We can't express enough how beneficial authentic content is now becoming for your school marketing. While authentic content comes in many shapes and forms, it's most organic form occurs on social media. Allowing an opportunity for your school community to share their own content - from blogs to photos - is another added value to your overall content marketing strategy. American School of Paris facilitated their social media campaign all on Instagram, with the help of individuals who participated. "The ASP community is comprised of over 50 nationalities. Its students demonstrate a wide variety of interests and the propensity to travel, on school and service trips on vacations, and also to simply return 'back home'," said Janet. "During the summer vacation of 2017, our special social media campaign, virtually spanning the globe, highlighted ASP student travel destinations and adventures, both locally and abroad."

By involving the individuals who wanted to participate, it allowed the school to showcase where everyone was over the summer and the different experiences from its own students, faculty, and staff. "It was a fun, cultural journey, allowing students, teachers and staff to share amazing experiences, stay connected to each other despite distances and diverse experiences, and demonstrate to others the global unity, reach and power of ASP Rebels! We've also highlighted digital citizenship, and an atmosphere of fun and respect."

3) Social Media Campaigns Are a New Way to Increase Engagement

Having a good social media presence isn't just about posting content every now and then. You have to remember to engage with your audiences, whether it's through photos and videos, posting at the ideal times when your followers are using social media, or interacting with them using reactions and comments.

By facilitating this campaign over the summer, American School of Paris encouraged engagement from its school community form day one, and it was a simple initiative. "Participants were just asked to share photos of themselves wearing the ASP 'Rebels United' t-shirt, and tell us where they were," said Janet. Since the campaign started in late June, we've had individuals share their photos from France, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, US, England, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Greece and more!"

Since the beginning of the campaign, the school also saw an increase in their following on Instagram. "Our Instagram followers have increased 30 percent since the start of the campaign and our engagement and school spirit is through the roof," said Janet. Now with the campaign over, the school is still keeping the engagement alive as they plan to close out the campaign with some big wins this fall. "We have some prizes coming up for those who participated," said Janet. "Some winning categories include photo taken farthest from our school, the ASP Rebel with the most submissions, most intriguing photo in France, and more. All in all, we saw a great response and thought it was a nice way to raise awareness while staying connected with our community during the summer and then some."

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephanie brings a fresh new marketing perspective with her background in social media, communications, and radio broadcasting. She is a co-producer for the FinalsiteFM podcast network and is passionate about helping schools stay ahead of their marketing goals by tracking new trends and developments. She is also a practicing singer/songwriter and loves to expand her creativity in DIY projects.