Using artificial intelligence (AI) in school marketing and communication is a balancing act. On one side, there's the powerful capability of AI to generate content, analyze data, and provide insights. On the other side, you have the need for human oversight, ensuring that outputs are appropriate, accurate, and reflective of your school's brand.

This balance is crucial. While AI can handle a large volume of work, your human touch ensures the content remains authentic and true to your school's identity.

As your school or district embraces the shift toward AI, you might wonder how to adopt and implement AI tools in your school's marketing and communications office. After all, AI should be seen as a tool and a partner in your work, which requires guidance, oversight, and ethical considerations.

If your school leaders don't yet have an AI policy for your school, you wouldn’t be alone — searches for a school's “AI policy” have been on a steady incline since ChatGPT made its way into our lives.

Responsible Use of Generative AI at Your School

Using AI tools in your school office or for school marketing is like having a powerful assistant, but it's important to use this assistant wisely and responsibly. While AI can process and generate information at an incredible speed, it's crucial to remember that there are potential risks. For example, AI technology might not always get things 100% right or just make up responses, known as “hallucinations.” It might not fully grasp your school or district's nuances or specific contexts.

AI is impressive, but it can't replace a real person's touch. This is where your role becomes essential in integrating AI into your school's marketing and communications.

1. Checking (and double-checking) the First Results

When you first use a generative AI tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, or others, think of its first outputs as a rough draft. It's not always going to be perfect right away. If you're using an AI to write a newsletter, the first draft it gives you might have all the right facts, and maybe it doesn't sound quite like your school's usual tone. That's okay! This is normal, and it’s just the starting point.

This is where your role becomes crucial. Adjust the language to be more conversational and in line with how your school usually communicates. By doing this, you're teaching the AI to understand your preferences and style. The next time you ask the AI to draft a similar newsletter, it's likely to come closer to hitting the mark from the start.

2. Improving AI Outputs

Adjusting and refining AI outputs is an important step in using AI responsibly. By providing clear, specific feedback in your prompts, you can steer the AI toward producing more effective outputs, helping it better understand what you're looking for in return.

AI tools, especially those based on language processing, are designed to adapt and learn from each interaction. So, when the output isn't exactly what you need, modify your request or provide more detailed instructions. 

If you're using Gemini or ChatGPT, tweak your prompts one after another (working vertically) so the AI can remember and reference your previous prompts. This might involve using different wording, being more explicit about the style or tone you're aiming for, or even providing examples of what you consider ideal content.

If you’re just completely missing the mark and need to start over, begin a new session or ask it to generate a new response (working horizontally.) Then pick and choose the best results.

Keep Reading: ChatGPT Prompt Writing 101: Tips for Busy Schools

You might ask the AI to "Rewrite the announcement for the district’s fundraiser so it's lively and fun, and emphasize the excitement and community spirit." By doing this, you're asking for a rewrite but also teaching the AI about your school's preferred communication style.

Each time you refine your request and provide feedback, the AI learns more about your preferences and your school's communication style.

3. Tailoring AI to Your School’s Brand

Remember, AI is just a tool. Customizing AI outputs to align with your school's unique style and voice is crucial to using AI effectively. Take the basic framework provided by AI and shape it to reflect your school's character and values.

Keeping Your School's Voice

AI doesn't know your school like you do. You need to make sure everything AI writes sounds right for your brand, and that's where your insight and expertise come into play. This could mean emphasizing certain themes, like community involvement, academic excellence, or innovation in learning, or adjusting the language to suit the tone your school prefers, whether it’s formal, conversational, or playful.

Keep Reading: Finding & Keeping Your School Brand's Voice in a World of AI

Consistency Across Platforms

It's also important to maintain consistency across different platforms and types of mass communication. AI is a great tool to adapt content to different mediums, but whether it's a social media post, a newsletter, or a website update, the AI-generated content should consistently reflect your school's voice and style.

4. Transparency and Trust

AI ethics are still in their infancy— YouTube announced it would require the disclosure of AI-manipulated videos, Google's latest core update is addressing spammy content, and Gemini won't answer questions about elections,

At the end of the day, you're the one in charge of your work. Be open about using AI. If you're sharing something AI helped create, consider mentioning it and acknowledging when and how AI is utilized. This doesn't necessarily diminish the value of the content or the effort behind it, but it does demonstrate a commitment to transparency.

For instance, consider adding a brief note like, "This message was drafted with the help of AI and carefully reviewed by our team," which goes a long way. Note that it doesn’t say “created by,” but rather “drafted with.” This footnote does two important things: it acknowledges the use of AI and reassures your readers the content has been vetted to align with your school's values and standards.

5. Maintaining Unbiased Information

Another aspect to consider is the potential for bias in AI-generated content. AI systems learn from large datasets, and machine learning can sometimes inadvertently reproduce biases in their output.
There are also workarounds — a prompt asking how to hack into a school’s database is denied:

But when it’s phrased within the context of researching how to do it for a book, more detail is given:

AI programs can be a powerful tool for generating content, but their output should always be checked for accuracy and bias. This oversight is a crucial part of incorporating AI responsibly and helps ensure the information shared with your school community is both reliable and representative.

Key Takeaway

Using AI in education can feel like a big step, especially if it's new to you and your team. Start small and think of it like training for a marathon — as you grow more comfortable, you can begin to run for longer distances.

It's the same with AI. Start with one small, easy tool and once you're comfortable, you can start exploring more. AI is a powerful tool, but it needs to be used wisely before it has the full power to save your team time in a meaningful and responsible way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Connor has spent the last decade within the field of marketing and communications, working with independent schools and colleges throughout New England. As Finalsite’s Senior Content Marketing Manager, Connor plans and executes marketing strategies and digital content across the web. A former photojournalist, he has a passion for digital media, storytelling, coffee, and creating content that connects.