easily find everything they need in one area and not have to search through different platforms to find what they are looking for.
With SchoolInfo, administrators can also manage all of their communication tools in one place. Your school or district can manage its app, responsive website, mass notification system, and social media management tool, from one content management dashboard. Instead of having to navigate to and post from different social media platforms, you can post the same message everywhere with just one click. And with SchoolInfo, your social media feeds can be linked to your app for easy access for app users.
Personalized platform
A mobile app allows users to personalize their experience so they can quickly find the information that is relevant to them. Parents can ensure they receive the information they need when they need it. From specific calendars for grade levels or activities to two-way communication with teachers, coaches, or more. With an app families, students, and staff, can personalize their communication and only receive the news that is relevant to them.
Even though your audience may be active on social media, they could still miss something you post. If you're using social media as your main communication channel to get important updates and news out, your followers might not see every message. This could lead to confusion and more inbound phone calls to your front office. Because of the way different algorithms work on social media platforms, just because you are posting messages doesn't mean it is being shown on the top of your followers' feeds. With an app, you can ensure that your message is being delivered directly to your intended audience with push notifications. The Mass Notifications feature allows you to send instant targeted text, voice dial, and email alerts for time-sensitive information and emergency notifications. Improve the safety and security of your organization by providing alerts and real-time instruction when needed.
At SchoolInfo, we are iKeepSafe Certified. This means educators and families can trust their data meets the strict privacy guidelines in everything that we do. We are also dedicated to providing tailored communications tools in a secure platform. With a school app from SchoolInfo, schools and districts can provide a safe place for communication. You have control of all the content, even one and two-way communication. In a past blog post, we discuss if Facebook is safe for school communication.
Now that you know what communication channels your school or district should be using to push out information, you may be wondering what you should be posting. The next step is to develop a content strategy. Download our ebook, Content Creation Guide for Schools and Districts to help you get started!
With SchoolInfo, you can communicate through your different communication channels simply, safely, and effectively. Request a meeting with someone on our team today to get started on streamlining your school or district's communication.
