The summer may be a *bit* quieter on campus, but your school’s story doesn’t stop when the academic year ends. Current families are still looking for updates, new families are preparing for their first day, prospective families are getting a feel for your community, and students, faculty, alumni, and staff are still creating moments worth sharing.

Your school’s social media strategy doesn’t get a vacation, though. Summer is a smart time to stay visible and a perfect time to build relationships. It’s also wise to use these months to try new platforms, experiment with new content, and refine your strategy.

Think of summer social media as a way to answer three questions:

• What’s happening now?
• What should families know before school starts?
• What makes your community worth being part of?

Start With a Summer Social Media Strategy

Choose a few goals

Before you fill a calendar with post ideas, decide what your summer content needs to accomplish. Most schools will want to focus on three or four goals, such as:

• Keep current families connected to your community
• Welcome new families and reduce back-to-school anxiety
• Support enrollment by showing campus life and school culture
• Promote summer programs, camps, athletics, or community events
• Share practical back-to-school information
• Celebrate student, faculty, alumni, and staff stories
• Drive traffic to important website pages, forms, calendars, and resources

A post about a student summer project, a campus improvement, or a faculty reading list can show your school’s values in action, even during some of the slowest months.

Build around your audiences

The best summer social media ideas are audience-specific. Instead of asking, “What should we post today?” ask, “Who needs to hear from us this week?”

Consider these key summer audiences:

• Current families who want updates and reminders
• New families who need orientation, checklists, and reassurance
• Prospective families who want to better understand your student experience
• Students who want to feel seen and connected
• Faculty and staff who help bring your mission to life
• Alumni who want to stay proud and involved
• Community members who follow your school’s broader impact
• Create a manageable summer cadence

Avoid locking your team into strict posting rules like “post once per day” or “post five times per day.” Platform algorithms, audience behavior, and school capacity change too often for one formula to work everywhere.

Instead, start with a realistic schedule your team can sustain:

• 2–4 planned feed posts per week
• 2–5 Stories per week when you have timely or behind-the-scenes content
• 1 short-form video per week or every other week
• 1 weekly back-to-school or “what to know” post as the first day approaches
• 1 daily check of comments, messages, tags, and family submissions

Then use your analytics to adjust. Look at reach, saves, shares, comments, link clicks, website traffic, and direct questions from families — not only the likes.

Best Practices for School Social Media During the Summer

Make your website the source of truth

Social media is great for storytelling, reminders, and engagement, but your website should remain the central place for official information. Fewer users are clicking links on social, so post the highlight on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube, and remind families to visit your website for details about dates, forms, schedules, program pages, and back-to-school resources.

This approach keeps information accurate and easier to maintain. It also helps families trust that they're getting the official version of the update.

Use a branded summer hashtag

A summer hashtag can help you collect community stories, organize campaigns, and make it easier for families to participate.

Keep it simple and easy to remember:

• #YourSchoolSummer
• #SummerAtYourSchool
• #YourMascotOnTheMove
• #YourSchoolReads
• #YourSchoolBackToSchool

Pro Tip: Before using a hashtag, search it across platforms to make sure it isn’t already being used for something unrelated. Then include it in posts, Stories, newsletters, and parent communications. 

Make photo and story submissions easy

Families may be happy to share content, but they need a place to send it. Set up a simple submission process before summer slips away.

You can use:

• A dedicated email address, such as photos@yourschool.org
• A short website form for photo and story submissions
• A shared internal folder for faculty and staff
• A branded hashtag for public submissions
• A weekly prompt in your parent newsletter

Include a quick reminder about photo permissions, student privacy, and the types of content you are looking for. The easier you make the process, the more likely families and staff are to contribute.

Repurpose instead of starting from scratch

Summer is the perfect time to reuse content from the school year that has performed well in the past. You can turn one story into several formats:

• A blog post becomes three social posts
• A photo gallery becomes a carousel
• A commencement quote becomes a graphic
• A student profile becomes a short video script
• A news article becomes a LinkedIn post
• A campus photo becomes a “guess where this is” Story
• A checklist becomes a back-to-school carousel

Use short-form video

Short-form video can be especially useful for summer content because it turns simple moments into engaging stories. A 15-second video of a classroom refresh, coach introduction, summer camp activity, or campus walk-through can feel more personal than a static update.

For your school’s short-form content, use a strong opening hook and try to answer one quick question:

• What’s new?
• Who should families meet?
• What should families know?
• What feeling do we want this moment to create?

Summer Social Media Ideas for Schools

Community-building ideas

Share a “summer on campus” photo series.

• Ask families to submit photos of where they are reading, traveling, volunteering, or learning.
• Post a weekly “Where in the world is our mascot?” feature.
• Share summer snapshots from students, faculty, and staff.
• Create a “summer sounds like…” post with campus, camp, or community moments.
• Highlight a favorite school tradition and ask families to share their memories.
• Share a “one thing we love about our school community” quote from a student, parent, or teacher.
• Post a summer gratitude series for staff members who keep campus running.
• Ask families to comment with one word that describes your school.
• Share a community service spotlight.

New family welcome ideas

• Introduce key people new families should know.
• Share a “first week of school” checklist.
• Post a map or video tour of important campus locations.
• Explain where to find calendars, lunch menus, forms, and handbooks.
• Share common first-day questions and answers.
• Post “what to pack” or “what to wear” reminders.
• Introduce school traditions, songs, events, or spirit days.
• Share a welcome message from the head of school, superintendent, principal, or student leaders.
• Create a “new family tip of the week” series.
• Highlight parent association, PTO, or volunteer opportunities.

Admissions and enrollment ideas

• Share a student story that reflects your mission.
• Post a short campus tour video.
• Highlight summer visit opportunities or admissions events.
• Share a program spotlight, such as arts, athletics, STEM, early childhood, student support, or college counseling.
• Post a “why families choose us” carousel using approved quotes.
• Share application, registration, or re-enrollment reminders.
• Highlight transportation, extended day, dining, or wellness resources.
• Share alumni outcomes or graduate stories.
• Post a “day in the life” preview for a specific grade level.
• Answer a common prospective family question in a short video.

Faculty and staff storytelling ideas

• Share faculty summer reading recommendations.
• Post staff spotlights for new hires.
• Introduce coaches, advisors, counselors, nurses, and front-office staff.
• Share “what teachers are learning this summer” professional development moments.
• Post a behind-the-scenes look at classroom preparation.
• Ask faculty to share one thing they are excited about for the new year.
• Feature facilities, technology, and dining teams preparing campus.
• Share a staff summer playlist, book list, or podcast list.
• Highlight a teacher’s favorite school tradition.
• Share a “meet the team” carousel for each division, department, or school.

Student life and achievement ideas

• Celebrate student summer internships, service, performances, or competitions.
• Share summer learning projects.
• Highlight student-athletes preparing for fall seasons.
• Post a “student voices” quote graphic.
• Share art, writing, research, or creative work from the past year.
• Create a “where are they now?” recent graduate feature.
• Highlight student clubs that will restart in the fall.
• Share favorite moments from the past school year.
• Post a “students recommend” reading or activity list.
• Celebrate student leadership and ambassador programs.

Summer programs and camps ideas

• Share weekly camp highlights.
• Post counselor or instructor spotlights.
• Share a “today at camp” Story.
• Create a carousel of camp activities.
• Highlight safety, supervision, or logistics reminders.
• Share parent-friendly pickup and drop-off information.
• Post testimonials from camp families, when approved.
• Share a “last chance to register” reminder.
• Create a recap video at the end of each camp week.
• Promote next summer’s interest list while excitement is high.

Back-to-school countdown ideas

• Start a 10-day countdown to the first day of school.
• Share one important resource each day.
• Post supply list reminders.
• Share transportation or arrival details.
• Promote orientation and welcome events.
• Highlight division-specific first-day tips.
• Share how families can update contact information.
• Remind families where to find the academic calendar.
• Share a “save this post” checklist.
• Post a first-day photo submission prompt.

Alumni, advancement, and community ideas

• Share alumni summer stories.
• Highlight alumni working in interesting careers or service roles.
• Post throwback photos from summer events or past school years.
• Share donor-funded campus updates.
• Promote alumni gatherings, reunions, or regional events.
• Highlight community partnerships.
• Share a summer giving campaign update.
• Celebrate faculty or staff milestones.
• Ask alumni to share advice for the incoming class.
• Post a “then and now” campus feature.

A Simple Weekly Summer Social Media Plan

Monday: Helpful reminder

Start the week with something families need to know, like office hours, camp reminders, orientation dates, or where to find back-to-school resources.

Tuesday: Community story

Share a student, faculty, alumni, staff, or family story. Keep the caption short and focused on why the story matters.

Wednesday: Behind the scenes

Show what’s happening on campus, even if classes aren’t in session. Campus updates, classroom preparation, athletics training, and summer programs all work well.

Thursday: Engagement prompt

Ask a question, run a poll, invite photo submissions, or use a simple fill-in-the-blank prompt. Make it easy for families to respond.

Friday: Weekend-ready content

Share a photo gallery, short video, summer reading recommendation, community event, or “what we loved this week” recap.

How to Keep Summer Social Media Manageable

Batch your content

Instead of creating posts every day, block one or two hours each week to prepare captions, graphics, videos, and links. Save recurring templates for reminders, spotlights, countdowns, and photo submissions.

Build a small content team

Invite one person from admissions, athletics, summer programs, advancement, and academics to submit content each week. Give them a simple prompt and deadline, such as: “Send one photo, one sentence of context, and the date this should be posted.”

Create a content library

Keep your best photos, videos, captions, links, and evergreen posts in one organized place. Tag content by topic, audience, and season so it is easy to reuse.

Connect social posts to larger campaigns

Your summer social content should support your bigger school marketing strategy. For example, a new-family welcome post can link to an orientation page, while a camp highlight can link to next year’s interest form. Always keep your content connected to your larger goals!

Key Takeaway

Don’t fill your quiet weeks with random posts. Use this time to help families feel connected, prepared, and proud to be part of your school community. Share useful information, authentic stories, and clear next steps, so every post becomes another moment to connect.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

As the Social Media and Content Specialist, Hailey oversees Finalsite's social media accounts and helps grow its online community. Following her time at the University of Kansas, where she took up rowing, Hailey is a fitness enthusiast who enjoys playing soccer and running.