Embracing uncommon wellness.
Like so many things in life, when it comes to embracing social media in a school district, getting started can be the hardest part.
Join me for a FREE webinar today — I’ll share the policies, procedures and proven strategies that allow you to manage risk and open wide the doors of opportunity!
Social media moves quickly — almost as quickly as a day in the life of an education leader! And that’s exactly why I’ve launched a new online course, Navigating Social Media.
Now, in just a few hours and working from any device, educators can learn trusted strategies for social media in schools — from managing risks to leveraging the powerful opportunities for communication, teaching and learning. The self-paced course includes the best content from my book, Embracing Social Media, with additional updated topics, real-world examples and engaging activities that will deliver results.
My Navigating Social Media course is offered on the MassiveU platform, designed with educators in mind. The project-based learning experience leads participants through the process of creating a safe, social-friendly school system, including:
Two other courses, Media Talk and Power of the Podium, also are available separately, or bundled for a package discount. Click here for more information about any of these courses — or to register and get started.
I’ve always considered myself a lucky person. When things go wrong — and they do for me as much as anyone — I think to myself, Wow, that’s weird that my car battery died / my kid threw up / my e-mail got hacked. I’m usually such a lucky person. When I have bad luck, I happily file it under “anomaly.”
And being Irish doesn’t hurt.
But even with my good luck, I was unprepared for the e-mail I got on a snowy Sunday afternoon in early March.
“Good afternoon, Kristin,” it began. The sender — a stranger by all accounts — introduces himself as a former teacher and principal and refers to an article I had recently contributed to School Administrator magazine about social media in schools. He went on:
“Now working in book publishing, I invite you to consider publishing a book with us, one that explores the subject of your article more fully. That’s assuming, of course, that you’re not already under contract with another publisher. It would be a real pleasure, Kristin, to work with you on such a book.”
Forget feeling lucky — I was stunned. (And amused at the suggestion that I would be under contract with another publisher. Clearly, this friendly stranger knows nothing of my barely-fitting-it-all-in life of work and family and kids and groceries and laundry. No, generously kind sir. I’m not working with another publisher. I’m barely keeping up. You’re serious about this book thing?)
There is a long, winding story I could tell of learning more, and saying yes, writing-writing-writing, editing and drinking way too many late-night peanut butter cookie milkshakes from Sonic. But there are also a few things I learned about myself on this part-lucky, part-crazy road…
This list barely scratches the surface of what I’ve discovered on my book author journey. I’m learning to own my authority. I’m learning to brand and market myself. I’m learning to push way outside of my comfort zone and ask people I barely know to get behind my ideas. And I’m learning the joy of collaborating with people — often strangers — who are thrilled at the chance to tell their story.
Right now, I appreciate the simplicity of the four lessons I’ve shared above. They are truths about me as a person, and as a professional — and reflecting on them now is a good reminder of just how lucky I am.
We’ve just celebrated a cool anniversary in my school district. A couple of years ago, the leaders here decided that it was time to embrace social media as a broad tool in education. A communications tool. A teaching tool. A learning tool. We had an established Facebook page, and a few teachers dabbling on their own time. (Because, of course our school district filters didn’t allow them on Facebook or Twitter. I had double-secret-probation-extra-special filter settings to manage our district page at work.)
But two years ago, my superintendent decided that locking down social media was no longer the best option. No, the ostrich pose wasn’t going to serve our students well (at all). With the help of a nearby consultant with a hefty corporate social media pedigree and personal passion for local schools, we wrote policy and guidelines, we set up a few procedures to keep the internal lines of communication open, we provided training to our employees. And we reconfigured our network filters to allow adult users the privileges to access social media at work. Crazy, I know.
In the time since, I’ve been asked to share our story with different groups and in a few trade magazines. (I’m also writing a book on this subject, which is why my blog has been so sad over the past few months. But this whole book nonsense is another post for another day.) When I’m asked to share our social media story what always surprises me is, really, how simple our work has been.
Without a doubt, social media can inspire enormous fear and loathing in the hearts and minds of school districts, non-profits, public agencies and — especially — the boards that govern these groups.
We read the stories and see the reports on television about people making really bad decisions on the social media stage. In education, we see teachers and administrators who lose their jobs, kids who jeopardize their future goals, and parents who go a little (and sometimes a lot) crazy.
But the simple lesson that we’ve learned — over and again — in the past two years is that social media is no different than the other issues that we manage every day. We serve kids lunch every day because our food and nutrition services workers have been trained in safe kitchen skills and food safety. We transport kids on buses every day because our drivers follow specific vehicle, traffic and safety procedures. At the end of the day, our work is embedded with basic risk management. Social media programs included.
We believe that social media offers a huge reward. We can engage with parents in a content-rich, real-time exchange. We can create legitimate relevance and rigor for our students as they learn. (Show me the student who won’t bring their A game if told his or her work will be on a public stage.) We can encourage our staff to seek professional development through the enormous opportunities on Twitter. And now, we can serve as encouragers and guides to other districts and organizations, still wrestling with fear of the unknown, or unsure about the process of embracing social media.
Our story here means a lot of things to me. But I hope the most important take-away to you is this: Jump in (or wade in, or dip your toe in) and see for yourself — the water’s great!
As a communications director, I’m often approached by a frustrated colleague or friend:
“Nobody is clicking our post / reading our newsletter / opening our e-mails / responding to our survey / (and the list goes on). I’ve tried everything! What am I missing?”
I’ll ask a few questions, we’ll talk a little bit, and virtually every time, it comes back to this: It’s time to tune into station WII-FM … What’s In It For Me?
The fact is, it doesn’t matter what we want to say, or what we want people to know. It doesn’t even matter what we NEED them to know. Our message won’t bypass the average person’s drinking-from-the-information-fire-hydrant filter if it doesn’t resonate in a way that fills a personal need. Because let’s face it: When it comes to our audience’s long list of priorities, the messages we typically want or need to push out aren’t at the top. (Or most times, even in the bottom middle.)
Think of WII-FM as that station that comes in the strongest and clearest in the car and, consequently, the one you are the most likely to have on. It’s the place where a person hears what she needs for her day, for her job, for her family. The need-to-know information that makes a person’s day run. As communicators, only the messages that hit that same frequency stand a real chance of engaging our audience’s attention or prompting action.
The good news? Most messages can be reframed (a little or a lot) to resonate on the “what’s in it for me” channel. Yes, it’s sometimes a little sad to know that my information won’t be valued solely on its merits (because dang, I write some righteous messages!), but my own pride is worthless if my message falls flat.
If a message goes out and nobody hears it, it doesn’t make a sound. And more importantly, it doesn’t make a difference. To anyone.
We can do better! Open up your toolbox and pull out your empathetic skills, your devil’s advocate skills, and your mind-bending-creative-thinking skills. Each is essential to tuning into WII-FM. And consider these two questions as you frame your message to hit the right frequency for your audience:
While my examples all reflect my work in a school district, WII-FM is just as important with any non-profit, small business, corporation or government agency. In all cases, the messages and information we’re pushing out must resonate with our audience on a self-interest level, in order to cut through the noise and catch the audience’s attention.
The best part? The more we’re able to frame messages around the “what’s in it for me” model, the more capital we’ll have to spend at times when the messages aren’t directly tied to our audience’s immediate needs. Whether a call to action for advocacy on your behalf, a request for financial support or an invitation to attend a focus group or event — these things typically don’t fall at the top of most people’s lists. But your audience members will much more likely tune into your station, if you’ve shown them over time that you’re clearly tuned into theirs.
