Here’s how we generate high quality LinkedIn content for schools, consistently, without the headache. No more chasing staff members for input; throwing random posts up and hoping they go ‘viral’… Let’s be creative, but also strategic and intentional.
Before any content development begins, you should answer two main questions:
Who is my audience?
What is my goal?
On LinkedIn, your audience is going to be, pretty much exclusively, parents and employees. Not a lot of younger folks on LI. So you have, current parents and prospective parents. Current employees, and potential employees.
The great thing is… a lot of the themes that are going to set you apart in the eyes of a prospective parent, will also set you apart in the eyes of a potential employee. So you don’t need to focus on one goal only. Generally, you can make your school look great, and in the process achieve:
- Lead generation (prospective parents)*
- Recruiting (potential employees)*
- Staff retention (current employees)
- Student retention (current parents)
(*The first two are where we want to focus our efforts. Too many other factors impact retention.)
Identify Themes to Highlight on LinkedIn
The first step is to work with the school to identify a few themes that set the organization apart. These could be pedagogical, but don’t limit yourself to that. Think about what else sets your organization apart. Staff retention? Community service? Sportsmanship and athletics? Physical differences to the campus?
Pick a few themes that your school focuses on, and does well. What do you do differently when it comes to each of those themes? You’ll need to get specific here, outlining what truly sets your school apart.
You’ll need to move beyond basic examples like:
- We believe in project-based learning
- We’re a (insert pedagogical philosophy) school
- We believe in limited screen time
These may be true, and good selling points, but there are countless other schools espousing the same points.
What do you do that sets you apart? How do you use project-based learning effectively? How are you different than other schools who share your educational philosophies? Why do you limit screen time? What effects has it had?
Think of examples that other schools aren’t doing or aren’t talking about…
- We believe that staff retention is important — so we pay above competitive wages; we promote from within; we invest in professional development that doesn’t suck; we have a robust admin and HR team to support our teachers; etc.
- We believe in true experiential learning — so we let our students fail tasks; we let our youngest students handle real, breakable materials; we take field trips to places of commerce and business; we allow students to form their own groups, delegate tasks, and set their own timelines; etc.
- We don’t shy away from difficult topics — so we stock our library with relevant and age-appropriate books (such as…); we invite group discussion in every classroom; we give students opportunities to submit difficult questions secretively and/or anonymously; we directly address transgressions with students and families; etc.
These are the types of things that set a school apart. Let’s get beyond “brochure material,” and find your school’s true identity. Once we’ve identified and confirmed (with whatever approvals are necessary) a number of themes, and how a school approaches them, we can start thinking about content.
Identify Content Types that Perform on LinkedIn
The next step is to identify the different types of content that speak to each theme. You don’t want to just “talk” about what sets you apart. You need to show it.
Think about…
- Interviews with students/parents
- Interviews with staff
- Industry research summaries
- Case studies
- Reshares from relevant groups/accounts
- Anecdotes from the school community (with photos)
Identify a few content types that will serve each of your themes. The list above is a good jumping off point, but if you have the capacity, you can always expand it… graphics, videos, audio recordings…
Develop Your Own Templates
Once you’ve settled on some content types, it’s time to really start setting yourself up for success down the line. Develop a simple template for each content type. Think about how you want these to look on LinkedIn, and what will be easy for your audience to take in. (These will evolve as you get a better feel for what resonates with your audience.)
Content Research and Development
Now it’s time to create a backlog of relevant content. A content well that you can draw from throughout the year, when it’s too busy to develop content from scratch.
Begin filling each of the content type “buckets.” Focus on one type at a time, but grab a handful of examples, spanning your chosen themes, for each.
For example… grab a handful of staff members during a professional development day and film quick interviews with each of them. Grab each person for 3 minutes, and try to get 45 seconds of footage for each theme they want to speak on. (These can be repurposed into blog posts, podcasts, etc.)
The goal is to identify a number of themes that you can focus on throughout the year. Find a few different content types that you can create again and again… and then build out examples of each content type, for each theme.
The Math
Think of it this way…
If you can identify 5 themes you want to focus on… with 5 content types that make sense… and then come up with 4 pieces of content for each of those types…
You’ll have two pieces of content a week for the entire year. (But you’ve really only had to come up with 5 “ideas” to focus on.)
Anything else you come up with throughout the year is gravy!
DeMaio Digital Marketing 