We chatted with Annalisa Solla, Compliance and Standards Officer.
Social media training
Like most people I have a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile but very rarely post on either. I have never had admin rights for any work-related social media platforms and was given this additional responsibility the latter part of this Autumn.
I was aware that Benefact Group provide support to charities and knew that Adam Daw, a parent of one of our students and a volunteer at St Rose’s, was a Campaign Manager at the Group. I decided to contact Adam to see if anyone in the Group’s marketing & communications department would be able to give me an “Idiot’s Guide to Social Media.”
Bec Simpson, Social Media Manager came to the rescue! I spent the best part of a morning at their HQ, where Bec patiently talked me through how best to use the various platforms, the importance of making each post as personable as possible, and how to grow our social media presence. Bec also spent some time showing me how to view analytics and explained how the algorithms work and the more you post, the more likely your post will end up appearing in your follower’s feed. She also provided me with some useful tips on how to manage the whole process of content writing, from using AI tools, the importance of and benefits of using hashtags, to using other free online tools/platforms to schedule in posts.
I came away from my training, with a much better understanding of the benefits of the main social media platforms and more confident in my own ability to write creative content and post without breaking the system! I put my learning straight to work, and in the space of 2 weeks, posted 14 times, leading to a small increase in our followers. My posts so far have generated 4150 reactions, 148 comments, 104 shares, and 1087 photo views. I have collaborated with school staff who have been instrumental in providing me with photos and skeleton content, which I have then turned into posts.
I also delivered a Social Media PowerPoint presentation to a whole staff meeting. I shared a number of the posts and explained how we can use social media to enhance our brand, reputation, increase our network and communicate to our current and past families and staff. I am now in the process of compiling a schedule of posts covering the remainder of the current school year. These will reflect our school life and the variety of teaching and learning experiences we give our students. In the New Year, I will also start using Instagram, which is an entirely new platform for St Rose’s. I am also planning to set up a LinkedIn profile so we can share our vacancies and connect with various grant making foundations. We have a social media policy but no strategy in place, this is something I now feel confident to write over the coming weeks.
I am so very grateful to both Adam and Bec for their support. Their time with me has given me the confidence to embrace social media and run with it!
For more information about St Roses and St Martins please visit their website https://stroses.org.uk/
To follow St Roses social media please see their Facebook page – St Rose’s, Stroud | Stroud | Facebook