Sharing Good Practice
How to manage your school ’ s reputation online
By Simon Noakes
Responding
Why is a good response so important ? The simple answer is this : it will be seen . More often than not this will be by the consumer ( parents ) and their peers ( friends and family ).
The other reason is simple : when you do good things your parents will talk about it . Likewise , if your response is negative and unsatisfying it will be spoken about .
Managing your reputation online has become essential for any organisation ( business or school ) using social media to market . It still stands that word of mouth is a key principle in terms of marketing – for both the good and the bad – but it must be recognized that word of mouth now has global reach through the use of social media .
The Statistics
The use of social media is the top Internet activity for individuals and businesses today .
• Facebook states that 70 % of their users log in every day – that ’ s 70 % of an estimated 1.8 billion users using the same network daily . 43 % log in multiple times each day
• 59 % of Instagram , 38 % of Twitter , 27 % of Pinterest and 22 % of LinkedIn users log in daily
• 60 % of all Internet traffic comes from mobile and tablet devices
It comes as little surprise that customer services are spotting this trend and responding in kind , quickly adapting to the modern demands of mobile technology and social media .
Monitoring
67 % of consumers now use networks such as Twitter or Facebook for customer services – This means your school should know how to monitor chatter relating to its brand .
You cannot rely on consumers directly mentioning you in their posts – only 3 % of consumers will send posts containing tags ( Facebook ) or @ handles ( Twitter ). This means information can easily be missed by you – but seen by others .
It is important to know how to search “ outside the box ” on your social platforms . Both Twitter and Facebook have search functions with helpful features , like a ‘ sentiment ’ filter to help pick out comments that are positive or negative .
Outside of Facebook and Twitter there are other options to help you monitor social chatter .
Google Alerts is a quick way to receive notifications whenever your specified term , for example , your school name , is mentioned across the web . You can set these up to be received as an email ( Gmail account is not required ) whenever an alert is generated .
Hoot Suite & Tweetdeck are great tools to keep an eye on social chatter . You can set up a multitude of filters to monitor your social accounts , # Hashtags and brand . More tools are being released , data-mining the 24 / 7 constant streaming of content !
• 42 % of consumers will talk about and recommend a brand when they receive positive social customer care .
• On the flip-side 53 % of consumers will talk about bad experiences .
There may well be times when you , as a teacher , are at the receiving end of a bad comment or awkward question on a social network . What should you do ? It is important to remain professional and courteous – report the comment / awkward question to your communications or senior leadership team .
If you have a strong , engaged community already - then THEY will police any negative posts - as this is seen as a direct attack on them . Remember , they did choose the school for their child !
If your school is yet to fully embrace social media , you should always respond calmly to negative posts , and aim to take conversations offline . Invite the person into the school , or call to discuss the issues . Alternatively , take the conversation into direct messages .
Social media allows you to engage with your community – who in turn will promote you . This will either be positive or negative , depending on how they have been treated . Making sure your community is happy is paramount to receiving good praise and will prove to be your most powerful marketing tool , at very little cost . Monitor and respond to social chatter about your school in a good manner and the return on investment will be significant .
24 | Mar - Apr 2017 | | Class Time