The last day of the school term is approaching and you can almost smell the Christmas festivities … a wonderful, exciting and relieving feeling, right? Finally, a well-deserved break for everyone … but not for social media.
Social media never sleeps. Don’t neglect your school’s social media during the holiday break.
Taking a break from your school’s social media, even just for a week, isn’t a good look and here’s why: the Christmas break is an important time of the year to maximise your school’s social media presence; a time when your school can amplify its voice and reach your audience on a deeper level. The Christmas period allows your school to shed light on good deeds, recap on the year and exchange greetings.
Here are four ways to maximise your school’s social media during the Christmas break:
1. Prepare and schedule
Use the weeks leading up to the Christmas break to schedule your social media posts. Firstly, create a holiday content calendar, aligning with your school’s key dates. Key dates may include the last day of term, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and the week prior to the commencement of the new school term. A content calendar will allow your school to schedule posts efficiently, consistently and stay connected with your audience during the long break. The advantage is that your school’s marketing team can actually have a ‘break’ too, as everything is scheduled!
2. Add some Christmas sparkle to social media campaigns
It’s the season for giving and goodwill. Find valuable stories that showcase the school community and leverage on this by turning them into social media posts. For example, students may have participated in feeding the homeless or fundraising for a charity – incorporate this into social media activity by wishing your community a safe Christmas break and spreading the Christmas cheer.
3. Connect with parents
Use social media to ask your audience what they have planned over the Christmas break. Encourage them to engage with your posts. An example may be to ask parents what they have planned with their children over the break or where they are heading on vacation. Simple questions and open conversation directed at parents will reinforce the strong community presence and encourage authentic engagement.
4. Create a school holiday hashtag
Get creative and create a school holiday hashtag for use on Instagram and Twitter. Ask your school community to include the hashtag every time they post something relative to the school holidays. This is a fun way to view what everyone is getting up to over the break and a tactical way to generate more social media content by sharing posts (with permission, of course). A school hashtag will enhance your school’s value proposition.
Here are some hashtag ideas:
- #SchoolHolidays<school name>
- #<school name>HolidayBreakFun
- #<school name>ChristmasBreak
- #ChristmasAt<schoolname>
