Students are obviously digital natives, if not digital beings! And increasingly, so are their teachers. Teachers are younger than the total population by three and a half years, placing them firmly in the Millennial cohort that grew up with technology. So, what are teachers doing online? More than the general population, teachers use social media for both personal and professional reasons.
See the chart below for the key learnings from our WeAreTeachers channels about the social sites educators most frequently visit:
Content Moves Teachers Socially
We’ve learned there are specific themes that make social content successful with educator audiences:
- Show them that you know them—content should demonstrate a command of the issues they face in education or in their corner
of the district or curriculum. - Give them something they can use—classroom tools that are practical, relevant, visually appealing, and tailored to their needs.
Social Marketing Insights
We recommend cross-promotion vs. cross-posting, i.e., using the same post in all channels. Use channels strategically and translate messaging into the “local” language for each channel’s audience. For example:
- Facebook posts should make readers laugh, smile, or think to create social bonds with educators
- Focus timely and topical posts on Twitter where educators get their news and connect with education thinkers, leaders, and administrators
This is just a sneak peek of just a few of the findings from our Digital Trends in Education Marketing Report. For this report, we examined millions of social interactions to bring you insights on how to capitalize on educators’ love and use of social media. For instance, are you using paid social ads AND organic posts? They both have a role in a social campaign and we reveal how and when to use each.
As a bonus, in this report we’ve also included our lessons learned, best practices checklist, and a heads up on the trends in social marketing we urge you to apply. And, the report also covers email marketing and web advertising. The report is available, here.
