Changing Public Perception Through Social Media

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

New Kent County Public Schools created a new position of Technology Trainer/Digital Content Creator with the intention to harness social media as a powerful marketing tool to improve the perception of and community engagement in our public schools. In this position, Ashlee Meredith developed a programming guide for the district’s social media based on research. In July when this transition began, NKCPS only had a Facebook account, so Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts were added. Then, a consistent program of posting at least twice every day at 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Monday-Friday was established. The program closely follows the regulations of FERPA, FOIA, and IDEA while communicating more effectively with parents, students, and community partners; sharing insight into students’ daily activities; highlighting and recognizing staff members; and spotlighting students with good citizenship. Additionally, student interns were trained for this program, providing the students with work experience and the program with student voices. There are many unquantifiable positives to this program that have been experienced, but also measurable improvements, which have been demonstrated in comparisons of Facebook analytics from the 90 days after the program was implemented to the 90 days prior.