As the leader of a school district, your district’s brand goes hand in hand with how you’re perceived by students and families throughout your community. When it comes to setting standards for the brand, strategy and visibility are factors to include when building a brand that is a driving force within the community. Just like Nike or Apple are both iconic in their marketing, you want your messaging to exude success and recognition for your district.
Doing so starts with how your team is branding district leadership and maximizing the following:
- Leverage Social Media
You probably have social media accounts, but how frequently and how well are you and your team using them? You don’t need to master them all, select one to focus on and develop a voice and consistency that works for you. Don’t be afraid for your team to shake it up and try platforms that are non-traditional, like TikTok to deliver your messages. The platform has been a success for some educators, like Superintendent Georgeanne Warnock, who amassed popularity on the app by answering questions in the community openly and informally. By having your team research creators in the education space, you can collectively look into what is out there and come up with ideas to fill a new niche.
- Highlight Community Presence
Be sure to highlight the work that you do in your community outside of the school. Showcasing work on community boards, organizations, and in partnership with local businesses demonstrates the shared values of the district and its leadership. This can lead to elevated levels of trust in the community when it comes to the district’s direction.
- Use Video Messaging
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to elevate your district’s narrative with the use of video! Whether it’s a video embedded into your school newsletter, a podcast, or Instagram Live, incorporating video takes your district’s communication tactics to the next level. You don’t need to be a journalist to take advantage of teleprompters in your communication methods. Have your team take advantage of software that allows them to create and load a script for you to easily read teleprompter style. This is a useful tool to use when creating messages on an ongoing basis with ease.
- Produce Promotional Content
If you don’t tell your community about the great work the district is doing, how will they know? Get your community acquainted with you as a superintendent through promotional content like brochures, email messaging, and spotlights on the website and social media to do so. Whether it’s a new committee that the superintendent is involved in, or a new award that was received, the community should know.
- Amplify Ambassadors and Relationships
Instruct your team to identify your supporters and use their voice to help get messages across to the community. Whether it’s a highly involved parent, or a local business partnership, maximize those relationships for increased visibility and popularity. Your communications team can take advantage of the “groups” feature on applications like Facebook and invite people into appropriate groups to facilitate conversations and community.
Boosting your district’s brand within the community is important to your district’s continued success as well as your reputation and legacy as a school leader. For a bespoke guide to building a brand unique to your district’s needs, we’ve got you covered!